Goal Summary:
Learning Objective: The goal of this 3- week unit plan is to give students the opportunity to use the reading and writing habits they’ve been practicing on a regular basis to explore the historic Great Fire of Chicago. A literature circle will give all students the opportunity to read independently and with a group setting by reading and rereading the passages closely combined with classroom discussion'
Students will explore the historical truths related to poverty, city construction, and city services that led to the disaster.
In this reading, students will learn about historical disasters, and work to comprehend causes or how human actions, nature, or even luck contributed to them.
Combined with writing about the passage and teacher feedback, students will better understand the dangers inherent in cities and the government's role in reducing that danger.
Understandings:
Week 1: day 1-3 Monday, Tuesday, and Friday
Week 2: day 1-3 Monday, Tuesday, and Friday
Week 3: day 1-3 Monday, Tuesday, and Friday
Instructional Exemplar (selected Passage) for Murphy’s The Great Fire
Summary of Activities
1. Teacher introduces the day’s passage with minimal commentary and students read it independently (5 minutes)
2. Teacher or a skillful reader then reads the passage out loud to the class as students follow along in the text (5 minutes)
3. Teacher asks the class to discuss the first set of text-dependent questions and perform targeted tasks about the passage, with answers in the form of notes, annotations to the text, or more formal responses as appropriate (40 minutes)
Content Goals:
The teacher will assist the students by reading the passage out loud to the class as students follow along in the text.
Asking students to listen to The Great Fire exposes them a second time to the rhythms and meaning of Murphy’s language before they begin their own close reading of the passage. Speaking clearly and carefully will allow students to follow Murphy’s narrative, and reading out loud with students following along improves fluency while offering all students access to this complex text. Accurate and skillful modeling of the reading provides students who may be struggling with accurate pronunciations and syntactic patterns of English.
