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8/2/2019 INSIDER-LitCircModel1

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Chira Husky

Dr. Sherry

Literature for Young Adults

INSIDERS Assignment


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Table of Contents

Student Artifacts..3

Analysis of Surveys..12

Rationale13

Designing Instruction.15

Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Unit Assessment


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Analysis of Student Surveys

Students Least Favorite Reading Materials

Students Favorite Reading Materials

Note: Students could list multiple things in both of these survey categories.

StudentInterests

Sports

Friends

Shopping

Raving

Gaming

-

RomanceNovels

"Boring"Books

TextBooks

ThrillersComedies

SportsMagazinesAcons

WikiArcles"Intense"Books

"Interesng"Books

Comment [1]: Love the way youve summathe info using these visuals J


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Rationale

I was assigned nine 9th

grade students for the Online Journal Exchange project.

My group consisted of six boys and three girls with Lexile levels ranging from

806-1120. In analyzing the surveys filled out by these students, I found two

aspects to be the most useful in determining what books to propose to these

students and how exactly I would get them engaged: their interests and

favorite/least favorite reading materials. As a student myself, I know how hard it

is to engage in a story that I do not find particularly interesting. Therefore, I felt

making a pie chart of the students interests would help me to get a general

understanding of how to link the reading material to what they like. Of course, the

results displayed above did not turn out to be black and white. These students

interests varied from snowboarding and martial arts to gaming, raving and

shopping. After discovering this diversity, I chose to focus my findings in relation

to the students favorite reading materials. Although these results were just as

assorted, I picked up on some commonalities. Many of the students wanted to read

something that was not boring or romantic but thrilling and intense. Therefore, I

aimed to propose chilling novels that would compel these students. However, I did

not want to provide them with just any scary, gripping story. I wanted them to be

able to relate to the characters as well. Due to the fact that these students have

different interests, I chose to focus on something they all have in common: their

age and their role as high school students.

I initially proposed four different books to my group on Goodreads: The

Gardnerby S.A Bodeen, Crash into Me by Albert Borris, Girl, Stolen by April

Henry, andBreaking Pointby Alex Flinn. Each of these novels incorporates

teenage characters faced with a daunting predicament, discovery, or destination.

Once I encouraged the students to take a vote, they choseBreaking Point. Out of

all the books I proposed, I believeBreaking Pointis the one teens can relate to the

Comment [2]: AUDIENCE J

Comment [3]: PURPOSE J


I like how you worked this out J


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most. This story depicts the experience of Paul Richmond, the new kid at

snobby private high school in Miami. Paul struggles with being abandoned by his

father, dealing with and caring for his depressed mother, and being bullied. Pauls

only wish is to be popular at school. However, his wish takes a dangerous turn

when it comes true because the only way to fit in at Gate is to be friends with

Charlie Good who is described by Binky, an unpopular girl who immediately

befriends Paul, as trouble. Students in todays schools face parental issues,

bullying, peer pressure, and the struggle to fit in on a regular basis. As the world

was explicitly reminded this past fall with the handful of student suicides due to

bullying, teens can reach a breaking point.

I believe that the only way to fix these societal problems is to address them and

that the classroom is the perfect place to start. This is especially beneficial in

accordance with a ninth grade audience because they are just arriving to high

school. I would useBreaking Pointby Alex Flinn to start off a unit also requiring

student to read another novel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, a short story,Bernice

Bobs Her Hairby F. Scott Fitzgerald, and a poetry section containing We Real

Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks. The contents of the unit paired with real world

media elements can effectively show students that peer pressure, teen violence, and

bullying are very serious and very real issues in the environment that they currently

inhabit on a usual basis: secondary school. This realization can lead possibly help

lead to students to identify the sources of the problem and motivate them to take a

stand.Breaking Pointwould serve as a good base for this unit because students can

relate to its content and setting in the sense of its fairly recent publication. It also

focuses thoroughly on the theme of being a new comer and fitting in which it

perfect for a ninth grade audience who is still getting used to the high school

environment. Overall,Breaking Pointprovokes students to think about what a


Like how you relate this to your particular stud

first, and then also situate in relation to larger

societal issues J


Comment [7]: PURPOSE JLike how youre thinking about pairing this tex

other curricular materials to teach something th

relevant for both students and for schooling J

What makes this a topic to be taught in English

Language Arts?



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breaking point is, how one gets to that point, and what the consequences of

breaking are.

