You're Hired!

Formative Assessment Project

Tracey Dann

Lesson Plan Template

Grade/Content
Area
Lesson Title
GLEs/GSEs

7th Grade ELA

Using Genre specific Word Choice: You're Hired!

Common Core Reading Standards for Literature: Grade 7:
7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama
interact.
Common Core Writing Standards: Grade 7
3.a Engage and orient the reader in establishing a context
and point of view and introducing a character or event
sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.

Context of the
Lesson

The lesson is intended to occur early in the school year. It is a brief

overview of some of the genres of literature to be studied throughout
Seventh Grade. Its purpose is to review familiar genres of literature
and further define each of the genre types giving them easily
identifiable aspects to be referenced uniformly throughout the
remainder of the year.
The formative assessment uses a short, frequently read format,
the blurb, to assess each student's command of vocabulary, their
ability to use language in an effective and creative manner and to
help identify areas of review in writing ability.

Opportunities to
Learn

The first opportunity to learn is through discussion. A list of cold

call questions designed to engage the interest of the room connecting
a familiar concept, namely film genres, to the literary genres seen in
an ELA classroom. The genre specific information is presented in
power point using video, audio, pictorial and linguistic cueing.
Class discussion will then break down into small groups of 4-5
students. At this point each student receives a visual reminder of the
information learned earlier via the presentation. The attached
checklist, called the Genre Quick Sheet, is used as a reminder and a
way to keep the lesson on target. Each group of students are asked to
rewrite a brief, yet boring story into a specific literary genre. We will
then perform each group's recreated story followed by an animated
critique of the blurbs.
Finally, each student is placed in a realistic writing situation where
he or she must create their own blurb demonstrating an
understanding of the genre aspects discussed during the class period.
We will close with an opportunity to perform their individual work
should anyone choose to do so.

Objectives

General Objectives:

Identify examples of each of the literary genres listed below.

Identify three distinguishing features of each literary genres
listed.
Utilize word choice and literary features to recreate at least
three of the literary genres listed.

Affective Objective:

Instructional
Procedures

Understand the part word choice plays in consistently

amusing and entertaining an audience.

Opening: (15 minutes)

I begin class by briefly defining literary genre as a "kind" of "story".
Enlisting the help of a student, we construct a list of genres as a group
on the white board continuing to name genres until all ten of the
genres within the group are listed. With the class, we review the
basic aspects of each genre and examples of each literary type from
the list using the power point presentation.
Engagement: (20 minutes)
Second, I distribute our genre cheat sheet to the students. The
students will break into groups of four or five. As a group they will
take one short, boring story and rewrite it to reflect the important
aspects of their chosen genre. Genres are selected by the students in
a manner preventing the use of any genre more than once. As they
are working, I circulate through the room helping clarify any
questions they may have. When the groups are finished with their
newly rewritten blurb, each groups reads them aloud. As each group
reads their work, the remainder of the class listens, identifies the
genre and the important aspects included by their classmates. In
doing so, the students are able to review approximately six different
genres. The following are samples of our review.
Fable:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsTJJWvic7U&feature=youtu.be
Realism:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do9uT4ZXiXQ&feature=youtu.be
Conclusion: (20 minutes)
Finally, the students are instructed to complete the attached
formative assignment in class. See "Netflix, Inc. and the attached
rubric. Time permitting, the students may chose one of their favorite
blurbs to review in class. As we review the individual blurbs, the
remainder of the class can guess the genre represented.

Assessment Preview

"You're Hired!" The genre assessment sees each student recently

employed at Netflix. As a marketing employee their job is to rewrite
boring stories into exciting genre specific film blurbs. In order to do
so, they must be familiar with each genre, they must be able to
distinguish each of the genres correctly, and they will need to use
skillful word choice to recreate several of the genres. Any successful
genre specific blurb will introduce context, characters and an
understandable sequence of events as outlined in the Common Core
Writing Standards for Seventh Grade.
For instructions, time frame and the complete assessment, see the
attached "You're Hired" worksheet and rubric.

