Extension: Intersecting Cultures Book Groups

To continue our work with globalization and students' interests in global issues and culture, students chose a group of three and novel from the list below to read and discuss together. There were fifteen novels with a similar subject: intersecting cultures. We talked about issues of immigration, segregation, discrimination, assimilation, acculturation, xenophobia, and tolerance. We also read a few poems like "Elena" by Pat Mora and "You have to live in someone else's country to understand" by Noy Chou, a Cambodian immigrant.  Below is a list of the books and how we divided the books for three book groups. In their groups, they did active reading notes during reading and then post reading, they completed one of four "jobs": discussion director, sequencer, anthropologist, and theme-ologist. The final series of images are a few of the posters that students did after their final book group for the purpose of synthesizing all their work and making sense of the character's journey, the resolution of the conflict, and then to analyze issues of intersection cultures as we discussed over the course of reading these novels. Finally, they had a written exam where they synthesized the novel, the poems, and the research they did on the cultures that intersected.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, Sherman Alexie.

Of Beetles and Angels

Nothing But the Truth and a Few White Lies

La Linea

Behind the Mountains

Song of the Buffalo

Project-based Learning: Fundraising

Students raised $850 for My Melody School 

in Chimaltenango, Guatemala!

Our shopping cart...preparing for the concession stand at the 3 on 3 basketball fund raiser, December 7, 2012. 

The theme students deduced from their work with Tree Girl and doing inquiry into the modern Maya was how education, or how knowledge about your world, provides one access to ideas that can potentially change lives. When students learned that only 1% of Guatemalans go to college, they realized that a college education is not available to everyone, much like it is in the U.S. However, when students discovered that nearly 70% of elementary aged kids don't actually finish elementary school, they were really confused. Why don't kids finish even the early grades? Their research uncovered how the infrastructure for education is virtually non-existent. For example, the roads to not go up and through the Highlands, where most indigenous Maya live. And if no roads are there, then no schools are there, and then access to schools elsewhere is also non-existent without transportation.

Thus, students at my school wanted to do something, and I thought that we could use reading and writing to do so. We decided to work with My Melody School in Chimaltenango, Guatemala. We made contact with the principal and learned about their good work to provide nutrition, healthcare, clothing and bilingual education (Spanish and their indigenous Kachikel). We read about fund raisers, wrote proposals, talked through what was possible and what might also bring our own school community closer. Then, students wrote flyers considering purpose, audience and writer (rhetorical triangle), and finally, we met to develop procedures for the different events. Here is what they came up with: 

1. a 3 on 3 basketball tournament -- Here, we had to learn the language of the game to develop posters for rule and brackets (take possession at the top of the key; check the ball on every possession; make it, take it; call your own fouls); we had to do presentations on the announcements thinking of our audience and our purpose to talk about the event and our mission for My Melody; students.and approached people to "sell" the event and then worked the events coming in at lunch to talk through their role. One student asked me if he could bring a friend whom I did not know. I agreed and said that I would like to meet this student. During lunch, my student brought is friend and introduced me formally. The student said how proud he was to be a part of the event. I heard basketball players talking in the hallway about how it is just a good cause. Teachers got a team together to compete, too.

2. dodgeball tournament -- December 20th. Eight teams of five signed up for $20 each to participate in a dodgeball tournament. It was great fun to see so many players and fans. Some teachers sponsored their homerooms for the event. At half-time, the poms squad came out to perform a dance, and then it was back to the battle. We sold homemade cookies, pop, chips, and water to fans and players. For an hour and a half, this group of students played with joy and lots of aggression (check out the clip) -- a much needed event when winter break is just a day away.

3. Xbox FIFA tournament -- Today was the XBox, FIFA tournament. 12 kids signed up to play a single-elimination bracket for $5 each. The students, whose idea it was, brought in his Xbox and the game, and we set up the game on the overhead projector and big screen. Lights turned down and volume turned up, kids battled it out in 4 minute halves (8 minute games). I brought in laptops so kids could play computer games on the side, but most preferred to watch the action and cheer each other on. We had concessions - -pop, chips, waters, and cookies -- for $1 each, and some kids even gave a $2 donation to watch the tournament. It was beautiful.

4. Holiday gram sale at lunch -- This tactic sparked a lot of interest from students on both sides of this table. We sold "holiday grams" during lunch for nearly a week; a holiday gram is a card with candy that a student can buy and have delivered to a friend or teacher. The fund raising group created three holiday cards from which "givers" selected and then offered a candy bag or candy bar for sale. It was great to see and listen to the orders because students talked about to whom they wanted to wish a great holiday break or just to send a secret note of admiration. Again, students reached deep into their pockets to send a sweet to a friend for the "Mayan kids." After taking all the orders, I went to Walmart to get all the "goods" for the after school workshop where we filled and delivered all the orders. Students, some quite unexpected, showed up after school ready to write "to and from" cards and assemble the candy bags while listening to some holiday tunes. On the day of the delivery, I saw some students with their candy bags and asked how it felt to get this surprise, and one said it felt great "to know someone was thinking about me."

