I intend to teach this unit during a four or five week period of study in the fall as an introduction to a year-long theme of American diversity.
The first objective is for my students to learn about the cultural diversity in this country through a study of the people who represent diverse Americans and geographical regions of the United States such as the North, the South, and the West. My students will study these regions in more detail during the remainder of the year and gain an understanding of the diverse voices that are present in American literature. Students will acquire these skills as they read, listen, and discuss different genres of writing including poetry, fiction, non-fiction, folktales, children's picture books, biographies, and speeches from distinct Americans.
The second objective is for my students to increase their second language acquisition skills as they engage in cooperative and student-centered activities. They will enhance their English language skills including fluency, vocabulary development, and grammatical competence.
The third objective is for students to gain an understanding of the academic language used in a literature study. Students will master this third goal of understanding different literary genres such as: realistic fiction, speeches, biographies, and poetry and through an analysis of the author's craft. Students will learn various literary devices that writers use such as: rhyme, metaphors, similes, repetition, and imagery. Students will also respond orally and in writing to the readings as they identify the theme and the author's purpose for writing. Students will learn to respond to written works by making personal connections, using higher order thinking skills, and making text-to-text comparisons. These are specific literacy skills that fourth grade students must master in order to succeed on the Connecticut Mastery Test. This unit will also provide students opportunities to write and explore their own voices in their writing.
Students will also make personal connections between the readings and their own immigrant experiences. They will also connect their learning in this unit to other areas of the curriculum. For example, students will read and draw maps, make and interpret timelines, and illustrate their own writings. Throughout the unit students will have the opportunity to interact with their classmates, work independently, and share their work that result from their learning experiences. Students will study the works of: Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, as well as the speeches of Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King, Native-American writers and biographies of famous Americans such as Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, and Jackie Robinson.
Throughout the unit of study, students will engage in learning activities that are directly connected to district curriculum and state standards regarding expected learning outcomes in language arts. Also, these learning outcomes are aligned with the skills tested on the Connecticut Mastery Examination. Students will have an opportunity to use higher order thinking skills as they participate in the learning tasks.
Students will converse their classmates as they are involved in lessons that promote self-understanding, self- esteem, and provide opportunities to utilize their emerging oral and written language and content skills. My students will engage in all areas of language development (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) as they read stories, poems and speeches; listen to storytellers; sing songs; and even dramatize pieces of writing. They will also write their responses to the readings in a daily journal and share their writings with classmates.
Students will also use graphic organizers to organize information prior, during, and after reading activities. I will help students build background, and tap into my students' prior knowledge in order to bridge their former learning with the new concepts and experiences. Some of the graphic organizers that I will use with my students include: Venn Diagrams, a Comparison Matrix, a Timeline, a KWL chart that include sections: what I know, what I want to know, and what I learned.
