People and Nature Unit

9th Grade College Prep English Language Arts

Ryan Brown
 Stage 1 Desired Results
ESTABLISHED GOALS/STANDARDS Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to… vet sources and conduct their own research to
RI 9-10.2: Determine a central idea of a text formulate opinions about controversial topics with diverse perspectives.
and analyze its development over the course Meaning
of the text, including how it emerges and is ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
shaped and refined by specific details; 1. Students will understand that people affect 1. How do people and the environment affect
provide an objective summary of the text. the environment in both positive and negative one another?
ways. 2. How do the small parts of a text contribute to
RL 9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words 2. Students will understand the cumulative its bigger meaning?
and phrases as they are used in the text, impact of each part of a text in creating 3. How do people effectively persuade others to
including figurative and connotative meaning. do something––good or bad?
meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of 3. Students will understand the power of 4. Why does it matter that people have different
specific word choices on meaning and tone rhetorical appeals in manipulating an perspectives about environmental issues?
(e.g., how the language evokes a sense of audience to convey a message for good or
time and place; how it sets a formal or bad.
informal tone). 4. Students will understand that diverse
perspectives forge new pathways for
SL 9-10.1D: Respond thoughtfully to diverse meaning-making.
perspectives, summarize points of Acquisition
agreement and disagreement, and, when Students will know… Students will be skilled at…
warranted, qualify or justify their own views - Audience - Analyzing how a common theme or topic is
and understanding and make new - Tone represented across diverse informational and
connections in light of the evidence and - Perspective literary texts.
reasoning presented. - Rhetorical Appeals: ethos, pathos, logos, - Identifying the rhetorical situation and
kairos appeals that create an author’s claim in visual
Goals: - Claim and written texts.
1. Students will determine the central idea of - Symbolism - Communicating an intended purpose to a
a text and analyze the details that contribute - Conclusion specific audience.
to its emergence.
2. Students will close-read visual and written
texts to determine the cumulative impact of
words and phrases on tone and meaning.
3. Students will thoughtfully reflect on the
various perspectives about environmental
issues and communicate their own
perspective to an authentic audience.
Stage 2 - Evidence
Evaluative Criteria Assessment Evidence
1. Understanding the Conventions of PERFORMANCE TASK(S):
Writing: Employing Proper Email Students will complete an Environmental Issue: Passion Project. After researching local Orange County
Etiquette for specific communication Environmental Agencies, Companies, and Sustainability efforts, students will select one group which raises
inquiry and relates to their interests about humans and the environment from background knowledge acquired
2. Expression of different perspectives through reading articles and analyzing visual texts about humans and the environment. Students will practice
in unit texts and understanding of with different writing types including an email to a local website, creating a public service announcement, and
citing textual evidence to support a writing a speech. These three writing types are intended to raise student “sensitivity” toward current
claim environmental issues.

3. Writing With Purpose to Engage in Goal: Students will research local environmental organizations and sustainable companies and formulate a
Inquiry and Communicate with an question to ask over email of someone who works for that environmental company.
Authentic Audience
Role: Students will take the role of a curious student who cares about the environment and has recently
learned about the various representations––and opinions about––the relationship between people and nature.

Audience: Students’ audience for their emails will be whomever they choose to email from the array of options
they can research and select from. The environmental agencies and sustainable brands are all local companies
in Southern California.

Situation: Students are emailing organizations to ask of them a question that relates to the students’ newfound
understanding of the relationship between people and nature based off their understanding of the unit texts
and the questions they generate from their research of these companies. Students’ goals are to ask a question
that warrants a response and level of continued communication with this brand.
 Product: The product will be an email and perhaps any further correspondence that occurs thereafter: merch,
club-startup advice, volunteer speakers.

Success criteria: Students will be assessed on their ability to follow the conventions of email writing to achieve
a specific purpose, use rhetorical appeals appropriate to the situation, audience, and tone, incorporate through
citations a demonstrated understanding of unit texts, and engage in meaningful inquiry that demonstrates
sophisticated digital literacy and thoughtful attention to the environmental organization's website.
OTHER EVIDENCE:
- Students will complete a guided visual analysis graphic organizer after watching Into the Middle of
Nowhere
- Students will complete CommonLit assessment questions and reading comprehension questions during
and after reading “Lee Sherman” and “Quiet Town”
- Students will complete a series of academic vocabulary activities that scaffold the language from both
of the above literary pieces
- Students will complete Self-assessments of their email
- Students will submit exit tickets as google forms after they’ve researched and selected an
environmental organization to email to demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the website’s
mission, vision, and values.
- Students will discussion questions (small-group, partner, whole-class)
- Drafting writing experiences (tables, peer reviews, self-assessing/annotating)
Stage 3 – Learning Plan
Summary of Key Learning Events and Instruction
People and Nature
Unit Assignment Calendar

Monday Wednesday Friday

1) Reading Poetry and Observing Art for 2) Watch The Anthropocene and take guided notes 3)Learning Stations: Processing The Anthropocene
Meaning

4) Reading “Lee Sherman…” and Learning 5) Watch Into the Middle of Nowhere and 6) Read “Quiet Town” and Learning Stations
Stations complete guided analysis

7) Performance task prep: researching local 8) Peer-review workshop; annotating for tone and
environmental agencies; drafting emails audience

Overview of Daily Activities

1 Text: Read and discuss: "Truth" by Nikki Grimes; Text: Observe and discuss: The Tree of Life; 5 Watch Into the Middle of Nowhere; Activity (thinking): Into the Middle of Nowhere Focus Questions;
Activity (thinking): semester 2 goals; Write: “Golden Shovel”Goals Poem Lecture: Purpose of Writing; Writing: Guided Analysis Notes on the Film

2 Text: The Anthropocene: The Age of Mankind ; Writing: Notes 6 Text: Whole-class read: Quiet Town; Reading: Quiet Town Guided Reading Questions; Writing: Quiet
Town Assessment Questions

3 Text: The Anthropocene: The Age of Mankind ; STATIONS; Read: Darius the Great is Not Okay Exit 7 Text: researching and selecting a website about local environmental communities ; Activity: tone and
Ticket; Writing: Complete Summary & Reflection of Anthropocene Notes; Activity (Discussing): audience workshop (tone and audience email revision); Writing: Email “table” (Writing Experience:
Anthro Discussion Assignment Email 1); Read: Darius the Great is Not Okay Exit Ticket

4 Text Whole-class read: Lee Sherman and the Toxic Louisiana Bayou STATIONS; Reading: Lee 8 Text: Students’ own self-generated Emails Activity: Annotating (tone and audience) and self-assessing
Sherman and the Toxic Louisiana Bayou CL Assessments Assignment; Writing: Vocabulary Activity emails
1 Vocabulary Activity 2; Activity (Thinking): Climateactioncampaign.org OC Environmental Justice Read: Darius the Great is Not Okay (Exit Ticket)
NoOCSurfRider.org; Speaking & Listening: Assignment Check-in
 Performance Task Rubric

Performance Task: Rubric

Exemplary Meeting Needs Work

Understanding the All of “Meeting” and…

Conventions of Writing: Email expands upon the generic conventions Email correctly follows the conventions of Email does not include a formal tone
Employing Proper Email of email writing structure to include specific email writing, including a greeting, appropriate to an audience of employees at an
Etiquette for specific paragraph breaks as necessary. Writing style is introduction, stated intent, stated purpose, and environmental organization. Email contains
communication articulate with transitions, minimal to no closing with a professional tone that is errors which interfere with understanding the
grammatical/formatting errors, and is easily appropriately geared towards a formal overall message.
understood by an audience outside our class. audience.

Expression of different All of “Meeting” and…

perspectives in unit texts Email offers new and complex insights about Email includes a summary of two sources from Email summarizes one or less texts or does not
and understanding of the relationships between humans and nature, this unit and analyzes the connection or include evidence to support the connection or
citing textual evidence to by offering an analysis that includes at least comparison between perspectives on the comparison between how these texts
support a claim two citations demonstrating how a theme can relationship between people and nature across represent various perspectives on this unit’s
be tracked across multiple texts and revealed various artistic mediums. Analysis includes essential question.
through specific details. specific evidence for at least one of the texts.

Writing With Purpose to All of “Meeting” and…

Engage in Inquiry and Question is insightful, demonstrates depth and Email appeals to the audience by The answer to the question can be found easily
Communicate with an creativity, and offers new ways of seeing the demonstrating knowledge of their website and on the website or does not relate to either this
Authentic Audience perspectives we have encountered about this clearly communicates at least one connection unit of study or the company’s website and
unit’s essential question thus far. between the website and chosen texts. purpose.