To make a donation, go to the My Melody giving page: http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=21530. 

November 3rd, Students Present at the Youth Summit

Yesterday, four students from my eighth grade classes presented at the UIC's Youth Development Summit at Uplift High School in Chicago. Students in the Youth Development M.Ed. program at UIC created a "platform for youth workers and allies to share ideas and practices about the growing Youth Development field," and so this conference welcomes youth workers, educators, social workers and any really anyone who "believes in the power of young people to change the world."  For us, however, this was a platform for the youth voices to show why society should believe in young people. The four students who represented our classes moved their audience to see what happens when adults get out of the way and let young voices be heard. 

Students applied to represent our class at this summit, and four students (and I need to get parental permission to publish their names and beautiful faces) were selected (rather this opportunity selected them). They spent a week during lunch preparing for the presentation. I was there to ask questions,  but the students really organized how best to "uncover" how they came to discover what globalization was and how it is impacting people around the world, but specifically the Maya.  The message of this presentation is that leaders read to know, write to learn, and speak to teach. The audience fell in love with these students and were truly inspired by what these thirteen year olds had come to know about their worlds. I think that the audience knew they were witnessing something both remarkable and ordinary. In other words, it was remarkable to hear what young people can do, but it was ordinary in the sense that I believe any four of my students could have done this presentation. It should not have been so astonishing, and the fact that people were thinking this was so extraordinary is an indication that society needs to create more space for youth voices to be heard. 

I will post their powerpoint and pdfs of their writing on our new website. Teens Teach, https://sites.google.com/a/ccsd15.net/teens-teaching-global-participation-project/. 

Mural on the wall of Uplift High School

Distribution: Teens Teach

The day of distributing our work is the day students really see the power of literacy and the joy of teaching others. Today, students presented their multigenre projects in two forms:  first by sharing one genre as an oral presentation and second by making their project available to classmates in all their classes.

To prepare to present, I asked students to share their creative genre, but some chose their print media or informational genre. They practiced reading it for volume, clarity, pace, and body language (avoiding distracting gestures or verbal utterances). Listeners prepared by taking notes on the presentation quality and information. I gave students a small piece of paper. On one side was a rubric to increase awareness of effective presentation skills and on the other side was the celebration phrase "What you taught me today was..." Then, the presenter shared his or her selected piece to a small group while the group practiced "being a good audience member" (no walk, no talk, eye contact, attentive nodding,applause at the end).  After the presentation, the audience members wrote what they learned on the celebration note. And finally, after each member of the small group presented and listened, they exchanged celebration notes.

The next step was to read projects in their entirety and to learn about other topics/research questions. I gave students a handout with three columns -- one for each multigenre project they read. Students chose any mulitgenre project from the sharing/teaching wall to read, and then they responded on the handout. I asked student to write 3 facts they learned, their favorite genre and why, and any additional questions that came up after reading the project. After students read and responded to several projects, I cut up the columns and distributed them to the writer/author/teacher of the project so that he/she could see, again, how their writing can both teach and bring joy to others.

We will post these projects on our Teens Teach: Global Participation Project website.

Workshop Topics

As students are synthesizing their research and considering how best to render what they learned in Writing Workshop, you can help by providing mini-lessons during the lesson time so that they can work on a topic for writing time and sharing time.

An Overview:

During the first drafts, and if this is the first time you are doing multigenre research papers, the mini-lessons should be genres. And depending on your students, you will want the genres to be ones they can complete during the period (with maybe a few finishing touches needed for homework). What I noticed about teaching this project to students who have not done it before is that they are often mesmerized by the task; that said, in each of my classes, there was about a third who loved the freedom and used their research and creativity to get going. For them, they just needed a general overview of the project, and they were off. For the other two-thirds, however, it is not the case. They need support, and this is where differentiation comes in. I had to ask, What does each child need to get to this finished product in the timeline provided? Because this was the end of the quarter, I gave the class three class periods for research (40 minutes) and three class periods for writing, with a fourth class period for assembling and reflecting. As with any class, I imagine, that time was too much for some kids, just right for some kids, but not enough for most of the kids. For the kids for whom this as not enough, they generally did not do any work at home to make up the time they needed, so the issue of differentiation comes up here. Who needs differentiated instruction or materials so that in the time allotted everyone can be successful, which means writing for different purposes, using research to inform writing, practicing conventions, and publishing/distributing their writing (all from the new ELA Common Core Standards for Writing)?