Big Question forBreaking Point

What is a breaking point and what leads one to break?

Lesson 1

Introduction to Breaking Point

Objectives:

1) Having read the prologue and chapters 1-4 inBreaking Point, students willbe able to provide a definition of a breaking point in their own words.

2) Through small-group work, students will construct character predictionbulletin boards for Paul, Charlie, David, Binky, and Pauls Mom in order to

become better acquainted with the main characters ofBreaking Point. They

will add to these boards throughout their reading to depict character

development.

Materials:Breaking Point, cleared-off bulletin boards, markers, construction

paper, glue, staplers, scissors, voices and bodies.

Activities:

1) The words breaking point will be written on the board. Students will beassigned to write in their daily journals about how they would define this

phrase and what it means to them. After the students share their answers,

we, as a class, will determine traits of a breaking point in relation to our text

and write them on the board. (10 minutes)

2) The class will be split into five groups. Each group will become an experton an important character inBreaking Point: Paul, Charlie, David, Binky,

Comment [9]: Like how this builds up to yoBig Question J

Comment [10]: GENRE JLike the way this is both general and specific to

text, as well as open-ended and bounded enoug

engage students in a Unit of inquiry J

Comment [11]: GENRE JLike how this relates to your Big Question and

breaks it down into sma ller, manageable pieces

build on each otherJ

Comment [12]: GENRE J

Great way to scaffoldto make sure each lesso

builds on the previous J

Do each of these characters have a breaking po


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and Pauls Mom. Using their text, they will uncover character traits, pick

out key passages that define their character, create a picture of what they

believe that character looks like, and make predictions about their

characters role in the text. (25 minutes)

3) Each group will present and discuss their bulletin boards. As a class, we willreflect on and debate over their predictions. (8 minutes)

4) Ask the students to write one new thing they learned about a character, otherthan the one they were assigned, on a small piece of paper and have them

hand it in as a ticket-out-the door. (2 minutes)


Like how this helps students to learn strategies will apply not only to this text but to others as w

focusing on character development, making

predictions J

Comment [14]: GENREI like this as an assessmenttells me somethin

about whatyoull do to assess. J

Now, how will you know whether students hav

your objectives? That is, what are you looking f

from the bulletin boards and tickets? Consider:

possible that someone could participate in each

those and still not get what you wanted them

So what would let you assess whether students

learned?


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Lesson 2

Relating Breaking Point to Todays World

Objectives:

1) Having readBreaking Point, students will be able to engage in a whole-classdiscussion about acts of violence in schools today in relation to Breaking

Point.

2) Using music lyrics, video game pictures, magazine and newspaper articles,andBreaking Point, students, after being split into groups of three, will

construct a collage tying together the violence and act of breaking in the

text with real world events and media.

Materials:Breaking Point, selectively chosen violent music lyrics and video game

pictures, magazine and newspaper articles on bullying, Columbine, recent teen

suicides, etc., markers, posters, tape, voices and bodies.

Activities:

1) The words school violence will be placed on the board. Students will writein their daily journals about what this phrase means in todays society. (8

minutes)

2) As a class, we will discuss bullying and other recent acts of violence intodays schools. Questions guiding discussion will be as follows: Do the

students commit these acts because theyve reached their breaking point?

What leads one to break? Is it the students fault or do those whove

pushed the student so far play a role too? Who breaks in Breaking Point

and how (Paul, Charlie, David, Pauls Mom, etc.)? (12 minutes)

3) Pose the question: So what causes violence? What influences are theresurrounding students on a daily basis? Split students up into groups of three

Comment [15]: PURPOSE JLove this means of connecting to your BQ on a

larger scale and engaging visual/spatial intelligJ


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and provide them with the necessary materials to create a collage that will tie

together authentic news and magazine articles about bullying and violence,

violent media influences, and quotes and character traits from Breaking

Pointin order to show the texts relation to what is happening in todays

world. (20 minutes)

4) After each poster is finished and displayed students will be given theopportunity to present and discuss their posters. Ask students to take a

moment to reflect on the steps they would take to stop school violence. (10

minutes)

Assessment: Do the students journal entries contain sincere reflection and effort.

Do students posters reflect accurate understanding of the text? Did they use this

knowledge in order to linkBreaking Pointto real world events and influences

present in their daily lives?

