S+Hill,+Colby

**Office:** Room 022 **Office Phone:** 207-975-xxxx **Office Hours:** Monday - Wednesday 1 - 3; Thursday 2 - 3 ** E-mail: ** colby.hill@maine.edu
 * Teacher:** Mr. Hill

=Summary of Unit= Ever wanted to convince someone about the right choice? Write the story you never knew how? Create the perfect character you love to hate? Leave a reader floored with an ending? Students will use various writing strategies, such as dialogue or pacing, to create both fictional and nonfictional narratives. Along with this, students will learn how to create solid conclusions and engage the reader through the various strategies and the flow of their writing. Students will look at a teacher supplied narrative, their classmate's, and their own to learn how to constructively criticize and scrutinize their own work. Students will be able to accomplish this through the use of the type two technologies readily available. This unit will thrive on creativity because the student will be the one behind the writing wheel.

=Establish Goals= Common Core Standards Content Area: Writing Standards Grade Level: 9-10 Domain: Writing Standard: Text Types and Purposes Cluster: 3

= = =Students will understand that= • in order to write well-developed and engaging narratives, they must use various techniques. • they must use precise words or details to fully impact the reader. • they must create a coherent flow with a conclusion that follows and reflects.

= = =Essential Questions= • How can a reader be truly engaged, and with what techniques? • Why will the use of precise words make a difference in writing? • How can writing keep a coherent flow, and is the conclusion part of that flow?

= = =Students will know= • terminology: dialogue, pace, description, detail, reflection,narrative, conclusion, coherency, engaging, word choice, structure, flow, multiple plot lines. • formula: where to start and end, how techniques build up and work together, what makes an engaging read. • critical details: how everything works and flows together, conclusion has confidence and student realizes this is what the reader will remember.

= = =Students will be able to= • demonstrate their knowledge of various writing techniques. • make meaning of an engaging story and be able to judge their own work. • produce a conclusion that follows and flows with their writing. • analyze word choice and decide if it is appropriate. • imagine they are inside of the narrative. • be aware of the strategies used.

**Performance Task Overview** There is a news anchor dilemma because they have all quit! News companies everywhere are searching for high school students who show ability to persuade classmates and are hiring! In order to do this, however, means that students must have a clear grasp of various literary terms. Many of the different strategies must be implemented in order to fully impact the diversity of viewers who watch the news. You have the chance now to implement the different strategies you have learned during the past unit and create a two and half minute speech persuading //some//thing. It can be anything you want: the wackier the persuasion the more ability the companies can see. It’s much harder to convince people to do something weird, but this is not required. Have fun with it!

=Expectations= //**Attendance:**// In order for you to get the most out of the class, attending class every day is a must. I understand that events come up, and I have no problem with that. Letting me know ahead of time would be the most ideal, but even then surprise occurrences can keep you from coming to class. By letting me know it shows responsibility. We will be learning new material every day, and often how to use new technologies you may not be familiar with. So, please, for yourself and for your fellow classmates, come to class as often as possible! They are depending on you to be there as well.

//**Late Work:**// Sometimes you forget what you homework is, I know. Sometimes you get swamped, I know this too. To counter this, the class wikispace will have a homework section so you always know what is due. Along with this will be a week by week schedule of what you can expect for class and homework. This is always subject to chance, but at least it gives you an idea of the work load for the upcoming week. Late work is looked down upon, but I will still take it. Any work you do deserves feedback no matter what. For each day that it is missing (including the day it was due) a letter grade will be lost from its final grade. If you are getting swamped, talk to me and we can work something out.

//**Respect:**// In no way will I tolerate bullying of any kind. In the class we will be looking to each other for advice frequently. If I even suspect there is any kind of bullying I will act accordingly. Be respectful with your classmates and they will be respectful back. Come talk to me if you have any questions or concerns.

//**Plagiarism:**// In this class I expect you to be honest. If I find that you have been stealing people's work without giving them credit you could be in trouble. It is //illegal.// Neither of us want to be in that situation. We will be using MLA format. If you are unsure whether or not you should cite something, CITE IT! Academically dishonest papers will receive a 0, and often times you will have to speak to the principal about your actions.

=Benchmarks= The class will be out of **1,000** points.

• **Glogster**: Students will become experts on a given writing/literary technique. Students will have the choice between the technique (pace, dialogue, metaphor, allusion, imagery, hyperbole, etc). They will make a Glogster poster and use it to teach the class about the technique as a presentation. Music will also be required for the presentation. **100 pts**


 * • Comiclife**: For this project, a student will have to have a completed narrative. After the teacher has collected all of these narratives, the names will be taken off and a document with the narrative will be handed out randomly. Pairs will make two Comiclife comics based on the two narratives they receive back. This will the writer to get immense feedback (does my story make sense? Does my story have all the components? Does it flow?), and everyone will have some fun. Funny is welcome, but please, be respectful. **100 pts**

• **Google Docs**: Constructively criticize each other's work all at the same time. During this project, we will write narratives and upload them to a class Google Docs site. Here, we can all edit a paper together at the same time. Everyone's paper will get a chance to be looked at, whether it would be done in class or out. Here, we will learn how to constructively criticize. Once again, have fun with each other, but be respectful. **75 pts**

• **iMovie** - Get inside of their narrative and recreate a scene on video. During this project, we will learn how to "get into" the story. In life we must have fun and be creative! Life would be boring and useless otherwise! So, here, we get a chance to act out. The narrative would be based off of a fictional piece, and in the video you get to recreate a scene with iMovie. This is meant to have fun and give you a chance to see your words turn to action. **125 pts**

• **Garageband**: Create an audio file criticizing a piece I give them. This is a chance to finally relax. We've been doing lots of serious work, so here is a chance to enjoy yourself. I will the students a made up narrative, and they will have a chance to criticize it. The students should not have to worry too much about hurting anyone's feelings, because this is supposed to be a chance to have fun and take things a little less seriously. However, I do require that students identify techniques that I used and specific examples of what could have done better. **100 pts**

• **Tumblr:** How exactly does an idea come to mind, anyway? In this project we will be using tumblr to re-post pictures that we enjoy. The pictures should be of a variety of emotions (pictures you find funny, beautiful, sad, aggravating, etc). After completion of these re-posted pictures, students must come up with a narrative for each one. They do not need to be in depth, but should address features of the picture, and the narrative that a student comes up with would address details of the picture, enough so a reader could identify which picture they were writing about. In addition to this, students must pick their top two or three favorites and insert an audio piece onto the tumblr reading the short narrative. We would then guess in class which picture belonged with which narrative. **100 pts**

• **Performance task** - (See performance task overview above) **200 pts**

• **Participation -** This is key. It is more then just calling out answers in my class, it is how you work together and how you help other students. Peer checklists should have care in them, and really include more then "I liked it." Students will be expected to complete graphic organizers and try to have positive attitudes during cooperative learning stages. **100 pts**

• **Homework -** This class relies on outside work. We just do not have the time to complete short narratives and learn about technologies we will use during the class. So, please, try to get work done outside of class! Always feel free to talk to me if you feel overwhelmed, and we can work something out. **100 pts**

=Grading Scale= **A** (93 -100), **A-** (90 - 92), **B+** (87 - 89), **B** (83 - 86), **B-** (80 - 82), **C+**(77 - 79), **C** (73-76), **C-** (70 - 72), **D+**(67 - 69), **D** (63 - 66), **D-** (60 - 62), **F** (0 - 59).