Analyze Model Activist Organization Note-Catcher and Begin Research | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G8:M4:U3:L6

Analyze Model Activist Organization Note-Catcher and Begin Research

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • W.8.7, W.8.8

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.8.10, L.8.6

Daily Learning Targets

  • I can conduct research to answer questions about activist organizations in my community. (W.8.7, W.8.8)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Work Time B: Performance Task: Activist Organization note-catcher

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Review Performance Task Directions (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Analyze Model Activist Organization Note-Catcher (10 minutes)

B. Research and Select Organizations - W.8.8 (25 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Triad Debrief: Determine Next Steps - SL.8.1 (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Complete Research: Triads continue to research their organization selections. Each member of the triad is responsible for completing one of the "Organization Option" rows on their Performance Task: Activist Organization note-catchers.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • W.8.7 – Work Time B: Students conduct research to answer questions about activist organizations in their community.
  • W.8.8 – Work Time B: Students gather relevant information about activist organizations in their communities. They use search terms effectively and quote and paraphrase the data they find.
  • In this lesson, students focus on working to contribute to a better world. Students apply their learning about lessons from internment to the wider community by researching local organizations focused on activism and community engagement.
  • In this lesson, students conduct research to learn more about activist organizations whose work embodies lessons from internment in their communities. Carefully consider the span of the community within which students should operate. In urban areas with large populations, it may be sufficient to consider the community to be the neighborhood or city within which students live. In smaller towns, it may be necessary to expand the definition of community to include neighboring cities, counties, or regions in the country.
  • Successful participation in Lessons 6–12 requires that students reach a local organization by phone and interview a representative of that organization. This lesson helps set students up for success by requiring them to research three local organizations to whom they can reach out, though only one interview is required; that way, if their first choice is unavailable or unreachable, they have other options.
  • Triads will locate two of these organizations independently; the third will be a prevetted organization that is assigned to them. Providing students with a prevetted organization to include on their lists better ensures that students will be able to successfully conduct interviews.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • During Opening A, incorporate additional affix practice by inviting students to deconstruct the roots and affixes in the word embody. The following roots and affixes can be added to students’ affix lists:
    • em- (prefix): to bring into a certain state
    • body (root): physical structure of a human or creature
  • After Opening A, to support ELLs’ language development and reinforce work with L.8.1, invite ELLs to reread the Performance Task: Activist Assembly handout and complete specific language tasks. ▲ These tasks may include the following:
    • Circle six verbs written in the imperative mood (e.g., identify, practice, synthesize).
    • Underline two gerunds (e.g., learning, thinking),
    • Star one verb used in the passive voice (e.g., will be posted).
  • If additional time is available during Work Time A, teach one or two of the Research Mini Lessons from Module 2. It may be especially supportive to lead mini lessons about using a search engine or determining the relevance of sources.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In previous lessons, students identified overarching lessons of internment: enduring understandings that can be taken away from Farewell to Manzanar and from related informational texts about Japanese American internment. In this lesson, students identify and research local organizations whose work embodies and carries out these lessons of internment in the local community. This lesson is the first in a series of lessons that prepare students to participate in the culminating performance task, the Activist Assembly, of Lesson 12.

Support All Students

  • For the research portion of the lesson, consider a variety of strategic grouping strategies based on the needs of individual students. ELLs with strong oral proficiency but who need additional support in reading may benefit from home language groupings that allow them to navigate online content in home languages. Meanwhile, heterogeneous groupings based on oral proficiency will support students in continuing to develop oral skills through meaningful input and exchange. ▲
  • For those students who require heavy support, after students have generated their own list of search terms, provide a list of additional suggested search terms to help students find appropriate community organizations. ▲
  • Consider limiting the number of organizations students have to research to two or even one to reduce the cognitive load for those students for whom research is new or challenging. ▲
  • During Work Time A, as students analyze the note-catcher, invite them to role-play an interview using the questions and notes provided. While students will have designated time to practice interview techniques in the next lesson, this work will help to deepen their understanding of the purpose of the research they are doing in this lesson and what it is leading up to. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • Review students’ Performance Task: Activist Organization note-catchers to ensure that students are effectively conducting research about the work of three local organizations.
  • Circulate around the room to monitor triads as they work together during Work Time B. Ensure that students are drawing meaningful connections between their organizations of interest and the lessons of internment.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will finalize their three organization selections and prepare to conduct a phone interview. Students will participate in a mini lesson, which includes a role play, to practice their phone and interview skills. They will also prepare their phone scripts and interview questions.

