Functional Texts

1
Survival
Unit Title
Major Work
Buzzards Feast by Todd Strasser
Literary Text
Functional Texts
Informational Texts
Buzzards Feast Todd Strasser Trapped in the
Desert Gary Beeman Reflections (True Life
Narrative) Basher 52 is Down, Read Magazine,
March 29, 1996 (True Life Narrative) I Shot an
Arrow into the Air, Scholastic Magazine, April,
1980, Rod Serling (Teleplay) I Cant Believe My
Parents Want Me to do This (Aarons North Star
Experience) Read Magazine, September, 1995
National Parks of the Southwest Stay Alive A
Guide to Survival in the Desert Southwest
Video Plants of the Southwest Wildlife of the
Southwest Encyclopedias Dictionaries Teacher
Survives 6 Days in Desert, Salt Lake Tribune,
June 7, Web Site for Wilderness Quest Desert
Survival Camps for Youth at Risk Survivors or
other reality-based TV
Map reading topographical, geographical maps of
Great Basin Desert Field trip permission
note You Will Need list
2
Identify Desired Results
Who has the right to survive? What would you do
to survive, and to what extreme? Is nature cruel
or kind? Does the eco-movement fit all
realities? What may be the dangers of
personification of nature?
Understand the interrelationships between humans
and environment. Cooperation is necessary for
survival. Improve reading, listening, speaking
and viewing comprehension of a variety of
texts. See reading as an avenue for gaining
knowledge. Make connection between texts. Write
to share and clarify ideas.
What is necessary for survival? How do the
relationships between people affect their
survival? What happens when people make poor
choices? What consequences result from peoples
choices? What are the risks of attributing human
qualities to the environment?
Dangers of the desert and how to survive. The
need for cooperation for survival. Plan ahead and
make logical choices. Consequences result from
choices. The environment does not respond as a
person would.
3
Brochure on surviving in the desert Time
line Acrostic/recipe poems Story
map Comparison/contrast essay character and
self Problem/solution Aarons survival
Written summaries Quizzes Luck of the draw
discussions
Other Evidence, e.g., Observations Work Samples,
Dialogues
Student Self-Assessment
Writing rubrics/self scoring sheets Oral
feedback/reflection
Six Box summaries Story pyramid Brochure
4
Students will need to know
Students will be able to
Demonstrate their understanding through writing
and speaking. Synthesize information from a
variety of sources. Make connections between
themselves and characters. Utilize reading and
listening strategies to increase
understanding Evaluate survival
strategies. Examine the connections between
choices and consequences.
How to demonstrate their understanding of reading
and issues through writing. Nature is
indifferent. Actions have consequences. Cooperatio
n is needed for survival.
Read a variety of fiction/nonfiction utilizing
before, during, and after strategies to improve
comprehension and make connections include
anticipatory guides, video clip intros, class
discussion, Web site viewing, mapping the story,
sequencing with a time line, and generating
choice/consequences chart. Write to demonstrate
understanding and provide creative responses,
including essays, poetry, brochures, and
mini-research. Discuss to assist in
understanding, synthesis, and making connections,
utilizing Luck of the Draw and open
discussions. Examine the relationships between
characters and self through process for
comparison/contrast essay. Connect issues to self
and real life through discussion, reading,
viewing, or a field trip.
5
Cross-Curricular Connections
What are they learning in Science/Geography/Health
?
What are they learning in language arts?
Science desert plants, animals, bioms,
eco-interdependence Geography desert regions,
rainfall, terrain, landforms, changing earth
surfaces Health survival needs, hydration
Character analysis and relationships to
environment Conflict between humans and
nature Writing to demonstrate understanding Writin
g to learn Writing to connect Writing to
demonstrate creativity
Reading strategies to understand text Materials
cover similar information Functional reading of
text
6
Web site on Wilderness Adventure Buzzards Feast
Novel. Trapped in the Desert short true-life
story. I Cant Believe My Parents Want Me Doing
this Aarons story short true-life
story. Basher 52 is Down behind enemy lines,
true-life story. I Shot an Arrow Into the Air
Science Fiction Mini-research with plant/animal
guides, dictionaries, and encyclopedias. National
Parks of the Southwest. Teacher Survives 6 Days
in Desert, S.L. Tribune. We include pre, during
and after strategies for each text.