Assessment
Reflection

My classroom teacher and I have discussed homework frequently

this semester. Her class has very few students who turn in work
assigned for home, and only then with constant reminders. Since I
am only available to attend her class once a week, we determined it
would be best to design a lesson project that could be completed
within the sixty minute time frame of her ELA class. The students just
completed a unit on personal narratives, they were about to embark
on a journey into the world of horror fiction. It was an excellent time
to review various genre.
My lesson was given in a regular Seventh Grade classroom. As
such, the room was packed to the rafters with a multitude of
learners. I prepared for the lesson a Power Point introducing the
unique aspects of ten varied literary genre. Each aspect of genre
listed within the presentation was distributed in a second manner,
the Genre Quick Sheet, halfway through the lesson, but the aspects
were repeated word for word in an effort to recapture attention. The
presentation included pictures of the examples discussed in class.
Many of the examples were taken from films that are book
adaptations. In one instance the Power Point included a one minute
video serving as an example of both realism and parody. For the
auditory learners in the classroom, the blurb examples were read
aloud. The Quick Sheet proved to be a excellent tool for redirecting
conversation back to the appropriate topic, allowing students to
check their work, and as a cueing tool when the students had trouble
distinguishing a genre.
The lesson itself was intentionally repetitive. Once each aspect of
genre was explained and examples were presented to the class, we
read aloud through professional movie blurbs. With an example of
the finished product in one hand, and their reference sheet in
another, the students broke into their assigned groups and chose a
genre to attempt. The final slide of the presentation was their first
boring story. I explained the task to the students and circulated the
room as they worked. There were a few points of clarification. The
assignment was more open ended than the students were used to
seeing. I was asked repeatedly "We can change anything we want?"

Assessment
Reflection (cont.)

or "Even if I want to change the name?" My second circle through

the room the students were through the brainstorming stage. As
they began writing the first few lines of their blurbs, I would
comment and throw out the occasional idea to help the students
understand how far out of the box they were allowed to think when
changing the story.
When the group work was complete, each group elected a
member to read. The class listened to the blurb as it was read aloud
scanning their Genre Quick Sheet in order to determine the kind of
blurb represented. For the closing activity the students were given
their "You're Hired" assessment work. They moved their desks back
into rows, chose the two genres most comfortable for them and
began writing. I continued to circulate throughout the room,
however, in looking at one of the completed assessments included I
can tell I needed to circulate more. One student misunderstood the
instructions and wrote a full page horror story complete with chapter
headings. He was working diligently. Had I seen his work during
class, I could have pointed his energy in the proper direction. We had
time at the end of the class period to play another round of "Guess
the Genre." Given the students ability to identify genre as they were
read in class, I am surprised by the number of misidentified genres
within the homework.
Overall, this project is a very good, very brief starting place for
assessing the weak aspects of writing within the class environment.
Without knowing the students as well as their regular classroom
teacher, I was able to pinpoint the preferred learning methods of
some students. I could identify several issues related to learning
disabilities and English Language learning. I also flagged several
patterns in grammar and sentence structure requiring further review.
While the lesson plan itself was fairly successful, my rubric was less
so. As I read through and corrected the twenty-five returned
assignments, it was easy to see my rubric lacked clarity. It is very
difficult to grade using a muddy rubric. Certain parts of the rubric
were given too much weight. For example, "Rewriting Skill" was
defined by two things, spelling /punctuation and the inclusion of
some recognizable part of the original story. I will amend the rubric
to eliminate the "some part of the original story" aspect. In only one
case was this an issue, meaning this portion of the rubric did not
differentiate learners well. Since the assignment was completed
entirely in class, there was little opportunity for students to revise
their work. If this were an assignment given over a week's time, the
spelling/punctuation aspect of the project should be given weight,
but as an in class assignment this aspect of the rubric seemed to
heavily penalize the English Language Learners. The "Entertainment
Value" aspect of the rubric worked fairly well. The "Understanding
Genre" element worked well from one through four, but only one
student was able to receive a five. Including three different elements
in a two to three sentence blurb is too difficult. The "Word Choice"

Assessment
Reflection (cont.)

portion of the rubric was difficult to tackle in one class period.

Instead of changing the rubric on this crucial aspect, I would begin
tomorrow's lesson with a review of a few of the excellent tone
reflecting word choices seen in the homework. Then I would give the
students a few minutes to choose at least three words to change
within their blurbs to better reflect the genre. It is important to note
the issues I saw regarding word choice did not reflect a poor
understanding of the tone. Instead, their blurbs indicate a need to
expand their vocabulary. Finally, I need to determine a way to deal
with students who write fluently in one genre, then label their work
as a different genre. I believe peer review would solve the issue if
enough class time is available. If the class time was not available,
then correctly identifying the genre could be added to replace the
fifth level in the "Understanding Genre" rubric.
I am pleased with the enthusiasm the students had for this project.
It was short, but very effective in helping design goals for the year, or
just tweaking the lesson plan for tomorrow. With a bit of review on
the Rubric, I hope to make this lesson a regular part of my school
repertoire.

