Lorraine Delp

Content Literacy Lesson Cover Page

Lesson Topic: Synthesis through six-word memoirs Length of Class Period: 55 minutes
Course: Writing and Rhetoric for Today Grade Level: 11th grade

LEARNING GOALS & SUCCESS CRITERIA

Learning goals:
● We are learning how to synthesize writing.
● We are learning how to write a concise piece.
● We are learning how to play with language.
Success criteria: I know I am successful if I...
● Contribute to the consensus board activity at the beginning of class.
● Find a striking six-word memoir to share with my group.
● Share a word from my word brainstorm with my classmates.
● Help a partner find the core of their writing.
● Contribute an original six-word memoir to the gallery wall.
CONTENT STANDARDS
AZDE ELA Reading Standards for Literature:
● 11-12.RL.4: Determine the meaning(s) of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative
meanings, while analyzing the impact of specific choices on meaning and tone.
● 11-12.RL.5: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text contribute to its overall structure
and meaning, as well as its aesthetic impact.
AZDE ELA Writing Standards:
● 11-12. W.3 (d): Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well‐chosen details,
and well‐structured event sequences. (d). Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to
convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters.
● 11-12.W.4: Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose,
and audience.
● 11-12.W.6: Use technology, including the internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in
response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.
ELL STANDARDS & LITERACY STRATEGIES
Arizona ELP Stage V: Grades 9 - 12
Listening and Speaking Standards 1.E-7, 2.E-6; Reading Standards 1.E-3, 2.E-13, 3.E-1, 4.E-4, 4.E-24, 4.E-25; Writing Standards 1.E-1,
1.E-7, 3.B-17, 4.E-4.
Bulleted list the literacy strategies for the lesson that will support all students’ access to the content of the lesson.
● Wear a Word (Synthesis)
● Consensus board
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● Group discussion
● Stand Up Word Share
● Think-Pair-Share
● Gallery Walk
Key vocabulary for the lesson: Memoir, Synthesis, Consensus, Literature, Film, Graphic Organizer, Contribute, Source, Victim,
Striking, Highlight, Frequently, Anonymously, Self-Expression.
ADAPTATIONS/ENRICHMENT
List accommodations you will make for Special Education students:
Additional writing time, adapted instructions, clarification of instructions, written and oral instructions, option to use technology or
draw/write by hand, subtitles.
List enrichment/extension activities you will provide for accelerated students:
Submit a six-word memoir response to the monthly contest question on www.sixwordmemoirs.com.
HOMEWORK
None.
RESOURCES/MATERIALS
Large consensus boards on butcher paper, Power Point Presentation “Synthesis” with exemplars and teacher examples for each step of the
activity, student Synthesis Graphic Organizer (digital document), Internet, Google Classroom, 3” x 8” strips of colored paper, colored
markers.
Content Literacy Lesson Sequence

TIM TASK ANALYSIS TEACHING STRATEGY WHAT ARE THE STUDENTS

E (Sub-tasks/topics) (BW, lecture, lab, group work,
handout, guiding questions, etc)
15 1. Synthesis ➜ Anticipatory Set: “Sometimes, the
biggest secrets you can only tell a
stranger.” ― Michelle Hodkin, The
Evolution of Mara Dyer. Do you agree or
disagree with this quote? Explain in your
own words and use an example from one
of these sources: life experience, film,
literature, current events.
➜ Wear a Word: Synthesis
➜ Dry-Erase Board: List sources
students used in their anticipatory set
answers.
➜ Illustrate and explain how they
DOING?
(Active participation, Int. Closure)
➜ Consensus Board: Ss answer
Anticipatory Set in their corner of the
butcher paper consensus board on the table
➜ Consensus Board: Ss discuss their
answers to the anticipatory set and the
sources they picked to support them and
then synthesize these opinions and sources
to compose a group answer, which they
place in the center of the consensus board.
➜ Each S writes in their own words what
synthesis is in the Synthesis Graphic
Organizer (SGO).
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have just synthesized.
10 2. Introduction to Six-Word Memoirs ➜ Slideshow: Six-Word Memoirs
exemplars
➜ Group Work (5 minutes): Students
Google “six-word memoirs” and share at
least one striking memoir per person with
their group and explain why they chose it.
Each memoir is added to their graphic
organizer as an exemplar.
➜ Group discussion: In such a short
piece of writing, what is the importance of
diction? Discuss other literary devices or
strategies your group noticed in the six-
word memoirs you chose.
10 3. Word brainstorming ➜ Slideshow: I show students what a
word brainstorm looks like (modeling
task).
5 4. Free write about one topic ➜ Slideshow: I show students how to do
a free write (modeling task).
➜ Ss fill out graphic organizer (SGO) w/
exemplars
➜ Group Work: Ss share one six-word
memoir they found with their group
members and explain why they chose it.
Each group member writes the others’
memoirs in the SGO. The group then
chooses one memoir to share with the
class.
➜ Think-pair-share: Ss discuss the use
of language in six-word memoirs.
➜ Ss do a word brainstorm in their SGO:
(3 minutes) Ss list as many words that
describe themselves or things they
like/dislike as possible.
➜ Ss highlight 2 or 3 words that stand out
to them, words with backstories & deep
personal meaning
➜ Stand Up Word Share: All students
stand up. When they share one word from
their list with the class, they can sit down
again.
➜ Ss choose one of the highlighted words
as their topic (write in SGO)
➜ Ss free write as much as they can about
the topic they chose in the SGO (2
minutes)
➜ Pair-share: Ss share with a partner
what they have written about and together
determine the most significant words or
the core message of the writing (to help
with next step).
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15 5. Students write their own six-word
memoirs, synthesizing all the
gathered information into a concise
memoir
➜ Slideshow: I show students how to
synthesize our free write into a six-word
memoir (modeling task).
➜ Individual student conferences to
check in with struggling students
➜ Ss write their own six-word memoir
in their graphic organizer.
➜ On a provided strip of 3” x 8” colored
paper, students write their own six-word
memoirs & turn in to teacher. These will
be taped on the wall for a gallery walk the
following day.
➜ Think-pair-share: What is synthesis?
How do we use synthesis in English class?
How do we use it in our everyday lives?