In Advance

  • Strategically group students into the triads with whom they will conduct research, interview organization representatives, complete their note-catchers, and deliver their presentations during the end of unit assessment. Because so much of the work leading up to the Activist Assembly performance task of Lesson 12 is completed within these triads, it is imperative that students are grouped as strategically as possible. Keep in mind the following considerations when assigning triads:
    • The tasks leading up to the Activist Assembly exercise multiple skills—reading, writing, speaking, listening, research, etc. Try to group students with disparate strengths so that students share expertise across the lessons.
    • ELLs may feel especially nervous to conduct interviews by phone, as nonverbal cues that aid comprehension—like body language or facial expressions—are not available. Assign one strong, confident speaker to each triad who can take the lead during phone interviews (i.e., by making the initial call and reading the phone script). ▲
  • Prepare all needed materials, including devices for internet research.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Work Time B: Device for internet research (one per student, or one per triad)

Supporting English Language Learners

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

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson is the first in a series of lessons that prepares students to participate in the End of Unit 3 Assessment and the culminating performance task, the Activist Assembly, at the end of the module. Students will review the performance task criteria to gain a clear understanding of the work ahead, and begin to research community organizations that embody the lessons from Japanese American internment that students have identified from their learning across the module. Collaborative work is built into the lesson to allow students to analyze, research, and debrief together. These exchanges also help ELLs to continue to build oral skills, which will set them up for success in navigating interviews, the End of Unit 3 Assessment presentation, and the focus group discussion during the performance task.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to select search terms for researching organizations that embody lessons from Japanese American internment. Students may also have difficulty identifying an organization to focus on. Group students strategically in triads to ensure that they carry out research effectively, as their initial research will greatly impact their experience in the End of Unit 3 Assessment and their participation in the final performance task; consider home language groupings to allow for rich discussion and opportunities to clarify and negotiate tasks within triads.

Vocabulary

  • embody (A)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Performance Task anchor chart (one for display; from Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 3, Lesson 13, Work Time A)
  • Researchers Do These Things anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Work Time A)
  • Research Mini Lessons (for teacher reference) (from Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time A)
  • Performance Task: Activist Assembly directions (one per student and one for display; from Module 4, Unit 3, Lesson 5, Homework)
  • Affix list (one per student; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 4, Opening B)
  • Vocabulary logs (one per student; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • Researcher's Toolbox (one per student; from Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time A)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • N/A
  • Highlighters or colored pens (one per student)
  • Performance Task: Model Activist Organization note-catcher (one per student and one for display; see Performance Task Overview and Supporting Materials)
  • Performance Task: Activist Organization note-catcher (one per student; see Performance Task Overview and Supporting Materials)
  • Device for internet research (one per triad)

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

OpeningLevels of Support

A. Review Performance Task Directions (5 minutes)

  • Tell students that they are going to begin working toward the Performance Task: Activist Assembly. Draw their attention to the Performance Task anchor chart, which they first examined during Unit 1, Lesson 1. Display and ask students to retrieve their copies of the Performance Task: Activist Assembly directions. Review their annotations from the previous lesson's homework.
  • As necessary, read aloud the Performance Task: Activist Assembly directions; alternatively, invite students to read it aloud to one another. Students can further annotate the handout as they read, marking key words, phrases, or details that they see as important for understanding the expectations of the performance task. Invite students to turn to partners and summarize the performance task using their own words. To confirm students' understanding, consider calling on pairs to share aloud their understanding of the performance task. Field clarifying questions as needed.
  • If necessary, remind students of the meaning and connotation of the word activist, which they discussed in the first lesson of the module.
  • Invite students to locate and highlight the word embody on their directions, using either a highlighter or colored pen.
  • Turn and Talk:

"What does embody mean? If you've heard of this word or know what it means, share with a partner." (Responses will vary.)

  • Invite students to work with partners to verify their definitions of this word using a dictionary or search engine. Students may also wish to use their affix lists to break down the word into the affix em- and the root body. Use a total participation technique to select a student to share the meaning of word embody (to be an expression of an idea, quality, or feeling) with the whole class.

"What does it mean if an organization embodies lessons from internment?" (It means that it expresses the idea of the lesson through its work.)

  • Use the meaning of the word embody to help students understand that they are not expected to locate organizations whose activism is directly connected to issues of Japanese American internment (e.g., Densho, a nonprofit organization whose mission is "to preserve and share history of the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans to promote equity and justice today"). Students should be looking for organizations whose connection to these lessons is meaningful, but broader.
  • Add embody to the academic word wall with translations in home languages where appropriate, and invite students to add the word to their vocabulary logs.
  • 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.
  • Tell students that the habit of character focus of this lesson is working to contribute to a better world by applying learning to help our community. If time allows, invite students to revisit the Work to Contribute to a Better World anchor chart.

For Lighter Support

  • N/A

For Heavier Support

  • Before students review the performance task, have them recall and review the performance tasks they carried out in the previous three modules. Help them to consider the intention behind each one and how they applied their learning over the course of a module. This will help to ground students in thinking about purpose as they begin working toward participating in this module's performance task.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Analyze Model Activist Organization Note-Catcher (10 minutes)

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

"I can conduct research to answer questions about activist organizations in my community."

  • Display and distribute the Performance Task: Model Activist Organization note-catcher. This is a model that contains sample responses on which students can base their own work during research and interviews. Note: The URLs provided on the model note-catcher are not actual websites; they are fictionalized sources to be used as examples.
  • Invite students to examine the sample responses in the first table of the model note-catcher, sharing aloud their notices and wonders.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

"What characteristics do these organizations share? How do these shared characteristics connect to lessons from internment?" (Responses will vary, but may include: all of these organizations work directly with vulnerable populations in the community; all of these organizations try to help and empower people who might feel powerless; these shared characteristics connect to lessons of internment because they are working to uphold people's rights and treat people with care and respect.)

