Running

head: ASSIGNMENT 2A

Dario Workman
Assignment 2A
Professor Robert Pacilio
National University

ASSIGNMENT 2A

Content Area: English

Unit Title: Choices and Consequences
Grade Level: 7th
Time frame: 5 days
Unit Summary: In this unit, students interpret, analyze, and evaluate a novel in terms of point of view,
character, structure, and other key literary elements that create a unique text. Students analyze the choices
made by the characters in the novel and relate the concept of choices and consequences to their own lives
and the lives of prominent leaders whose choices have made positive impact in society and the world.

Unit Rationale: The instructional sequence begins with several pre-reading activities that ask
students to examine the structure of a novel. Students then analyze character motivation and actions
through exploration of setting, point of view, and authors language. With a clear understanding of
character choices and consequences, students are prepared to write a literary analysis essay for the
end of unit assessment.
State Standards addressed:
RL.7.1: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
SL.7.1: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led)
with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and expressing their own
clearly.
SL.7.1a: Come to discussion prepared, having read or researched material under study; explicitly draw on
that preparation by referring to evidence on the topic, text, or issue to probe.
W.7.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information
through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
W.7.2a: Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information,
using strategies such as definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and cause/effect; include formatting
(e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
L.7.1a: Explain the function of phrases and clauses in general and their function in specific sentences.

Learner Outcome Overview:

Record and respond with personal commentary to textual evidence from a novel.
Write, discuss, and evaluate levels of questions about the text with your peers.
Understand how textual details contribute to a novels mood or atmosphere.
Analyze textual evidence about choices and consequences and record commentary in a doubleentry journal.
Write and revise a literary analysis paragraph that uses textual evidence.
Analyze an authors use of flashback, foreshadowing, and characterization and provide support for
your analysis with textual evidence.
Write a literary analysis paragraph about sibling relationships and provide support with textual

ASSIGNMENT 2A

evidence.
Identify and apply the organizing elements of a compare/contrast essay.
Compare a fictional account of an event with a nonfiction account of an event.
Evaluate authors purpose in selecting a point of view.
Analyze how symbol, imagery, and figurative language contribute to tone and theme.
Revise a literary analysis paragraph to include phrases and appositives.

Materials:
Tangerine novel by Edward Bloor; Highlighters; Writing Journals
Day 1: MCA Questioning The Text
Learner Outcome: Record and respond with personal commentary to textual evidence from a
novel. Write, discuss, and evaluate levels of questions about the text with your peers.
Introduction:
Assessments:
TeacherWarm Up:

Have students think-pair-share to respond to
the writing prompt in their journals. Solicit
responses for a class discussion on the subject.

Learning Activities:
Teacher-

Students will think-pair-share.

Students will create double-entry journal.


Students will provide textual evidence for their
inferences made about the text.

Students will make questions in their journals
that must show mastery of the three levels of
questioning.

Step 2:
Ask students how many of them have kept a journal
or diary. Why do people keep diaries or journals?
What are some advantages of keeping a journal?
Step 3:
Have students preview Tangerine by scanning the
book for chapters or other divisions. Ask students
what they notice. (The novel has three parts, further
divided into dated sectionsas in a journal or
diary.)
Step 4:
Introduce the double-entry journal, in which
students will interact with the text by responding,
questioning, interpreting, and reflecting as they read
Tangerine. Have students reproduce the doubleentry journal form on this page in their

Closure:
Students will list three things that they learned from
the lesson into their journals.

ASSIGNMENT 2A

Reader/Writer Notebooks.
Step 5:
Model the use of the double-entry journal by
conducting a think-aloud of the sample response in
the example.
Step 6:
Conduct a shared reading of the first four pages of
the novel. As a class, identify and discuss the
setting, the characters, and the opening situation.
Step 7:
During the close reading of the Prologue, have
students make inferences to answer the following
questions. Have them provide textual evidence to
support their inferences.

What is the socioeconomic status of the

family?
Does Pauls mother understand him?
When Paul says, Good work, Mom, what
tone is he using? Demonstrate the tone in
his voice, and explain your interpretation.
What is Pauls relationship to his family?

