Concept Unit Day Two

Reading Experience Lesson, Vocabulary Development

Context:
English 9
Ninth Grade
90 minutes
Lesson type: Full
Objectives:
Cognitive:
(a) Students will UNDERSTAND that reading is a dialogue between text
and reader.
(b)Students will KNOW that feelings, past knowledge and personal
experience color readings of literary works.
(c) Students will KNOW that sharing and discussing how readings strike
different people enrich our understanding of the work.
(d)Students will KNOW some strategies for approaching and unpacking
complex texts.
1) Students will KNOW how to incorporate unknown words into their
reading.
2) Students will KNOW to look for form as a reflection of meaning and
function.
3) Students will KNOW to how to use phrases from the text to describe
the effects on the reader.
Affective:
(e) Students will VALUE their peers input in the production of multiple
interpretations of a literary work.
(f) Students will REFLECT on how others experiences enrich their own
reading of a literary work.
Performative:
(g)Students will BE ABLE TO interpret new words with the aid of
context and dictionaries.
(h)Students will BE ABLE TO identify important words or phrases from
literary works.
(i) Students will BE ABLE TO analyze how a works form contributes to
its meaning.
(j) Students will BE ABLE TO reflect on the effect of experiences on the
reading of literary works.
(k) Students will BE ABLE TO put together what they think the poem
means or is trying to say and describe ways in which it says
these things.
SOLs:
9.4: The student will read, comprehend, and analyze a variety of literary texts
including narratives, narrative non-fiction, poetry, and drama.

(h) Explain the relationship between the authors style and literary effect.
(k) Analyze how an authors specific word choices and syntax achieve special
effects and support the authors purpose.
(l) Make predictions, inferences, draw conclusions, and connect prior
knowledge to support reading comprehension.
CCSs:
9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what
the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the
text, including figurative and connotative meanings.
Assessments:
Correspon Diagnostic
Formative
ding
Objective
A, B, D, E, I, Students will
Students will
J
demonstrate
demonstrate their
prior knowledge
understanding of
about how
how we might
experiences and
notice or
emotions color
appreciate things
our reading of
and miss others
texts through
based n our
their sharing
experiences during
about their own
the sharing of first
personal quotes
impressions of the
(in the homework poem, as they will
assignment,
be pushed to
though also in
explain why
the Round Robin
something struck
sharing).
them or how it
spoke to them.
C, F, G, H, I, Students will
Students will
J
demonstrate
demonstrate
prior knowledge
progress towards
about reading
mastery of our
strategies and
strategies during
making meaning
our whole-class
of text during our discussion, where
whole-class
we will build
discussion of the
meaning step-bytext with the aid
step with the aid of
of step-by-step
our strategies. We
strategies.
will also continue
to use these
strategies in our

Summative
Students will
demonstrate
that they
understand
that different
perspectives
color and
enrich
understanding
of the text in
their
metacognitive
journal entry.

Students will
demonstrate
that they have
mastered
these
strategies
during our
Midterm Exam
(after this
Unit.)

later classes.
Agenda:
1. Do-Now (Do you think a text can mean different things to different people?
Why or why not?)
2. Short Debrief of Homework Activity (quote posters)
3. Gallery Walk
4. Journal Entry (Is there a quote on our Wall of Words that speaks to you?)
5. Introduction [Pre-Reading] (Set purpose: reading to figure out what to do
with complex texts, how to build meaning on complex texts)
6. Mini-Lesson on Reading Strategies [During Reading]
a. UNDERLINE things you find interesting or confusing and CIRCLE vocab
b. Strategy One: Identify words/phrases
i. Discussing first responses (feelings/thoughts)
c. Strategy Two: Isolate and replace vocabulary for comprehension
d. Strategy Three: Use thoughts/feelings as well as word choice to develop
an overall impression
e. Strategy Four: Focus on form as a result of function
i. Look at words again as conscious choices (why this word and not
another word?)
ii. Look at phrases again as having purpose (why this phrase?)
iii. Look at order (why this order? How does it build?)
iv. Look at structure (why this many verses? Why enjambment? Why
breaks?
f. Strategy Four: Basic Sense statement
g. Strategy Five: Go back to organize your thoughts according to the basic
sense statement
7. Think Pair Share [Post-Reading] (Did our reading strategies help you make
sense of the poem? Which strategy helped the most? Why?)
8. Debrief
Beginning Room Arrangement:
Students will be sitting in a horseshoe facing the board.
Instructional Steps:
I. Do-Now [5 minutes]:
Students will walk into the room and take their seats. They will take out their
student journals and respond to the prompt [written on the board] as they
have every day since the first day of class.
Prompt for the day: Do you think that a text can mean different things to
different people? Why or why not?
II. Short Debrief of Homework Activity [10 minutes]
Students will be asked to take out the quotes they were asked to come up with
over homework. These quotes would be written in big letters in some A4