Here are some ideas for the mini-lessons and differentiation for four writing days and one organization/publication day:

Day One
Lesson time --  review a sample multigenre paper:

Show students the middle pages. Pass around sample multigenre papers. What are the different pieces doing? Give students a "genre analysis" form where they do the following in writing:

a. name the genre

b. describe the appearance of the genre

c. is this informational, image-oriented, argumentative/persuasive (how are the ideas organized)

d. what point of view is it -- first, third

e. . how many voices do we hear

f.  how are the sources acknowledge or are they acknowledged

After looking at a few genres (or you can have partners look at different genres and compare), show how the genres are doing different things for the topic such as offering different points of view, with different purposes, and different formats/structure.

 Introduce the newspaper genres by showing a sample newspaper: editorial, hard news article, editorial, obituary (for example); note how the newspaper has several genres and ask students to note the distinguishing feature of these with the genre analysis. Select one genre to teach directly such as the hard news. . Give students a sample article with these parts labeled:  headline, byline, starts with a lead/summary, short paragraph in columns,  quotes from sources, and photo with caption.

Writing Time --The goal is for this piece of writing to "answer" their research question, so the headline should be related to their research question; for example, What is the School of Americas and how has it impacted the people of Central America?  How does food bring the family together? Tell students that they can try any of the print media genres, but for students who need the extra support to completed this writing, provide them with a hard news organizer  and template that organizes the parts of the hard news story. http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson249/pyramid.pdf
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson249/format.pdf

Sharing Time -- You can use this time how you wish. This is a time for students to talk about what they've written and to hear what others are doing. I ask students to "like" and "question" as peer readers.

Day Two
Lesson Time -- visual display:  After students have written a short news story with an answer to their question, this genre can organize and extend one part of the new article in a visual way. I recommend this be a sort of concept web, but you can provide alternatives for visual genres like a collage of images. For this, show students how to put the topic in the middle (e.g., training for School of America; milpas for food; Semana Santa for festivals). Then, students can add several questions or sub topics connecting to the middle, and then finally details from research to connect to the sub topics. This genre helps the reader after the new article by answering some informational type of questions, but it renders one area of research more deeply. Provide students with sample visual displays like a character sketch, concept web, venn diagram, etc., and model how you extract one key concept from research to explore in this piece



Writing Time --Give students a little time to talk about what topic they can extend in this next genre by sharing with a partner or talking it through whole group, then let them go. For students who need extra support, provide them with a graphic organizer and get them started on their topic; for example, I might give a student who is working on festivals a venn diagram that has categories of comparison such as significance, time of year, method of celebration, and how it reflects family.

Sharing Time -- Ask students to "like" and "question" with partners; in other words, have students trade papers and make notes on the visual display noting what they like and asking questions so that the writer can add more information during revisions.

Day Three
Lesson Time -- informational genre: Today students can show a new point of view by writing an imagined interview.  Interviews are a way to get a firsthand account of an event or experience, and in a multigenre paper, this provides perspective to the topic while engaging the writer in critical thinking. Provide some samples of interviews; I recommend interviews of people students might know such as celebrities or athletes. Ask students to do a genre analysis of one sample interview:

a. name the genre

b. describe the appearance of the genre

c. is this informational, image-oriented, argumentative/persuasive (how are the ideas organized)

d. what point of view is it -- first, third, both

e. . how many voices do we hear

f.  how are the sources acknowledge or are they acknowledged

Talk students through selecting a subject for the interview and how this subject can, again, reveal something more about the topic that is not in genre one or two.  Perhaps the student can interview a Central American soldier or a CIA trainer for School of Americas, or a priest for Semana Santa, or Mayan child weaver who is learning how to weave from her mother. The idea here is to learn about the subject's possible background or biography, then his or experience, and finally about the significance of this topic in his or her life.

Writing Time -- Students have samples and their research, so they can just go, but you may want to ask them to talk to their partner about their writing plans. For students who need extra support, provide a template with a headline, byline, an introductory paragraph, question/answer format, and a brief conclusion. Have a mini conference with these students to help them brainstorm subjects and questions. If you have an aid or a co-teacher, this can be done in a small group. 

Sharing Time -- Repeat the format of yesterday's sharing time. Students will exchange papers and "like"/"question" directly on the paper. 

Day Four
Lesson Time -- Creative Writing and So What?  This could be the last genre of the project if you wish, and if it is, then you have to talk about So What? The final genre should explore the why of this project: Why should we care? Why is this worth knowing? Or, in other words, So What?

So far, we have an overview of the topic in the print media genre, a more detailed account of one area of the topic in the visual display, and a new point of view in the informational genre, so this final one can be more expressive/imaginative. This genre has a lot of possibilities, and depending on your class, you can limit it to one genre or provide a brief overview of several. For these projects, the poem is really a powerful way to end the project. Some students will want to do a "personality poem" like an "I am" poem to provide another point of view or even a song or rap: http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson391/I-am-poem.pdf.  Some students will want to write a short story to reveal a day in the life or an actual account of an event or situation, and some students will do graphic short story.