"How can this information about an organization be found?" (Responses will vary, but may include: on the organization's website.)

  • Invite students to examine the sample responses in the second table of the model note-catcher. Give students a few moments to read the sample answers silently or aloud with partners.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

"How are these notes different from the notes above in the first table?" (Responses will vary, but may include: these notes focus on a single organization; they are written in much more detail; they include direct quotes and mention a representative of the organization by name; they directly tie the organization to specific lessons from internment.)

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

For Lighter Support

  • In Work Time A, before students analyze the Performance Task: Model Activist Organization note-catcher, have them brainstorm what kind of information they would want to gather about the organizations. Students can then check their own thinking against the questions in the note-catcher and discuss in small groups why each question is valuable and how the information prompted will help them to carry out the work of the End of Unit 3 Assessment and the performance task.

For Heavier Support

  • During Work Time A, before having students discuss the sample responses on the Performance Task: Model Activist Organization note-catcher, devote time to helping students understand the questions in the second table of the note-catcher. For ELLs especially, having a clear understanding of these will reinforce their understanding of the End of Unit 3 Assessment and performance task objectives, and ensure that they are approaching their planning in a meaningful way, with clear intention.

B. Research and Select Organizations - W.8.8 (25 minutes)

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

"I can conduct research to learn more about activist organizations in my community."

  • Tell students that they are going to begin conducting research about possible organizations that they may reach out to in preparation for the Activist Assembly. Students will be given one organization; they will work in triads to identify two more.
  • Display triad groupings, and invite students to sit with their assigned group mates. Distribute Performance Task: Activist Organization note-catchers to each student within triads. This is the note-catcher that students will complete with information about the activist organizations that they research. Clarify that, although students will be working in triads to complete the tasks leading up to the performance task, each student must fill out his or her own note-catcher.
  • Point out the three rows of the first table, which contain Organization Options 1-3. This is the section that students will work on in this lesson and continue as homework. The second table will be completed after students conduct interviews with representatives of their selected organizations.
  • Assign one prevetted organization to each triad. The name of the organization can be added to the first row: Organization Option 1. Tell students that this will be one of the organizations they research and can choose to call. Students are responsible for conducting research about the work of this organization, as well as about two other organizations that they locate.
  • Remind students that one way to locate relevant organizations and learn more about what they do is through strategic online research. Draw students' attention to the Researchers Do These Things anchor chart. Remind students that they used this anchor chart when they conducted research about food choices. Read the first three items aloud as students read along silently.

Researchers do these things:

1. Ask questions about a topic to focus their research:

- Not too narrow, not too broad

- Specific to this topic

- Significant: important not only to you, but to others

- Can be answered using sources (i.e., not philosophical questions)

2. Refine the questions into smaller, easier to research questions.

3. Use search terms or keywords in a search engine (Google,          Yahoo, etc.) to find sources to answer the questions.

  • Turn and Talk:

"What overarching question(s) are you trying to answer in your research?" (Responses will vary, but may include: what organizations in my community embody the lessons from internment?)

"How might this question be broken down into smaller questions?" (Responses will vary, but may include: what activist organizations exist in my community? What kind of work do they do?)

"What search terms might be useful in helping you answer these questions?" (Responses will vary, but may include: Atlanta activist organizations; Atlanta community non-profit organizations.)

  • Address any additional questions about the research expectations of this assignment. As productive, invite students to refer to their Researcher's Toolbox handouts from Module 2.
  • Explain to students that the research they do on the three organizations should be brief and focused on discovering whether the organizations embody lessons from internment. Students will conduct more in-depth research via a phone or email interview on one organization in the following lessons.
  • Distribute one device for internet research to each triad, and invite them to begin. Circulate and monitor triads' progress as they conduct research. Make sure that students are working together to vet organizations before adding them to their note-catchers. Refer them to specific steps on the Researchers Do These Things anchor chart, as needed. Also, consider using one or more of the Research Mini Lessons as necessary (see Teaching Notes).
  • Circulate to ensure students are finding organizations that embody the lessons from Japanese American internment. As necessary, provide the list of prevetted organizations for students to research.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.
  • N/A

Closing & Assessments

Closing

A. Triad Debrief: Determine Next Steps - SL.8.1 (5 minutes)

  • Refocus students. Give them a few moments to power down and/or step away from the devices they are using to conduct their internet research.
  • Triads should quickly debrief, finalizing their organization selections and distributing roles for homework. Each member of the triad is responsible for completing one of the Organization Option rows on their note-catchers. Monitor triads' discussions to make sure that students have clearly and fairly distributed responsibilities and that all students understand what is expected of them before the next lesson.
  • If homework or internet research is not an option for students, time will be given in the opening of Lesson 7 to complete this research.

Homework

Homework

A. Complete Research

  • Triads continue to research their organization selections. Each member of the triad is responsible for completing one of the Organization Option rows on their Performance Task: Activist Organization note-catcher.

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