Email asks a question that shows depth of

thought and intentional inquiry.
 Lesson 1

Lesson Title Reading Poetry and Observing Art for Meaning

Grade Level/ Content 9th Grade English Language Arts

Standards RL 9-10.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative
and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone
(e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

SL 9-10.1D: Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and

disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new
connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.

Objective Students will identify symbolism and figurative language in the poem “Truth” by NIkki Grimes and the
triptych “The Tree of Life” by Gustav Flint in order to determine how the visual and written texts convey a
perspective about the theme: the relationship between people and nature.

Enduring Understanding Students will understand the cumulative impact of each part of a text in creating meaning.

Students will understand that diverse perspectives forge new pathways for meaning-making.

Essential Question How do the small parts of a text contribute to its bigger meaning?

Why does it matter that people have different perspectives about environmental issues?

Assessment and Feedback Informal assessment: students will discuss with a neighbor then their group to decide on a symbol and its
meaning in the poem “Truth”––they will share out in a whip-around where one student is designated as
the group’s “sharer”
- Feedback: I will listen to students share their responses and offer further questioning as they
share-out. We might look at the poem together and close-read what the poem might
mean/symbolize.
 Informal assessment: students will do a gallery walk of the room to view the triptych “the tree of life” and
discuss what story might be told in the art piece. Students will utilize sentence frames to pose questions
and observations to one another.
- Feedback: I will walk around the class and observe student feedback, posing further questions to
students as needed to propel conversation

Informal assessment: Students will write a Golden Shovel poem using the last words of the poem “truth”
to goal-set for the unit ahead and their goals as a student.
- Feedback: I will give feedback using speedgrader on canvas as well as verbal feedback after
students share their poems aloud

Self-assessment: Students will self-assess their progress writing a golden shovel by using a “1-5 minute”
sign with their hand. For students who need more time, I will walk over to them and support them if they
have any questions or need help getting their poems started.

Informal assessment: Students will read their poems aloud using the stand, share, sit strategy. Students
will all stand in groups of 6-8, read their poem aloud, then sit when they are all done.

Learning Experiences Opening:

(Label WHERETO) W: Today we are going to be discussing in pairs and groups, so as you look at the art and read
through the poems, I want you to be turning towards your peers and asking them what their
thoughts are. You all did such a good job last class identifying the symbols in the quote and that's
the exact kind of thinking I want you to be applying to these pieces today. I will have some
questions on the board for you to ask each other and examples of how you can talk about the
triptychs projected on the back two walls. We will also be working on our Chromebooks at the
end of class so if you need to get set up and charge that, now is a good time to do so.

H: Anticipatory Set: This should be a short, attention-grabbing, engaging opener that recruits the
interest of your students, provokes curiosity, and makes them want to learn more.
There's a poem on the board, as students greet me at the door and tell me a goal I’ll tell them to
put their phones in their phone pockets, take a seat, and follow the directions on the board. They
will sit down, and see the projector has a slide up with a poem and the directions read: “read this
poem and identify a possible symbol; share with a neighbor when they sit down next to you”
When all students are seated, I will ask students to share with me some of their symbols.
Body:
E: We will read through the poem together choral reading (I read one line, they repeat it, I read
line 2, they repeat it) I will define words as we read.
- I will ask them again for any symbols or what they think the poem might be talking
about. What is it literally referring to?
- Students will give me a thumbs up, down, sideways to let me know if they have a
(great) (okay) (not okay at all) idea of what a symbol is in the poem after
reading.
We will look at an image of a storm that accompanies the poem on CommonLit–I will ask the
students “how does this photo connect to the poem? why would they be paired together? does
the photo reveal anything new to you that you didn’t realize in the poem alone?”

- T: I will show the sentence frames for how to talk about art and model it for them using
the discussion stems
I will split the class in ½ and each half will go towards their respective projector screen and look
at the art. The question I will ask them to think about and discuss is “What are you seeing?
What is a symbol”
- When it quiets down, I will ask students to return to their seats. When students sit back
down I will ask them to share with their table group what they saw then whip-it one
person share what are some things you saw and what are some potential symbols?

