Artifact # 5
Artifact 5
Literature Circles Unit Plan:
This is a unit plan based on students reading books appropriate to their level and then participating in a discussion involving their book.
Context:
In literature circles, students are put into groups based on their
reading level, then all students read books that are in the same genre
or subject area. After reading the books, students then discuss the ideas
presented in their books by participating in different jobs. These jobs
are Discussion Director, Word Wizard, Passage Picker, Character Sketcher,
and Investigator. Discussion Director leads the discussion; Word
Wizard defines vocabulary found in the book, and Passage Picker picks out
passages that are important to the story. Character Sketcher describes
a character and draws a picture of them, while Investigator finds more
information about the subject, usually using the Internet. I created this
unit plan in my Language and Literature in the Elementary school during
my block of education classes. In the class we put the literature circles
onto the Internet as its own web page.
Impact:
When I become a teacher, literature circles will be the main teaching
strategy I use to introduce literature to children. Literature circles
fulfill so many competencies in the NCSCS, so students would learn a lot.
As a teacher I will use this literature circle unit plan as a model for
use in the classroom. In this unit plan, I have done the jobs the
students would do in the classroom. I can use this unit plan to show students
examples of how the literature circle works.
Alignment:
Since this unit plan will be on the Internet, other teachers will be
able to access this web page. I will be communicating with people
who access this web page using media and technology (Tech
Comp 11.1).
For the Investigator job in Literature circles, students must investigate Internet sites listed on my web page. Students must find locate and analyze the material on the Internet to answer the questions that I have provided for them. Students must present this information to their group, so they are communicating their results (Tech Comp 12.1).
I will teach students how to do their jobs within the unit plan, and
also teach them how to communicate with their groups. I will organize the
groups and what books they will read. I will also sit with each of the
groups while they are discussing their books to ensure they stay on task.
This organizational and management strategies will help students to collaborate
in an active way (Tech Comp 12.5).
In the unit plan I created, the books the students read are in the genre of historical fiction. Since it is of this genre social studies is integrated into the curriculum, while technology is integrated through the job of investigator. Since all students read books on their level, this unit plan is relevant to all learners. For the Investigator job students find information on the Internet, and then express this information to their group. (Tech Comp 12.7).
In this unit plan, I show that I understand students learn in different ways and can be on different levels of learning. I show this by creating different reading levels for each of the students to be placed into. This shows that I am adapting my unit to fit the needs of divers learners (Standard # 3).
When creating this unit plan, I realized that children are on different
levels of learning. Since I understood this, I created different reading
levels for students to be in while working in this literature circle. Since
I provided varying levels of books for children, I provided opportunities
that supported their intellectual, social, and personal development. It
supports their intellectual development because students are reading and
thinking at a deeper level. It supports the social development because
students are discussing with each other what has happened with their book.
It supports their personal development because students are learning new
things and growing in their learning. (Standard
#2).