Pamela J. Tonge
Acquistion of knowledge: Reading for Pleasure and for Information Students read a wide range of print and media texts to build a knowledge base, to acquire new information which will support the needs and demands of society and the workplace, and to become lifelong readers for personal enjoyment
Becoming A Skilled Reader: Instructional Reading
Students apply a wide range of strategies to read, comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics)
Written Communication: Writing
Students will use the writing process to shape language in order to communicate their ideas and knowledge effectively.
I have just given you a few statements from the Literacy Standards Implementation Plan for New Haven Public Schools. I specifically referred to the 5-8 Contents and Performance Standard with Performance Description section. The plan addresses many more standards with more detail. Educators please review the literacy plan in your district and use it in conjunction with your school plan and/or mission statement before you implement this curriculum unit.
This curriculum unit is unlimited to its use because it could be applied to other forms and subjects of writing. I truly feel all students are capable of poetically expressing themselves in ways that they have yet to venture into. As educators, one of our many responsibilities is to give students ways to be explorers in their own right. Navigate your students through this unit and they'll discover the vast potential in which they have as writers and readers.