These lessons are designed for third grade English language learning students and may be modified to accommodate the different levels found in the classroom. Through discussion of topics based on books, students will compare their experiences with narratives. Opportunities will be provided for active listening and writing. I will create writing models to guide students work.
I will also focus on vocabulary and there will be discussion about the vocabulary words used in prompts, such as compare, contrast, identify, and respond. Students will record the meanings of these words and will be encouraged to use these words in their writing. Explaining vocabulary is important when working with bilingual students who are trying to acquire language.
In lesson I,
Children in History
, students learn social history through the narrative stories in
We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History
. This book contains biographies of children who collectively lend a hand in shaping American history. This lesson will generate discussion supporting language acquisition and independent writing. Through the text and teacher support, conversation is initiated in order to guide and encourage students through a compare and contrast discussion about their own life experiences. This discussion will be the reinforcement needed for the written assignment that follows.
Lesson I’s objective is to have students begin understanding how farm workers are important to society; learn the name of Cesar Chavez, and in the end write a compare and contrast paper on their own lives in comparison to that of children who worked in the fields. Because my students are in an urban setting I can count on many of them having experiences unrelated to the girl in the story I will read to them. But because some of my students have agricultural backgrounds either from parents who worked in the fields or grandparents who harvested for a living on their land or someone else’s, I don’t think that farm labor is a completely foreign concept to them.
One way of finding out how much students know or understand is to begin brainstorming ideas. I like to use a KWL chart (what the students already know, what they want to learn, and in the end what they have learned or how have their ideas or opinions changed?). I begin with asking what the students think they know about farming, migrant labor, and how someone their age would be a part of all that. Then the discussion can lead to what topics students want to learn about. Through this discussion students can begin to explore questions such as, “Where do migrant workers live, do their children go to school,” and so on.
Now that the students have all these ideas in their heads I introduce Jessica Govea. Her story begins with what life was like for the farm workers while she lived near Bakersfield, California (which I would point to on a map). She picked fruits and vegetables with her mother starting at the age of four. She eventually goes on to meet and work for Cesar Chavez as a teenager. At this point I want to plant Cesar Chavez’s name in my students’ minds for a later discussion of his work with the United Farm Workers.
For now, I let Jessica’s story reveal how she and her mother would wake up in the dark, and put on their homemade clothes in hopes to find work that day. At the end of the story I like to ask, what do you remember about what I read to you? This discussion should be coupled with the KWL chart so students can add to what they have learned and change what they may have thought. Before students begin writing, we create a Venn diagram displaying Jessica’s life, the student’s life, and the similarities between the two. Once the diagram is in place students can begin writing about how their personal lives are similar and different to Jessica’s and they will complete a compare and contrast writing assignment.
In the second lesson plan,
Family Stories
, students will learn social history through their family’s own narratives. After I read
Family Pictures/Cuadros de familia
by Carmen Lomas Garza, students will be asked to interview their family members, in order to create their own historical narratives. A letter sent home prior to the beginning of this lesson would be helpful to explain to the parents or guardians what type of information might be of interest to the students. Students will generate their own questions in class, so that everyone will have an understanding of what the interviewer should be trying to find out. Most students will need to conduct their interview in Spanish, so it would be helpful to produce questions in both Spanish and English.
This is probably the first time many students will be asked to question family structure and for some students this could become complicated. The idea of the unit is not to make anyone feel uncomfortable or left out. It is designed as a way to help students understand how much they have to offer, no matter who it is their living with. In class some basic questions that can begin discussions are, “Where were you born?” This question always is a source of pride because many were born in places like Puerto Rico, México, and El Salvador and although many have not been there since their birth they show a great affection for these places. Other questions would include, “How old are you?” “Where do you live?” “How many brothers or sisters do you have?” All of these questions and answers can be collected in the student’s journals. After our discussion it would be important for me to model what the end result of my interview would look like in order to take students beyond the data collecting process.
My example may begin; “My aunt Nancy was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico. When she was one, her family moved to a house in New Haven, Connecticut, on Orchard Street. That’s where her three younger sisters were born--Lisa, Teresa, and Nina. Because she was the oldest she was responsible for making sure everyone got up on time for school. “
Mami
made us breakfast before she left for work at the hospital,” she told me. “And
Papi
slept because he worked at night at the post office.” She and her sisters had to be very quiet when they left for school in the mornings. Growing up my aunt loved Tuesdays; it was her favorite day, because
abuela
would pick up the children from school and take them to her house. She had a big backyard with chickens. My aunt Nancy told me a story that no one else in the family knows. One day when she was in the backyard with the chickens …” and so on.
