James E. Bazzell Middle School
Learning Experiences Organizer
Teacher: Jackson and Long
Subject: Language Arts Grade: 7
C
Vocabulary CODE
Hook:
Dates: 5 weeks
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D
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How will you introduce the unit to generate curiosity & excitement and connect to prior knowledge?
What does courage look like?
Formative Assessments
Pre assessment
Standard 4
Day 1 (Review target
from last unit)
Week 1
Bell Ringer—Flip chart
Complete the following:
Courage looks like ______
Courage sounds like _______
Courage feels like _______
Courage is ____________
Courage is not __________
Bell Ringer: TE Which one doesn’t fit? Explain
why?
True
Accurate
Historical
Fictional
Introduce essential question: What does courage
look like?
Hand out learning targets for unit and have
students to look over the targets.
Class work: Develop a cover page for this unit.
Include symbols associated with courage and
people or characters typically thought of as
courageous. Title page must include unit name,
be creative/colorful, and show deep thought.
HW. Assign vocabulary puzzle to help students
become familiar with terms.
Day 2
Target # 1 & 2
TE: Quotation Mingle
Students were given 8 quotes from an excerpt
from the novel, Soldier’s Heart. Students drew
one quote/line from the novel. They had to
mingle the room and discuss with other students
the quotes trying to figure out the big picture.
Place students back into learning groups and
they should try to answer the following:
**What do you think the title will be?
**Is this an excerpt from a novel or newspaper?
How do you know?
**What is the time or place?
**Any guesses on who wrote this?
Hand out the excerpt. Read and annotate—then
discuss what we accurately figured out and make
predictions as to what the book will be about.
Point out the thought shots within the text.
Exit slip: Make a prediction about what will
happen in Soldier’s Heart.
Formative Assessments
Week 2
Day 3
Target # 1 & 3
Bell Ringer: Review and preview.
TE Yesterday we looked an excerpt from
Soldier’s Heart. There are several things you
have been able to figure out about the book
from yesterday’s discussion. Make a fist list and
think of five things you already know about the
novel. (Author, Civil War, character named
Charley, etc.)
Introduce the concept of a soldier’s heart—a
term applied to Civil War vets suffering from post
traumatic stress syndrome.
Pair, Share, and Teach
Students were given either “The Forever War of
the Mind” or an article called “Post-traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD).” Each student read one
of the two articles, annotated, and became an
expert. Then in groups of four they would share
and teach the other members their new
knowledge.
As class we discussed. Then each group was
given an index card and asked to summarize
what we learned today and to ask a question.
Day 4
Target # 4
Day 5
Target # 1 & 2
Bell Ringer: Review the exit slips from the day
before. Remind students that we Soldier’s Heart
is set during the Civil War.
Bell Ringer: Create a plot line (short story
mountain). Label each part of the plot. Explain
what happens in each part of the story.
Students then view a Civil War docudrama and
take notes on things they learn about the Civil
War era.
Read through page 16 of Soldier’s Heart.
1.
Why was the “colored” woman
crying? (connotation)
The last ten minutes of class discuss the
information that we learned from the video.
Information should include the following;
The railroad cut the time in half for transporting
goods and people.
The railroad was able to get supplies to the
military much quicker.
The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by
Lincoln and freed all slaves.
The telegraph could be compared to the twitter
of today.
The Gettysburg Address was Lincoln’s most
famous speech.
The Battle of Gettysburg was the deadliest and
bloodiest of all battles.
2.
What does the term “colored”
mean?
3.
Why was the white woman who
pulled at the “colored” woman
angry?
Exit slip: What can you infer about
Charlie’s knowledge of slavery, the South,
and the war in general?
Day 6
Target # 1 & 7
Bell Ringer: How has Charlie’s thinking about
war changed from when he lied about his age to
sign up to now—after the first battle?
Day 7
Bell Ringer:
1.
Review yesterday’s exit slips.
Discuss the following (on a flip chart)
1.
What influenced Charley to be a
part of the Union Army?
2.
