Unit Plan: Literary Elements in Fiction
Language Arts / Grade 4
Big Ideas
Exploration, expansion, and colonization had varying consequences for different peoples.
Concepts:
- Exploration
- Colonization
- First contact
Essential Questions
Students will keep considering…
- How do conflicting ideas affect progress?
- What makes one culture seem more appealing than another?
Evaluative Criteria
Teacher Evaluative Criteria:
Geography extension/ mapping skills: Students create (3D model, online, or draw) the island, including natural resources found on it, geographic location in relation to other landmarks, location of settlement, etc.
Rubric:
Differentiation:
Adaptations:
> Students present one part of the project (oral debate OR written report)
> Written report is submitted in alternative form (drawing or mind map)
Evaluation:
Develop rubrics to assess this project. Suggested evaluation branches: oral debate, policy proposal, realistic suggestions for compromise between two communities.
Extension:
Quiz evaluation: can be open book and based on big ideas/ essential questions (synthesis) rather than fact-based recall.
Paragraph writing:
Scaffold assessment with feedback on thesis statements, paragraph outlines, practice arguments.
Possibilities for paragraph expansion:
> Peer review paragraphs
> Create rubric with students; have students self-assess
Possibilities for project expansion:
> Study culture of indigenous groups around the world (e.g. music, food, religious traditions, etc.)
> Have students create map of the world during age of exploration to show specific information. E.g. natural resources, migration patterns, languages, etc.
Project evaluation:
Develop rubric to assess research skills (quality of sources, bibliography), presentation skills, information found (accuracy, relevancy).
Monitoring Progress
Teacher will monitor progress:
Teachers can monitor progress through ongoing formative assessment including but not limited to:
> Note-taking (extracting big idea from text)
> Primary source analysis
> Group discussions
> Optional assignments: journal entries, etc
Potential Student Misunderstandings:
N/A
Resources
WEBSITES
- Age of Exploration Handout
- Peoples of BC Map
- HBC Teaching resources
- National Humanities Centre
- Nova Scotia Digital Collections
- Newfoundand Heritage
PRIMARY SOURCES
BOOKS
- Pathways by Michael Cranny
- Crossroads: A Meeting of Nations by Michael Cranny
- Weslandia by Paul Fleischman
- Raven Steals the Light by Bill Reid
OTHER
Reflection
How will teachers and their students reflect on and evaluate the completed project?
Constant feedback from students and dialogue after each activity outlined in the Learning Events will help to direct and adapt what is explored in the next activity. Self, peer and teacher evaluation of the Performance Task and its alignment with the essential questions.
Teacher:
Next time I teach this unit I would…
Allow students to select the short stories that link to Identity.
Student:
My students needed:
Process:
Product:
Content:
Potential Student Misunderstanding:
Downloads
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
EXECUTE THE LEARNING PLAN
LEARNING EVENTS:
- These learning events/activities are suggested activities only.
- In some cases the plans are not fully completed lesson plans.
- The teacher may choose some lessons/activities to span over several lessons.
- Teachers may add, revise and adapt these lessons based on the needs of their students, their personal preferences for resources, and the use of a variety of instructional techniques.
Learning events are enriched for students when teachers consider the “WHERE TO” acronym and guiding organizer by Wiggins and McTighe.
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- What makes a great story?
- How do you write a great story?
Acquisition-Meaning-Transfer
Activity 1 - Pre-assessment
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- What makes a great story?
- How do you write a great story?
Pre-assessment (Activity 1)
Pre-assessment quiz or paragraph answer:
- What or who are we referring to when we talk about the characters in a story? (people, animals, things in a story)
- How does a writer develop characters? (by sharing appearance, thought, words and actions)
- Write a brief character description of a best friend, a criminal etc.
Activity 2 - Present Essential Questions for Each Element
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- What makes a great story?
- How do you write a great story?
Present Essential Questions for Each Element (Activity 2)
How are words used to “capture” a character?
Using the evidence in the text, how can I better understand character?
Activity 3 - Defining the Element
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- What makes a great story?
- How do you write a great story?
Defining the Element (Activity 3)
Direct Instruction
Define the literary element and record the definitions into a quick reference dictionary to be used as required.
Activity 4 - Language Features, Structures, and Conventions
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- What makes a great story?
- How do you write a great story?
Language Features, Structures, and Conventions (Activity 4)
Introduction of nouns, proper nouns and adjectives using Schoolhouse Rocks videos.
Activity 5 - Connected Lessons
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- What makes a great story?
- How do you write a great story?
Connected Lessons (Activity 5)
These lessons allow for in-depth exploration of the language feature and element introduced using non-fiction texts from a variety of cultures.
Should include read-a-louds and independent reading activities where examples of the literary element are clearly illustrated and then independently sought.
Activity 6 - Performance Task
The Learning Events should always be prefaced by focusing on the essential questions:
- What makes a great story?
- How do you write a great story?
Performance Task (Activity 6)
Re-administer pre-assessment quiz or paragraph question.
Return original character description to each student. Explain the purpose and role of an editor. Ask the student to edit their original works to demonstrate their learning of both literary element and language feature.
A self-reflective journal entry could also be written in answer to the essential question(s) for this element. Students could use this to gauge personal relevance of experience and document learning. This process facilitates involvement of the Core Competencies.
The following resources are made available through the British Columbia Ministry of Education. For more information, please visit BC’s New Curriculum.
Big Ideas
The Big Ideas consist of generalizations and principles and the key concepts important in an area of learning. The Big Ideas represent what students will understand at the completion of the curriculum for their grade. They are intended to endure beyond a single grade and contribute to future understanding.
Core Competencies
Communications Competency
The set of abilities that students use to impart and exchange information, experiences and ideas, to explore the world around them, and to understand and effectively engage in the use of digital media
Thinking Competency
The knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development
Social Competency
The set of abilities that relate to students’ identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society
Curricular Competencies & Content
Curricular Competencies are the skills, strategies, and processes that students develop over time. They reflect the “Do” in the Know-Do-Understand model of curriculum. The Curricular Competencies are built on the thinking, communicating, and personal and social competencies relevant to disciplines that make up an area of learning.
Additional Resources
First People's Principles of Learning
To read more about First People’s Principles of Learning, please click here.
For classroom resources, please visit the First Nations Education Steering Committee.