Step 8:
Introduce the strategy of questioning the text.
Following the reading of the Prologue, have students
generate levels of questions about the text. They
could do this individually or with partners. Have
students share and discuss their questions in small
groups.
Step 9:
After students have discussed the questions in Step 3
with their small groups, solicit responses in a class
discussion.
Step 10:
Have students continue to use the double-entry
journal and levels of questions as they begin Part 1
of the novel with the first chunk of Pauls journal:
Friday, August 18 through Wednesday, August 23.

ASSIGNMENT 2A

Day 2: MCA Textual Details/Mood

Learner Outcome: Understand how textual details contribute to a novels mood or atmosphere.
Analyze textual evidence about choices and consequences and record commentary in a double-entry
journal. Write and revise a literary analysis paragraph that uses textual evidence.
Introduction:
Assessment:
Warm up:

Teacher will have students skim the first few

journal entries in Part 1 of Tangerine (August 18
19) looking for details about Pauls new
neighborhood.

Learning Activities:

Step 1:
After students have skimmed and scanned the text
for details about Pauls new neighborhood, reinforce
the importance of setting. Have small groups
transform the text by mapping Lake Windsor
Downs. Emphasize that maps should include color,
structures, and other details that create this setting.
When students have completed their maps, ask what
details establish the atmosphere and mood for Paul.
Have volunteer groups present their maps to the
class. Publish student maps on the classroom
walls. Allow students to add details to their maps as
reading progresses.
Step 2:
Explain and model how students can use their
double-entry journals to evaluate characters choices
and consequences as a note-taking strategy to help
them prepare for Embedded Assessment 1.
Step 3:
To examine the theme of choices, and to keep a log
of textual evidence for the analytical essay in
Embedded Assessment 1, students will record
choices made by Paul, his parents, and others as well
as the consequences of these choices. They will

Students will list as many details about Pauls new

neighborhood as they can.

Students will create a map of Lake Windsor Downs.

Students will list choices made by characters in the

story and log the consequences in their journals.
Students will complete the grammar worksheet on
subordinate clauses, which will be turned in for a
grade.

Closure:
Students will complete a Self-Reflection Survey
that asks students to rate their level of content
mastery of the days lesson. Students will rate
themselves on a scale of 1 to 4. (1 = completely
lost; 2 = somewhat comprehend; 3 = mostly
comprehend; 4 = I can teach it).

ASSIGNMENT 2A

complete this first graphic organizer for the journal
entries from Friday, August 18 through Wednesday,
August 23.
Step 4:
For this first chunk of the novel, complete the
organizer as a whole class so that you can model the
process. Point out that the Textual Evidence
column should be a quotation from the text or a
paraphrase.
Step 5:
Ask students to list choices and to examine the
consequences. Explain that some consequences may
not be evident right away. Plan to give them time
periodically to revisit their organizers to fill in the
long-term consequences. There may not be a direct
consequence for every choice.
Step 6:
Point out to students that they will complete similar
graphic organizers for the remaining sections of the
novel as they proceed. Have them recreate the
graphic organizer in their Reader/Writer Notebooks
to record additional notes as they read the rest of
Part 1.
Step 7:
Guide students to recognize the key elements of an
effective literary analysis paragraph by having them
mark the text of the sample paragraph individually,
in pairs, or as you model it as a think aloud.
Step 8:
Have students respond to the writing prompt.
Step 9:
Review subordinate clauses and subordinating
conjunctions. Have students self edit and peer edit
their paragraphs and revise them by adding
subordinate clauses.
Grammar Extension Now is a good time to review
subject and predicate, or the elements of a complete
sentence. Then, explain to students that they can
often combine sentences by making one a
subordinate clause. The subordinating conjunction

ASSIGNMENT 2A

shows the relationship between the subordinate
clause and the independent clause.
Example: Mrs. Fisher spoke to the principal. She
said Paul was visually handicapped.
Combined: When Mrs. Fisher spoke to the
principal, she said that Paul was visually
handicapped.

Day 3: MCA Flashback, Foreshadowing and Characterization

Learner Outcome: Analyze an authors use of flashback, foreshadowing, and characterization and
provide support for your analysis with textual evidence.
Introduction:
Assessment:
Warm Up:
Teacher will ask students the following questions:
Tangerine is also a text that uses flashbacks.
Conduct a close reading of Pauls entry for
Monday, August 28. How does the author let you
know that what you are about to read is a
flashback?
Learning Activities:

Students will complete warm up activity.

