In this unit, students are asked to make observations, make inferences and draw conclusions based on those observations, and then support their conclusions with additional evidence from the text. The text is sometimes a visual text (e.g., The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere) and sometimes a written text (e.g., "A Matter of Scale"). These activities contribute to teaching Connecticut Standards 1.1.d., 1.1.e, and 1.1.f, in which students are supposed to:
d. identify, use and analyze text structures.
e. draw conclusions and use evidence to substantiate them by using texts heard, read
and viewed.
f. make and justify inferences from explicit and or implicit information.
In addition, students are asked to discuss visual texts with each other, with very little input from the teacher. Differing viewpoints naturally arise in such open--ended discussions, so students participate in discussions that fulfill Standards 1.4.a and 1.4.b because they:
a. respond to the ideas of others and recognize the validity of differing views.
b. persuade listeners about judgments and opinions of works read, written and
viewed.
During discussion, when students are asked to provide supporting evidence for their claims based on their observations of a visual or written text, they are being asked to participate in tasks aligned with Standard 3.1.a:
a. use oral language with clarity, voice and fluency to communicate a message.
If the post--test option chosen by the teacher is to revise the pre--test, then students would also participate in a task aligned with Standard 3.2.c:
c. revise texts for organization, elaboration, fluency and clarity.