colored paper (so they can be read from a distance.) I will ask all students to
pass them forward and go around the room sharing individually what it was
like thinking about words that have impacted them somehowwhat the
challenges were, if they had more than quote they wanted to use.
III. Gallery Walk [5 minutes for reading, 5 minutes for groups, 10 minutes for
sharing as a class]
Once everyone has shared, I will post all of the quotes on a wall left blank for
this purpose. Students will be asked to get up and read all the quotes and to
make note of quotes from other students that speak to them somehow. While
students are reading, I will write a new prompt on the board.
Prompt: Is there a quote on our Wall of Words that speaks to you?
When students are done reading, they will be asked to return to their seats
and share in small groups about the words they saw on the wall and to
address with their peers about how the quotes made them think or feel, and to
select one particular quote that somehow speaks to them.
Each group will be asked to share the quote they selected and why it spoke to
them or how it made them think/feel.
IV. Pre-Reading [2 minutes]
I will introduce our activity while I hand out the poem. I will describe that not
all texts are created equalsome texts can just be read and immediately
understood, and though one can dig down to find more meaning, some texts
force us to look deeper from the beginning, and that this is often one of the
greatest challenges in reading: feeling like we dont understand, and dont
know what to do about it. My goal as their instructor to is help them feel
prepared to tackle textseasy texts, harder texts, any textby teaching them
strategies that can help them know what to do when theyre stuck and feel
like they dont understand or dont get it.
V. During Reading (Mini-Lesson) [30 minutes]
Students will be asked to read for impressions first. To take their writing
utensils and underline any words or phrases that somehow speak to them or,
alternatively, just confuse themanything that makes you feel I dont know
what this is. They will be asked to circle any words they dont know. (I will
write on the board: underline= interesting, confusing, circle=vocab)
Once everyone has read the poem, students will be asked to share things that
struck them, whether because they meant something to them or because it
made them feel confused. I will give students feedback based on their
observations, for example:
Student: Its likecreepy.
Teacher: What gives you that impression? Can you point out words that
make you feel this way?

Student: He describes books like theyre manipulating us.

Teacher: Absolutely. Can we find where exactly he makes us feel that?
Where do we start to get this idea? Lets look at some specific words.
Student: It says they have written you.
Teacher: What do you think that means?
Student: Like theyve made usthink the way we do?
Teacher: Good! Lets keep digging. What else do we see?
Once initial impressions are exhausted, I tell students that this is our first
strategy for reading: To see what we notice, how we feel. I will write
Feelings/reactions under reading Strategies on the board, and ask them to
make a list in their journals of different ways to read texts that confuse them.
I will then ask students to share some words that gave them trouble, and
volunteers will be asked to look up these words in the dictionary. I will ask all
students to write these words down in their journals along with their
definitions. Once theyve all written these words down, I will ask students to
put words on their handouts that give the meanings on the poem itself, and
reread the individual passages. Well take each of these words one at a time,
for example:
Teacher: So what does stratagem mean?
Student: Like a scheme? Manipulation?
Teacher: Exactly. So lets read that in context again. They have their
stratagems too, though they cannot move. So they have a scheme, some
kind of master plan, though they cant actually go anywhere. What is he
telling us about books?
Student: That they want to trick us?
Teacher: Good, tell me more about that. How do you get that sense?
Student: Well, he says them?
Teacher: What would that accomplish?
Student: Then wed do what it wants?
Teacher: Its almost like a person, wanting to make lots of mini-mes!
Wow. Okay. Do we read this differently, now that we know this word?
Once weve been through all the words, I will write Look for difficult words
as our second strategy, and ask them to add this to their list of strategies. I
will ask them to take a moment and jot down what they think these words
have in common, and what overall impression that gives them about the
authors perspective or message. As they scribble, I will write a third strategy
on the list on the board Think about the overall impression.
At this point I will ask students to read the poem again, looking for the way
the poem is put together. How does the author put his message together?
What kinds of images or phrases or sounds does he use to give us this
message? I will ask them to scribble notes about the form of the poem, and
add to the list on the board Look at form: HOW does it mean?

