Artifact # 5
Literature Circle Unit Plan: an on-line, historical fiction unit plan for fifth graders that enables students on different reading levels to learn and discuss language arts concepts.
Context
This unit plan was created as part of my language arts methods class.
In this plan, the students will read a book that is on their reading level.
Next, they are given jobs to do. The discussion director directs
discussions in the literature circle group. The word wizard defines
vocabulary in the book. The passage picker picks out important passages
in the story. The character sketcher describes important characters.
Finally, the investigator researches important information about the subject
of the book. In this plan, the books all went along with Colonial
Life and the Revolutionary War period.
Impact
This unit plan corresponds to several objectives in the NC Standard
Course of Study for Language Arts as well as Social Studies. It enables
students to discuss children’s literature in small groups. Since
it is part of a web page, it will be a valuable resource to teachers who
are interested in doing Literature Circles. It is a detailed plan
for four different reading levels so that there is differential instruction.
It is also is linked to four correlating social studies lesson plans.
Alignment
In the job, investigator, students are required to locate and analyze
information dealing with the assigned topic on the internet. They
also have to draw conclusions to decide what to share with their discussion
group (Tech Comp 12.1).
Group collaboration is encouraged in this unit plan because all of
the jobs have to ask questions and teach each other their jobs (Tech
Comp 12.5).
This unit is a valuable learning experience where students learn many
objectives from the Language Arts NC Standard Course of Study. Technology
is used in the Investigator's job for research, and learning expression
is encouraged with all of the jobs (Tech Comp
12.7).
This artifact demonstrates my ability to communicate using media and
technology because as a web site, it is accessible to all teachers/faculty
to learn about how to teach this unit of Literature Circles (Tech
Comp 11.1).
Each book or group of books is tailored to a specific reading level.
Since they all deal with the same subject, this unit shows my ability to
adapt lessons to fit the needs of diverse learners. There are also
more adaptations throughout the unit. One job that can be administered
is the illustrator. Students who learn best visually or have certain
artistic talents can "shine" in this job. Illustrations are also
drawn in the word wizard and character sketcher jobs. Furthermore,
on the web site, there is a section about special needs adaptations (INTASC
#3).