End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Desktop Teaching Activity: Access to Healthy Food | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G8:M2:U2:L14

End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Desktop Teaching Activity: Access to Healthy Food

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RI.8.1, SL.8.4, SL.8.5, L.8.6

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

  • W.8.2, W.8.7, W.8.8

Daily Learning Targets

  • I can present my research findings and teach my audience new information. (SL.8.4, SL.8.5)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 14
  • Work Time A: End of Unit 2 Assessment: Desktop Teaching Activity (RI.8.1, SL.8.4, SL.8.5, L.8.6)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner and Return Mid-Unit 2 Assessments (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Desktop Teaching Activity: Access to Healthy Food - SL.8.4 (35 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Reflect on Learning Targets and Habits of Character (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Independent Research Reading: Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • RI.8.1 – Work Time A: Students cite evidence from their research to support their points.
  • SL.8.4 – Work Time A: Students present their research findings to their classmates in a clear and coherent manner.
  • SL.8.5 – Work Time A: Students use visual aids to present their research findings to their classmates.
  • L.8.6 – Work Time A: Students use vocabulary from their case study in their presentation.
  • In this lesson, the habit of character focus is on working to become an ethical person. The characteristics that students practice are respect, empathy, and compassion as they participate in a desktop teaching activity.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Ask students to reflect on their growth or learning between the mid-unit assessment and the end of unit assessment. Also, ask students to create goals for the coming unit.
  • To deepen thinking as students reflect on the learning targets in Closing and Assessment A, build in time for students to make a list of the knowledge and skills that they used to carry out the Desktop Teaching protocol. This might include a range of linguistic and cognitive skills and content knowledge. Reflecting in this way will help students to celebrate their progress and hard work and see value in their learning over the course of the unit.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous two lessons, students prepared for this assessment by completing a Desktop Teaching Lesson Plan graphic organizer including the most salient points and evidence from their informative essay, creating visual displays to present their research findings, and practicing their speaking and listening skills using academic and domain-specific vocabulary. In this lesson, students present their findings independently to their classmates in a coherent manner.

Support All Students

  • If students receive accommodations for assessments, communicate with the cooperating service providers regarding the practices of instruction in use during this study as well as the goals of the assessment.
  • Much of this lesson is discussion-based, so students who struggle with oral language and/or auditory processing may need additional support. Provide sentence frames for students to refer to during peer critique or a note-taking template for students to take notes during critiques. ▲
  • Display a timer so students will have a visual to keep track of time while presenting.

Assessment Guidance

  • Assessment materials (student copy, answer key, student exemplar, teacher checklist) are included in the Assessment download on this page. Large classes may require extra rounds for the Desktop Teaching protocol; allocate two days for this assessment.
  • When assessing and providing feedback to students on this assessment, use the End of Unit 2 Assessment Part I: Desktop Teaching Lesson Plan Rubric (for teacher reference) (see Assessment download) and the End of Unit 2 Assessment Part II: Desktop Teaching Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas checklist to show students their areas of strength and the areas in which they can further develop their speaking and listening skills.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will analyze language in an excerpt from The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

In Advance

  • Prepare End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Desktop Teaching Activity (for teacher reference) (see Assessment download).
  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 14 and Mid-Unit 2 Assessments with feedback available at each student's workspace.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).
  • Set up the classroom for presentations.

Tech and Multimedia

  • Work Time A: Prepare a device with a projector to display anchor charts.
  • Work Time A: Prepare devices for students to display the visuals for their presentations.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 8.I.A.1, 8.I.A.3, and 8.I.A.4.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, the assessment within this lesson celebrates students' work throughout the unit. Students participate in a desktop teaching activity to share their work with analyzing access to healthy food. The careful preparation that students have carried out in the previous lessons sets students up for success in navigating the blend of cognitive and linguistic demands of the assessment and provides a supportive space for students to display what they have learned over the course of the unit.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to balance the contextual and linguistic demands of the desktop teaching activity. Encourage students to give equal attention to preparation of both the content knowledge and language they will need to successfully navigate the tasks at hand using the supports suggested below. As Unit 2 comes to a close, acknowledge students' progress, and encourage students to do the same for their peers.

Vocabulary

  • N/A

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part I: Desktop Teaching Activity Lesson Plan and Rubric (for teacher reference) (see Assessment download)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time A) 
  • Desktop Teaching Activity directions (one for display; from Unit 2, Lesson 12, Work Time A)
  • Desktop Teaching Activity Lesson Plan and Rubric (for teacher reference) (from Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 12, Work Time A)
  • Mid-Unit 2 Assessments with feedback (one per student; from Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 6, Work Time A)
  • Desktop Teaching Lesson Plan and presentation materials (one per student; from Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 12, Work Time A)
  • Independent reading journals (one per student; begun in Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Work Time B)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Desktop Teaching Activity (for teacher reference) (see Assessment download)
  • Device with projector (see Technology and Multimedia)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 13 (one per student)
  • Devices (one per student; see Technology and Multimedia)
  • End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Desktop Teaching Activity (one per student)
  • End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Desktop Teaching Activity directions (one per student)

Assessment

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

Opening

A. Engage the Learner and Return Mid-Unit 2 Assessments (5 minutes)

  • As students enter the classroom, invite them to complete Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 14 using their Mid-Unit 2 Assessments with feedback on their desks.
  • Circulate as students review their feedback, and offer guidance and support as necessary. 
  • Once all students are ready, invite them to share their "stars" and "steps" with a partner. Remind students that everyone is working toward individual goals and that learning is about continued growth and development.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as with the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Desktop Teaching Activity: Access to Healthy Food – SL.8.4 (35 minutes)

  • Review the learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can present my research findings and teach my audience new information.”

  • Display the Desktop Teaching Activity directions. Review the chart by reading each component aloud to remind students of which skills the Desktop Teaching protocol will assess.
  • Display End of Unit 2 Assessment Part II: Desktop Teaching Activity. Read aloud the directions as students silently follow along. Read, reread, and rephrase. Answer clarifying questions.
  • Focus students on all of the characteristics on the Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart—respect, compassion, and empathy—in preparation for the Desktop Teaching. Review what each characteristic looks like and sounds like.
  • Remind students that as they listen to presentations, they will give their “teachers” respect, and explain that effective participation is about listening to others and asking and answering questions to be completely clear about what others are saying and to clarify their own points.
  • Divide students into the three predetermined groups based on their case study.
  • Assign each “teacher” in Group 1 a specific station to set up their materials.
  • Assign one to three “students” per station.
  • Begin Desktop Teaching.
  • Circulate throughout the room, and use the End of Unit 2 Assessment, Part II: Desktop Teaching Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas checklist to assess each speaker’s speaking and listening skills.
  • After 5 minutes, give “students” 2–3 minutes to ask their “teacher” questions about their topic.
  • Refocus the class.
  • Give “students” 2 minutes to copy their “teacher’s” exit ticket question in the exit ticket box on their lesson plan and answer it. As “students” complete their exit ticket, instruct “teachers” to gather their materials in preparation for the next round of “teachers.”
  • Refocus the class.
  • Assign each “teacher” in Group 2 a specific station to set up their materials, and repeat the process until all students have had a chance to present.
  • When all students have presented, refocus the whole class.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

“What were some of your successes during the Desktop Teaching protocol? What did you do really well?” (Responses will vary.)

“What were some of your challenges during the Desktop Teaching protocol? What did you struggle with? (Responses will vary.)

“How do you think your Desktop Teaching protocol supported a peer’s learning today?” (Responses will vary.)

  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

For Lighter Support

  • Before the assessment, prepare individual sticky notes with sentence stems that students can use to generate questions for their peers when they are in the "teacher" role. For example: 
    • "Can you tell me more about __________?" 
    • "Why do you think __________?"
    • "Why did __________?" 

For Heavier Support

  • During the Think-Pair-Share at the end of the desktop teaching activity, invite students to share what their partners said to promote attentive listening, retelling, paraphrasing, and peer language modeling. Since students are accustomed to sharing out their own answer, explain why this is helpful, and provide them with frames and a model first: 
    • "My partner (or name of student) said __________."

Closing & Assessments

Closing

A. Reflect on Learning Targets and Habits of Character (5 minutes)

  • Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target, using a checking for understanding technique—for example, thumbs-up or traffic-light signal cards. Scan student responses, and make a note of students who might need support. Check in with them moving forward.
  • Focus students on all of the characteristics on the Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart—respect, compassion, and empathy—and invite students to think of ways they saw their peers exhibiting these characteristics during the desktop teaching activity.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

“In what ways did you see your peers exhibiting these characteristics during the desktop teaching activity? How did this impact our learning?” (Responses will vary, but may mention they observed students showing respect as they listened carefully to the “teachers,” etc.)

  • Call on students to share out specific examples of respect, empathy, and compassion they observed in their peers.

Homework

Homework

A. Independent Research Reading

  • Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

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