Personal Narrative:

1st Person Point of View

Significant Life Event
Expanding a moment

Historic Fiction:

Horror Fiction:

Supernatural Events occur.

The evokes a feeling of dread.
The tone is descriptive, dark and creepy.

Mystery:

Humor:

A story full of exaggeration, overreaction

and hyberbole.
A story that is fun, funny and meant to
entertain.
A story containing irony or parody.

Emphasizes a characters thoughts and

feelings
Brutally and often painfully honest.
Describes a believable person or a
situation.
Myth:
A story passed down through tradition
through generations.
It explains the origin of something that
occurs naturally.
It answers a question about the world or
mankind.

Fiction dealing with crime and deductive

reasoning.
A secret is revealed
A story filled with suspense.
Fantasy:

Realism:

Fiction based on factual setting, place,

even some characters.
Fiction that takes place in the past.
Fiction connected to a significant point in
history.

There is an element of the fantastic or

the unreal
It often contains magic or the
supernatural.
Takes place in an unreal world.
Fable:

Very brief story.

It always teaches a lesson.
It often contains animals and other
symbols.

Science Fiction:
Frequently set in an imaginary place.
Frequently set in the future.
Based on real or imagined scientific
developments.

You are the new marketing director at Netflix, Inc. Your job as the marketing director is to write blurbs,
or short, written descriptions of a movie that make people want to watch the whole film.
On the first day of work, your boss presents you with a storyline written by his wife. It is the most
boring story you've ever seen.

The Story:
Once upon a time there was a girl named Janice.
Janice was hungry. Janice decided to make herself a piece of toast. The toast burned. Janice ate it.

Your Mission:
In order to keep your job at Netflix, you must find ways to make this plot exciting and reach out
to people who like different kinds of stories. To do so, write TWO blurbs reflecting TWO DIFFERENT
genres using this plotline. Use tone, word choice and each genre's definitions as your tools. Add or
change as many words as necessary.

You may choose from any of the following genres: Fable, myth, horror, fantasy, personal
narrative, realism, historic fiction, mystery, science fiction, and humor. You will have twenty minutes
until your deadline. Do you need a hint? Then use the Genre Quick Sheet on the back of this notice and
check the expectations on the rubric.

Good luck! Your wife and children are depending on you.

Sincerely,
Management

Initial Rubric: Given to the students

Expected
Outcome

1
Losing the
audience's
attention, and
not reflecting
the chosen
genre.

2
Losing the
audience's
attention,
but still
reflecting
the chosen
genre.

Includes no
clear aspect of
the genre.

Includes
only one
aspect of
the genre,
but it clear.

Word Choice

Words are
illegible,
illogical, or
difficult to
understand.

The blurb is
wordy and
repetitive,
and does
not reflect
the tone of
the genre.

Rewriting Skill

Writing is
illegible,
illogical, or
difficult to
understand.

Many
grammar
and
punctuation
errors. No
aspect of
the original
story still
present.

Entertainment
Value

Understanding
Genre

3
Keeping the
audience's
attention
without
using
methods
particular to
the chosen
genre.
Includes
more than
one aspect
of the
genre, but
only one is
clear.
The blurb is
wordy and
repetitive
and only
partially
reflect the
tone of the
genre.
One or two
grammar
and
punctuation
errors. No
aspect of
the original
story still
present.

4
Keeping the
audience's
attention
using a
method
particular to
the chosen
genre.
Includes two
clear
aspects of
the genres.

The blurb is
wordy, but
the words
are chosen
carefully to
reflect the
tone of the
genre.
One or two
grammar
and
punctuation
errors.
Some aspect
of the
original
story still
present.

5
Keeping the
audience's
attention
using
several
methods
particular to
the chosen
genre.
Includes
three or
more clear
aspects of
the genre.

The blurb is
concise and
words are
chosen
carefully to
reflect the
tone of the
genre.
Grammar
and
punctuation
are correct.
A large
aspect of
the original
story still
present.

TOTAL

Student Work Sample 1 Low Proficiency: Page 1

Student Work Sample 1 Low Proficiency: Page 2

Student Work Sample 2 Middle Level Proficiency:

Student Work Sample 3 High Level Proficiency: