Submitted by Martha Johnson

Objectives:

Content:
Students will...

• identify at least 5 themes related to global interdependence
• develop indepth information about one theme related to global interdependence 
• begin to develop a basic understanding (based on our basic needs as human beings) of how we are interconnected as global citizens
• recognize that some of the ways we are interdependent mean/signify unequal relationships between countries or groups of people

 

Cultural:
Students will...

• begin to develop an awareness of the immense economic gap existing between the northern and southern hemishpere and its impact on people's way of life
• recognize that people have multiple perspectives related to the many different themes of global interdependence
• recognize that the many perspectives people have are directly linked to their cultural-geographical life experiences 

Language: Content Obligatory
Students will...

• use vocabulary from day 1 and day 2 and the KWL chart from day 3 to write a thesis statment about a theme related to global interdependence
• use expressions like: Me gusta, Yo opino que, Pienso que, Hace falta, Estoy de acuerdo con, Creo, He oido que, Parece que, Se me hace, etc. to give feebdack to their peers about their thesis statements
• use words like La idea principal, El autor explica que, Enfoca, Su perspectiva es, etc. and the verbs describir, explicar, discutir, elaborar, mostrar to describe the main ideas presented in the artilce they read for homework
• use connector words like primero, segundo, luego, a continuaciόn, etc. to describe how to do a specific task that has at least 6 steps

Language: Content Compatible
Students will...

• discuss and record new concepts and new vocabulary from the artilce they read for homework
• identify connector words like primero, segundo, luego, a continuaciόn, etc. in the article they read during lesson 3 or the one they read for homework

Learning Strategies / Social and Skills Development:
Students will...

• share their work with others
• develop problem solving skills
• give and receive constructive feedback
• practice creating and using a rubric
• organize their ideas for their 5 paragraph essay using a special gráfico
• develop brainstorming skills

 

Time Frame:

two 84 minute class periods

Materials Needed:

• blank overhead with the heading "La composiciόn superior..." (see attachment #4)
• laptop computer lab with access to the Internet.
• copies of the graphic organizer for their five paragraph essays (see attachment #1)
• an overhead of attachment #2 of sample thesis statements and to demonstrate how to give feedback on sample thesis statements for Activity # 4 and to show students the next steps to take for Activity #5
• handout of Palabras de enlace (attachment #3) for activity #6 and for students to use as a reference when writing their rough drafts
• Blank overheads for activity #11 during Day 5
• A butcher-block poster of La Composiciόn Superior (see attachment #4) for Day 5 Activity #13
• A classroom set of 1 and 3/4 inch curved PVC pipe to be used as reading phones for Day 5 Activity 14

Description of Assessment (Performance Project):

Day Four:

Pre-Task

1.  Give students an opportunity to share what they have found and what problems they are having searching the Internet, finding an appropriate article (reading level, etc.) or choosing a topic. Problem solve together as a group. Make a mental note of students who are having difficulty and those who might be able to help.

2. Quick check-in with students about what they read. To do this, I will have found and read an article. In front of the class, I will describe some of the salient details from the article for about 1 minute. I will also present new words or concepts that were presented in the artilce. I will ask if anyone would like to share something about their article with the whole class. Then, I will ask everyone to share (like I did) but with their partner. They should share main ideas, details, new vocabulary and concepts. After a few minutes, I will ring a bell to indicate they should trade roles. Afterwards, give students a few minutes to write down new vocabulary and concepts from the reading in the student-made glossary in their notebooks. These are the words they should have underlined in the article as they were reading and discussed with their partners just now during the sharing time.

Language note:You may want to do a quick review of the following words and encourage the students to use these words and phrases during their discussion: El autor explica que, Enfoca, La idea principal es, La perspectiva del autor es, etc. You may also want to remind them of the following verbs indicating that these are the things they should be trying to include in their own essay writing: describir, explicar, discutir, elaborar y mostrar.

3. Hand out and discuss with students the graphic organizer they will use to organize their ideas once they have finished their research (see attachment #1).

4. Discuss what is a thesis statement and show examples of some (make overhead from attachment #2). Model for students how to use the KWL chart they made yesterday  (see the sample KWL chart from yesterday) to make a thesis statement and also how to give critical feedback to improve thesis statements (see examples in attachement #2). Try and generate as much student participation in this activity as possible. Make some new thesis statements together. We made a thesis statement together as a class for two students who were really having trouble with this step.

5. Use the overhead (page 2 of attachment #2) to show students what the nexts steps will be after they have written their thesis statement and gotten some feedback from someone else. Some students may want to take notes of these steps or you may choose to have a few copies to hand out to students.

6. Handout the sheet called "Palabras de enlace" (see attachment # 3). Have students read the list outloud and discuss when they might use these words and what they think they mean. In groups of 3, ask students to describe in writing a task that has 6 steps using at least 6 different words from the list. For example, one group might describe the steps you need to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich. They should turn these in for points. This is kind of a random activity but my students appreciated the break from their essays and they had some fun doing this. Many students did use a number of the words from the list in their essays. Challenge students to use the Palabras de enlace word list as they write the rough drafts.

Language Note: We use the Palabras de enlcace review sheet in many immersion classes. It has been revised many times as students have reorganized them and brainstormed new words to add to the list. Recycling certain concepts/word lists has been a cornerstone of our program. Other ways to immediately recycle the Palabras de enlace could be to have students unerline these words in the article they reviewed in class yesterday and/or the one they read for homework last night.

During Task

7. Students continue to do research as needed.

8. They will begin to formulate a thesis statement and as time permits, they will work on the graphic organizer they will use to make a rough draft. Once they have a thesis statement, they should check in with at least one other student to get feedback before they start the graphic organizer.

9. Now that they have a good idea what to do and what is expected, as a class students brainstorm ideas for the final rubric. Put a blank overhead up that has the following heading: "La composiciόn superior...." Students will brainstorm ideas about what makes a superior composition. See attachment #4 to see what my class came up with. I believe that whenever possible students should co-create rubrics with their teachers. This helps them understand what the expectations are and, therefore, they are more likely to meet them. Since this is the first time they may have done this, we started by simply making a list together. I then used this information to develop a simple rubric for student feedback and for the final assessment for the 5 paragraph essays. Later on in the course, we will make more sophisticated rubrics, but for now this is a great start.

Post Task

10. Tarea: Terminar el gráfico para organizar tus ideas. Comenzar el borrador de tu composiciόn de 5 párrafos. El borrador tiene que ser listo para entregar al principio de la clase pasado mañana.

(Students will finish the graphic organizer and begin work on creating the rough draft of their 5 paragraph essay. The completed rough draft is due at the beginning of day 6). 

Day Five:

Pre-Task

11. Check-in to see how students are progressing and problem solve together as a whole class. Selected students share their thesis statements with the class. Some students may also share their bibliography with the class. I have these students write what they have to share on a blank overhead and then we can give feedback together as a class. This is a great way to practice their bibliography making skills.

Language note: At this stage it is critical to review how to give quality feedback. You could practice giving constructive and not so constructive feedback. Some words and expressions you may want to recycle are: Estoy convencida, Estoy de acuerdo con, Me gusta, Yo opino que, Pienso que, Hace falta, Creo, He oido que, Se me hace que, Parece que, etc.

During Task

12. Students continue to finish up any last bit of research and work on their graphic organizer and/or rough drafts.They also need to make a rough draft of their bibliography.

13. Informal sharing: In pairs, students share their thesis statements, graphic organizers and whatever they have done so far on their rough draft and ask for constructive feedback. To facilitate sharing, the teacher can play a little segment of music and while the music is playing the students must cross the room and find someone to share their work with. After a few minutes, the music plays again and this time, the person who gave the feedback must find someone who has already received feedback to share their work with. The music could go on and off several times until students have shared with several different students.

Language note: To facilitate effective feedback for the rough drafts, encourage students to use the list we made together as a class called La Composiciόn superior (attachment #4). I put this up on a large piece of butcherblock paper for all to see.

Post Task

14. When students are completely finished with their rough drafts (some will use the most of the class period and still need to finish up at home), they should pair-share their essays with a partner for feedback and auto-correct for mistakes using the (reading phones*). They can also continue to surf the web for appropriate articles that may be useful in the units we will be studying during the semester or they can choose to be peer mentors for other classmates who need some extra help.

*Reading phones are basically 1 and 3/4" curved pieces of PVC pipe. Students use these when self-correcting their work. They read the draft outloud (quietly to themselves) into the "phone" which amplifies the sound into their own ear. Immersion students have trouble self correcting their own grammar mistakes on paper, but if they can "hear" what they have written they are more likely to self-correct. I have found the "reading phones" a useful investment for many different kinds of projects.

15. Tarea: Terminar el borrador de la composiciόn para mañana. (All rough drafts are due at the beginning of the next class period).

 

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on Activity 6 (the group writing assignment using six palabras de enlace). Progress on thesis statements, completing the graphic organizer and beginning work on the rough draft can be assessed informally.

References and Resources:

 

Attachments:

NOTE: some attachments are in PDF form (get Acrobat Reader)

1. Graphic organizer for the 5 paragraph essay. (Grafico.doc). This can be used to help students organize their ideas before they begin writing a rough draft. Handout and discuss during activity #3
2. Thesis statements and the next steps. (thesis.doc). I suggest making an overhead of these 2 pages for use during activites 4 and 5.
3. Palabras de enlace. (Palabras.doc) You will need copies of this for Activity 6. I suggest you may want to make these copies back to back with the graphic organizer to save paper!
4. Una composiciόn superior...(checklist.doc) This is an example of what my students came up with during Activity #9.

 

 

 

A Lesson from the CoBaLTT Project
/cobaltt
Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition
University of Minnesota