Grade 8: Unit 4 – Short Stories: Mastery Text Seminars

What Does Success Look Like?

Scholars articulate a bullseye main idea, dissect the author’s argument, and explain how the author goes about making his or her argument.

Seminar 5:
“Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie (Nonfiction)

Do Now — 10 minutes

• Show an exemplary Exit Ticket from the previous seminar to scholars. Have scholars discuss what makes it exemplary. Have scholars articulate the transferable takeaway from the work study that they will apply to their revisions.
• Scholars revise their Exit Tickets from the previous seminar based on the feedback you gave them.

Launch — 3 minutes

• Explain to scholars that today, they will have the opportunity to independently apply their close reading and analytical skills to a short story they have never seen before.

Read and Discuss — 35 minutes

Read:

• Scholars independently read and annotate the short story on their Chromebooks. They jot a main idea in a comment next to the title of the text.
• While scholars are working, circulate to determine the major trend in scholars’ work and conference with two to three scholars.

Discuss:

• Engage scholars in a discussion about the main idea. Make sure that scholars can explain why the author wrote the text.
• If scholars are not able to articulate the central idea of this text by the end of the discussion, DO NOT move on to the questions. Spend time dissecting the text with scholars to lead them to the big idea.
• Give scholars two minutes to revise their main idea jots based on the discussion.

Write — 20 minutes

• Scholars answer the two short response questions about the text, and submit their responses when they are finished.

Wrap-up — 10 minutes

• Debrief one essay question with scholars. Demand focus and active learning. Set your expectations for what scholars must do differently on the Exit Ticket, and each time they write.

Exit Ticket — 12 minutes

Write an essay of no more than 200 words:

• Why does Sherman Alexie write, “I read with equal parts joy and desperation”? (paragraph 7) Justify your argument with at least two concrete pieces of evidence from the text.

What Does Success Look Like?

Scholars articulate a bullseye main idea, dissect the author’s argument, and explain how the author goes about making his or her argument.

Seminar 6:
“The Pedestrian” by Ray Bradbury (Fiction)

Do Now — 10 minutes

• Show an exemplary Exit Ticket from the previous seminar to scholars. Have scholars discuss what makes it exemplary. Have scholars articulate the transferable takeaway from the work study that they will apply to their revisions.
• Scholars revise their Exit Tickets from the previous seminar based on the feedback you gave them.

Launch — 3 minutes

• Explain to scholars that today, they will have the opportunity to independently apply their close reading and analytical skills to a short story they have never seen before.

Read and Discuss — 35 minutes

Read:

• Scholars independently read and annotate the short story on their Chromebooks. They jot a main idea in a comment next to the title of the text.
• While scholars are working, circulate to determine the major trend in scholars’ work and conference with two to three scholars.

Discuss:

• Engage scholars in a discussion about the main idea. Make sure that scholars can explain why the author wrote the text.
• If scholars are not able to articulate the central idea of this text by the end of the discussion, DO NOT move on to the questions. Spend time dissecting the text with scholars to lead them to the big idea.
• Give scholars two minutes to revise their main idea jots based on the discussion.

Write — 20 minutes

• Scholars answer the two short response questions about the text and submit their responses when they are finished.

Wrap-up — 10 minutes

• Debrief one essay question with scholars. Demand focus and active learning. Set your expectations for what scholars must do differently on the Exit Ticket, and each time they write.

Exit Ticket — 12 minutes

Write an essay of no more than 200 words:

• What is Bradbury’s argument about television in the year A.D. 2053? Justify your argument with at least two concrete pieces of evidence from the text.

Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of Literature Unit 4: Short Stories!

As a result of teaching this unit, you as the teacher have:

• Helped your scholars fall in love with reading and analyzing short stories.
• Built your scholars’ ability to articulate their understanding of texts both orally and in writing.

Your scholars can:

• Notice interesting language and structures used by an author and explain how these choices support the big idea.
• Write and revise arguments of 200 words to demonstrate their understanding of texts.

Celebrate your scholars’ successes by acknowledging what they can now do as readers as a result of their work during this unit. Invite scholars to share how much fun they had analyzing short stories.

Reflect on your successes and stretches, as well as those of your scholars. Have your scholars grown as readers over the last month? Do you have any readers who are not reading at Level Z? If so, create a plan to target those scholars during the independent reading portions of each lesson. Additionally, you must enlist parents to help get scholars over this hump!

Scholars must read at home, as well as in school. Do you have 100% of your scholars reading nightly at home? Make sure at-home reading is happening, and meet with families who are falling short to recommit them to this team effort.

Do you have 100% of your scholars reading fluently? Using all of the tools at their disposal to figure out the meaning of what they are reading?

Do you have 100% of your scholars doing their literacy homework? You must insist that 100% of scholars are completing their homework nightly.

Going into the next unit, make specific reading goals for yourself. Set a percentage goal for how many scholars you will move. Set a goal for scholars who are not reading at home. Who will you get to consistently read at home? Set a goal for moving any scholars stuck below level Z. Why are they stuck? Do they read fluently? Do they understand what they’re reading? Do they understand the big idea? How will you partner with parents to support their growth?

If you are having trouble meeting your goals, do not wait until you have NOT succeeded. Consult your colleagues. Consult your leaders. ASK FOR HELP so you can meet your goals!