Performance Task: Create and Present a Graphic Panel Depiction of a Fictional Holocaust Upstander | EL Education Curriculum

You are here

ELA 2019 G8:M3:U3:L15

Performance Task: Create and Present a Graphic Panel Depiction of a Fictional Holocaust Upstander

You are here:

Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • SL.8.1, SL.8.5, SL.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.

  • RI.8.1, RI.8.2, W.8.5, W.8.10, SL.8.4

Daily Learning Targets

  • I can present my graphic panels to an audience and highlight important aspects of my upstander's experience. (SL.8.5, SL.8.6)
  • I can share major takeaways and progress about my understanding of the module guiding questions. (SL.8.1)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Work Time A: Performance Task: Create and Present a Graphic Panel (SL.8.1, SL.8.5, SL.8.6)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - SL.8.1 (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Present Graphic Panels - SL.8.5 (30 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Share Major Takeaways from Module 3 - SL.8.1 (10 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

  • SL.8.1 – Work Time A: Students come to their presentations prepared to share their reflections effectively and answer questions from attendees using relevant information and ideas.
  • SL.8.5 – Work Time A: Students share key points in their reflection, using their graphic panels to clarify information and add interest.
  • SL.8.6 – Work Time A: Students answer questions and share their reflections in their presentation, adapting their speech to their task, purpose, and audience and using formal English where appropriate.
  • SL.8.1 – Closing and Assessment A: Students engage effectively in a group discussion as they share major takeaways and highlight important learning from the module.
  • In this lesson, students work on becoming ethical people, showing respect and empathy as they discuss the experiences of victims and survivors of the Holocaust. Students will also work to contribute to a better world by sharing their work with an audience as they reflect upon and remember the Holocaust and reflect on how their presentations can help improve the world.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Invite audience members to view student presentations. Community members, staff members, parents, and/or peers would benefit from seeing students’ final presentations and reflections, and they may provide supplemental and varied questions for student presenters.
  • In addition to having attendees view panels and participate in the question and answer section, allow students to view their peers’ panels. Provide additional time for students to examine each other’s work, or continue to display student and panels and reflection in the classroom.
  • Consider scanning or photocopying student graphic panels alongside their reflections and combining them into a book or an online format. This could be shared with various audiences as an exemplar for future students, parents, community members, or staff. Allow students to manage the creation and distribution of this material.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lessons, students created graphic panels that illustrated a moment in their narrative interviews, wrote a reflection, and created prompt cards for their performance task presentation. In this lesson, students share their reflection and graphic panel with an authentic audience for their culminating performance task.

Support All Students

  • Some students may find the somber tone of the Upstander Sharing uncomfortable and react in different ways (e.g., nervous laughter, wanting to leave). Reviewing the expectations during Opening A will be extremely important to set the tone of the lesson, and within this, acknowledge that it might be uncomfortable, and that is okay.
  • Students may need support preparing for the sharing. Providing additional practice for students and reminding them how to use their prompt cards and present with adequate volume and clear pronunciation are strategies that will help students understand feel more prepared and confident during their presentations. ▲
  • Consider grouping students in pairs for their sharing as a way to support students in sharing their thinking, ideas, and presentations. ▲
  • Consider using a common space in the school for the sharing that provides more area for students to display their work and circulate. This will allow participants to hear one another’s presentations more clearly and will ensure the question and answer portion of the share is effective.
  • As needed, use a different structure than the one suggested for the sharing in work Time A. If, for example, no outside audience members will be in attendance, create a structure that allows students to present to each other. Students could be broken up into thirds, with one-third presenting in each round, and other students observing, asking questions and filling out note-catchers.
  • Discuss with attendees what they might want to look for during the Upstander Sharing and what kind of notes they can add to their Notices and Wonders note-catcher.
  • Some students might need sentence starters or notes to help them contribute to the conversation in Closing and Assessment A. Provide time for students ahead of the discussion for students to capture their thinking in writing or by sharing orally with a partner.
  • Consider how to engage and sustain effort and persistence throughout the lesson, as students will not be formally assessed on their performance task. Remind students of the many real-world applications of effective presentation skills and technical literacy. Focus students on the joy of learning for learning’s sake.