Which element of the exposition
has not had an impact on Charlie?
3.
There are several conflicts in
Soldier’s Heart. Name two
possibilities.
4.
What happens in the rising action
of any story? What does knowing
that tell us about what Charlie will
go through?
2.
TE: Add the following terms to your vocabulary
notebook:
Onomatopoeia, idiom, irony, personification,
literal, and non-literal.
6.
3.
4.
5.
Target # 1 & 4 & 8
Look back over chapter four, “Bull
Run,” on page 21. If this chapter
had music in the background what
kind of music would it be?
Explain.
2. What kind of mood (the way
the listener feels) would the music
create?
The exposition is the beginning of
the story, when the setting and
characters are established. What
chapter did that happen in the
novel?
Genre means type or kind. What
genre is Soldier’s Heart?
Good writing will have multiple
themes. Think of a possible
central idea for Soldier’s Heart.
Explain why the author chose to
have Charlie be so young in this
story?
Read from novel
Look back at page 6. Why is the comment, “It
would all be over by fall,” an example of irony?
Find the simile on the first full paragraph on page
15.
Find another example of a simile from the top of
page 13.
Find an idiom on page 3—last full paragraph.
Continue reading from Soldier’s Heart.
Exit slip: Create a simile, personification, or
idiom for Charley’s thoughts at this time.
Week 3
Formative Assessments
Day 8
Target # 1,7,8
Day 9
Target # 1, 4
Bell Ringer: Girls do odds, boys do evens:
1.
How has Charlie’s thinking about
the possibility of his own death
changed since his first battle?
2.
What (idea or thinking) influenced
Charley and the other soldier to
“farm” the chickens, pigs, and
cows as they marched south?
3.
Pg. 44, bottom paragraph—What
synonym in the first sentence
helps you determine the meaning
of dysentery?
4.
Why is the story of Nelson
important to the central ideas
developed in Soldier’s Heart?
Bell Ringer: TE Fist List –draw a hand and label it
character/personality traits. In the fingers
answer the question. . .
How do you determine what a new classmate’s
personality is like when you first meet them?
Assign writing: Write a letter to the Nelson
family and express your sympathy. Remember
your audience. Consider the salutation, body,
and closing.
Exit slip: Describe how Charley’s character traits
have changed throughout the portion of the
book we have read so far. What events
influenced Charley and changed his personality?
Hand out list of various character traits and glue
into notebook. Then examine several flip charts
where students are looking at the nonverbal
communication of individuals.
Annotate an excerpt from the novel where we
look for clues to Charley’s character.
Day 10
Target # 7
Bell Ringer: Identify the figurative language in
each sentence:
1.
Charlie was an animal, slashing,
and hacking.
2.
His legs forced him to walk across
the meadow.
3.
The bullets fell like a lightening
storm all around him.
4.
Splat, the bullet tore into his
friend, Nelson.
5.
If he signed up at Winona,
someone would spill the beans
about his age.
Complete the novel. Take comprehension test.
Share in class.
Day 11
Target # targets 1-5
Pause Day – students will complete the right
hand side of their pretest to determine who goes
to the enrichment group and who works to learn
targets one through five.
Enrichment group: choose one of the following
battles or individuals to research:
Battle of Perryville
Newton Station
Abraham Lincoln
Jefferson Davis
General George McClellan
Ulysses S. Grant
Robert E. Lee
Day 12
Target # 1 & 4
Bell Ringer: TE Add the following terms to your
vocabulary notebook:
Primary source and secondary source.
View a list of slave births in Allen County from
1852—1861 (public county data)
Students will then examine a slave bill of sale, a
fictional story, and a soldier’s account of the
Battle of Perryville. Students annotated and read
using workshop model and reciprocal reading.
HW: answer questions that cover all three
documents.
Day 13
Target # 3 &5
Bell Ringer: Three way tie; lsetting, characters,
and conflict.
When you think about Soldier’s Heart, which
scene do you remember most/best? Without
looking back at the book, recreate that scene.
