Foundations For Inquiry - Grade 10
This two-part study is designed to help teachers accomplish three basic and essential things:
- Launch the course’s independent reading project. The sessions in Part 1 are dedicated to helping teachers lead students through essential pieces of this work, including finding new and interesting texts to read, building “Books I’d Like to Read” lists, and setting goals.
- Re-orient students to close reading and text-based interpretive work. In Part 2, students will work closely with two texts: “Snow,” a short story by Charles Baxter, and “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream,” a piece of literary nonfiction from Joan Didion’s book Slouching Towards Bethlehem.
- Create classroom cultures in which students participate as active members of a community of readers. The work and interactions of the two parts of this study are specifically designed to help teachers provide students with regular opportunities to share and collaborate, to think, and discuss texts. This means that students will have opportunities not only to read, but to read and think better due to the frequency and quality of their regular interactions around independent reading and careful text-based work.
Table of Contents
Writing Tasks
Title: Book Recommendation
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 1
Display a copy of the “Book Recommendation” form for the class to see and distribute a copy to each student.
Think aloud for 2-3 minutes as you fill out the display copy of the form. Use this time to revisit the definition of “genre” and to model the kinds of information a student might include in the “recommendation” section. After this demonstration, answer any questions students have about filling out the form.
Next, ask students to think about the reading they did during the summer or the previous school year. They should think of at least three titles they read that they enjoyed and they can imagine recommending to another reader. Encourage reluctant students to think of any titles they have enjoyed, even if they are comics or other nontraditional texts, or if they have to think back further than a year.
Give them a minute or two to think and then ask them to write the title and author of one of the books on their “Book Recommendation” form.
Next, in a whip-around fashion, call on students in the class and ask them to share the author and title they entered on their form.
Briefly review the kinds of content that students might include in the “recommendation” section once again, and give students 3-4 minutes to write a recommendation for their book.
Title: Book Review
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 5
Distribute copies of the “Book Review” 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 about 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 Reviews” chart for ideas (including ideas for leads and conclusions) and answers to
the questions they raise.
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 “Snow”
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 9
Place students into small groups. Explain to students that the purpose of the small-group work is to give them a chance to “try out,” revise, and make notes about interpretations or responses that they will bring to a whole-class discus- sion during the next session.
Title: Writing About “Snow”
Instructions:
For this assignment you will write an argument about “Snow” 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 Russell say “he wants to feel cold, so cold that the cold itself became permanently interesting”? |
Suggested Student Materials: Interpretive_Argument Checklist
Title: Tracking “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream”
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 12
Point out that during the closing meetings of the next two sessions, students will have time to compare their notes and markings in the text and enter information on a tracking sheet.
Title: “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream” Search and Study
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 14
Take a few minutes to review the assignment sheet with the class and answer any questions students may have.
Model the completion of an entry using either a question of your own or one from the class’s list.
Title: “Some Dreamers” Chunking
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 15
Lead the whole class through this task for the first chunk, taking care to model how students can use their tracking charts and their search and study research to help them summarize each section.
Afterwards, answer any questions students have about that work.
Tell students they will have the remainder of the work period to work with their partner(s) to complete their summaries of the remaining sections.
Title: Writing About “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream”
Instructions:
It is important to remember that writers of literary nonfiction are usually doing more than simply telling an interesting story. Often, they are describing ideas, people, or events to make an argument or send a message about something. For this assignment, imagine that Didion is using the story of Lucille Miller for some greater purpose.
For this assignment you will write an argument about “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream” 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:
According to Didion, why is Lucille Miller convicted of the murder of her husband? |
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 Reviews
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 Reviews” 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: “Snow”: 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 “‘Snow’: 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: Why does Russell say that he wants “to feel cold, so cold that the cold itself became permanently interesting”?
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 9
Convene the whole class and revisit the interpretive question. You are not seeking a full, developed discussion at this point—only a quick charting of initial ideas:
Why does Russell say that he wants “to feel cold, so cold that the cold itself became permanently interesting”?
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: “Snow”: Step-Back Questions
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 10
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 discussion? (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 doing interpretive work, including what makes a good and compelling interpretation?
Title: “Snow”: Step-Back Ideas and Responses
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 10
Capture student responses on a chart or on the board. You will refer back to these in the closing meeting of Session 18.
Note: Take notes from your own observations of student work. What would you like to see them improve upon in the next cycle of interpretive work? Consider taking time in the next focus lesson to address what you observed, if appropriate, or returning to these ideas with the next text.
Title: Questions About “Some Dreamers”
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 12
Consider beginning a “Questions About ‘Some Dreamers’” chart to allow students to chart some of their big questions about the text. This chart provides a central place to capture these ideas without needing to discuss them at the time they are recorded. (They can be returned to when appropriate, perhaps during whole-class discussions.)
Title: “Some Dreamers” Retelling
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 15
Reconvene the class and facilitate a whole-group effort to compose a class retelling of Didion’s essay. To do this, move through the essay chunk by chunk. (If you use chart paper to capture the retelling, be sure to leave it posted in the room so students can review the retelling in the sessions ahead. If you type it on the computer, distribute copies of it to each student so they can glue or tape it into their notebooks, or place the file in a shared folder for easy access.)
After completing the retelling of the last “chunk,” go back and read the entire retelling to the class and make any final adjustments or additions.
Encourage students to revise or add to their own retellings during this discussion. Their retellings should reflect their best understanding of the text. If you are collecting responses for scoring or feedback, ask students to turn them in at this time.
Title: According to Didion, why is Lucille Miller convicted of the murder of her husband?
Teacher Manual Instructions:
Session 16
Convene the whole class, and ask the question, “According to Didion, why is Lucille Miller convicted of the murder of her husband?” 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 debrief, pause to work with students to locate and note the page and line numbers of passages they might want to cite.
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: 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.
Think of an object in your room at home that has some kind of personal significance or meaning to you. Describe this object and explain its importance to you in a way that makes both the object, and its significance, clear to the reader.
Tell me about a time you worked especially hard to complete a task or achieve a goal. It can be any task or goal, but be sure to recreate that experience so the reader understands how hard you worked and why.
Write about a misconception that people have about you—something that people think is true about you, but that you disagree with. Discuss both the misconception and your understanding of yourself using examples that make them clear to the reader.
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: 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: 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: Tracking “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream”
Title: “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream” Search and Study
Title: Writing About “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream”
Title: Grades 9 and 10 – Interpretive_Argument Rubric
Title: Scaffolds and Modifications: Descriptions and Use