R: Now what symbols do these paintings and poems have in common? What theme do they
share in common? *Nature*
- Refer back to poem: ask students is there anything you are noticing here that we
haven’t talked about yet (the last word of every line is bolded)
- intro “golden shovel” form
- show “Storm Coming” Jean Toomer and which line was taken
 - Ask: why might a poet borrow a line from another poet? What does that remind you of?
Is there a core connection you could draw? *One Story Theory*

E: Okay, so we just looked at art and how it connects to this poem about nature and the poem
about nature also connects to the quote we read last week and all of these together are also
referring to how nature has new beginnings after a storm and you all just experienced your
own storm of finals week and now we are entering into this new chapter of semester 2, so what
I want you all to do is write your own poems in the golden shovel form using the last line from
Truth.
- We will open up Canvas and I will show my example on the template: explain the steps
of goal-setting → poem writing

Closure/ Application O: As students begin working on their poems, I will tell them we are going to be reading these
next class at the door as they walk in using the stand, share, sit method.
- They must have their poem completed before they walk in the door on Monday.
If students finish early, they can SSR Darius the Great
Don’t forget to press submit when done

Teacher Notes This class is a very visual group of learners, everytime we do something that uses visual texts to
analyze and talk about the students are more willing to discuss and offer their opinions. So, I
think this lesson will hone in on those strengths really well and it will be interesting to see the
stories they can come up with after looking at the art.
 Rubric: Golden Shovel
Objective: Students will identify symbolism and figurative language in the poem “Truth” by NIkki Grimes and the triptych “The Tree of Life” by
Gustav Flint in order to determine how the visual and written texts convey a perspective about the theme: the relationship between people and
nature. Students will communicate their practice writing and revising in a specific writing type: the Golden Shovel form found in “Truth.”

Exceeded Learning Goals Met Learning Goals Did not yet meet Learning
Goals

Identifying symbolism and Student identified at least one Student identified at least one Student struggled to identify
figurative language possible symbol in the poem possible symbol in the poem at least one possible symbol in
“Truth” and provided an “Truth” the poem “Truth” after
explanation of what that reading and discussing with
symbol may represent their group.

Communicating different Student provided insightful Student could identify at least Student did not identify at
perspectives about nature. and evidence-based narrative one possible story about the least one story about the
possibilities about the triptych relationship between the people and nature featured in
after discussing and people and nature featured in the triptych
collaborating with their peers the triptych

Communicating in specific Student followed the Golden Student followed the Golden
writing types Shovel form Shovel form with minimal
errors to communicate at least
2 goals for the new unit as a
student

Lesson 4

Lesson Title Reading “Lee Sherman…” and Learning Stations

Grade Level/ Content 9th Grade English Language Arts

Standards RI 9-10.2: Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,
including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of
the text.

SL 9-10.1D: Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and

disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new
connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.

Objective Students will determine the claim and theme of the text “Lee Sherman and the Toci Louisiana Bayou”,
paying focused attention to how specific passages and scenes contribute to the story’s overall message
and the author’s claim.

Students will communicate with one another in Canvas discussions to communicate their own opinions
and the environmental issue of corporate pollution and negotiate their own ideas with the ideas of others
in the class by responding to peers in writing.

Enduring Understanding Students will understand the cumulative impact of each part of a text in creating meaning.

Students will understand that diverse perspectives forge new pathways for meaning-making.

Essential Question How do the small parts of a text contribute to its bigger meaning?

Why does it matter that people have different perspectives about environmental issues?

Assessment and Feedback Text Whole-class read: Lee Sherman and the Toxic Louisiana Bayou

STATIONS
Reading: Lee Sherman and the Toxic Louisiana Writing: Vocabulary Activity 1 Vocabulary Activity
Bayou CL Assessments Assignment 2

Activity (Thinking): Climateactioncampaign.org Speaking & Listening: Assignment Check-in

 OC Environmental Justice (catching up and assignment support)
NorthOCSurfRider.org

Informal assessment: I will greet students at the door and they will read their goal-setting poem as they
walk into class. This predictable routine of greeting students at the door helps me get in-the-moment
information of my students’ understanding of the prior lesson as well as give me time to speak individually
to students with specific learning needs.

