Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program M.MooreLearning Activity Plan Humanities

Lesson 1 Appendix

J.B.^ repeats herself here and leaves out a couple of words. She is, however, able to pick out a specific event where she and her family care about each other – when they run in the rain. She started off with Ms. Jacobs’ help.

I was surprised by how little J.R. wrote because we talked all about Safire to brainstorm for her writing. She was able to express the evidence orally, but did not get it on paper.

R.A. and I have had many conversations about his family. Here he talks about how his family (brothers, Bab/dad, and mom) cares about him. He does not show evidence, but he has been able to express this evidence in conversation at other times. We have to work on getting that on paper! He loves to talk, but is a very shy writer.

I was impressed by the amount J.B.R. wrote and that he was able to share details about something other that video games! I look forward to seeing more of his life through writing.

Although it is difficult/impossible to understand R.L.’s writing, I can tell that he worked really hard. His accompanying drawing acts as a caption for his writing.

Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program M.MooreLearning Activity Plan Humanities

Lesson 2 AppendixPost-It Note Responses:

“She cares about her uncle Joe because he plays basketball and went to Vietnam War.” –S.O.“Her uncle because she spends time with him.” –S.S.“Cynthia Rylant cares about her family.” –C.A.

Several students pull out information from the text we read. Some may have used their prior knowledge, knowing that Cynthia Rylant writes a lot about her family. Some can get the “Who?” but do not write the evidence part.

Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program M.MooreLearning Activity Plan Humanities

“Can’t Buy Me Love” by the Beatles

R.A.

J.B.

I had not specifically asked students to answer the questions on the back. These were some of the students who were able to do so on their own. Some students did not read the second question, answering it as if it were the first question again. Through these writings and our discussion, students seemed to have understood that loving and caring about someone is more than anything you could buy, it’s priceless.

J.R.^

A.R.

Discussion notes on the board ^

Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program M.MooreLearning Activity Plan Humanities

Lesson 3 AppendixJ.R. wrote a lot, showing a wide array of evidence for the people she cares about. She even connected everyone with an “invisible string.” While she worked, she chatted with S.S., but they both created independent work with different ideas, also showing they care about each other.

^J.B. is able to express who cares about her, but has trouble expanding on her evidence. The sentence starters helped her with structuring.

R.A. didn’t understand we were writing about people, but wrote about how he cares about school using the same skills. Said asked if he could help R.A. with his second bubbles, so they went to work at the brown table. Said wrote what R.A. shared.

B.N. seems to really be excelling in the unit. I have never seen her write so much with this much detail and meaning! She really shows the evidence with little push from me. I have noticed this with many of my students – C.T. and LT. also wrote extensively about who they care about. These students made a personal connection to the book.

Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program M.MooreLearning Activity Plan Humanities

Students hard at work!

Lesson 5 (Final) Appendix

J.B. had trouble staying in a non-slanted line. She was able to understand empathy and offer something to this woman that she knew would help her feel less lonely. She drew from the text that the woman had no friends or people around, so offered a solution! She seemed to have grown a better understanding from the text and how to support showing her understanding of caring.

S.S. copied the format I made on the board with bullet points. I was happy to see her making text-to-text connections with the invisible string

(this was the gold I was looking for). She sympathizes by taking what she understood from the text – the woman not having friends and being afraid to make more because she outlived all of them – and supporting this character experiencing pain. She seems

to be able to do this to real people as well. Hopefully she can continue to hone skill.

I was surprised to turn around after 10 minutes of work to see this much on R.A.’s post card. “I [want] to be your friend and you are nice. I will help you [find your] dog. Love R.A.” It seems like he got help from S.O., but he definitely wrote this on his own. S.O. has other thoughts written. R.A. handed this to me with a smile. In his writing, he shows he knew what the problems were – the woman was missing her dog and had no friends. He was able to state this understanding from the text and offer her support.

Some students did not quite grasp the concept. B.S. seems to have rushed through this assignment. He

Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program M.MooreLearning Activity Plan Humanities

does not show any deeper understanding of the text or what advice means (as shown with “You can be better”), but this could be for many reasons.

B.N. really showed how she took from the text via her drawing. The woman says, “Stay safe and be my friend.” She is showing how the woman could care for the dog. She drew what the woman looks like and the ever-present and important house that is tied throughout the story.

J.R. wrote this in 5 minutes! She was able to show empathy by talking about a time when she was scared, sad, and lonely. She comforts the woman by telling her that she made it, so the woman will too.

M.A. has the tendency of writing a lot, especially with great detail. Here he was able to share a time when he also felt alone. He says nice things and offers her advice to help her feel better. He

manages to cover a lot over his letter of advice.

J.B. used what he saw was important in the story (the house and car) to replicate in his drawing – even the colors. In his letter, he offers her the advice of naming the dog, which would help their friendship (what he understands as her goal

Clark University Master of Arts in Teaching Program M.MooreLearning Activity Plan Humanities

or the ideal situation). He does not expand beyond that here, but clearly does within our discussions.