LANGUAGE ARTS
The Land and the Water
Cynthia Youngblood
Santa Rosa District Schools
Description
Students compare and contrast the tragic event that occurs in a work of fiction to a real-life tragic experience that occurs in a work of non-fiction.
Standards
Florida Sunshine State Standards
LA.A.1.3.2
The student uses a variety of strategies to analyze words and text, draw conclusions, use context and word structure clues, and recognize organizational patterns.
LA.6.1.6.3
The student will use context clues to determine meanings of unfamiliar words.
LA.6.1.7.5
The student will analyze a variety of text structures (e.g., comparison/contrast, cause/effect, chronological order, argument/support, lists) and texts features (main headings with subheadings) and explain their impact on meaning in text LA.B.1.3.3
The student produces final documents that have been edited for-correct spelling;-correct punctuation, including commas, colons, and semicolons;-correct common usage, including subject/verb agreement, common noun/pronoun agreement, common possessive forms, and with a variety of sentence structures, including parallel structure; and-correct formatting.
LA.6.3.4.1
The student will edit for correct use of spelling, using spelling rules, orthographic patterns, generalizations, knowledge of root words, prefixes, suffixes, and knowledge of Greek and Latin root words and using a dictionary, thesaurus, or other resources as necessary
LA.6.3.4.4
The student will edit for correct use of the eight parts of speech (noun, pronoun, verb, adverb, adjective, conjunction, preposition, interjection), regular and irregular verbs, and pronoun agreement
LA.6.3.4.3
The student will edit for correct use of punctuation, including commas, colons, semicolons, quotation marks, and apostrophes
LA.B.2.3.1
The student writes text, notes, outlines, comments, and observations that demonstrate comprehension of content and experiences from a variety of media. LA.6.2.2.3
The student will organize information to show understanding or relationships among facts, ideas, and events (e.g., representing key points within text through charting, mapping, paraphrasing, summarizing, or comparing/contrasting);
LA.E.1.3.2
The student recognizes complex elements of plot, including setting, character development, conflicts, and resolutions.
LA.6.2.1.2
The student will locate and analyze elements of characterization, setting, and plot, including rising action, conflict, resolution, theme, and other literary elements as appropriate in a variety of fiction;
Linguistic Objectives: Students will learn key vocabulary and develop their speaking skills.
Pre-production: Students will learn key terms and short phrases that will assist them to respond to general questions.
Early Production: Students will learn key terms and short phrases that will assist them to describe main ideas.
Speech Emergence: Students will learn key terms and explain their opinion on a matter.
Intermediate Fluency: Students will learn key terms and analyze information provided. Cultural Objectives: The students will investigate a disappearance of a person in other cultures, specifically the cultures of the ELL students. All students will be able to compare and contrast the outcome of the different incidents.
Materials
1. The short story entitled: "The Land and the Water" by Shirley Ann Grau which can be
found in a literature book, such as Adventures for Readers, Book 2, Publisher: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston, Austin, Texas, 1996.
2. A newspaper, magazine, or Internet article about the July 16, 1999, disappearance of
John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife, and sister-in-law.
3. A Venn diagram
Additional materials for ELL students. (Some examples provided)
Pre-production students
An illustrated version of “The Land and the Water” (modified in advance) with
key words in native language and English included.
Additional visuals on flash cards with key vocabulary terms
Venn Diagram (headings with illustrations at the top)
Illustrated essay graphic organizer
Early Production students
Modified version of “The Land and the Water” containing main details at
students’ reading level, with some visuals.
Venn Diagram (headings with illustrations at the top) Simple essay graphic organizer
Speech Emergence
Modified version of “The Land and the Water” containing main details at
students’ reading level
WebQuest on the disappearance of John F. Kennedy, Jr., his wife and sister-in-
law containing main details at students’ reading level
5 paragraph essay graphic organizer
Intermediate Fluency
List of appropriate websites to research
5 paragraph essay graphic organizer
Preparations
1. Prior to study, read the short story. (Summary of the short story: With a storm
approaching, the narrator's father and brother help search for three young neighbors
who have not returned from sailing. Hours later, the men return exhausted but without
finding the boat or the neighbors.)
