Jump Off (5 mins.)
--Under the area of the front board labeled "Rainer Maria Rilke Background," write down one of the important facts that you found about Rilke as part of your homework. Read what others before you have written, and if you have nothing new to add, of course, don't be repetitive--simply return to your desk.
--Take out your copy of "Letter One" of Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet (or pick up a copy of the letter from the front table if you have yet to receive one). Then, ask yourself the following questions:
- What are we "up to" with this letter? In other words, what do you remember from last class in terms of what we are trying to accomplish?
Be prepared to share your responses to the questions above with both a peer and the entire class.
S. the C. (10-12 mins.)
--pair/share as per the "Jump Off"
--Reminder: Last class, we briefly discussed the standards that drive today's lesson. As a result of those discussions, the following list of targets emerged:
Literacy Activity/Discussion -- “Letter One" of Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet (40-45 mins.)
S. the C. (10-12 mins.)
--pair/share as per the "Jump Off"
--Reminder: Last class, we briefly discussed the standards that drive today's lesson. As a result of those discussions, the following list of targets emerged:
- When reading nonfiction, I can...
- pick out the author's main point
- pick out the important details that the author uses that connect back to his/her main point
- explain how the author's details connect back to his/her main point
- contribute something (a question, an answer, an important detail, etc.) to a whole-group discussion that moves us forward in hitting the three targets listed above.
Literacy Activity/Discussion -- “Letter One" of Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet (40-45 mins.)
--An insightful excerpt from educational researcher Robert Marzano's book Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement:
--oral first-draft reading of "Letter One"
Transition (2 mins.)
--Pick up the following document from the front table:
--After carefully reading the directions for the Ticket-Out-the-Door, complete the task at hand and submit your best work based on the time permitted prior to leaving class.
DEAR -- Free Reading Books (time permitting)
--students without books will read Upfront newsmagazine
Teambuilding Activity -- Artifact Bags (time permitting)
--I hand a paper bag to a random student--he/she then displays items from the bag one at a time, briefly describing what he/she is seeing
--guess who?!
--owner of bag further describes, explains, and shares an anecdote as a form of introduction to teacher/peers
--REPEAT THE PROCESS...
HW (Class Preparation)
--Read your free reading book for at least 10 minutes between now and next class. ALWAYS BRING YOUR FREE READING BOOK TO CLASS. You have up until the first full week of December to finish your book.
- "Although it is true that the extent to which students will learn this new content is dependent on factors such as the skill of the teacher, the interest of the student, and the complexity of the content, the research literature supports one compelling fact: what students already know about the content is one of the strongest indicators of how well they will learn new information relative to the content. Commonly, researchers and theorists refer to what a person already knows about a topic as “background knowledge.” Numerous studies have confirmed the relationship between background knowledge and achievement (Nagy, Anderson, & Herman, 1987; Bloom, 1976; Dochy, Segers, & Buehl, 1999; Tobias, 1994; Alexander, Kulikowich, & Schulze, 1994; Schiefele & Krapp, 1996; Tamir, 1996; Boulanger, 1981). In these studies, the reported average correlation between a person's background knowledge of a given topic and the extent to which that person learns new information on that topic is .66 (see Technical Note 1 on p. 127 for a discussion of how the correlation was computed)."
--discuss the nature of a typical “first-draft” reading of a difficult text (remind in Block 1):
- A gist reading--“survival mode” in order to understand/comprehend the text on a literal level
- Ask the “curious questions”
- Basic comprehension is essential if any deeper understanding is to occur.
- Easier with some sort of defined purpose (therefore, often a purposeful reading)
- Most effective when it is still somewhat active reading (annotate: jot down curious questions, jot down notes related to your defined purpose, etc.)
- Your purpose:
- Jot down curious questions on your personal copy of the text whenever such questions enter your mind (listen for them!)
- Underline key words/details and annotate with regard to these two questions:
- What does Rainer Maria Rilke, the author of this letter, say to "Sir" about what is important and meaningful to a person?
- What advice does Rilke give "Sir?"
- What curious questions did you jot down?
- What did you underline/how did you annotate with regard to these two questions?:
- What does Rainer Maria Rilke, the author of this letter, say to "Sir" about what is important and meaningful to a person?
- What advice does Rilke give "Sir?"
Transition (2 mins.)
--Pick up the following document from the front table:
- "RI.2 Ticket-Out-the-Door"
--After carefully reading the directions for the Ticket-Out-the-Door, complete the task at hand and submit your best work based on the time permitted prior to leaving class.
DEAR -- Free Reading Books (time permitting)
--students without books will read Upfront newsmagazine
Teambuilding Activity -- Artifact Bags (time permitting)
--I hand a paper bag to a random student--he/she then displays items from the bag one at a time, briefly describing what he/she is seeing
--guess who?!
--owner of bag further describes, explains, and shares an anecdote as a form of introduction to teacher/peers
--REPEAT THE PROCESS...
HW (Class Preparation)
--Read your free reading book for at least 10 minutes between now and next class. ALWAYS BRING YOUR FREE READING BOOK TO CLASS. You have up until the first full week of December to finish your book.