Share and explain Six Box summary. Present
results of mini-research project.
Stay Alive Desert Survival. Connect to field
trip, have students make categories, notes on
survival, resource for brochure. Clips for
pre-reading and reasonableness of survival
information from Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade, Silverado, The Gods Must Be Crazy II,
and Broken Arrow.
Core Curriculum
KWL for Arches article and mini-research Summaries
Story map Time lines Brochure What they did
right meeting survival needs Comparison/contrast
essay with character and self Problem/solution
essay environmental views Poetry simple desert
theme
Luck of the Draw lists of discussion
questions, teacher and student generated, put in
box for drawing then discussing. Read the play,
listening to others, quiz. Listen to
mini-research presentations with student
evaluation checklists.
Luck of the Draw group discussions, present and
participate with point gaining/point losing
rules. Read part in play. Present mini-research.
7
An EXPOSITORY Writing Assignment With a Six Trait
Component
Prompt
Compare/contrast yourself with a character in the
novel.
Discuss novel characters . Generate
web. Demonstrate by connecting a character to a
TV character or teacher using chart of Venn
diagram. Students generate own chart of Venn
diagram of comparison/ contrast. Group like ideas
and decide on order.
Teacher presentation of student draft
(pre-arranged) with discussion of what works,
what doesnt. Generate specific checklist for
quality paper in four of six traits. Round Robin
Read Around with checklist for peer
review. Students revise own papers.
Draft body. Add introduction utilizing a
technique previously discussed. Write a
conclusion, aiming for clarity or interest.
8
Viewing
Strand
Pre-Viewing Anticipation guide on how to
survive in the desert. Encourage students to use
what they already know or have read about. Help
students generate categories of information they
think should be covered in the video. During
Viewing Students take notes, organized by
category. Periodic stops by teacher to encourage
categorization and note taking and review
information, as well as to refer to anticipation
guide for matches/mismatches. After Viewing
Students utilize their notes to develop a
brochure on how to survive in the desert.
Brochure is a tri-fold plain paper (marks at 9.2
centimeters). Must have attractive cover. Can
use cut and paste or drawing. Must have color.
Back page must have authors name and where to
find additional information. Other four pages
must have at least four important survival ideas
organized by category. There must also be an
illustration on each page.
9
Detailed Revision of Activity Ideas,
Organization, Voice, Word Choice, or Sentence
Fluency (Choose One)
Organization
Trait
Motivation Share a story of retro-engineering
in computer industry. Explain that we can also
tell a lot by retro-writing an essay. Teacher
Presentation Guide students through short,
well-organized student sample. Demonstrate what
the beginning outline or graphic organizer might
have looked like. Student Exploration Have
students in threes complete an outline/graphic
organizer for a well-organized student sample.
Next, provide a poorly organized sample and allow
students to work on an outline/graphic organizer
for several minutes. Ask students why one is
much harder to do. Ask students if the second
sample would be improved if it were better
organized. Individual Student Application Have
students retro-outline their own work
(comparison/contrast essay). They need to fix
any parts of their own work that do not fit or
are missing. They will need to supply the
outline/graphic organizer with the revised essay.
10
Reading Activity to Teach Text Structure Other
Than Narrative
Pre-Reading
Text Type
Arches, National Parks of the
Southwest Worksheet In pairs, do cause/effect
worksheet (identifies typical words signaling
cause/effect). Teacher Presentation Solicit
students response to review strategies for
remembering and understanding nonfiction text.
Supply, if necessary, awareness of text
structure. Review basic text structure types as
well as visual clues. Student Exploration Have
students do graphic organizer for section of text
that tells how domes and arches were formed in
pairs. Evaluation Using Numbered Heads
Together and other sections of the text, have
students draw graphic organizers. Extension
Students bring in an example of cause/effect
writing from home (they can come early and use
shelf magazines or newspapers in the classroom).