Literacy Map

Check out my first Bulletin Board for my Literacy Unit I created during my first placement:

 

Harris, P. ⓒ 2016

 

This literacy map was created for a grade 7/8 split class. The map begins for the success criteria and the curriculum expectations that were covered during my unit. My unit focus was on voice and writing. The next step along the math in the novel that I focussed on reading which was the Undergrounders by David Skuy. The next step along the map is letters the students wrote about the novel to the main character: Jonathan; his mother. Jonathan's mother had died at the start of the novel and after reading a few chapters I had the students write to their parents about their experiences and showing voice expressed in the letters. The students showed a sad voice and used a diverse selection of vocabulary terms to portray that. The next step in the unit I had my students look at a few pieces of writing and they wrote an argumentative piece on why this occurred. I made sure through out my unit I was constantly relaying back to the success criteria, expectations, and voice throughout my unit.  The next step was a structured debate held in class between the two major character groups in the story: the Undergrounders vs. the Reggies. My students also took a step further and had reflections due on the debate on who the thought did a good job in their class and three reasons to support their answers. The second last stop on the map was creating a story board of the major events in the story we had read so far. The students did this in groups of 3. The final ' X' marks the spot on my literacy map was a written narrative created by the students on one of 5 topics I had picked for them. They had to explain why they chose the topic and support their choice before they could begin writing on the netbooks. Throughout my literacy unit I also incorporated literacy stations working on editing their narratives, routine with silent reading of their choice and a bell work activity every morning. These literacy session were 100 minutes each and I taught this for 6 weeks. I also incorporated a cross curricular approach with the arts. I taught 30 minutes of drama using the topic of voice so the students could see voice expressed in many different ways. This was a very successful block literacy placement!