Foundations For Inquiry - Grade 9
This unit is divided into two parts. In Part 1, “Launching Independent Reading,” the sessions are designed to help teachers set up the independent reading project that will guide students’ self-selected reading over the year. These lessons focus largely on helping students begin their independent reading work and include instruction related to choosing texts to read, goal setting, and documentation, including reading logs.
Part 2 is designed as a re-introduction to interpretive work. In this part of the study, students will work with two pieces of short fiction: Gish Jen’s “In the American Society” and Ethan Canin’s “Star Food.” In their work with these texts, students will have an opportunity to revisit the practice of solid interpretive work distinguished by clear interpretive statements and supported by compelling explanations anchored in specific moments in the text.
Table of Contents
Writing Tasks
Title: Baseline Writing Task
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 1
When students are ready to begin, give them ONE of the following prompts or something similar. (Students should respond to the same prompt for this work for easy comparison of responses.) For a full explanation of the baseline writing task and its uses, review the information in Developing Fluency in Writing.
Tell me about an experience in your life that you feel changed you some- how. It can be large or small, but as you write, be sure to explain it so the reader understands that experience and how it changed you.
Think of a meaningful time that you sat down and had a meal with others. It might have been a holiday, a family gathering, a time with friends, or any other kind of occasion—even just a particular day in the cafeteria. Describe this meal for the reader and the parts that made it feel significant to you in a way that helps the reader understand.
Write about an experience that changed your mind. Describe the experience and how it changed your mind in a way that makes it clear to the reader.
Title: Book Interview
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 1
Display a copy of the “Book Interview” sheet for the class to see and distribute copies to students.
Using one of the books from the classroom library, model for students how to interview a book and how to fill out the sheet. Answer any questions students have about the form and its terminology.
Give students time to interview three books and to enter their findings on the “Book Interview” sheet.
Title: Day 1 Showing, Not Telling
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 2
- Have students write for 5-10 minutes.
- After the writing time has ended, explain to your students that one way of keeping track of progress is to count how many words you were able to write. Explain that this is one of the easiest and most effective means by which to track growing fluency. Because they are focusing on skill building, their interest, for now, should be in the quantity of words and pushing themselves a bit more each time they write. Have students take a moment to count the number of words they’ve used and write it on the page. If they have written a lot, show them how to find the average words per line.
- Allow a moment for one or two students to share some strong “showing” sentences. Focus on encouraging students through the process and express confidence that they will see their word counts increase over time, as well as their ease in getting started and staying engaged with putting words down on the page.
- Sift through student work afterward to see where students are in their fluency at this starting point.
Title: Book Pass
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 2
Organize students’ desks into a circle (or, if this is not possible, determine a very clear path for books to pass through the group).
Explain the purpose of a book pass:
A book pass is another way to expose students to the texts available in the classroom library. A book pass requires students to use their book interviewing skills. A book pass is a chance for students to find titles to add to their “Books I’d Like to Read” list.
Display a copy of the “Book Pass” for the class to see and pass out copies to students.
Demonstrate for the class how a person goes about making an entry on the form. Since students will need to write quickly, show how an author can be listed just by last name and first initial, and demonstrate how a student can abbreviate a long title if necessary. What matters is that they have enough information to track down the book again later if they need to.
Give each student one book (or magazine). Tell them it doesn’t matter which text they start with, because they will see all—or at least many of—the books. (Be sure you have one title for each student in the circle.)
Choose a direction for passing.
After students receive a book, they should immediately record the author’s name (if the text is a book) and title on the “Book Pass” form.
Give students one minute to interview each book following the procedure established in the previous session.
At the end of one minute, call “pass.” At this time, students should make an entry in the comments column and pass the book to the next student.
Continue the book pass until each student has interviewed all the books.
Title: Day 2 Showing, Not Telling
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 3
Have students write for 5-10 minutes.
Afterward, have students begin to chart their word count in the back of their journals. (See Developing Fluency in Writing for simple instructions on creating a word count chart.) Allow a moment for one or two students to share some strong showing sentences.
Title: Day 3 Showing, Not Telling
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 4
Have students write for 5-10 minutes.
Afterward, have students begin to chart their word count in the back of their journals. Allow a moment for one or two students to share some strong showing sentences.
Title: Day 4 Showing, Not Telling
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 5
Have students write for 5-10 minutes.
Afterward, have students begin to chart their word count in the back of their journals. Allow a moment for one or two students to share some strong showing sentences.
Title: Book Recommendation
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 5
Distribute copies of the “Book Recommendation” form to students and give them time to craft or begin crafting their first review. Students can choose to write about a book they’ve completed recently or one they remember well from past reading.
