Comm Arts-Day 4 (computers are needed) Computer 1 and 6 are out of order Bell Ringer: Find what is being described and identify one example of description. Then answer this question with your partner: How does description help you understand this text? My favorite place is the forest, because there I can hear the different sounds of the animals are living there. I enjoy that when I am alone, because I love to draw trees, but also I like to be with someone and talk. I like to live through nature. I love nature. There you can think about the world, life, family, and the future. I love to be there for a long time because I can rest softly, and I have a good time there. There are trees, animals, and different plants. I can smell the air, I can feel the temperature of the weather. I can look up through the sky, and I see its own colors like blue and white and how the clouds are moving slowly and expanding. I enjoyed those times because I love this place a lot. I would like to be there. Wherever there is a forest, it is good for me. I just like to be in the forest. (4 mins)

Lesson Goal and Essential Question Lesson Goal: I can identify, understand and use different types of writing serve different purposes. (Description) Essential Question: Why is organizational structure necessary in writing? How do I clearly convey my ideas?

Description “Personality” Quiz There are stations around the room with different description paragraphs. Each group will have three minutes to read, discuss the paragraph, and as individuals decide whether or not you identify with the description. If so, explain and write down a description from it. If not write why not. Make sure to discuss how these paragraphs describe their topic. After you have been to all four stations we will vote to see who chose what description paragraph and how/why it appealed to them/described them.

Student thoughts “I enjoyed the article [Battle for the Rainforest] in the textbook, because it describes what happened and how the Cofan tribe and Texaco saw it in their opinions.” Why might I have pulled this exit ticket? How does it reflect Description text structures?

Your turn… Now using what we learned yesterday and today about the details in Battle for the Rainforest, how it describes the events in the article, we are going to take the text structure of description one step further. On your own complete a type 1. Review the facts in the article and retell the events as if you are part of the Cofan tribe OR a worker for Texaco in Ecuador. However, you must use the text structure of description. Describe the land, animals, plants, relatives, etc. Imagine you are there. What does it look like from the Cofan tribe perspective? (10 mins)

Example As part of the Cofan tribe I have seen so much joy, but also destruction. I remember when I was five dark, black oil began spreading in the forest. It covered the land and poisoned the water. My brothers and sisters developed cancer. Now, as a family, we have run for safety deeper into the forest away from the thick sludge. This oil has infected animals and made our crops untouchable. Its slimy film has spilled out of the wells and turned what I once saw as green and lovely to brown and desolate. How can anyone escape this?

Non-example Texaco is destroying the Amazon with its oil drilling. They have dumped 30 million gallons of toxic waste into the creeks and rivers. It has destroyed the plants, living things, and all of our hunting grounds. By destroying some of these plants we no longer hold the cures for some diseases spreading across the world. In addition people have come to research this epidemic and found eight types of cancer have come from the high amounts of poison in the water. Will it ever stop?

Exit Ticket Exit Ticket: How can description help you convey your ideas? Can it help you organize your thoughts? Why or why not? What do you have left to do? Any questions or confusion?(5 mins)