Informal assessment: I will be able to assess my ELD students’ collaboration, idea sharing, critical thinking
and understanding of figurative language when my students complete the group warmup when they
come into class. Students will read the following nature-related riddle as it’s projected on the board: I
touch your face, I'm in your words, I'm lack of space and beloved by birds. (answer: Air)
1st students will discuss their thoughts about the answer to this riddle with their elbow neighbor.
2nd students will share their ideas with their table group of 6-8 students.
3rd, students in each group will pick one answer and write it down on a sticky note to share with me

Informal Assessment: while reading the text together whole-class, students will complete guided reading
questions on CommonLit as they read “Lee Sherman and the Toxic Louisiana Bayou.” This will provide me,
and them, with in-the-moment data on their understanding of plot, characters, attitudes, cause and
effect, and setting in the text. There are 6 questions which occur over the course of the reading and these
guided reading questions work by blurring the remaining text, and a student cannot continue reading until
they’ve answered the question correctly. After they’ve completed the guided reading questions, I can see
in CommonLit’s dashboard how many tries it took each student to get each question correct. These
questions provide formative assessment data that I can use to gauge students’ comprehension of the text
prior to engaging in any analysis.

Self assessment: after we’ve read the text and students answered the guided reading questions, students
will self-assess how well they understood the story based on their performance on the questions (how
many tries it took to respond correctly), and how well they understand how this text connects to the
theme of humans and nature. The self-assessment will be done on PearDeck and be an interactive tally of
a red light, green light, yellow light. Students will select their performance with the corresponding light
color and I’ll have in-the-moment anonymous data that shows me how well the class understood the text
and if we need to do a re-read or if I need to work specifically in the small group completing the
 assessment questions during the station rotations.
Red light: I got less than half the questions right, and I do not understand how this text relates to the
theme of humans and nature
Yellow light: I got between 3-5 questions right, and I have an idea of how this text may relate to the theme
of humans and nature.
Green light: I got 5-6 questions right, and I could state right now how this text is handling the theme of
humans and nature.

While students are working in this station, I will walk around and monitor student understanding through
informal assessments such as observing student engagement and asking leveled questions to break down
questions for students if they are confused.

Students will complete an exit ticket; on a quarter sheet of paper, students will have a venn diagram they
complete, answering the question: how does this text present the relationship between humans and
nature differently than the poem “Truth” from last class? This informal assessment further exemplifies
students’ mastery of the learning goal: tracking a theme across various artistic mediums (RL 9-10.7).

Learning Experiences Opening:

(Label WHERETO) ● HO: Students will read the riddle on the board to themselves after they’ve all sat down: I touch
your face, I'm in your words, I'm lack of space and beloved by birds. (answer: Air)I will read the
riddle aloud to the class as well, in order to assure my English Learners and students with IEP
goals for reading comprehension are able to access the riddle; I will offer support to those
students individually as well by walking around to those students and pointing out words in the
riddle that might have double meanings; the goal of this activity is to promote language
development and increase awareness of words with figurative meaning as well as create strong
critical thinking and collaborative skills.
○ Students will turn and talk to a neighbor for 1 minute, deciding what they think a possible
answer to the riddle is.
○ Students will then turn to their whole group and decide on one answer to the riddle after
talking for another minute.
○ One student will write their team’s answer on a sticky note and bring it up to me to see if
they answered correctly.
● W: Students will get out their chromebooks and log into their Canvas accounts; from there, they
will access the assignment for “Lee Sherman and the Toxic Louisiana Bayou” which is synced
through CommonLit. Navigating this link will take students into CommonLit where they will see
the article. We will read through the article together, practicing Call and Response interactive
reading. I will read a sentence, and students will repeat it. This strategy models fluency and
pronunciation and supports EL students.
○ T: In addition, CommonLit is an Educational Technology Resource that is rich in
supportive and interactive resources for English Learners and my students who benefit
from additional support in reading comprehension. The text includes definitions for
academic vocabulary, footnotes explaining unfamiliar terminology per grade level
standards, and has a feature for students to translate the text into their primary language.
The translation comes up as a text box next to the original text, so it supports students’
understanding of what the text is actually about next to the English version to facilitate
fluency acquisition.
○ Students can also opt to hear the text read to them on CommonLit––an adaptation I make
available to my students who have accommodations for ed tech including auditory
reading tools.
● O: While we whole-class read, students will complete guided reading questions. I will have the
article projected in “student mode” with the guided reading questions, so I will also stop and read
through the questions to students to support both academic language development and reading
comprehension.
○ There are 6 Multiple Choice guided reading questions students will answer as they read;
they must answer the question in order to continue reading––the remaining text is
blurred on their computer until they do so, and answer correctly. Students will give me a
thumbs-up when they’ve finished answering a GRQ correctly so I know we can continue
reading whole-class––and also so I have a gauge on students who may need me to walk
over and go through the question one-on-one.
○ The GRQ are:
■ 1. Which of Sherman's jobs involved the deaths of many of his co-workers?
■ 2. What was PPG's attitude toward safety?
■ 3. Why was Sherman's task always at night?
■ 4. What does the incident with the bird reveal about PPG's effects on the
environment?
 ■ 5. How did PPG's chemicals affect the community?
■ 6. Why did Lee Sherman make a surprise announcement at the meeting?
● Students will self-assess on PearDeck their comprehension of the story based on their
performance of the reading and whether or not they could explain how this story treats the
theme of humans and nature.
● Students will access the learning stations link on Canvas to view the hyperlinked slides that direct
each station group to the appropriate Canvas assignment. Students will spend 20 minutes at each
station before rotating to the next.
○ Students are divided into 4 groups based on where they sit in the room, there are signs
around the room to indicate which area is station 1, 2, 3, and 4
Body:
● EO: Station 1: Students will complete the formative assessment of answering the 4 multiple
choice, and one written, assessment questions that assess students’ analysis and critical
comprehension of the text. These questions are more complex than the GRQ. This edtech is
beneficial in encouraging students to read the text twice for meaning-making, as each question is
hyperlinked to specific moments in the text .Students can read the question, click the link, and the
text will redirect to the specific paragraphs the question is referring to. These questions support
the learning goal of seeing how strong evidence supports the development of a main idea, which
they will then apply in the written question, where they instead are the ones selecting specific
evidence to support their claim about the text (for number 5 on the assessment questions). These
questions align with and support my English learners in meeting the ELD goal of using precise
vocabulary to convey ideas and close reading an informational text to analyze how an author's
claim develops (ELD Learning goals 2 & 3 for this lesson).
● EO: Station 2: Students will complete two google docs with two levels of informal assessment
on the academic vocabulary from the reading of “Lee Sherman and the Toxic Louisiana Bayou.”
The first vocab activity introduces students to 10 academic vocabulary words that appear in the
text. Students will predict the meaning of each word based on an image, caption, and example
sentence using the vocabulary term. This activity uses UDL approaches to learning by appealing to
visual learners who may have struggled to make meaning of the word in its textual representation,
but can more easily understand the terms’ meaning when they are presented visually. I have a few
students who are extremely artistic and I know this will be right up their alley, as they get to
examine how small images relate to a word and are able to engage with the content on a visual
level. The second vocab activity builds complexity of students’ understanding of the vocabulary,
 using the same 10 words, but students will fill in the blanks of each sentence using the correct
vocab word from the word bank, changing the form of the word as needed. Both informal
assessments will be submitted to Canvas.
● EO: Students will complete a “webquest” of the local environmental websites to locate the
companies’ mission, vision, values, and overall perspective on the relationship between people
and nature, including the “issue” in this relationship that the company seeks to address.
●

Closure/ Application ERE: Station 4: Students complete an exit ticket, filling out a venn diagram graphic organizer of a venn
diagram to compare and contrast how the text presents the theme of the relationship between humans
and nature similarly and differently in “Lee Sherman…” and the poem “Truth” from last class.

Teacher Notes Students will be able to transfer the skills of citing evidence and identifying a claim to the unit’s
performance assessment. In addition, the text and the various local websites provide different
perspectives on the issues that arise in the relationship between people and nature.

Lesson 5

Lesson Title Watching Into the Middle of Nowhere and completing a Guided Analysis

Objective Students will be able to determine the central idea of a visual text and compare its representation of the
essential question (What is the relationship between People and Nature?) to written texts. (RL 9-10.2, RL
9-10.7)

Enduring Understanding 1. Students will understand the cumulative impact of each part of a text in creating meaning.
2. Students will understand the power of rhetorical appeals in manipulating an audience to convey a
message for good or bad.