Assessment Guidance

  • Review student work during and after the lesson either to provide specific feedback or suggestions or identify common issues that could be used as whole group teaching points on developing speaking and listening skills.
  • Circulate to ensure each student has a small number of audience members to prevent the forming of crowds at one panel.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will begin their work in Module 4, participating in an Infer the Topic lesson on the content they will be exploring while reading their anchor text.

In Advance

  • Prepare Performance Task Presentation note-catchers (enough copies for the attendees to have at least three).
  • Post student graphic panels for display in Work Time A.
  • Ensure clipboards and pencils are available for attendees.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout previous modules to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 8.I.A.1, 8.I.A.3, 8.I.B.5, and 8.I.C.9.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson celebrates the learning that students have done throughout the module. Students are supported to deliver individual presentations on the graphic panels they have created to celebrate Holocaust upstanders as a final performance task.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to speak in front of an audience, as this may cause some students to feel self-conscious about their work and their English language proficiency levels. Remind students of habits of character to maintain an atmosphere of support and respect as students share and listen. At the end of the class, congratulate students on their hard work throughout Unit 3 and the entire module, and celebrate everyone's progress and successes.

Vocabulary

  • N/A

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Performance Task anchor chart (one for display; from Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 3, Lesson 13, Work Time A)
  • Module Guiding Questions anchor chart (one for display; from Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • Graphic panels (student-generated; from Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Performance Task Reflection graphic organizer (one per student; from Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 14, Work Time A)
  • Performance Task prompt cards (student-generated; from Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 14, Work Time B)
  • Independent reading journal (one per student; begun in Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Work Time B)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Clipboards (available for audience members)
  • Writing utensils (available for audience members)
  • Performance Task Presentation note-catcher (three per audience member)

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 - SL.8.1 (5 minutes)

  • Display the Performance Task anchor chart. Ask a volunteer to read aloud the general directions at the top of the chart.
  • Turn and Talk:

"What is the purpose of this exhibition?" (To share graphic panels and reflection that highlights a critical moment from a fictional upstander's life. Audience members will learn more about the Holocaust, the moments that propelled people to act, and also about the process of creating a graphic panel.)

"What is the purpose of the panels and reflection you've created?" (To help audience members understand the actions and experiences of my upstander.)

  • Encourage students and remind them that they are well-versed on their upstander and the moment they exploded in the panel. Remind them to naturally explain his or her characteristics and life events to their audience.
  • Display the Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart. Explain that, as it says at the top of the chart, students learn to improve their communities.
  • Ask a volunteer to read aloud the habit of character recorded:

"I apply my learning to help our school, the community, and the environment. This means I create products like posters, leaflets, or videos for the school or community or put together presentations for the school or the community or organize an event to benefit the school, the community, or the environment."

  • Invite students to Turn and Talk to an elbow partner:

"How do you think creating panels and a reflection on a fictional upstander from the Holocaust helps you work on this habit?" (Responses will vary but may include that this sharing can help others learn about the Holocaust and understand what it means to be an upstander.)

"What might audience members do with this information to help them in their lives?" (Be more aware of the ways in which they can be upstanders in their own lives or appreciate the upstanding acts of others in their community or lives).

  • Remind students that similar to the webpages they created in Module 1, the Create and Present a Graphic Panel Depiction of a Fictional Holocaust Upstander Sharing gives them the opportunity to apply their learning to help better the world, specifically the way people understand the actions and experiences of upstanders.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as the previous lessons to review the learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.
  • Instruct students to set up their graphic panels and Performance Task Reflection graphic organizer and retrieve their Performance Task prompt cards and any other materials.

Work Time

Work Time

A. Present Graphic Panels - SL.8.5 (30 minutes)

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

"I can present my graphic panels to an audience and highlight important aspects of my upstander's experience."

