ELA Reading Lesson

ELA Reading Lesson:

Topic: Informative Texts

AIM: To determine the main idea of an informational text.

Grade: 6^th grade

A.      Learning Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students should be able to . . .

1.       Analyze how key individuals, events, or ideas are developed throughout a text.

2.       Use a variety of strategies to determine word meaning in informational texts.

3.       Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in an informational text.

4.       Explain how an author’s point of view is conveyed in an informational text.

5.       Use a variety of media to develop and deepen understanding of topic/idea.

B.      Common Core Skills:

1.       To analyze and determine main ideas and author’s point of view from a given informational text.

C.      Standards:

1.       RI.6.3: Analyze in detail how a key individual, event or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (through examples or anecdotes).

2.       RI.6.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative and technical meaning.

3.       RI.6.6: Determine author’s point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text.

4.       RI.6.7: Integrate information presented in a different media or formats (visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic/issue.

D.      Vocabulary to be discussed:

-Fiction vs. Non-Fiction: Fiction is a story that is based on fantasy and not something that actually happened.  Non-Fiction is something that actually occurred at some point.

-Informational text: A specific type of non-fiction, designed to inform a reader about a specific idea.

-Point of View: the feeling the author possesses about a given topic of writing.  Point of view can be determined through context clues within a text. 

         E. Materials: Notebooks, pens, highlighters, movie review(s), Smart board

         F. Do Now/Motivation: Ask students to discuss some of their favorite and least favorite movies.     Ask volunteers to discuss the main points of their favorite movie.  What made it their favorite?  Ask the room if anyone disagreed with the student’s opinion on the movie and why they feel differently.  When students walk into the room, I would have a display of some well known movie characters to spike their interest in what we would be learning for the day.

H. Then I would pull up on the smart board, a review of the harry potter movie: http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone and read aloud as a group.  Each of the students would get a handout of it after we read aloud.  Ask the students to read over the review in its entirety to themselves.  They would be asked to highlight certain words that indicate the author felt supportive of the movie.  Underline the main points of the movie.  And write a three sentence plot summary of their own, based on what they read.   I would then have volunteers come up and highlight on the smart board the words that indicated the author’s point of view and underline the key points of the plot.

I & J. Differentiate/H.O.T Questions:

Differentiation would be present in both the visual aspects of the smart board, the group read aloud and independent analysis of the review. 

What is the main idea of the movie?

What is the point of view of the author?

How can you support your understanding of the author’s point of view?

How do you feel about going away to school, like the characters did in Harry Potter?

What are some of the positive and negative ideas associated with going away to school?

K. I would assess the students by circulating about the room and seeing what words the students highlighted.  Also reading their three sentence summaries will allow me to understand whether the students are able to decipher between main ideas and supporting ones.  Finally, their ability to determine the author’s point of view will be apparent in our group discussion.

L. Do you agree with the author’s review? Why/Why Not?

IF you haven’t seen this movie, would this review make you interested in the movie?

Homework:

Go home and think of a movie/book that they feel strongly for, whether it is positive or negative.  Write it down on a clean page of their notebook to bring to class with them the next day.  Be sure to know main ideas of the plot of the chosen book/movie! Give this movie a rating of 1-10, one being the worst, ten being the best. Do NOT disclose your rating to anyone in the class.