SSK Unit 4.2 Planning Guide

Instructional ConsiderationsHISD PLANNING GUIDEEnglish Language Arts Grade 8SUMMER SCHOOL What hints does the title give you about the author’s possible message? What is the main message, or theme, of this story? Do you agree with the theme or message expressed in the story? Why or why not? Is the theme a realistic observation about human nature, or does it seem too optimistic, too negative, or toonarrow-minded?See Best Practices Toolkit in Resources for theme analysis frames.Have students compare and contrast the short stories read. Begin by comparing characters from the short stories. Asstudents become comfortable, move them to comparing the themes or points of view of the stories and commenting onthe effects of each on the story or audience. See Venn Diagram in Instructional Strategies. (ELA.8.3A)Instructional Accommodations for Diverse Learners For ELLs, have students compare and contrast cultures to build background knowledge and createconnections to a text. See Culture Comparison in Instructional Strategies.As a pre-assessment for writing, have students create a RAFT writing piece (a letter). This is an informal writing piece tomeasure the students’ preliminary strengths and areas of difficulties. See Instructional Strategies for RAFT.WritingInstructional Accommodations for Diverse Learners In considering a RAFT, teach sequence words needed by ELLs to make the order of events clear:yesterday, last week, first, second, third, at that point, soon, next, after that, then, and finally.PrerequisitesStudents should have prior knowledge of sentence construction.Background Knowledge for TeacherReading and writing are not separate elements of Language Arts and should be integrated throughout the unit.To assist students in learning to correctly punctuate dialogue, use comic strips. Allow students to create new dialoguefor the characters of the Peanuts comic strip. See Resources for Comic.com website and Dialogue Tags. (ELA.8.20B.ii)Review capitalization and various forms of punctuation through mini-lessons in Writer’s Notebook. (ELA.8.20A,ELA.8.20B.i)Instructional Accommodations for Diverse Learners ELLs need to learn the relationship between sounds and letters in the English language to assist intheir writing. Allow them to practice through Homophone/Homograph Sorts. The teacher prepareshomophone/homograph cards, listing words that sound the same, but are spelled differently such as:know/no, hear/here. The teacher asks the students to group the words that sound the same together andthen explain the meanings of each. See Navigating the ELPS in the English Language Arts and ReadClassroom in Resources. (ELPS C.5a)A student receiving special education services may receive instructional and assessment accommodations. TheARD/IEP committee must document instructional and assessment accommodations in the student’s IEP. TheTexas Student Assessment Accommodations information is located on the Texas Education Agency website. - English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) - Literacy Leads the Way Best Practices - Aligned to Upcoming State Readiness Standard- State Process Standard R - State Readiness Standard S - State Supporting Standard© Houston ISD Curriculum2013 – 2014Page 6 of 10