  • Welcome audience members into the room. Introduce the exhibition by telling them what students have done throughout the module to get to this point. Tell the audience that students are prepared at various places throughout the room and will display their graphic panels and answer the questions that are scripted at the bottom of the Performance Task Presentation note-catcher. Make it clear that students have worked long and hard and are prepared and that they are expecting to field questions they have prepared and questions that pop up, as part of their share today.
  • Prompt students to head to their panels and pass out three Performance Task Presentation note-catchers to each audience member. Have clipboards and pencils available.
  • Use the following sequence as a guide, and prompt audience members and student presenters through the following steps for the Create and Present a Graphic Panel Depiction of a Fictional Holocaust Upstander Sharing. Each round should take approximately 10 minutes.

1. Prompt attendees to begin at one student's station and stay with that student for the entirety of the first presentation round.

2. Observation: 2-3 minutes

a) Attendees silently observe one student's panel

b) Attendees record notices and wonders about the panel in the Performance Task Presentation note-catcher

3. Question and answer period: 3-4 minutes

c) Attendees ask questions about the student's panel and process. They use the questions on the bottom of the note-catcher to probe students about their upstander and/or the process of creating a graphic panel. They can ask additional questions as desired.

d) Students use their Performance Task Reflection graphic organizer and their Performance Task prompt cards as they answer questions from audience members.

4. Transition: Signal to attendees and students that they should switch rounds. Direct audience members to thank their presenter and share a takeaway before finding a new student panel and starting a new round.

  • Repeat the sequence for two more rounds, directing students and participants through each step.
  • Circulate as attendees visit each panel. Ensure that students are engaging with their audience coherently and are making eye contact. If attendees are struggling to ask questions or extend their questioning, model some additional questions that could be asked for each student. For struggling students, consider visiting their panel more than once to check in and offer support as needed. To prevent crowds from gathering at one panel, encourage and redirect attendees to different stations throughout the room for balance.
  • After all presentations have completed, invite audience members to join in a round of applause for all presenters. Invite attendees to complete the back of their Performance Task Presentation note-catcher as they leave and say goodbye to the guests. Thank them for their time, and for providing a valuable service to the students.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingLevels of Support

A. Share Major Takeaways from Module 3 - SL.8.1 (10 minutes)

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

"I can share major takeaways and progress about my understanding of the module guiding questions."

  • Focus students on the Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart, specifically on the habit of applying their learning to help in their school or communities.
  • Ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

"How did this task give you a chance to apply your learning to helping your school or community?" (Attendees were exposed to qualities of upstanders and thought about upstanders in their own life; they learned more about the events of the Holocaust and were exposed to things upstanders did in the face of the horrors and challenges of the Holocaust. Attendees and presenters considered how we might learn from these stories and how we can be upstanders in our own communities.)

  • Direct students' attention to the Module Guiding Questions anchor chart, and read the questions aloud. Remind students that these questions were introduced on the first day of the module, and celebrate them for the progress they have made in their understanding of these questions.
  • Guide students through the following sequence of questions that allows them to focus on their growth and recognize their own accomplishments. Inform students that they will be asked each guiding question, given thinking time, and then asked to share their answer using the following phrasing: "I used to think/know . . . Now I think/know . . ." Model this exchange for students before they begin.

1. Pose the first question:

"What was the Holocaust, and how did it occur? Why do we remember it?"

2. Give students 30 seconds of think time.

3. Remind students of the sharing sentence frame "I used to think/know . . . Now I think/know . . . ," and direct them to share their learning with a partner.

4. Prompt students to find a new partner, and begin the process again, focusing on the second guiding question:

"How did victims and survivors respond and how can we honor their voices?"

5. At the end of this round, complete a final round, focusing on the third guiding question:

"How did upstanders respond, and what can we learn from their voices?"

  • In addition to their increased understanding of the content, invite students to share out any other progress they want to celebrate from this module.
  • Use a total participation technique to share responses with the group.
  • Invite students to reflect on the habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

For Lighter Support

  • As Module 3 comes to a close, put student names into a container and have each student pull a random name. Ask each student to identify and publicly share one learning victory that they recognize in the peer whose name they randomly selected. This will help to set a positive, supportive tone for the lesson and may help to reduce any trepidation students have about sharing their work in Closing and Assessment A.

For Heavier Support

  • 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 __________."

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.

Get updates about our new K-5 curriculum as new materials and tools debut.

Sign Up