Use this time to confer with students about this work. Be sure to refer them back to the models and the “What We Know About Book Recommendations” chart for ideas (including ideas for leads and conclusions) and answers to the questions they raise.
Title: Day 5 Showing, Not Telling
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 6
Have students write for 5-10 minutes.
Afterward, have students chart their word count in the back of their journals . (See Developing Fluency in Writing for guidelines on charting progress .) Allow a moment for one or two students to share some strong showing sentences.
Have each student select one “Showing, Not Telling” journal entry that they especially want you to read and respond to.
Title: Goals for My Reading Life
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 6
Display a copy of “Goals for My Reading Life” for the class to see and distribute copies to students.
Use this time to review how to fill out the goals sheet. Be sure to show students how they can use the charts to generate ideas for answers to the “Goals” questions.
Take a moment to stress the value and function of the “Books I’d Like to Read” list. Point out that this list is a tool that serves the same function as a bedside table for some readers: It is a place to store up titles or books that are “next in line.” Remind the class that readers constantly have their eyes open for “next” texts. A “Books I’d Like to Read List” is a way to prevent aimless and unproductive castings around for new reading materials. It’s a planning tool.
Explain that at the beginning of each marking period, each student will fill out a new goals sheet; at at the end of each marking period, students will take a few minutes to review their goals statements and reflect on their efforts to meet them.
Answer any questions students have about the “Goals for My Reading Life” forms.
Give students time to complete the form and set a deadline for submission. You may decide to photocopy these to keep a set for yourself. Return the forms to students during the next session and have them attach the form to a page in their notebook or save it for their student portfolio (see Creating a Student Portfolio).
Title: Preparation for Writing About “In the American Society”
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 11
Allow students 5-10 minutes to skim and reread, independently, moments in the text that can help them respond to the interpretive question.
Give the small groups time to conduct their discussions. During this time, remind them that they might review the task, the story, and their notes in order to generate and test out ideas.
Confer with the groups about the work during this time. Be sure to remind and model for them how to use the text during these exchanges (for example, as a reference, to read from, to point to, etc.). Also, take time to show students how to jot notes and ideas down during these discussions.
Continue to observe the quality of interpretive work in small groups. Make notes on goals for future instruction.
Provided students are able to generate at least some ideas for claims and some relevant evidence to support them, they should be ready to continue to the next session’s work.
Title: Writing About “In the American Society”
Instructions:
For this assignment you will write an argument about “In the American Society” that answers the question in the box below. It will sound familiar to you because you participated in a discussion about it in the previous session’s work:
Imagine that in her story “In the American Society” Gish Jen is making arguments or sending messages about what American society is and what it is like. What is her primary message in the story? |
Suggested Student Materials: Interpretive_Argument Checklist
Title: Writing About “Star Food”
Instructions:
For this assignment you will write an argument about “Star Food” that answers the question in the box below. It will sound familiar to you because you participated in a discussion about it in the previous session’s work:
Why does Dade let the woman go at the end of the story? |
Suggested Student Materials: Interpretive_Argument Checklist
Charts for Discussion
Title: Taking Care of Books
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 4
Book care: Create a chart titled “Taking Care of Books.” Because many of the books in the library are paperbacks, without proper care they will soon fall into disrepair. Students should be taught basic, commonsense lessons about book care, including picking books up when they’ve been dropped or found on the floor, caring for book bindings (for example, don’t fold books back or leave them splayed open on a desk; use a book mark instead), don’t throw or toss books. Take a minute to add items to the “Taking Care of Books” chart.
Title: What We Know About Book Recommendations
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 5
Ask students if they have ever read a book recommendation before—perhaps in a bookstore where bookstore employees have posted short blurbs endorsing a text or maybe online on a site like Amazon. Ask volunteers to say what they know about recommendations and the kinds of things readers write in them. Jot these items on a chart titled “What We Know About Book Recommendations.”
Next, display or distribute copies of some model book recommendations. This will ensure that students have a connection with the content and will help expedite their understanding of the form. You can find model book reviews on Goodreads or Amazon, as well as most of the “Resources for Young Adult Readers” listed in Session 3.
Read two or three sample reviews aloud to the class. Use the following questions to guide students’ study of these models:
What do readers do in book recommendations (or book reviews)?
How do they begin?
How do they end?
What do they do in the middle?Jot these questions on the board. Use these questions to drive the class’s discus- sion about each of the examples. Capture the class’s answers to the questions on the “What We Know About Book Recommendations” chart.
Title: Comprehension Versus Interpretation
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 18
Place students in trios and give them time to discuss the following “step-back” question:
How is forming an interpretation different from responding to a comprehension question?