Essential Question 1. How do the small parts of a text contribute to its bigger meaning?
2. How do people effectively persuade others to do something––good or bad?
Assessment and Feedback Informal assessment: students will complete the warmup nature-themed riddle to begin class: It cannot
be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter. (answer: darkness).This riddle will develop an
understanding of implicit and explicit meaning of language as well which will help students begin to move
towards achieving that learning goal as we move into the content for the lesson.

Informal assessment: students will answer 16 focus questions as a formative assessment to check for
understanding of the film prior to analyzing it. Students will access these questions as a google doc LTI
external tool linked as an assignment on Canvas. These questions are similar to guided reading questions,
in that they are checking purely for comprehension and scaffold the process of moving into more critical
analysis of the text. Students will submit their answers to these focus questions after we’ve viewed the
film twice and have moved into the guided analysis.
- example of focus questions include:
- How many children are on the table playing together at one time? __________________.
- The boy asks the girl “where do you want to go?” and she replies “into the middle of
____________________ .”
- (T) or (F): The children argue over whether or not they can pretend to be on an airplane.
- Based on their clothing, the weather here is probably ___________________________ .
- An adult’s voice can be heard for the first time when the child is talking about what insect?
- a ladybug
- a spider
- a frog
- This film shows the forest through the eyes of _______________.
- After they leave, the film shows which of these parts of the forest?
- The trees
- The leaves
- The swing
- The log on the table
- All of the above

These questions will serve as evidence of students' learning of how a key theme (humans and
 nature) is represented across different artistic mediums––here the artistic medium is a visual text in the
form of a short film documentary. These questions will support students' basic understanding of plot,
characters, setting to move into higher-order thinking about the text’s presentation of theme.

Formative assessment: Students will complete a graphic organizer guided analysis, again accessed through
the external tool on Canvas. Each student will get a copy of the graphic organizer and we will go through
the first three questions together as a class then students will complete the rest on their own. This
formative assessment will serve as evidence of this lesson’s learning goal: students will be able to
determine the central idea of a visual text and compare its representation of the essential question (What
is the relationship between People and Nature?) to written texts. The guided analysis will ask students to
cite specific moments in the text that contribute to the development of the theme, identify point of view,
purpose, perspective, claim, support for claim, visual text’s conclusion, and the support for this conclusion
through different visual strategies such as symbolism, appeals, etc.

Informal assessment: The final part of this lesson’s learning goal is connecting/comparing this artistic
medium’s presentation of the theme of humans and nature to other themes’ representations of humans
and nature. So, the last assessment students will complete is a stand, share, sit (AVID strategy) at the end
of class as an exit ticket where each student shares how this text shows the relationship between humans
and nature as either similarly or differently by….
- Students will use the following sentence frame: “Into the Middle of Nowhere” shows that the
relationship between humans and nature is ______ which is (similar/different) to ________”

This quick informal assessment which I will monitor by walking around and listening to students’
contributions will help me gain an understanding of how well students are tracking this theme across texts
and their ability to critically analyze the text so far. If I notice that students are still standing (meaning they
haven’t shared) or they are not answering the question in full by comparing it to another text we’ve read
or analyzed so far (“Truth”, “The Tree of Life” or “Lee Sherman and the Toxic Louisiana Bayou”) then I will
know that this is an area of understanding that we need to return to for next class. However, this is a
learning goal that spans across multiple lessons so we will be returning to this question in the next classes
and ultimately assessing it formally in the performance task.

Learning Experiences O: Opening: Students will participate in the normal procedure for solving the riddle at the beginning of
(Label WHERETO) class, first reading it to themselves then turning to a neighbor to discuss for 30 seconds, then turning to
their whole group to come up with one idea to solve the riddle. One student will be nominated in each
group to record their answer on a sticky note and bring it up to me to be “judged” correct or not.
- I will read aloud the riddle to support my English learners.
- The student who is “nominated” to go up with the sticky note will this time, be the student with
the closest birthday. I like to use little prompts like these to choose the person that shares on
behalf of the group because (1) it gets them talking and getting to know one another and (2) it
takes the pressure off one person to volunteer on behalf of the group or, conversely, want to
share, but not feel confident enough to volunteer to do so. It evens the playing field so each
student eventually gets a chance to take the leadership role in a supported environment with
familiar peers.