Lesson 3

Comment [16]: GENRE JLike that youve used a similar routine in this le

to allow students to build on the previous one a

gain proficiency at using this collaborative straJ

Comment [17]: GENRETo me, these first two arent as specific as the n

sentence, which is both simple and perfect.


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Conclusion of Breaking Point

Objectives:

1) After readingBreaking Point, students will use their knowledge of the textand of the act of breaking as well as their character boards in order to

discuss which characters broke and what lead to this occurrence.

2) Through whole-class discussion, students will analyze Flinns conclusion ofBreaking Point and decide whether or not this ending was effective as well

as whether or not they agree with the fate of the main characters.

3) Students will be able to get a comprehensive understanding of characterdevelopment in finishing their bulletin boards.

Materials: Breaking Point, voices and bodies.

Activities:

1) Students will be instructed to write in their daily journals about theirresponse to the ending ofBreaking Point. (5 minutes)

2) Discuss the students thoughts on the conclusion of the novel. Did itresonate with them? Why or why not? (5 minutes)

3) Transition discussion topic to that of the characters and relating to thetext. Guide coverage with questions such as: Which characters reached

their breaking point and how? What would you do if you were in Pauls

shoes? Did the characters get what they deserved? What was the author

trying to convey with the opposite fates of Charlie and Paul? (15

minutes)

4) Allow students time to revisit their designated story boards. Have themadd their characters fate to the board in order to bring a close to

character development and consider their predictions from the beginning

of the novel. (10 minutes)

Comment [18]: GENRE JLike that you return to this earlier student work

means of showing them what theyve learned J

Comment [19]: On Goodreads, some studenseemed frustrated/discouraged by the ending of

novel. This is not necessarily a bad thing

sometimes its good for a story to make us mabuthow would you handle this kind of reactio

a teacher?


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5) Ask the students to take out a sheet of paper and write about theirpredictions from the beginning of the novel. Did they end up being

accurate? Ask them to predict what would happen if the story would

continue (10 minutes).

6) Collect students answers as their ticket-out- the door.

Assessment: Do students journals and discussion reflect knowledge of the text as

well as the characters? Do students finished character bulletin boards demonstrate

understanding of development and accuracy?

Unit Assessment

Due to the fact that the lessons above would be taught as a part of a larger unit

also covering The Outsiders,Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and We Real Cool, I would

require that students unit assessment would assess learning on multiple levels of

Blooms taxonomy. In other words, the students would be given a comprehension

test assessing their knowledge, comprehension, and application of the unit.

However, I would ask the students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the work

we have covered in with an essay prompt:

Many of the works we have covered in this unit depict characters struggling with fitting in,

being bullied, teen violence etc.Youre task is to select two characters from different works and

compose a 2-4 page compare and contrast paper. How are these characters similar (Are they

both bullied? Are they both bullies? Etc.)? How are they different (Does one of them change inthe end? Do they encounter opposite fates Etc.)? You can cover the basic traits of the characters

you choose but do not forget to dig deeper and support your work using quotations!

Criterion 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0

Purpose Thoroughly and clearly interprets research into final product X

Audience Uses research to design a product suited to young adults X

Genre Uses techniques and conventions of the genre suited to the task X

Engagement demonstrates self-awareness and willingness to take risks X

Grade: 4.0

Comment [20]: Love the way this builds onearlier work, gets even more mileage out of it J

Comment [21]: GENRE JRevisiting and affirming a routineJ

Comment [22]: What do knowledge andaccuracy mean to you? Could this assessmen

applied to any lesson about any text? Compare

Student bulletin boards should trace developm

each character, including his/her breaking poin

using textual evidence from the novel (for exam

Charlies overhearing his parents conversation

about his birth).

Comment [23]: GENRE JLike that youre assessing the unit with a

compare/contrast assignmentJ

I can see how this essay addresses the subject o

fitting in and school violencehow does it rela

your Big Question? What makes this the best w

assess what students have learned toward that

purpose?

Kelsey, this sounds like a wonderful unitI lik

how youve used a thoughtful analysis of yourAUDIENCE and a clear PURPOSE to guide yo

design of lessons that make use of the planning

GENRE by relating to and building toward a B

Question J

Now, what asse ssment(s) would help you know

whether students had met your objectives and w

theyd learned about that BQ? I love the way yo

posed questions, and I especially like the specif

ones you use as assessmentscan you do that f

each lesson and make sure those questions rela

back to your BQ?

Thanks for your good workhave a great sum

and see you next year! J


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