2. Research for information on John F. Kennedy's death.
3. Devise and provide an example of a Venn diagram by drawing one on the board or by
giving one as a handout. Procedures
Anticipatory Set
1. Have pictures of storm, the impact of the storm on society, and search and rescue on
the board from around the world. Also have pictures of people’s reactions and
expressions to the storm. Have an instrumental music with water sounds in the
background.
2. Direct students’ attention to the board to look at lesson objectives and tasks.
I would read aloud and use gestures to students, as well as use the materials to inform
them what is required of them in this lesson.
3. Discuss the pictures on the board with the students.
Direct students to act out or draw/sketch their responses on the board to facilitate
understanding of pre-production and early production students. Ask simple questions
and allow pre-production and early production students to use response cards (yes or
no, sad or happy) and gestures to respond.
4. Students will write 5 sentences related to what they see on the board based on their
5 senses. (What they see, how they feel, what it sounds like, what it smells like, etc.)
Pre-production and early production: students can draw their responses next to visuals
indicating the 5 senses.
Speech Emergence: Students can use bullet points and short phrases.
Intermediate Fluency: Students can write down the 5 sentences.
Guided Practice Read aloud the story of the “The Land and the Water” to the group using gestures and visuals.
The visuals will be placed on the board in sequential order to enhance
understanding. To further reinforce the information being presented, ask for
volunteers to ‘act out’ scenes after information is presented.
Introduce key words (with visuals) to students that they will come across in the story and research. Students repeat the word out loud and act out the key word. Instruct students to write the key word and its meaning, and draw a visual that will help them remember the meaning. Advanced students can also write their own sentence using the new key word
Independent Practice:
1. Students read the short story "The Land and the Water”.
Differentiate the reading requirements according the language level of the students:
Pre-production: students will look at an illustrated book of “The Land and the Water”
that has main details in English and their native language (if possible depending on
student’s native language and accessibility to a translator).
Early Production: students will read a simplified version text that contains visuals.
Speech Emergence: students will read a simplified version text.
Intermediate Fluency: Students will read the short story.
2. Students research for information about the July 16, 1999, disappearance of John F.
Kennedy, Jr., his wife, and his sister-in-law. Students select a newspaper, magazine, or
Internet article.
Pre-production: students will look at an illustrated version of an article with the main details in English and their native language (if possible depending on student’s native
language and accessibility to a translator).
Early Production: students will read the information from handouts created by
myself, where the information will be present with visuals and language to meet their
proficiency level.
Speech Emergence: students will research the information on a WebQuest
created by myself, where the information will be presented to meet their proficiency
level.
Intermediate Fluency: Students will use the internet to research the
information.
3. Students create a Venn diagram and compare and contrast the tragic event in the short story to the real-life JFK, Jr., tragedy. To use a Venn diagram, draw intersecting circles - one for each idea being compared - and list their common characteristics in the intersecting region and their distinguishing traits outside this area. While completing the diagram, students may use specific artwork to illustrate the similarities and differences between both events, such as a sailboat for the story's event and an airplane for the JFK, Jr. event.
Students list at least ten entries on the diagram.
(Students have been taught and have used Venn Diagrams to compare and contrast in prior lessons.)
Differentiate this activity according to the language levels of the students. The activity will take place after students have read their assigned resources. The below tasks will allow me to assess if the students reach the objectives for this unit. Pre-production: Select the visuals of the JFK incident and The Land and the Water
story among other visuals, and sort into an illustrated Venn diagram.
Early Production: List the events using key words on the Venn diagram. Visuals with
key words will be provided to support student with recall and spelling.