WHE: I will give a small lesson on the purposes of communication then students will turn and talk with a
neighbor and share some examples of each type of writing depending on which type they are “assigned”
to discuss. The class will be broken up into 7 different groups for the 7 different purposes of writing: to
inform, to explain, to entertain, to persuade, to argue, to evaluate, to express.
- possible examples include: cooking instructions, a biography, TikTok videos, a news article, a Yelp
review, or a “haul” Youtube Video.
T: My goal here is to make the learning relevant to their real-life communication. I will express to
students during my own delivery of the lesson beforehand, that the purposes of writing are not just
confined to school essays, but they happen everywhere when you view communication from social media,
advertisers, even in a family group chat.

E: Body: Cast onto the projector at the front of the room, students will watch Into the Middle of Nowhere
one time through just for understanding. They will turn and talk to a neighbor for 30 seconds about
anything that stood out––either visually, or auditorily, or in terms of what this film might “mean.”
- T: I give this processing time to students so that they can share anything they noticed just as a
viewer and also, so that my EL students can seek support from their peers as needed.
- TI will put the subtitles on for this film both times watching it to support multiple modes of
accessing content, visually or auditorily.
 E:Students will use educational technology when they access Canvas' external google docs tool, a google
doc template with the focus questions for the film. We will watch the first half of the film (7 minutes 30
seconds) then I will pause, and pull up the focus questions. Students will open up their Chromebooks and
answer the first 8 questions. What I like about using the google docs tool is that students can translate an
entire google doc internally in docs by going to file > language then selecting any language they want their
doc translated into as a copy of the original. This helps support my EL students and it’s a tool they’re
familiar with using.

EO:Students will watch the next 7 minutes 30 seconds, to finish the film and then re-open their
chromebooks to respond to the next set of questions (remaining 8). Then press submit when they are
done and close their chromebooks to indicate to me that they’re ready to move on. I will change the
projector to display the guided analysis graphic organizer and students will access this in Canvas. Students
will complete the Graphic organizer for the first 3 questions alongside me and I walk them through what
each question is asking and potential answers we might put based on the film and their understanding.

E:After we answer the first three questions together as a class: What is the purpose of this visual
text?Who is the intended audience for this visual text? Describe the perspective we are experiencing this
visual text through…then students will have time to work independently on completing the remaining 5
squares in the graphic organizer.

Closure/ Application R: Students will do a stand, share, sit to wrap up the end of class and make core connections between the
higher-order thinking they just did completing the graphic organizer and the texts we have read and
analyzed so far this unit and the connection to the essential question: What is the relationship between
humans and nature?

Teacher Notes I chose Into the Middle of Nowhere as the visual text for students to practice analyzing purpose, claim,
conclusion, and begin working on finding evidence because it's accessible and I know it will be engaging to
this specific population of students. I have had conversations with them in the past about their families
and I saw on Back to School Night that many students came with their parents and younger siblings, many
of whom were the same age as the little kids in this documentary. This film uses strong visual imagery and
applies perspective uniquely to show how we can view a text through the lens of someone other than
ourselves. It is an accessible visual tool for demonstrating academic terms like perspective, audience, and
claim. It also is short enough to watch more than once and comical so it keeps the students entertained.

I chose to incorporate graphic organizers because they are a helpful tool for understanding graphically
how a text conveys/ represents a specific theme by walking through the steps for how to access a text
then deeply analyze it. I think it gradually introduces questions that foster higher order thinking without
overwhelming my students.

Finally, regarding the resources’ connection to learning demands, this film provides yet another
perspective a student can use to address the central question: What is the Relationship between humans
and nature. It demonstrates how children in nature, when left to interact with parental supervision (but
not parental guidance), will still try to impose dominance on one another and the environment they are
in. It is a social experiment that addresses the question of why humans choose to treat the environment
like it’s ours for the taking, and tracks these behaviors back to people and young as preschoolers in an
environment as innocent as a daycare. The film demonstrates the interesting convergence between innate
human instinct and innocent childish imagination. it also shows the pure and fulfilling relationship
children can establish with nature that is unlike adults’ treatment of their environment, and presents a
message of hope for students to carry into their own interactions with nature.