Medea E. Lamberti-Sanchez
It is the goal of the unit for the students to write a research-based, specific, informational paper, or better known as the I-search paper, on medical technology from the turn of the century to the present, or the lives of women from the past to the present, with a specific purpose that includes a claim, an introduction, and supporting reasons using adequate elaboration of the material that is learned throughout the duration of the unit. The struggling writers will use the RAFT. (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) model for writing in which students choose a perspective to write from like a soldier, a scientist, a woman, and will choose the format that they would like to write it in like a letter, a journal entry, or an article on a specific topic.
The writing will have a clear audience and will be shared with their peers, and their teacher in order to edit and revise the piece of written work. Even though it is a research based assignment, the paper can be written in the RAFT format, or the standard research format. The book is also taught during the third marking period, so the writings and the information from the book will be closely tied together. The teacher’s goal is to guide the students through the writing with the use of graphic organizers, mini grammar lessons, and use of other writing techniques that the students can use to monitor their writing. All of the lessons presented on writing will be organized in their writing folders and notebook.
The second goal of the unit is for the students to work cooperatively in smaller groups to write, illustrate using photographs, collages, or hand-drawn pictures, and explain the chronological events of the Spanish American War. The goal will be to look at the pieces of literature that are given to them by the teacher, and their own research on the war, and highlight the most important pieces of this information to use. The goal of the students will be to plan the important events together, and be able to verbally and pictorially explain them. The students will timelines so that they can follow it in case they become overwhelmed with the abundance of information they get from their resources. There will be a rubric and a guide to specifically serve as an assessment tool for both the students and the teacher to ensure that directions are being followed accurately and carefully. It will be a difficult task and may be modified or adapted to the teacher’s and students’ needs. The goals of both these tasks comply with the Reading and writing standards of the Common Core framework and will fulfill the required tasks, both writing and performance, for the third marking term as outlined in the New Haven Public Schools district curriculum.
