Heather M. Wenarsky
As a ninth-grade special education teacher, I find that my students have difficulty writing in descriptive detail. In this unit, students will be able to compare and contrast events and technological inventions by writing expository essays based on visual images they view and articles they read from the 1940s, as well as from the twenty-first century. The reason I chose to incorporate the 1940s is that it was a time period of war and inventions that changed our society and impacted the current age. I believe my students will be able to stay engaged and make strong connections during this curriculum unit. According to research, human beings process visual information 60,000 times faster than text. When students are finished writing their expository essays, they will evaluate their writing by scoring a student rubric.
By the end of this unit, students should be able to think of themselves as writers, use more detail and clarity in their written work, and use more description in their writing. This curriculum unit is intended for students in high school; however, it can be modified for younger students.
(Developed for English/Inclusion/Resource Class, grades 9-10; recommended for English and History, Secondary grades 9-12, English and History, Middle School grades 6-8, and Upper Elementary grades 3-5)
