Name: Andrew Weber Grade level: English 10 Short Text: DATE ____10/18/2013____

Lesson topic(s) and/or Essential Question(s)/Essential Understandings Creating Persuasive Arguments and Essays Through Use of Historically Significant Texts How do you create a persuasive argument? How can historical texts be used to further development of engagement and application of skills in the classroom?

Standards Select 1-3 If this is a multipleday lesson, identify the standards that match each day.

What standards will be addressed by this lesson: Standards can be applied to both days: DAY 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.6 Determine an authors point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.9-10.9 Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (e.g., Washingtons Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelts Four Freedoms speech, Kings Letter from Birmingham Jail), including how they address related themes and concepts.

Objectives Create 1-3 If this is a multipleday lesson, identify the objectives that match each day. Phrase as SWBAT

What will your students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson? SWBAT Day 1: To respond to a text with personal experiences and critical thinking To evaluate an authors intentions, motivations, and reasoning behind a text

Instructional Materials and

What materials, texts, manipulatives, visuals, etc. will

Adapted from Brown University Teacher Education Lesson Plan Template (2008)

Resources

you need for this lesson? What technological resources (if any) will you need? DAY 1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------White board with markers or chalk -Printed Handout of Both MLK/Clergymen Letters -Highlighters/Markers -Pencil and Paper -Students Journal

Learner Factors

How does this lesson accommodate different development levels of students? What do you imagine to be the needs of your students? How does this lesson accommodate individual differences in approaches to learning, create connections between the subject matter and student experiences, and/or include provisions for students with particular learning differences or needs? The lesson accommodate all auditory and visual learners. Im basing this lesson off my Course Goals Assignment. The community described in that assignment was a town that was predominately white. The use of MLKs Letter and the Civil Rights Movement was to provide the students with an understanding of an important aspect of American History that may be glossed over due to the racial makeup of the school. MLKs Letter of Birmingham Jail is a recommended text in the Common Core Standards. While both assessments are writing assignments, students are able to use the texts as a launching pad to delve into using their own personal stories and evidence from the classroom to create persuasive essays and summarizations. Through the use of text rending, students will be able to close read the text to find meaningful and powerful words. These words will help guide their own personal essays and the letters provides a perfect example on how to write them. Students will also be able to find and research different forms of media to better understand the assigned text. Students with particular learning differences or needs should be able to participate in this lesson with some ease, due to most of the lesson is based around small-group

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and whole class discussion. Students with needs could be placed with another student to help them form discussion. Also, much of this lesson has to do with application of personal experiences, which hopefully makes it more accessible.

Environmental Factors

What student grouping will be used? Why? What changes will you need to make in the classroom due to instruction, materials, safety, etc., if any? How will you arrange your desks? For the first day, I am planning on grouping students into small-group discussion, which then leads to whole group discussion. This use of scaffolding here is to help build a ladder of discussion that eventually leads to a higher level of text rendering. Students need to discuss and eliminate their own material with other students, which hopefully lead to proper discussion and application. Desks can be arranged in any way, as long as there is room for small-group discussion.

Instructional What activities will you and your students do and how are they Activities and Tasks connected to the objectives? -Independent Journal-discussing personal experiences -Students will be using text rendering during these readings, but will only be focusing on one word (one phrase and one sentence could be used if there was more time). This allows them to view the authors intention of their text. -Pair Share and Whole-Class Discussion-Part of Text Rendering. Working together to find the best options (which may mean removing some of your own personal options) -The activities is based around Smagorinskys flexible scaffolding(25) (teacher modeling-small group practicewhole group practice-individual assessment/application)

Assessment Activities

How will you determine what the students know and are able to do during and as a result of the lesson?

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Phrase as SW (Students will)

For Day 1: Students Will Be writing a short letter to the head of Birmingham Prison arguing why MLK should be released from jail. They need to use the words selected by the text rendering activity and find evidence using both the letters. Students will have to apply evidence, from class and on their own, to create a persuasive argument. The use of text rendering is to have the students create an argument based on the assigned text, but being able to expand and create their own opinions from these words.

Rationale (optional) (300-500 words)

Address the why of this lesson, how it connects to your school context, overarching concept, and general unit (referring back to your Course Goals). Questions to consider: - Why are you teaching this text? Why at this point in the year? Why this way? - What is the setting: students, school, community? - What might your students already know and be able to do in regards to the skills in connection with your text? - What resources did you consult / modify in order to create this plan? (Include links to plans online, references to course texts, etc.) The text I am teaching is MLKs Letter from Birmingham Jail. Besides it being one of Common Cores recommended historical texts, it is a great example of how to create a persuasive argument. The setting for this lesson plan is based around my own personal experiences attending a small high school, where most students were white. We never had much exposure to MLKs work, and I believe this letter is an excellent text for the high school classroom. Most people have a basic knowledge of MLK and this lesson will hopefully create a deeper understanding of his importance. My main goal is to use his letter to further develop a students ability to create a persuasive essay. By using text rendering, the student will be able to find the importance of MLKs

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letter and apply their own personal meaning to it. The use of classroom discussion is to create an environment where opinions are open and welcomed. Students will also be using technology to find credible sources around the assigned texts. I first read MLKs letter in a college course this summer and found it to be a perfect text for a high school classroom. Conversations around MLKs use of words to convey injustice and to argue against his adversaries would be great in the classroom. I found some websites that provide good lesson plans around the letter (links below), but I decided to use text rendering to help students analyze the text after I read about it in Smagorinsky (35). Text rendering allows students to focus on sections of the reading they find powerful or compelling. I also wanted students to discuss the ideas of racism and injustice and apply their own personal experience to what they were reading.

