Artifact 2

Artifact
Literature Circle Unit: during this unit, students will have many different jobs to complete while reading their books. These jobs will help them discuss in their groups the interesting facts they have found in their readings. Teachers will use these jobs to incorporate creative writing and to create a database on children's literature.

Context
This unit plan was created while I was completing my pre-service training at Appalachian State University.

Impact
This unit plan encompasses many aspects of many curriculums. English/Language Arts, Social Studies, Computer Skills, are just a few examples. The English/Language Arts is met when the students are taught on their reading levels and the jobs the do with in the lit. circle requires creative writing. The Social Studies Curriculum is met when the historical fiction books that are being read in the lit. circle are the topic that is being taught in social studies. This is also a main area of research, which meets the Computer Skills curriculum. The Internet is a resource for the student to use while researching topics for their jobs. There are so many ways that subjects are being integrated and skills that students are learning. Discussion is also a principal factor in literature circles. Students discuss within their reading level groups all aspects of a book. This allows the book to be covered thoroughly. Students also enjoy watching a video about the time period they are studying during this lesson. This makes the students connect the information in the book and on the video.

Alignment
This literature circle unit allows for access to resources for planning instruction by using telecommunications. The teacher will access the Internet to research topics and lesson ideas to be used during the unit plan (Tech. Comp. 10.3). This unit also allows teachers to organize strategies that support active involvement, and collaboration (Tech. Comp. 12.5). By showing a video the teacher is using television resources that support the curriculum (Tech. Comp. 10.2). This unit shows that the teacher can locate, evaluate and select appropriate teaching and or learning resources and curriculum materials for the content area and the target learners (Tech. Comp. 10.6). The teacher shows this by using videotapes, local experts, primary documents and artifacts, texts, reference books, literature and other print sources. The video also allows the teacher to incorporate educational television into the literature circle lesson (Tech. Comp. 12.6). By using this unit in their classroom, the teacher understands central concepts, and structures to the reading, writing, and social studies lessons they teach and by doing this they create learning experiences that make the subject matter meaningful for students (INTASC #1). Students are allowed to discuss, draw from, and question each other while doing this unit. This is much different from a normal class lesson. Furthermore the teacher understands how students differ in their approaches to learning, and by having the different reading level groups shows that they are adapted to diverse learners (INTASC #3). The amount and variety of curriculum that is covered by using this literature circle lesson demonstrates that the teacher plans instruction based on the subject matter, students and the curriculum goals (INTASC #7).