Students will be formatively assessed regarding their
understanding of the term flashback by showing
either thumbs up or down.
Students will skim the text and list all elements of
foreshadowing in their journals.

Step 1:
Remind students that a close reading involves
looking closely at the elements of a piece of
literature. Explain that today students will be doing a
close reading of a section of Tangerine by
considering the literary elements of
flashback, foreshadowing, and characterization.

Students will write a compare/contrast paragraph in

their journals about Paul and his mother. Students
must use evidence from the text.

Step 2:
Have students preview the terms flashback and
foreshadowing by reading the Literary Terms boxes
on pages 172 and 173. Ask students to make a
generalization about the two terms. For example,
flashbacks take readers back in time;
foreshadowing hints at what might happen in
the future.
Step 3:
Before students begin step 1, make sure they
understand that a flashback provides

Closure:
Students must create three quiz questions using
material learned from the days lesson.

ASSIGNMENT 2A

background information (or exposition) about the
characters and their situations that readers need to
know in order to make sense of the story.
Explain that authors use flashback to move the story
briefly back in time so they can provide certain
details without having to start the story at that point
in the time line. Flashbacks help make reading a
story more interesting. Illustrate the point
by discussing a well-known movie or television
program that uses quick flashbacks to show what
happened earlier in the story.
Step 4:
Remind students of the flashback in the first few
pages of Tangerine. Review how flashbacks are
conveyed in the novel. Conduct a close reading of
the first section of Pauls entry for August 28.
Discuss the flashback and have students write their
notes about the novel in the graphic organizer.
Step 5:
Read aloud the first two sentences in the
instruction for step 2. Ask students
how foreshadowing helps build suspense. Guide
them to understand that when an author is using
foreshadowing, he or she is dropping hints at
what might happen. Those hints may or may not be
accurate, depending on how trustworthy or reliable
the narrator is. Ask students if they trust Paul as a
narrator. Do they think Paul is being honest in his
retelling of the story? Why or why not? (Accept
all reasonable responses.)
Step 6:
Have students work with partners or small groups to
skim/scan to find examples of foreshadowing in
Tangerine and to note these on the chart.
Step 7:
Review the elements of characterization listed on the
graphic
organizer. Make sure students understand that
characterization is how authors reveal what
their characters are like. They might tell about the
characters directly; for example, Janet had a slight
frame but a loud voice. More often, authors reveal
characterization through the characters words,
actions, thoughts, and appearance. Ask students to
fill in the organizer with details about the characters

ASSIGNMENT 2A

of Paul Fisher and his mother.
Step 8:
After students take notes in the graphic organizer
about how the characters of Paul and his mother are
developed, ask them to make a generalization about
the two characters. Guide them by asking, What is
Paul like? and What is Mrs. Fisher like?
Step 9:
The writing prompt on the next page asks students to
write a paragraph explaining the similarities and
differences between Paul Fisher and his mother. You
could expand the prompt to a short essay with two
body paragraphs one on similarities and one on
differences. Remind students to draw on
the evidence they collected in the graphic organizer.

Differentiating Instruction
Students who need support may benefit from coconstructing a paragraph in small groups or as a
whole-class activity. Students who are prepared can
be challenged to compare and contrast the use of
literary elements in the novel.

Day 4: MCA Compare and Contrast

Learner Outcome- Write a literary analysis paragraph about sibling relationships and provide
support with textual evidence. Identify and apply the organizing elements of a compare/contrast
essay.
Introduction:
Assessment:
Warm Up:
Teacher will have students answer the following
writing prompt:
Family relationships are important in Tangerine,
especially relationships between brothers and the
idea of brotherhood. Create a theory about the motif
of brothers and brotherhood in this novel.

Students will create a theory about the motif of

brotherhood in their writing journals.
Students will complete graphic organizer about the
differences and similarities between the Costello
brothers and the Fisher brothers.
Students will complete topic paragraphs in groups.

Closure:

ASSIGNMENT 2A

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Learning Activities:
Step 1:
Using the graphic organizer, have students
examine the ways the Costello brothers relate to
each other and the ways the Fisher brothers relate to
each other. Organize this task as a jigsaw, so that
small groups of students work on one of the four
squares. Then join the Joey and Mike groups and the
Paul and Erik groups together to share information.
Finally, create groups consisting of one expert from
each of the first groups whose responsibility is to
share the information his or her group has generated.