It is important to make sure students understand that they are using all the information they have collected to write their own original family story. I have found that students would rather copy the model. It is also essential to provide them with lots of encouragement and guidance. Encouraging students to obtain personal and historical information through photographs, videos, and oral history will support the student’s involvement in the research and help them see why their story is so unique.
Through this unit students will learn how to gather data. They will use oral communication in conjunction with writing, retelling, describing, summarizing, narrating, and reporting. Students can include with their paper a family album that illustrates a family tree or family artifacts. I believe that this could be a meaningful assignment for the students because it gives them a record of how they viewed their family when they were in third grade.
Returning to the book
We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History
by Phillip Hoose brings me to my third lesson,
Local History
. This lesson also fits in nicely with many of the third grade history standards in New Haven. Three standards that I will focus on are: identifying specific time periods in New Haven County’s history, using a timeline to display a sequence of events, and explain how rights and responsibilities have changed over time (18). Explaining rights and responsibilities will be the focus of the writing prompt in this lesson. One particular story from the book,
We Were There …,
narrates the life of Connecticut local Joseph Plumb Martin of Milford, Connecticut. It is important to set up some background information for the students in order to help them understand the sequence. This is the perfect opportunity to set up a time line. The timeline will be a visual guide to help student’s perspective. Facilitating the understanding will require my asking questions such as, “Who was involved in this war?” “What were some of the factors that began the war? “How was it fought?” “Where was it fought?” Here is another opportunity to use the map and point out where Connecticut is and were the Revolutionary War was fought.
Once students have knowledge of the time period, place and circumstances, discussion can begin on rights and responsibilities. These two ideas shouldn’t be foreign to students because these types of discussions happen on the first day of school and I would use this as an opportunity to review the real rights and responsibilities of the students in the classroom and in the school. From there we can explore what are our rights and responsibilities are in our community. After reading Joseph Martin’s story, I ask what you remember about what I read to you. We can then begin discussion on what types of rights would the colonist have lost or gained by rebelling against England? What were J.P. Martin’s feelings about going to war? What about the fact that he was fourteen? Would going to war be something a fourteen year old could do today? What rights do the students feel are worth fighting for? How many of their rights are they responsible for? What is the connection between rights and responsibilities?
Before students begin the writing assignment, I’d make a chart with two columns. First column would be entitled
Rights and Responsibilities Then
and the second column would be
Rights and Responsibilities Today
. Once students have come up with their own lists from the information in the reading and our group discussion they’ll be ready to begin the writing task, how rights and responsibilities have changed over time. After students have completed the assignment they will read it aloud to the class. This would make a nice collection of work to add to the student-author library.
Lesson IV,
Real People,
this lesson will help students obtain personal and historical information through other students’ published writings. After reading
Kids Explore America’s Hispanic Heritage
by the Westridge Young Writers Workshop, students will focus on the chapter entitled “Real People--Hispanics in America Today.” This chapter includes many examples of student interviews and examples of people who help in their communities. Hispanic heritage is just one of the themes in this series, also available;
Kids Explore America’s Japanese American Heritage
and
Kids Explore
Native American Heritage
.
The discussions of real people will reintroduction Cesar Chavez, who is also mentioned in this book. For this lesson the discussion and writing will lead into questions about how organizations benefit people living in the community, New Haven curriculum civics’ standard (16). I think it is interesting that Cesar Chavez was not only Chicano, but he became a great community leader and created an organization that still helps migrant workers of all cultures. I believe he is a good role-model for my students to appreciate.
Here is an opportunity for students to do research at the library. Once again students have to collect data. After much discussion about Cesar Chavez, what his place in history is and why, I would create a web placing Cesar Chavez’s name in the center, then I would ask the students to brainstorm on all the different causes he was involved in like the United Farm Workers Union and the Civil Rights movement. These titles would be attached to his name, like balloons; by breaking the information down into manageable parts students can get better visual perspective. Using my Cesar Chavez web I can create a writing model. After this exercise students will be sent to the library to research other people who have created organizations that benefit the community and create their own webs of information. Students will answer the question how do these organizations benefit other people? Some examples of organizations would be the Sierra Club or America’s Civil Liberties Union. This type of research is wonderful to share with the class orally because it gives the students the opportunity to teach a particular subject that they are now experts on.