What do you hear, see, smell, feel, taste? What
was the imagery?
Hand out “First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry
Regiment” and “Death of Charles E. Goddard”
from The Winona Daily Republican.
Each person should read one chunk and highlight
new information about Charley Goddard as you
find it. You will share this new information with
your group.
Students will then read their imagery and other
students will guess the scene.
On the bottom half of card, answer this question.
What historical facts did Gary Paulsen use to
create that imagery?
Read “Author’s Note” taken from page 103 of
novel. Highlight areas where Paulsen says that
he used literary license to create this story.
Why do authors sometimes need to use literary
license?
Targets 6
Bell Ringer: TE Add to your
vocabulary notebook the following:
Allusion, biblical, literary, and
mythological.
Discuss and explain different types
of allusions. Ask: Why would an
author use allusions?
Hand out the text, Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass and
American Slave, Written by Himself.
Students will work in pairs and
reciprocal read for meaning. This is
a rather difficult text and will need
more than one examination. Once
students read and annotate, they
will then go back and highlight all
allusions and identify the type.
Exit slip: an allusion is _________
Day 18
Targets 6
Bell Ringer: Three-way tie:
mythological, biblical, and literary.
Review synonyms, antonyms,
analogies, and how they are used as
context clues. Students will then
work through examples from
Soldier’s Heart. They will identify
the type of context clue and
underline the key words that gave
the clue and write their own
definition based on the clues.
Check as a class.
Exit slip: Authors use several
different context clues to help us
understand difficult words. What
are the three ways we have
examined today?
Target # 1,3, 5
Bell Ringer:
Answer the question below on a note card.
Then explain Literary license (when authors
change factual information a bit to make it fit in
their fictional story.
Day 17
Day 14
Day 19
Targets 1, 2, 3 & 4
Bell Ringer: Boggle—Review learning
targets and then list everything from
our unit that you have learned. Time
is three minutes. Winner is playing
for a new pencil and bookmark.
Then get with your learning partner
and compare list and add anything
you have omitted.
Figurative Language Activity: Skim
through the book, Soldier’s Heart,
and find examples of figurative
language. Give the example, give
the type of language, and give the
page you found it.
Comprehension menu: Mastery—
list 4 historical facts Paulsen used,
Interpersonal—Would you be able
to do what Charley did when he
loaded the gun for Nelson? Explain;
Regroup as a class and discuss: Did Paulsen
accurately portrays Charles Goddard in Soldier’s
Heart?
Exit Slip—You are Gary Paulsen. You want to
write a historical fiction book about the Civil War.
You know that there are two central ideas you
want your readers to get: “War affects every
person involved in a horrible way.” And “We
should be aware that a huge number of soldiers
both past and present suffer from PTSD.” Based
on your research, you have chosen to write your
novel called, Soldier’s Heart based on Charles E.
Goddard from the First Minnesota Volunteers.
Give three reasons that you have chosen Charley
to be your main character. Why does his real life
fit what you want to tell about in your book?
Day 20
and 21
Test—Students are given two fresh
texts. “Immigration in the Gilded
Age” and “A Surprise for Rosie.”
These are grade level texts but
several pages long (4 ½). Texts are
from Crosswalk.
Students must read and annotate
texts before handed the test.
Test includes m/c, short answer, and
extended response.
Day 15
&16
Target # 1, 3, 4
Students will view The Horse
Soldiers. This is an older movie set
during the Civil War. This reenacts
the Battle of Newton Station that
took place in Mississippi. This is one
Union companies attempt to
eliminate the Confederate
stronghold in Newton Station.
--Students will note comparisons
between things we have read, both
fictional and non-fictional, and
discuss how historical facts are used
to create the background of the
story.
--Where did the writers of this movie
use literary license?
--What was the central idea?
Day 22
Hand back m/c and short answer.
Go over these and then offer Target
Practice/reteach opportunities.
Understanding—Either prove or
disprove that Charley had Soldier’s
Heart; Self-Expressive—Use at least
two details that would have made
this story better.