Differentiating Instruction
If the students are primarily reading independently,
have them read through September 6 before this
activity and then skim/scan to complete the graphic
organizer. If the students need more support, plan
extra time to conduct a close reading of the entries
for September 5 and 6 in class before completing the
graphic organizer.
Step 2:
Have the small groups work together to create topic
sentences and support paragraphs describing the two
different sibling relationships. You may want to use
sentence strips to post and discuss the topic
sentences generated by different groups before
students write their paragraphs.
Step 3:
Have students work in their small groups to create
thesis statements and copy one thesis per group onto
sentence strips. Post the strips, and then discuss their
strengths and possible revisions.
Step 4:
Model how to mark the text of a sample paragraph
using different colors to represent each of the key
elements of an effective literary analysis essay. You
can use a projector, smartboard, or dry erase board
to mark a student response to a prompt from an
earlier activity.
Step 5:
As you discuss the elements of an effective

Students will choose five words from the weeks

academic vocabulary to list on a Traffic Light
Chart that will be located on the board. Using
sticky notes, students will place their words in one
of the three columns: Red = I dont know this word;
Yellow = I am somewhat familiar with this word;
and Green = I absolutely know this word.

ASSIGNMENT 2A

introduction and conclusion, work with the students
to generate a list for each. You may want to revise
the list and post it in class for future writing
prompts.
Step 6:
After students have constructed introductions and
conclusions for their group essays, choose one or
two to project or copy onto the board in order to
discuss strengths and possible revisions. Refer back
to the lists of elements of effective introductions and
conclusions generated by the class discussion.
Step 7:
Encourage students to revise their own and their
peers work through sharing and responding.
Step 8:
Review the transition words for comparing and
contrasting. Have students work with partners or
small groups to co-construct a compare-contrast
literary analysis essay using the paragraphs they
have generated in this activity.
Step 9:
Ask students to choose an appropriate word map
graphic organizer and explore the concepts of
literary analysis, thesis statement, and comparecontrast. Add these terms to the Word Wall.

Day 5: MCA Symbolism, Imagery, Figurative Language and Tone

Learner Outcome- Analyze how symbolism, imagery, and figurative language contribute to tone
and theme. Revise a literary analysis paragraph to include phrases and appositives.
Introduction:
Assessment:
Warm Up:
Students will complete SIFT graphic organizer.
Teacher will Have students respond to the
Quickwrite in their Reader/Writer Notebooks
Students will create a Literary Response
and share responses in a class discussion.
Paragraph.
Learning Activities:
Step 2:

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ASSIGNMENT 2A

Introduce the SIFT strategy, and model using the
glossary to define symbol. Have students work in
pairs or small groups to define the rest of the terms
on the chart. Conduct a close reading of the entry for
Friday, September 15. Complete the first column of
the graphic organizer together as the students take
notes.
Step 3:
Assign different sections of the text to small groups
of students to review and analyze as they complete
the third column of the graphic organizer for another
chapter.
Step 4:
Guide students to recognize some of the novels
motifs so that they can begin to record textual
evidence in their double-entry journals. Possible
motifs they might start to recognize include
tangerines, brothers, sports, and the environment.

Differentiating Instruction/ELL
To support students in the writing process, have
them write paragraphs with a partner or small group.
To extend for students who are prepared, have them
assign a different literary element to each group
member.
Step 5:
Conduct a guided writing of a literary analysis
paragraph using the exemplar provided as a model
text, and then have students draft their own.
Step 6:
Students have done expository writing in prior
courses. They were introduced to expository writing
in this grade level in Unit 2. In that unit, the focus
was on informational texts and how to write to
explain or describe. In this unit, the focus is on
expository writing as a response to literature.
If needed, have a class discussion about how writing
to inform may be different than writing a literary
analysis (e.g., citing facts versus citing evidence
from fiction).

Closure:
Students will be required to make Three
Connections to the reading; one to
themselves, one to another text and one
to the world around them.

ASSIGNMENT 2A

Step 7:
Provide instruction on language issues (e.g.,
mechanics, usage) that are posing challenges for
students. Have them edit their paragraphs for these
specific problems. This would be a good time to
emphasize the use of appositives. Draw students
attention to examples on the page and ask them to
revise at least one of their sentences to include
appositives. To further develop students language
skills, you may need to provide additional
instruction in elements of language use.

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