Ask the students to work in their small groups to create a list of four or five ways that interpretive work is different for them than comprehension work.
Next, reconvene the whole class to discuss the question. Capture the class’s thinking about this on a chart titled “Comprehension Versus Interpretation.” You might organize the responses by creating a simple T-chart, dedicating one column to features of comprehension work and the other to features of interpretive work. Afterwards, be sure to post this list in the room so that students can consult it as needed.
Use this discussion to segue to the next task: studying an exemplar paper.
Checks for Understanding
Title: Independent Reading: Problems and Solutions
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 4
Ask students to help you generate a list of challenges that arose during the independent reading time and list these in the “Problems” column to the left. Then collaborate with students to create possible solutions for each problem and place these in the column to the right. Again, use this time to gather ideas for any mini lessons that might benefit your students. (For example, if students describe having difficulty figuring out what was going on at the beginning of a book, you might model your own thinking as you open an unfamiliar book. What kinds of questions do you ask yourself? How do you start piecing together the setting?)
Remind students that they should bring their independent reading text with them to every class.
Title: “In the American Society”: Comprehension Questions
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 7
- After the reading, give students time to convene in groups of two or three to work on the comprehension questions. While students are collaborating with each other, they should write down their notes for these questions in their notebook. They should title this entry “‘In the American Society’: Comprehension Questions.”
Monitor students’ work at the end of the period to determine whether or not they understand the story, reviewing literacy notebooks if necessary. Whenever possible, respond to students’ questions by redirecting them to the text with prompts like “See if you can find any moments in the text that might help you answer that” or “Review some of the places that you and your group members marked in the text to see if that helps.” Remember that students will continue to interact with and reread the text, so they do not need to be experts on it at this moment. Instead, use this time to determine whether students will need to reexamine any serious misunderstandings in the next session. (Many of these may be cleared up in the whole-group sharing in the next session).
Title: What is Jen’s Primary Message in the Story?
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 11
Convene the whole class and revisit the interpretive question:
Imagine that in her story “In the American Society” Gish Jen is making arguments or sending messages about what American society is and what it is like. What is her primary message in the story?
You are not seeking a full, developed discussion at this point—only a quick charting of initial ideas.
Jot down student ideas on a chart so these ideas can be accessed later. Encourage students to write their classmates’ ideas in their notebooks to help them with their upcoming writing assignment.
During this debriefing, pause to work with the students to locate and note the page and line numbers of passages they might want to cite.
Title: “In the American Society”: Step-Back Questions
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 12
Then, ask students to answer briefly in writing the following “step-back” questions about doing interpretive work:
What did you learn about the text that you didn’t know before the discus- sion? (To answer this question, look back at your notes to see what you added or how your thinking changed.)
What do you do when you form an interpretation?
How is forming an interpretation different from responding to a comprehension question?
What did you learn about forming interpretations from our discussion?
Title: “In the American Society”: Step-Back Ideas and Responses
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 12
Ask students to share some of their ideas and note student responses on a chart or on the board. You will refer back to these in the closing meeting of Session 17. Alternately, you may give students time to share their thinking about these questions at the beginning of the Session 13.
Title: “Star Food”: Comprehension Questions
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 14
- After the reading, give students time to convene in groups of two or three to work on the comprehension questions. While students are collaborating with each other, they should write down their notes for these questions in their notebook. They should title this entry “‘”Star Food”: Comprehension Questions’: Comprehension Questions.”
Monitor students’ work at the end of the period to determine whether or not they understand the story, reviewing literacy notebooks if necessary. Whenever possible, respond to students’ questions by redirecting them to the text with prompts like “See if you can find any moments in the text that might help you answer that” or “Review some of the places that you and your group members marked in the text to see if that helps.” Remember that students will continue to interact with and reread the text, so they do not need to be experts on it at this moment. Instead, use this time to determine whether students will need to reexamine any serious misunderstandings in the next session. (Many of these may be cleared up in the whole-group sharing in the next session).
Title: What did you learn today about why Dade let the woman go at the end of the story?
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 16
Convene the whole class, and ask the question “What did you learn today about why Dade let the woman go at the end of the story?” You are not seeking a full, developed discussion at this point—only a quick charting of initial ideas.
Jot down student ideas on a chart so these ideas can be accessed later. Encourage students to write their classmates’ ideas in their notebooks, to help them with their upcoming writing assignment.
During this debriefing, pause to work with the students to locate and note the page and line numbers of passages they might want to cite.
Title: “Star Food”: Step-Back Questions
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 17
Ask the class to answer individually in writing the following “step-back” questions about doing interpretive work. These questions deliberately build on that same thinking:
What new things did you learn about forming interpretations from our discussion today?