Students again learn social history through the narrative story, in lesson V,
Through My Eyes
by Ruby Bridges. Students discuss the biography of Ruby Bridges. Who was Ruby Bridges? What is a social activist and how does a six-year-old girl become one? What would they, the students, have done if they had been in the same position?
After reading the story to my students I ask, “What do you remember about what I just read to you?” I would like to gear the discussion towards Ruby’s courage. The reason I like the story of Ruby Bridges so much is because she is an example of how age has nothing to do with courage and that through her bravery she created history. I want my students to know that they have the strength within themselves and that they are capable of achieving greatness. There is no academic strand for achieving greatness, but I believe that students need to be surrounded and taught that the opportunity is there. So after much discussion on the Civil Rights movement and what it meant to so many people, especially African Americans, I would like their writing to focus on what does greatness mean to them. Is it helping a younger sibling with their homework? Is it cleaning up an empty lot and helping create a community garden? Is it collecting toys for sick children in a hospital? Is it fighting for what you believe in? I want them to think about what kind of person they want to be. Because no matter what they become an artist, teacher, or scientist, who they are as human beings is much more important.
Children in History: Compare and Contrast Writing Lesson I
Objective:
Based on what was read, compare and contrast a day in your life with the child’s life in the story. Identify the responsibilities of that child. How are they different from your own? How are they the same? Use KWL chart.
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Students will identify the responsibilities of the child in this autobiography and
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compare them to their responsibilities.
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Students will answer instructional questions and listen attentively.
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Students will identify key details and concepts, using both verbal and non-verbal responses.
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Students will discuss their own story ideas as a class.
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Students will write legible sentences about themselves in similar or contrasting events.
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Students will create cohesive paragraphs that develop a central idea with consistent use of Standard English grammatical rules.
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Students will produce a narrative writing that can be understood when read regardless of the inclusion of some inconsistent use of standard grammatical forms.
Materials:
We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History, by Phillip Hoose
Writing journals*
Map of California
*writing journals are for students to record class discussions that take place. Writings will be in the first person-diary-format, but students can mix dairy entries with original stories.
Family Stories: Descriptive Writing Lesson II
Objective:
Discuss what an interview is. What does an interviewer do? What types of questions does one ask in an interview? Create a worksheet that includes the questions that come out of the discussion. Questions will include who, what, when, where, why, and how. Make sure all events are there to complete the story.
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Students will discuss their interview questions as a class.
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Students will write legible sentences about their subject while describing events.
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Students will create cohesive paragraphs that develop a central idea with consistent use of Standard English grammatical form rules.
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Students will produce narrative writing that can be understood when read regardless of the inclusion of some inconsistent use of standard grammatical forms.
Materials:
Family Pictures/Cuadros de familia
by Carmen Lomas Garza
Writing journals
Local History Lesson III
Objective:
Explain how rights and responsibilities have changed over time. Is there a difference between rights and responsibilities?
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Students will create a time line in order to understand the sequence of events.
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Students will write legible informative sentences in narrative form.
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Students will create cohesive paragraphs that develop a central idea with consistent use of Standard English grammatical form rules.
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Students will produce a narrative writing that can be understood when read regardless of the inclusion of some inconsistent use of standard grammatical forms.
Materials:
We Were There, Too! Young People in U.S. History
, by Phillip Hoose
Writing journals
Map of the East coast and Europe
Real People Lesson IV
Objective:
What does this organization do? Who are the people behind them? How to they help people?
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Students will use text to integrate language and concepts of reading with writing activities.
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Students will discuss as a class what is being read in text.
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Students will write legible sentences about their subject in describing events.
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Students will create cohesive paragraphs that develop a central idea with consistent use of Standard English grammatical form rules.
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Students will produce a narrative writing that can be understood when read regardless of the inclusion of some inconsistent use of standard grammatical forms.
Materials:
Kids Explore America’s Hispanic Heritage
by the Westridge Young Writers Workshop
Writing journals
Current American History Lesson V
Objective:
What was the Civil Rights movement? What made Ruby Bridges a heroine? How will you achieve your moment of greatness?
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Students will try to identify with her life and her contribution to the American culture
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and the civil rights movement.
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Students will discuss their own story ideas as a class.
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Students will write legible sentences in narrative form.
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Students will create cohesive paragraphs that develop a central idea with consistent use of Standard English grammatical form rules.
-
Students will produce a narrative writing that can be understood when read, regardless of the inclusion of some inconsistent use of standard grammatical forms.
Materials:
Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges
Writing journals
