4 th Grade District Workgroup: Response to Literature Thursday, January 12, 2012

Presenters Katie O’Reilly – Cadwallader - Kevin Armstrong – Carolyn Clark - Erica Ruggiero – Laurelwood -

Norms Silence all cell phones Share questions with the whole group, not your neighbors Keep an open mind Share what you know!!!

Objectives Come to a consensus as to what a Response to Literature needs to include Leave with structural options for teaching a Response to Literature essay (on-Demand writing vs. Literary Essay Unit)

Upcoming Meetings February 9, 2012 March 8, 2012

Today’s Agenda Review the parts of a mini-lesson Watch a mini-lesson (How to push students to become reflective readers) Discuss the essential parts of a proficient Response to Literature essay Example student samples and discuss Discuss structural options for a Response to Literature essay Plan mini-lessons Complete evaluation

What are the parts of a mini-lesson? minute block of instruction -Connection: “Yesterday we…” -Teach: “Today I want to teach you…” -Active Engagement: “Now you try…” -Link: “From now on when you write…”

Mini-lesson: How can you push your students to become more reflective readers? For example… Another example is… In addition… This makes me realize… This is important because… This is giving me the idea that… The reason for this is… Another reason is… This connects with… On the other hand… I partly disagree but…because… This is similar to… This is different from… This might not be true, but could it be that… I used to think…but now I realize… What I think this says about me is that… Many people think…but I think… Prompts to push students’ thinking:

What are the essential parts of a Response to Literature essay? Brainstorm individually Discuss with small group Share out

What are your thoughts on the student samples provided? Each person in the group reads one sample aloud After reading, record your initial thoughts Discuss the following questions for each sample: What do you notice? Is the sample proficient? Would you consider the sample to be a Response to Literature essay? What essential parts does the sample include? Which parts are missing? How is the sample structured? Are you comfortable with the format? Why or why not?

What are the different structural options for a Response to Literature essay? Sample 1 Areas of support / why I’m correct in my thinking Introduction / Thesis, Reason 1, Reason 2, Reason 3, Conclusion Sample 2 Chronological order of story with summary / message sprinkled throughout Introduction / Thesis, Beginning, Middle, End, Conclusion

What are the different structural options for a Response to Literature essay? (Continued) Sample 3 Traditional Step Up To Writing Introduction / Thesis (Burrito Topic Sentence), Mini-Summary, Message, Connection Sample 4 State sample with projected plan of several messages Introduction / Thesis / Projected Plan, Message 1, Message 2, Message 3, Conclusion

What are possible mini-lessons for the parts of a Response to Literature essay? According to the rubric, an advanced Response to Literature essay includes: A topic sentence with a clear understanding of the literary work Effective support for opinions A meaningful personal connection What are some mini-lessons you can teach to address these parts?

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