Once students have had a chance to reread, I will ask volunteers to share
some things they observed, starting with basic things like verses and stanzas
and building to things like enjambment. Once weve noticed these things, I
will ask students to think about how form is reflective of function: how, for
instance, enjambment might be a little bit like turning pages in a book, you
get to the end and immediately your eyes jump to the next place, it helps show
how we become enraptured. How does this structure tell us about what our
poet wants us to get from the poem?
I will ask students to add form to their list in their journals and write down
some notes about what weve just talked about: how the form of the poemor
just the fact that its a poemcan mean things, or can tell us things that
enrich our understanding. This section will concern alliteration, specific word
choice, imagery, etc.
When everybodys done, I will add our last item to the list: Write your Basic
Sense statement. I will explain the concept of the basic sense statement: a
short sentence that describes what we think the poem is about, or is trying to
say. It can be as simple as The poem thinks books manipulate us into
agreeing with them or as complex as Edgar uses imagery, references to
manipulation, and a touch of paranoia to demonstrate the relationship that
books have with the readers that consume them. I will ask students to go
around the room and share their statements.
I will put up one last strategy, Look for examples of meaning. I will ask
students to look for examples of images or turns of phrase that help reinforce
or contradict their basic sense. I will ask them to write these under their Basic
Sense in their journals, with a few words about how contradictions make them
think about the basic sense or revise it.
VI. Post-Reading [5 minutes for the prompt, 5 minutes to share with a partner,
5 minutes to take notes, 5 minutes to share with a partner]
I will ask students to take their journals and turn to a new page, where I will
ask them to reflect on how the strategies helped them make sense of the work.
I will write a prompt on the board to help them anchor their thinking.
Prompt: Did our reading strategies help you make sense of the poem? Which
strategy helped most? Why?
Once students are done writing, I will ask them to think about the message of
the poem: do they think we live in quotation marks? I will ask them to turn
to an elbow-partner and share their feelings about what the poem is implying,
how this makes them feel or think about the quotes they brought to class and
how they have shaped them as people.

At this point I will ask students to reflect about the activity by asking students
to turn back to their Do-Now and think about what they wrote. How did their
different experiences shape how they read? Did listening to all of the various
things that people spotted help them see things they missed, or understand it
from another perspective? Once theyve written a few words, they will be
asked to share with an elbow partner.
VII. Debrief [10 minutes]
Students will be asked to take a few minutes to write a metacognitive journal
entry about reading. I will explain that theres no specific question, they
should just write about what theyre thinking and feeling about reading now
that they have these strategies, how they think future readings will go,
whether this makes them think differently about the way theyve read until
now, anything.
Materials:
Handout with poem The Secret Life of Books, by Stephen Edgar.
Dictionaries
Student Journals
Accommodations:
Because this is our first instance of group-work, I want to make sure everyone
has a positive experience, but Nadia, Simon, Izzie and Rebecca in particular.
Izzie is someone I want to place in a group of students who are easy-going and
have plenty of patience so that she can express herself and not feel
threatened, give her a chance to get acclimated and feel safe. I have to make
sure to check in with this group and see how its going, but I might also want
to check with her as shes leaving the room to ask her how her group-work
went and whether she felt safe and happy when doing the work together.
Simon tends to have too much fun when working in groups; by this I dont
mean its not positive that he has fun, but rather than he might get carried
away being so excited to work with friends that they might, all together, get
disruptive or just drawn off-task. I want to make sure to check in with them
frequently but briefly so they dont feel targeted, and at the end to thank them
for their great work so they see that Im appreciative of their efforts. If they do
get occasionally off-task, I want to make sure to laugh at whatever joke is
being made before asking them to redirect, so that Simon feels safe being
himself but he still sees that work is important and that we can mix both and
still function together.
Nadia struggles with people skills, so shes another one I might want to put in
a group that is more easy-going. I want to make sure to put her with people
who challenge her to think more, however, so that she stays engaged. I know
she prefers to work by herself and often feels others make her work slower, so
I want to make sure I have one group of students who are all fairly advanced
to keep her pushing ahead.

Rebecca I might want to check in with privately, just to ask her if she has
questions about the strategies. I may offer to put together a handout for her if
she feels it might be of help, and I want to encourage her to use her peers and
me if she needs anything in the way of support or if she ever gets stuck.