Marlene H. Kennedy
Goal
Students will read the historical novel
Dear America
,
Christmas After All
,
The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift
,
Indianapolis, Indiana, 1932
, by Kathryn Lasky, and work through a process in writing, which will enable them to create a publishable text. Students will be engaged in their writing and will be given times to share their writing, thus gaining meaningful opportunities to communicate with others. Students will be involved in a writing process, which moves from forming an initial idea to revision, and then, finally, to the creation of a final draft. Students will be supported as they work on their writing, structure the text, and apply the correct conventions of text, including grammar, spelling, mechanics, and usage.
Objective
Students will be assigned one of two ideas to write a three-page journal entry, similar to Minnie Swift's diary in
Christmas After All
. The audience and interest level for this journal entry will range from childhood to adulthood. Students will understand in experiencing this process in writing that they will be able to create a text, which could be published in a
Dear America
novel. Some students will be assigned the task to write a three-page journal entry imagining themselves facing Christmas during the Great Depression. Other students will write a three-page journal entry describing Christmas as a child at home, in the current school year.
Do Now
Copy the assignment you are given by the teacher in your composition notebooks, as follows. Assignment one: Write a three-page journal entry imagining yourself facing Christmas during the Great Depression. Assignment two: Write a three-page journal entry describing Christmas as a child in the current school year. The audience and interest level for this journal entry will range from childhood to adulthood. You will be creating a journal entry that could be published in a
Dear America
novel. You will be writing this over a period of six classes, from first draft, to revision, to final copy. The procedure is to write six half pages and peer edit the six half pages in a period of six classes. (5 minutes)
Materials, Initiation, Methods and Activities, Closure, Assignment, and Assessment
Materials consist of composition notebooks, notebook paper, pens, pencils, and
Christmas After All
. During initiation, students will, as whole group, discuss what they know about creating a Venn diagram to form initial ideas for writing. Students will draw and label a Venn diagram on the board suitable to the ideas expressed in
Christmas After All
. (One circle would be labeled Christmas during the Great Depression; a second circle would be labeled Christmas, Today; and the third circle - where the two circles overlap - would be labeled Similarities.) (5 minutes) For methods and activities, students will brainstorm ideas to incorporate into the Venn diagram on the board. They will copy these diagrams into their composition notebooks to use as a reference for forming an initial idea in writing the three-page journal entry. Students will write the first half page of the journal entry on separate notebook paper (altogether there will be six half-pages to write, until the final copy, on three full pages). (35 minutes) In closure, students will share examples of what they wrote. Students will, for the homework assignment, write down any other ideas they might want to incorporate in their three-page journal entry. During assessment, teacher circulates, as students write, and collects composition notebooks and notebook papers for review.