Provide a few samples of these genres, and include some "how-to" instructions in the workshop area of your classroom so that students can try out any genre they'd like in this category. For students who need extra support, a skit or a structured poem seems to work. I liked the two-voice poem for some topics where the writer can position two voices from their research in conversation poetically; you can provide students with a template for this: http://www.writingfix.com/PDFs/Comparison_Contrast/Poem_Two_Voices.pdf. The Internet has a lot of how-tos and samples for you to copy and place in your workshop area of your classroom.

Writing Time -- Provide students with some time to gather materials and talk to their table about what genre they will write and how this genre will render their research in a new way. As the ending of their project, it should emphasize the theme and the answer to their research question leaving the reader with something to ponder. As stated above, provide students who need a little more support with the poem or skit template if needed and work individually or in a small group to generate ideas for this final genre.

Day Five
Lesson Time -- Organizing and Publishing. Review a sample paper: Ask students how a book is constructed and what parts of the book help them know what is about and how to use it (cover, title, summary, blurbs, chapter titles). A multigenre paper is the same. It has a several individual pieces linked by a topic, but you need some connecting genre to unify the middle parts (cover page, table of contents, letter to reader, and endnotes). The letter to the reader and the endnotes are likely new genres for students, so these will take some direct instruction.

For the letter to the reader, start with the friendly letter format. You can show a sample letter and label the parts. Talk about what this letter can do to unify the four genres and help the reader better understand how to read this paper and why it is worth reading. You can talk about what might be in the body paragraphs. Here is a sample template that you can use for the lesson and provide for students who need the extra support; additionally, you can add sentence stems for students needing further differentiation: http://www.printablepaper.net/preview/friendly_letter-no_prompts

For the endnotes, start with asking students what a bibliography is. Most seem to know, so you can show them a sample bibliography beside endnotes and ask them to compare these genres. In a multigenre paper, this is really where students can cite their sources and explain how they used their research; teaching this genre also helps students consider how endnotes are a solution to plagiarism. For the purposes of this paper, I made a table for students that looks different than MLA endnotes, a modified version.

Title: ______________________        Explanation of how you used this source in your genres :
Author: ____________________       ___________________________________________
Copyright: __________________      ___________________________________________

Writing Time: Students will need a lot of writing time today, so for students who need extra support the templates will be crucial.  Students should first do the letter to the reader and then work on the endnotes. If there is time today, have students assemble their work: cover page, letter to reader, table of contents, four genres, and endnotes. You may also want to collect research logs and drafts, but as you can see, we did not take these genres through revisions and final edits. If your schedule allows, you can extend this project an additional few days so that you can provide more substantial feedback and so that students can do revisions, even type their projects if you have access to computers. Students who are more independent learners showed me drafts of their genres during writing time so that I could provide feedback and suggestions for revisions; these were also the students who had access to computers and printers at home and were able to type their projects. I would say, for my student population, about a third of the students had time for revisions on this schedule but two thirds did not do any work at home, so they submitted their first drafts for assessment. For this reason, it is important for teachers to do some feedback during writing time throughout the week. Walk around during writing time, kneel down beside your students, read a little, give a little encouragement, and then show students some things they could revise as they are writing by asking questions and remind them about some of the conventions you've been teaching if you see the need for editing. You want to keep this positive.

Sharing Time: Save this for the Distribution/Sharing day.

Yes, but what about Common Core?

Some concerns teachers have when it comes to re-imagining curriculum and instruction is the issue of standards. The textbooks schools have adopted are "research based" and "align to the standards," so teachers find these texts to be a reliable way to "cover" the state standards. This blog has been an attempt to show how to break away from the textbook not as a way to ignore state standards but as a way of putting global awareness and issue of democracy at the center of education rather than a subject or a standard. The literacy skills can be taught using any material, but "any" material does not teach students how to critical engage and participate in the world.

Here are a few of the new Common Core ELA standards for reading literature and informational texts:

Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.

Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).

Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts and analyze how the differing structure of each text contributes to its meaning and style.

And here is the summative reading assessment for the unit. You will see how students demonstrate their ability to read literature and informational texts or to meet the standards as stated above. I think the key is to ask questions that provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their learning. As I evaluated these assessments, I certainly saw places for further instruction. I can do a mini-lesson on using the transition "according to____" so that students know how to name their sources. Because I worked with them, I can see the sources they are integrating into their responses, and I can see how they are trying to cite examples in their responses, but there is room for more specific support and sourcing. That said, you can see how students are  analyzing dialogue to show how it propels action or reveal characterization. You can see how students are making connections among and distinctions between individual, ideas or events. 

Literary Elements: 

Central idea:

Textual evidence and connections: