Lesson 21: Write a new progress report About this lesson Students work collaboratively to write a new progress report which reveals additional aspects of a character and/or propels the action of the story.

We compared the structures of “Flowers for Algernon” and the excerpts from Chapter 4 of Frankenstein. Let’s Review! Teaching Notes Suggested Pacing: ~1 minute Directions: Briefly review the previous learning. Students were expected to complete the character analysis chart for homework. Check the homework using an established classroom routine.

Today we will: Write a new progress report from another character’s point of view, which propels the action and develops a theme of “Flowers for Algernon.” Let’s Prepare! Teaching Notes Suggested Pacing: ~1 minute Directions: Read the slide. Briefly explain how this lesson prepares students for another lesson and/or the end-of-unit assessments. Throughout the lesson, compare students’ responses and work to the student look-fors. Determine the students who need additional support with reading, understanding, or expressing their understanding of complex, grade-level texts. During this lesson or before the next lesson, support those students individually or in a small group using the Additional Supports for Diverse Learners.

Progress Reports 1-11 from “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes You will need: Progress Reports 1-11 from “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes Your character analysis chart Your mentor sentences handout The narrative writing rubric Let’s Prepare! Teaching Notes Suggested Pacing: ~ 3 minutes Directions: Distribute the text. Access the narrative writing rubric scoring tool. Ask students to locate their character analysis chart (completed for homework) and their mentor sentences handout.

Review how the construction of sentences develops an author’s style and affects the reader’s understanding. Let’s Work With Words! Teaching Notes Suggested Pacing: ~ 8 minutes Directions: Project or display a completed mentor sentences handout. Ask students to compare the different ways the same idea can be shared. Project or display the following sentences on the board or chart paper. Sentence One: Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree. Sentence Two: Every night a slow fever oppressed me, and I became nervous to a most painful degree. Sentence Three: A slow fever oppressed me every night, and I became nervous to a most painful degree. Discuss how the different sentence constructions emphasize certain ideas based on the placement of phrases in clauses in a sentence. Ask: “Where does each sentence focus the reader’s thoughts? How does the placement of words in the sentence change what is important in that sentence?” Explain that as students write today, they should consider how the way they construct their sentences has an impact on the reader (i.e., different sentence constructions lead to different styles in writing) and be sure to construct their sentences in a way that reflects what they want the reader to understand about their narrator. Student Look-Fors: Access the completed mentor sentences handout. Samples of how different constructions change the reader’s focus and understanding: “Every night I was oppressed by a slow fever, and I became nervous to a most painful degree.” The emphasis in this sentence is on “every night I was oppressed,” which focuses this sentence on the speaker and makes it more personal. “Every night a slow fever oppressed me, and I became nervous to a most painful degree.” The emphasis in this sentence is on “every night,” which focuses this sentence on the intensity of the fever happening every night. “A slow fever oppressed me every night, and I became nervous to a most painful degree.” The emphasis in this sentence is on “a slow fever,” which focuses this sentence on the fever and its gradual impact over time. It reduces the emphasis on “every night,” which makes the fever seem less intense.

Use point of view and style that reflects your narrator. Write a new progress report from the point of Miss Kinnian, Dr. Nemur, or Dr. Strauss. Use point of view and style that reflects your narrator. Include elements from “Flowers for Algernon” and elaborate on them from your narrator’s perspective. Use relevant descriptive details and sensory language. Let’s Express Our Understanding! Teaching Notes Suggested Pacing: ~ 35 minutes Directions: Divide the class into groups of 3-4 students using an established classroom routine. Purposefully group together students with different levels of language proficiency. Establish norms for the group work and explain that students will be held accountable for their learning by writing a progress report. Share the scoring rubric and the exemplar. Create a class list of the qualities of a strong progress report (e.g., fits within the story, establishes an accurate point of view, propels the action of the story, reveals aspects of a character, develops a theme of the story, includes descriptive details, written in complete sentences, etc.). Either assign or ask groups to select a character: Miss Kinnian, Dr. Nemur, or Dr. Strauss. Ask each group to select a moment in “Flowers for Algernon” in which adding a progress report will: Propel the action of the story (e.g., provide additional detail which Charlie does not provide) Reveal aspects of the characters (e.g., describe or explain situations which Charlie does not understand) Develop a theme of the story (e.g., comment on being happy with who you are and/or acquiring knowledge unnaturally) Prompt the group members to take turns reading aloud the explanation column on their character analysis chart for the group’s selected or assigned character. Tell them to use the character analysis chart as prewriting for their progress report. Then direct each group to write a new progress report as a group. Remind them to establish the narrator’s point of view and perspective from the prewriting, brainstorm which details they need to include in the report to propel the action of the story, reveal aspects of the characters, and develop a theme of the story, and then write out the report, elaborating on elements from “Flowers for Algernon” and incorporating dialogue, descriptive details, and sensory language. As students work together, prompt them to reference their completed mentor sentences handout. Collect each group’s new progress report. Possible Supports During the Lesson: If students did not complete their homework, they should use this time to complete the character analysis handout and then begin writing a new progress report on their own. As needed, provide parameters to groups about which moments they can select. Between Progress Reports 3 and 4, describe the steps taken and reasons why Charlie was selected for the operation. Between Progress Reports 6 and 7, describe Charlie’s progress following the surgery. Between Progress Reports 7 and 8, describe Charlie’s progress following the surgery. Between March 28 and March 29 (in Progress Report 8), describe Charlie’s progress following the surgery. Between April 9 and April 10 (in Progress Report 9), describe Charlie’s progress following the surgery. Between April 15 and April 16 (in Progress Report 9), describe Miss Kinnian’s impressions of Charlie’s interactions with Joe and Frank. For groups with different levels of language proficiency, be sure that each student is held accountable for demonstrating their understanding by establishing roles for each group member. For example, group member A selects the moment for a new progress report and orally describes how it propels the action of the story, reveals aspects of the characters, and develops a theme of the story. Group member B records what is shared orally. Group members A and B orally create an outline for the progress report while group member C records it. Each group member takes a section of the outline and writes out the details of the report. Group member C gathers each section, combines them, and revises the report to ensure it maintains a similar style and narrative point of view and has correct grammar, spelling, etc. Student Look-Fors: Access the exemplar student response scoring tool. Use the grades 6-8 narrative writing rubric scoring tool. Additional Notes: If 1-to-1 technology or a laptop cart is available, students can use a platform like Google docs in their group to collaboratively write a new progress report.

You also worked collaboratively to write a narrative. In this lesson, you demonstrated an understanding of the characters in “Flowers for Algernon.” You also worked collaboratively to write a narrative. Let’s Close! Teaching Notes Suggested Pacing: ~1 minute Directions: Read the slide.