Speech Emergence: Organize the information read on the Venn diagram using short
phrases.
Intermediate Fluency: Summarize the information read and records it on the Venn
diagram.
Group Work
1. Students share Venn diagrams.
Divide the groups to ensure that there are students from each proficiency level in each
group. There will also be at least one level 4 or native English speaking student in each
group. Furthermore if possible, group students who spoke the same language in the same
group but not at the same language level.
2. Students modify their Venn diagrams, adding or deleting ideas, because the Venn
diagrams will become notes to use in writing the essay.
Direct the proficient students to incorporate the use of visuals and gestures when
explaining their findings to the Pre-Production & Early Production students. I would
encourage Pre-Production students to use visuals and key words to present their findings.
Encourage the Early Production members to share their findings with prompts such as,
‘Where? When? Who?’ Speech Emergence and Intermediate Fluency students will modify their diagrams as needed. Additional visuals and key word can be illustrated by the group members or teacher for Pre-Production and Early Production students to modify their
Venn diagrams.
3. Review the six traits of writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions (see Web Links).
4. Review the two methods of writing a comparison/contrast essay: the subject by subject method or the feature by feature method.
To reinforce the structure of a paragraph, I would use an illustrated version of the hamburger graphic organizer. I would use visual and key terms demonstrate the concepts.
Use a 5 paragraph essay graphic organizer to illustrate to all students how to organize their ideas and write their paper. Also use the graphic organizer to review the different methods of writing a comparison/contrast essay. Display the organizer on the board or use the Smartboard, and use the visuals and key words that the students have been using to show them how to organize their ideas. Remove the visuals, and invite students to come up to organize the visuals on the graphic organizer. This would reinforce the concepts for all students.
5. Students write a grammatically correct comparison/ contrast essay. The essay must note the similarities and differences of both tragic events using either the subject by subject method or the feature by feature method.
Pre-production: Students will place pictures on an essay graphic organizer.
Students may refer to the example from previous step if needed. Early Production: Students will use bullet points and key words to complete the
task using a 5 paragraph essay graphic organizer.
Speech Emergence: Students will compare and contrast by writing the facts
they had collected using basic paragraphs.
Intermediate Fluency: Students will advance further than recalling information
and include their analysis of the events in their essay.
Speech Emergence and Intermediate Fluency students will first plan their essay on a more
advanced graphic organizer (more structured with more information required).
Follow-up
Students can ask a family member about any similar event that has occurred in their native country.
Students can find out what it was like in their country of origin when the event occurred.
Students can draw, make a collage, create a semantic web, or write a journal entry of a person from that time.
Assessments
1. Make an informal assessment of the Venn diagrams. Offer corrective feedback and
discussion as students share.
2. Evaluate the student's ability to write a grammatically correct essay and to draw
similarities and differences in a comparison/contrast essay. Use the rubric scale of the
six traits of writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and
conventions. (See Web Links for rubric.) In addition to the above, I would ensure that the evaluation measures the ELL literacy and cultural objectives of the lesson.
Pre-production: Students are able to show the events through pictures, and
listen and share ideas with the group through gestures and pointing.
Early Production: Students are able to briefly describe details, and listen and
share ideas with the group by using key words or main ideas.
Speech Emergence: Students are able to compare differences between the
events using a graphic organizer, listen and share ideas with the group using short
phrases.
Intermediate Fluency: Students are able to compare and contrast through a
detailed summary, listen, share ideas and provide clarifications.
Extensions
Science link: Students research storms, including hurricanes that occur in coastal regions of the United States.
Geography link: Students locate Louisiana, Timbalier Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, and the
Atlantic Ocean on a map of the United States.
Career link: Students research the functions of the Coast Guard in peacetime and in war. Illustrated Venn diagram
Paragraph Graphic Organizer
5 Paragraph Essay Graphic Organizer Simple Essay Graphic Organizer