Concept Unit Day Four

Mini-Inquiry, Embedded Technology

Context:
English 9
Ninth Grade
90 minutes
Lesson Plan Type: Summary
Objective
A. UNDERSTAND:
Part of active reading is
seeking out information
to clarify and enrich our
reading of texts or
media.
COGNITIVE:
B. Because what we ask
defines what answers
we find, it is important
to ask the right
questions.
C. Specific (closed)
questions help to gather
information; analysis
(open) questions help to
develop opinions from
information.
D. Online resources can
be useful means to
answer questions
(research).
E. Strategies to find,
evaluate, and select
appropriate sources for
the collection of
information.
AFFECTIVE:
F. Appreciate the
benefits and
shortcomings of online
media as a research
tool.
PERFORMATIVE:
G. Locate sources in
electronic media to

SOLs
9.1 The
student will
make planned
oral
presentations
independently
and in small
groups.
9.8 The
student will use
print,
electronic
databases,
online
resources, and
other media to
access
information to
create a
research
product.
(c) Find,
evaluate, and
select
appropriate
sources to
access
information
and answer
questions.

Assessment
DIAGNOSTIC:
Students will demonstrate
what they know about using
keywords and phrases in
researching online during our
whole-class brain-dump
section. (A, B, C, D, E,) They
will demonstrate what they
know about the benefits and
shortcomings of online media
as a research tool and how to
tell the difference between
reliable and unreliable sources
during their group research
time (F, G, H).
FORMATIVE:
Students will demonstrate
progress towards our goals by
composing questions to guide
their inquiry (A, B) and noting
which sources they used to
find the answers during groupwork (C, D, E, F, G, H).
SUMMATIVE:
Students will demonstrate the
findings of their inquiry
through short presentations to
the class where they will
describe their questions and
the answers they gathered (A,
B, C, D). During this time they
will explain what they found
from their electronic sources
and what information they
incorporated based on their
questions (E, F, G, H).

address obtain reliable

information.
H. Use electronic
resources to develop
group presentations.
I. UNDERSTAND:
Part of active writing
involves selecting a
suitable and exhaustible
topic for writing.
COGNITIVE:
J. Successful texts are
those that manage to
exhaust their topics
within the confines of
the text.
K. How to funnel their
ideas down to a
manageable crux for
composition through
topic blasting.
AFFECTIVE:
L. Be able to pinpoint
the portion of their
chosen topic that means
the most to them.
PERFORMATIVE:
M. Develop a specific
topic for the prescribed
audience and purpose.
N. Identify the
appropriate genre for
the selected topic.

9.6 The student

will develop
narrative,
expository, and
persuasive
writings for a
variety of
purposes.
(a) Generate,
gather, and
organize ideas
for writing
(b) Plan and
organize
writing to
address a
specific
audience and
purpose

Agenda:
1. Do-Now
2. Introduction of Louder Than A Bomb

DIAGNOSISTIC:
Students will demonstrate
what they know about
narrowing the focus of their
ideas through the model
portion of our workshop,
where they will facilitate (with
guidance) breaking down a
teacher-selected topic. (I, J, K,
L, M)
Students will demonstrate
background knowledge with
funneling down their
experience into its most
important aspect during our
group portion of the workshop,
where they will have to
articulate it for a peer. (N)
FORMATIVE:
Students will demonstrate
progress towards
understanding of the method
of funneling and its purpose
through the group portion of
our workshop. (I, J, K, L, M, N)
SUMMATIVE:
Students will demonstrate
understanding of the topic
blasting technique and its
impact on their chosen topic
and their genre in their final
reflection, where they discuss
how the method helped them
arrive at their topic and the
leap involved from the topic to
their choice of genre. (I, J, K,
L, M, N)

a. Transition
b. Elevator Pitch: Movie
c. Mini-Lesson: Personal Inquiry
i. Group-Work: Open and Closed questions
ii. Direct Instruction: Key Words and Phrases
iii. Guided Practice
3. Watch Film
4. Journal Entry
5. Mini-Lesson: Workshop
a. Set-Up
b. Demonstrate Topic Blasting
c. Group-Work
6. Homework: (what kind of genre do I want to use for this idea? Why?)
Beginning Room Arrangement:
Students will be seated in a horseshoe pattern facing the board.
Instructional Steps:
1. Do-Now [5 min]
Students will be asked to come in, take their seats and begin to answer the
prompt in their journals. The board will read: Do you think we can learn
from the experiences of others? I will remind students when they have one
minute remaining to wrap up their thoughts.
2. Introduction to Louder Than A Bomb
a. Transition [2 min for pairing, 5 min for sharing with the room]
Students will be asked to turn to a partner and share their thoughts on the
prompt. After the first two minutes, we will go around the room and each
team will share one thought they had.
b. Elevator Pitch [3 min]
I will proceed to give an elevator pitch about the movie we will be watching
and the role that watching it will play in our unit. I will describe how
watching and learning about others journeys with writing can help build
our relationship with reading and writing and be a case study for how
community and the writing process can help us grow as people and as
writers. I will also describe how our next activity is linked to our watching
of the film by stating that in order to get the most out of the viewing
experience, we will conduct a short inquiry about what we are about to
watch based on what we would like to know as a class.
(1) Mini-Lesson: Personal Inquiry [5 min]
Students will be broken into teams of four. Each team will be asked to come
up with five questions about the movie that we are about to watch based on
the elevator pitch I delivered. I will provide a handout that offers examples
of the kinds of questions we are looking for, divided into two categories:

open and closed questions. Three of these questions students develop

should be closed questions, and two should be open questions.
(2) Direct Instruction: Key Words and Phrases [5 min]
I will demonstrate isolating key words from two closed questions
volunteered by students to look at how this can allow us to use our search
engines to scan for sources with possible answers to our questions. Then
together we will look at an open questions and look at what kinds of specific
information would help us develop an answer to that question and develop
key terms that would allow us to locate these answers quickly.
(3) Guided Practice [10 min]
Students will look for key words and phrases that can be derived from
closed questions they have designed. This should take about two minutes, at
which time I will come around the room and check on their progress. Once
Ive checked in with every group, I will instruct students to try and find
answers to these questions.
3. Watch Film [20 min]
Students will be asked to come to the board and write their open questions
there while I set up the technology to help us view our film. Once everyone
has written their questions, I will ask students to write down anything in
their viewing of the film that addresses these questions or other specific
information that would be helpful.
4. Journal Entry
After turning off the recording, I will ask students to select a question from
our open questions selection to answer in a journal entry. I will ask them to
use their notes to develop their thinking and show what they learned from
the film that addressed their question. During this time I will write down the
remaining questions students have formed to use as a reading guide in
future film viewings.
5. Mini-Lesson: Workshop
a. Set-Up [2 min]
Students will be asked to move into designated teams that will be their
workshop teams for the rest of the semester. I will provide a PowerPoint
slide that includes students names and seating areas so that they can move
their belongings and shift desks or chairs as necessary. These will be groups
of four students, designed to be of heterogeneous reading and writing skill
levels as well as personal background (based on student surveys during our
intro week.) Once students take their seats I will hand out our topic-blast
handouts.
b. Demonstrate Funneling [8 min]

As a class we will take a volunteers topic and try to funnel it down to a

manageable size. For instance, in the case of an event, the student will
receive help in breaking it into possible sections to help in isolating the
specific aspect of the memory that interests them.
c. Workshop [19 min]
Students will work on funneling down their thoughts to a topic that would
fit into 750 words. They can (but do not have to) use their peers to do this.
After an initial five minutes of work, I will call students up to my desk for
90-120 seconds each to talk through their topics and discuss how they plan
to address them. I do not expect to get through all students during this
time, but time is set aside in the next class period for me to get through
anyone I miss during this period. When one minute of workshop time
remains, I will ask students to compose an exit slip that describes their
topic and tentative genre choice.
6. Homework [1 min]
As students begin to pack up their belongings I will ask students to compose
a journal entry that describes what genre they will use for their topic, as
well as a tentative plan for their work. This can take the form of thought
bubbles, notes, an outline, or anything they use to make sense of structure.
Materials:
Powerpoint slide with room arrangement for Workshop
Topic Blast Handouts
Handout of Open and Closed Question Keywords
Student computers or tablets
Louder Than A Bomb DVD
Projector
Student Journals
Accommodations:
Because I know Rebecca struggles with putting her thoughts into words, I
want to make sure shes amongst the first people I conference with, so she
can get an early start in narrowing her focus. I also want to provide her
with a handout of key words and examples for open and closed questions
(such as closed questions tend to be headed with what or who or
when) so that she can have extra support during this stage.
I also want to meet with Izzie today. I know that receiving feedback is not
something shes good at (although who is, honestly?) and I know that she
can feel strongly about perceived criticism, so I want her to work with me
one on one to funnel her thoughts so she can explain and I can check my
progress continually (e.g. Is this what you meant? or Does that mean this
is what you want to capitalize on? No? Okay, my mistake, can you please
explain it again? Oh, I see, okay, so could we perhaps group it like this?

Does that sound right?). I want her to feel safe enough to share her
thoughts, and I want to make sure she receives feedback that is helpful to
her. I know she can sometimes intimidate other students, so if she goes
through it with me first, shell know what shes expecting and I can head off
possible tantrums at the pass by demonstrating that were all just trying to
help and understand and that no one is trying to attack her.