Deconstructing Unit Plans

***The Takeaway***
If I were to teach someone how to teach, I would frame the stages of a lesson as
1.) activate prior knowledge to increase investment and prime opinion-formation
2.) Have various activities that generate ideas for opinion formation and draw attention to pieces of evidence to support the answer (a bit analogous to the I Do and We Do stages of lessons)
3.) Explicitly ask for the students' opinion and creativity (still some We Do, You Do)

Help kids think about and remember what they read.

Figure out what's being communicated and what it feels to be someone else. 

---

From Ready to Use Activities for Teaching Romeo and Juliet

Pre-reading (REMEMBER, UNDERSTAND, activate prior knowledge to increase investment and prime opinions): Speculation Journals, Small Group Discussions that put you in the situation about to occur in the reading [Personal/Themes]

Vocabulary

Plot Summaries [Summarize] OR another way to check for comprehension (give them quiz questions as they read in class, verbal summaries)

Read-Alouds

Sentence Starters
1. If you were... what would you do?
2. How would you feel if...?
3. Imagine...
4. What happened when...?

During-Reading (APPLY, ANALYZE, scaffold opinion formation) Activity: Response journals- Respond emotionally, make associations with your personal experience, look at the language, record any questions or problems [Talking to Text]

Character Diary & Chart [Character]

Introducing the Play with Videotape/Draw [Visualize]

Vocabulary in Context

[Analyze: Facts, Structure, Narrator, Purpose, Theme, Symbols, Create]

Language lesson [Language]

Sentence Starters

Post Reading (EVALUATE, CREATE, state your opinion with evidence)
Comprehension Check (Quiz or discuss)

Critical Thinking Questions/Focus Questions/Big Idea (ex: Ask some version of the EQ

R&J: "Evaluate actions. How does society feel about the idea of people falling in love instantly? Why do you think people feel this way? When you react with strong emotions to a situation, how do others around respond to you?"

OMM: "Evaluate George, Lennie, and foreshadowing. What is indirectly suggested in Steinbeck's language?"

Great Gatsby: "What do we learn about Nick? What are the conflicts in the lives of the people he watches?"

TKAM: "What do we learn about Maycomb? What are its values?"

Huck: "What are the various voices you hear?"

Vocabulary Quiz

Sentence Starters
1. Evaluate
2. What do you think of..
3. Create
4. Compare to a current event/issue