Adapted from Brown University Teacher Education Lesson Plan Template (2008)

What activities will you and your students do and how are they connected to the objectives? Instructional tasks and activities (Make sure to include timeframes) What will you be doing? What will the students be doing? DAY 1 of 2 (60 minutes) Before Class: Make sure that the Handout (attached to lesson plan) is printed out so students receive a copy. 8:00-8:05, After all the students are in the classroom, the teacher reads the question prompt from the screen or board: Recall a time when you have experienced or witnessed racism or discrimination. Why do you think you remember this moment? Take attendance. 8:05-8:10, Ask the S if any of them want to read out loud their journal responses. Some might be too personal for students to share, so this is not mandatory for students. It is important that you tell the students that you will read them later. 8:10-8:15: Brief Discussion begins about Martin Luther King. Ask students what they know about Martin Luther King and why he is regarded so highly. T provides historical context to the two letters on the handout in front of them. In 1963, King decided to travel to Birmingham, Alabama to help fight the discrimination and segregation laws there. 8:00-8:05 Students respond to Journal Question Students write in their journal

8:05-8:10, Some S will read their journal entries out loud

8:10-8:15, S will provide responses to the Ts question, Listen to the brief history lesson.

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Back in the 1960s, Birmingham was one of the most racially divided cities in America. King led marches and sit-ins nonviolently to protest the unfair conditions that AfricanAmericans received. Once the marches and sit-ins gained major traction and became popular, the city issued that it was illegal to partake in any parading, demonstrating, boycotting, trespassing, and picketing. King, along with other leaders, decided to disobey this law and they were arrested. Eight white clergymen decided to speak out against Kings actions and wrote a letter to the local paper. King saw that letter while he was in jail and decided to write a response. He began to write the letter while he was in jail, scribbling down his thoughts on anything he could find. Source for Context: http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/martin-lutherking-jr-and-nonviolent-resistance 8:15-8:20: T will read out the first letter from the Clergymen in response to the nonviolent protest (much shorter than MLKs Letter). This letter is being used in the classroom to show how MLK wrote his argument against this letter by using evidence taken straight from the clergymen letter and disputing it. The T asks the students to follow along as the T reads it. 8:20-8:35 Letter from Martin Luther King Jr. T will ask the S if they want to read the letter by themselves 8:15-8:20 S listens to Teacher read the Clergymen Letter

8:20-8:35 S read the letter as a class (or individually) and highlights their 10 words as they read.

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or as a group (providing an option for choice, but it would be ideal for students to read as a class for part of it to understand what they need to do) T will provide highlighters to students who need them T will then give directions As you read MLKs Letter from Birmingham Jail, highlight single words that you believe best summarize what MLK is arguing for, powerful or strong words. You have to highlight at least 10 words. 8:35-8:45- Text Rending Activity (Individually) After they finish reading the letter, T directs the S to the graph on their handout. T: Now look over the 10 words you have. Find 3 that BEST describe MLKs argument. Or :What word is the most powerful to you? Now place them in the graph. Number 1 should be the word that is the most effective or powerful. 2 should be the second best and so on. Then write a sentence for each word explaining why you think MLK used this certain word for his argument. I will give you 5 minutes. 8:45-8:50 T to S: Now pair up with a person next to you. Out of the combined six words between the two of you, I want you to pick the three best out of the six words. You have 5 minutes to do this.

8:35-8:45- S fill out the 3 words section of their handout

8:45-8:50: S pair share and activity

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8:50-8:55 T will now ask the students to list off each groups three words. If they are many students, asking for only their first word can be done to save time. Teachers can ask questions like Why did you pick this word? What was MLK try to arguing by using this word? What does this word mean to you? T writes words on board.

8:50-8:55: S discuss with T the reasoning behind their word choices

8:55-9:00 8:55-9:00 Discussion of Assessment S listens to T about their upcoming assessment. Can ask T to S: Now I want each of you to pick 10 words from the questions if they have any. board that you think best describe MLKs Letter. Write them in the box on your handout. From here, there is an assignment due tomorrow. I want you to write a letter like MLK did. You need to write a short letter (no more than 3 paragraphs) to head the Birmingham Prison arguing why Martin Luther King should be released from jail. You have to use at least 5 words from the 10 you wrote down. Make sure to highlight them in your paper. Make sure you use the words properly!! Just dont add the words in the letter if they dont make sense. Also, you can use both letters as evidence to back up your argument in your letter, just like MLK did in his letter. The letter must be at least 3 paragraphs long. It is due tomorrow.

Adapted from Brown University Teacher Education Lesson Plan Template (2008)

Adapted from Brown University Teacher Education Lesson Plan Template (2008)