Justification for my Unit Plan (Cover Sheet)

Justification for my Unit Plan (Cover Sheet)

We're doing this unit in the first place because I've observed so many problems with sentences in student writing.

Because grammar studies can be so dry and (as students would put it), "boring," I wanted to use activities and assessments that would allow the students to work together, and would even be playful at times.

The Physical Self-Assessment (creating a continuum) gave me a chance to find out how the students perceive their own understanding of sentences and to listen for misconceptions as they discussed what they knew. It also gave me an opportunity to match up students who felt (and sounded) confident in their knowledge about sentences with those who lacked confidence. (Of course, I also applied what I already knew about the students' writing.) It caused students to think about what they knew, accessing background knowledge they already had, and recognizing some gaps in that knowledge. I would also like my students to realize that they can be part of a conversation about how we speak and write, and about how we can better communicate with each other.
The Slap Game provides students and teachers with another opportunity to assess what students know. Both the physical response and the slap game involve all students.

The first quiz we took again allowed students to respond concerning their own learning, what they had learned and still didn't understand, and to ask questions.
The second quiz, open-notes and after several activities, let us see who was getting the concepts of subjects and predicates and of dependent and independent clauses. The sentences used were designed for struggling readers, so shouldn't have caused any understanding problems. Because students were able to retake the quiz, it provided an opportunity for further learning. Extra practices were available in the class and on our class blog, and during CaveTime students could get extra help from the teacher.

Many of the activities provided me, as a teacher, with opportunities to both teach and assess. The "final" assessment (though not really final because we will spend more time learning about sentences) measured whether students were applying what they learned to writing an essay. It allowed choice and use of topics the students wanted to write about. It was practical because it "killed two birds with one stone" by piggybacking on a district writing test the students already had to take. Another assessment I could have the students do would involve writing a letter for a practical purpose, such as encouraging a needed change in our school or community or expressing thanks, or some other real-world reason.
I also continue to respond to other pieces of writing the students do, helping them create complete, effective sentences. One great place to do this is on our class wiki where students are creating their own wiki pages about the books they are reading. I am able to highlight errors in the student writing right on the page, and explain in comments what needs to be fixed, or ask questions to help the students revise their sentences.