Chira Husky Dr.

Sherry Literature for Young Adults INSIDERS Assignment

Table of Contents Student Artifacts..3 Analysis of Surveys..12 Rationale13 Designing Instruction.15 Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Unit Assessment

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Analysis of Student Surveys

Student Interests

Sports Friends Shopping Raving Gaming

Students Least Favorite Reading Materials

- Romance Novels "Boring" Books Text Books

Thrillers Comedies Sports Magazines AcAons Wiki ArAcles "Intense" Books "InteresAng" Books

Students Favorite Reading Materials

Note: Students could list multiple things in both of these survey categories.
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Comment [1]: Love the way youve summarized the info using these visuals J

Rationale I was assigned nine 9 grade students for the Online Journal Exchange project. My group consisted of six boys and three girls with Lexile levels ranging from 806-1120. In analyzing the surveys filled out by these students, I found two aspects to be the most useful in determining what books to propose to these students and how exactly I would get them engaged: their interests and favorite/least favorite reading materials. As a student myself, I know how hard it is to engage in a story that I do not find particularly interesting. Therefore, I felt making a pie chart of the students interests would help me to get a general understanding of how to link the reading material to what they like. Of course, the results displayed above did not turn out to be black and white. These students interests varied from snowboarding and martial arts to gaming, raving and shopping. After discovering this diversity, I chose to focus my findings in relation to the students favorite reading materials. Although these results were just as assorted, I picked up on some commonalities. Many of the students wanted to read something that was not boring or romantic but thrilling and intense. Therefore, I aimed to propose chilling novels that would compel these students. However, I did not want to provide them with just any scary, gripping story. I wanted them to be able to relate to the characters as well. Due to the fact that these students have different interests, I chose to focus on something they all have in common: their age and their role as high school students. I initially proposed four different books to my group on Goodreads: The Gardner by S.A Bodeen, Crash into Me by Albert Borris, Girl, Stolen by April Henry, and Breaking Point by Alex Flinn. Each of these novels incorporates teenage characters faced with a daunting predicament, discovery, or destination. Once I encouraged the students to take a vote, they chose Breaking Point. Out of all the books I proposed, I believe Breaking Point is the one teens can relate to the
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Comment [4]: AUDIENCE J I like how you worked this out J Comment [2]: AUDIENCE J Comment [3]: PURPOSE J

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most. This story depicts the experience of Paul Richmond, the new kid at snobby private high school in Miami. Paul struggles with being abandoned by his father, dealing with and caring for his depressed mother, and being bullied. Pauls only wish is to be popular at school. However, his wish takes a dangerous turn when it comes true because the only way to fit in at Gate is to be friends with Charlie Good who is described by Binky, an unpopular girl who immediately befriends Paul, as trouble. Students in todays schools face parental issues, bullying, peer pressure, and the struggle to fit in on a regular basis. As the world was explicitly reminded this past fall with the handful of student suicides due to bullying, teens can reach a breaking point. I believe that the only way to fix these societal problems is to address them and that the classroom is the perfect place to start. This is especially beneficial in accordance with a ninth grade audience because they are just arriving to high school. I would use Breaking Point by Alex Flinn to start off a unit also requiring student to read another novel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, a short story, Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and a poetry section containing We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks. The contents of the unit paired with real world media elements can effectively show students that peer pressure, teen violence, and bullying are very serious and very real issues in the environment that they currently inhabit on a usual basis: secondary school. This realization can lead possibly help lead to students to identify the sources of the problem and motivate them to take a stand. Breaking Point would serve as a good base for this unit because students can relate to its content and setting in the sense of its fairly recent publication. It also focuses thoroughly on the theme of being a new comer and fitting in which it perfect for a ninth grade audience who is still getting used to the high school environment. Overall, Breaking Point provokes students to think about what a
Comment [8]: AUDIENCE J Comment [7]: PURPOSE J Like how youre thinking about pairing this text with other curricular materials to teach something that is relevant for both students and for schooling J What makes this a topic to be taught in English Language Arts? Comment [5]: AUDIENCE J Like how you relate this to your particular students first, and then also situate in relation to larger societal issues J Comment [6]: PURPOSE J

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breaking point is, how one gets to that point, and what the consequences of breaking are. Big Question for Breaking Point What is a breaking point and what leads one to break?
Comment [9]: Like how this builds up to your Big Question J

Comment [10]: GENRE J Like the way this is both general and specific to this text, as well as open-ended and bounded enough to engage students in a Unit of inquiry J

Lesson 1 Introduction to Breaking Point Objectives: 1) Having read the prologue and chapters 1-4 in Breaking Point, students will be able to provide a definition of a breaking point in their own words. 2) Through small-group work, students will construct character prediction bulletin boards for Paul, Charlie, David, Binky, and Pauls Mom in order to become better acquainted with the main characters of Breaking Point. They will add to these boards throughout their reading to depict character development. Materials: Breaking Point, cleared-off bulletin boards, markers, construction paper, glue, staplers, scissors, voices and bodies. Activities: 1) The words breaking point will be written on the board. Students will be assigned to write in their daily journals about how they would define this phrase and what it means to them. After the students share their answers, we, as a class, will determine traits of a breaking point in relation to our text and write them on the board. (10 minutes) 2) The class will be split into five groups. Each group will become an expert on an important character in Breaking Point: Paul, Charlie, David, Binky,
Comment [12]: GENRE J Great way to scaffoldto make sure each lesson builds on the previous J Do each of these characters have a breaking point? Comment [11]: GENRE J Like how this relates to your Big Question and breaks it down into smaller, manageable pieces that build on each other J

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and Pauls Mom. Using their text, they will uncover character traits, pick out key passages that define their character, create a picture of what they believe that character looks like, and make predictions about their characters role in the text. (25 minutes) 3) Each group will present and discuss their bulletin boards. As a class, we will reflect on and debate over their predictions. (8 minutes) 4) Ask the students to write one new thing they learned about a character, other than the one they were assigned, on a small piece of paper and have them hand it in as a ticket-out-the door. (2 minutes)
Comment [14]: GENRE I like this as an assessmenttells me something about what youll do to assess. J Now, how will you know whether students have met your objectives? That is, what are you looking for from the bulletin boards and tickets? Consider: Is it possible that someone could participate in each of those and still not get what you wanted them to? So what would let you assess whether students had learned? Comment [13]: PURPOSE J Like how this helps students to learn strategies that will apply not only to this text but to others as well: focusing on character development, making predictions J

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Lesson 2 Relating Breaking Point to Todays World Objectives: 1) Having read Breaking Point, students will be able to engage in a whole-class discussion about acts of violence in schools today in relation to Breaking Point. 2) Using music lyrics, video game pictures, magazine and newspaper articles, and Breaking Point, students, after being split into groups of three, will construct a collage tying together the violence and act of breaking in the text with real world events and media. Materials: Breaking Point, selectively chosen violent music lyrics and video game pictures, magazine and newspaper articles on bullying, Columbine, recent teen suicides, etc., markers, posters, tape, voices and bodies. Activities: 1) The words school violence will be placed on the board. Students will write in their daily journals about what this phrase means in todays society. (8 minutes) 2) As a class, we will discuss bullying and other recent acts of violence in todays schools. Questions guiding discussion will be as follows: Do the students commit these acts because theyve reached their breaking point? What leads one to break? Is it the students fault or do those whove pushed the student so far play a role too? Who breaks in Breaking Point and how (Paul, Charlie, David, Pauls Mom, etc.)? (12 minutes) 3) Pose the question: So what causes violence? What influences are there surrounding students on a daily basis? Split students up into groups of three
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Comment [15]: PURPOSE J Love this means of connecting to your BQ on a larger scale and engaging visual/spatial intelligence J

and provide them with the necessary materials to create a collage that will tie together authentic news and magazine articles about bullying and violence, violent media influences, and quotes and character traits from Breaking Point in order to show the texts relation to what is happening in todays world. (20 minutes) 4) After each poster is finished and displayed students will be given the opportunity to present and discuss their posters. Ask students to take a moment to reflect on the steps they would take to stop school violence. (10 minutes) Assessment: Do the students journal entries contain sincere reflection and effort. Do students posters reflect accurate understanding of the text? Did they use this knowledge in order to link Breaking Point to real world events and influences present in their daily lives?
Comment [17]: GENRE To me, these first two arent as specific as the next sentence, which is both simple and perfect. Comment [16]: GENRE J Like that youve used a similar routine in this lesson to allow students to build on the previous one and gain proficiency at using this collaborative strategy J

Lesson 3
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Conclusion of Breaking Point Objectives: 1) After reading Breaking Point, students will use their knowledge of the text and of the act of breaking as well as their character boards in order to discuss which characters broke and what lead to this occurrence. 2) Through whole-class discussion, students will analyze Flinns conclusion of Breaking Point and decide whether or not this ending was effective as well as whether or not they agree with the fate of the main characters. 3) Students will be able to get a comprehensive understanding of character development in finishing their bulletin boards. Materials: Breaking Point, voices and bodies. Activities: 1) Students will be instructed to write in their daily journals about their response to the ending of Breaking Point. (5 minutes) 2) Discuss the students thoughts on the conclusion of the novel. Did it resonate with them? Why or why not? (5 minutes) 3) Transition discussion topic to that of the characters and relating to the text. Guide coverage with questions such as: Which characters reached their breaking point and how? What would you do if you were in Pauls shoes? Did the characters get what they deserved? What was the author trying to convey with the opposite fates of Charlie and Paul? (15 minutes) 4) Allow students time to revisit their designated story boards. Have them add their characters fate to the board in order to bring a close to character development and consider their predictions from the beginning of the novel. (10 minutes)
Comment [19]: On Goodreads, some students seemed frustrated/discouraged by the ending of the novel. This is not necessarily a bad thing sometimes its good for a story to make us mad buthow would you handle this kind of reaction as a teacher? Comment [18]: GENRE J Like that you return to this earlier student work as a means of showing them what theyve learned J

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5) Ask the students to take out a sheet of paper and write about their predictions from the beginning of the novel. Did they end up being accurate? Ask them to predict what would happen if the story would continue (10 minutes). 6) Collect students answers as their ticket-out- the door. Assessment: Do students journals and discussion reflect knowledge of the text as well as the characters? Do students finished character bulletin boards demonstrate understanding of development and accuracy? Unit Assessment Due to the fact that the lessons above would be taught as a part of a larger unit also covering The Outsiders, Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and We Real Cool, I would require that students unit assessment would assess learning on multiple levels of Blooms taxonomy. In other words, the students would be given a comprehension test assessing their knowledge, comprehension, and application of the unit. However, I would ask the students to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the work we have covered in with an essay prompt:
Many of the works we have covered in this unit depict characters struggling with fitting in, being bullied, teen violence etc. Youre task is to select two characters from different works and compose a 2-4 page compare and contrast paper. How are these characters similar (Are they both bullied? Are they both bullies? Etc.)? How are they different (Does one of them change in the end? Do they encounter opposite fates Etc.)? You can cover the basic traits of the characters you choose but do not forget to dig deeper and support your work using quotations!
Criterion Purpose Thoroughly and clearly interprets research into final product Audience Uses research to design a product suited to young adults Genre Uses techniques and conventions of the genre suited to the task Engagement demonstrates self-awareness and willingness to take risks Grade: 4.0 21 4.0 X X X 3.0 2.0 1.0
Comment [23]: GENRE J Like that youre assessing the unit with a compare/contrast assignment J I can see how this essay addresses the subject of fitting in and school violencehow does it relate to your Big Question? What makes this the best way to assess what students have learned toward that purpose? Kelsey, this sounds like a wonderful unitI like how youve used a thoughtful analysis of your AUDIENCE and a clear PURPOSE to guide your design of lessons that make use of the planning GENRE by relating to and building toward a Big Question J Now, what assessment(s) would help you know whether students had met your objectives and what theyd learned about that BQ? I love the way youve posed questions, and I especially like the specific ones you use as assessmentscan you do that for each lesson and make sure those questions relate back to your BQ? Thanks for your good workhave a great summer and see you next year! J Comment [22]: What do knowledge and accuracy mean to you? Could this assessment be applied to any lesson about any text? Compare to Student bulletin boards should trace development of each character, including his/her breaking point, using textual evidence from the novel (for example, Charlies overhearing his parents conversation about his birth). Comment [20]: Love the way this builds on their earlier work, gets even more mileage out of it J Comment [21]: GENRE J Revisiting and affirming a routine J

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