What are the major differences between comprehension work and interpretive work?
Title: What We Know About Writing Effective Interpretive Papers
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 18
End the class meeting with a conversation in response to the following questions:
What did we learn in this session about doing interpretive work and writing interpretive papers? (Add relevant responses to the “Comprehension Versus Interpretation” chart.)
How will you use what you learned when you compose a response to “Interpretive Assignment #2: Writing About ‘Star Food’”?
Capture student thoughts on the board or on a piece of chart paper. Encourage students to be as concrete and specific as possible and to add these to a page or set of pages in their notebooks titled “What We Know About Writing Effective Interpretive Papers.”
Independent Reading
Title: Book Interview
Instructions:
Display a copy of the “Book Interview” sheet for the class to see and distribute copies to students.
Using one of the books from the classroom library, model for students how to interview a book and how to fill out the sheet. Answer any questions students have about the form and its terminology.
Give students time to interview three books and to enter their findings on the “Book Interview” sheet.
Title: Book Pass
Instructions:
Organize students’ desks into a circle (or, if this is not possible, determine a very clear path for books to pass through the group).
Explain the purpose of a book pass:
A book pass is another way to expose students to the texts available in the classroom library. A book pass requires students to use their book interviewing skills. A book pass is a chance for students to find titles to add to their “Books I’d Like to Read” list.
Display a copy of the “Book Pass” for the class to see and pass out copies to students.
Demonstrate for the class how a person goes about making an entry on the form. Since students will need to write quickly, show how an author can be listed just by last name and first initial, and demonstrate how a student can abbreviate a long title if necessary. What matters is that they have enough information to track down the book again later if they need to.
Give each student one book (or magazine). Tell them it doesn’t matter which text they start with, because they will see all—or at least many of—the books. (Be sure you have one title for each student in the circle.)
Choose a direction for passing.
After students receive a book, they should immediately record the author’s name (if the text is a book) and title on the “Book Pass” form.
Give students one minute to interview each book following the procedure established in the previous session.
At the end of one minute, call “pass.” At this time, students should make an entry in the comments column and pass the book to the next student.
Continue the book pass until each student has interviewed all the books.
Title: Book Recommendation
Instructions:
Distribute copies of the “Book Recommendation” form to students and give them time to craft or begin crafting their first review. Students can choose to write about a book they’ve completed recently or one they remember well from past reading.
Title: Goals for My Reading Life
Instructions:
Display a copy of “Goals for My Reading Life” for the class to see and distribute copies to students.
Use this time to review how to fill out the goals sheet. Be sure to show students how they can use the charts to generate ideas for answers to the “Goals” questions.
Take a moment to stress the value and function of the “Books I’d Like to Read” list. Point out that this list is a tool that serves the same function as a bedside table for some readers: It is a place to store up titles or books that are “next in line.” Remind the class that readers constantly have their eyes open for “next” texts. A “Books I’d Like to Read List” is a way to prevent aimless and unproductive castings around for new reading materials. It’s a planning tool.
Explain that at the beginning of each marking period, each student will fill out a new goals sheet; at at the end of each marking period, students will take a few minutes to review their goals statements and reflect on their efforts to meet them.
Answer any questions students have about the “Goals for My Reading Life” forms.
Give students time to complete the form and set a deadline for submission. You may decide to photocopy these to keep a set for yourself. Return the forms to students during the next session and have them attach the form to a page in their notebook or save it for their student portfolio (see Creating a Student Portfolio).
Title: Reading Log
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Show students how to set up a “Reading Log” in their notebook. They should be sure to enter it in their table of contents. You may decide to distribute sticky notes so that students can flag this page. Use the model on the next page to guide your efforts.
Notice the column titled “Date Completed/# of Pages Read.” This column is a place for students to record, and receive credit for, the reading of texts that did not require a “cover-to-cover” experience. Be sure to point out that reading sections of several texts for specific purposes is not the same as skipping aimlessly from book to book to book. The former often indicates purposefulness and interest; the latter can indicate confusion or disengagement.
After students have set up the reading log—including proper headings, creating the grid, etc.—demonstrate how to make an entry.
Answer any questions students have about the log.
Remind students that the reading log is a tool to be used in conjunction with the “Goals” sheets. Students track their reading in the log and then use the log to evaluate their progress toward their goals.
If you plan to use student portfolios this year, consider introducing them at this time using some version of the information in the section that follows. Review Creating a Student Portfolio in advance to be sure you have thought through some of the important questions for portfolio work.
Unit Resources
Title: Grades 9 and 10 – Interpretive_Argument Rubric
Title: Scaffolds and Modifications: Descriptions and Use