Learning Targets Draft

Literature Circles Unit

The following learning targets have been defined for a unit of literature circles during which English 3 Regents (primarily eleventh grade) students will study different pieces of American literature within small cooperative groups of 4-6 students. The pieces include The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I have decided to focus on this unit throughout the semester because it is the one my students are working on currently and it is one of my very favorites because it provides the opportunity to continue building upon the skills we’ve practiced in previous literature units while, I hope, offering students the chance to get more creative with their final projects while dealing with interpersonal skills and individual habits of mind that have real world applications.

1. Students effectively manage individual roles and limited class time to prepare a final portfolio and presentation on the unit.

• Developmental learning target
• Alter, ask, choose, complete, comply, contribute, follow, help, influence, lead, order, organize, plan, work, revise, solve (Krathwohl)
  

2. Students annotate literature books to aid comprehension and analysis of a primary text.

• Developmental learning target
• Criticize, define, identify, infer, predict (Bloom)
  
• Defend, discuss, respond, question (Krathwohl)

3. Students can summarize the main events, ideas and themes of their respective works.

• Mastery learning target
• Compile, describe, explain, give examples, paraphrase, recall, summarize (Bloom)
  

4. Students can use a table to organize textual information that supports analysis of major characters.

• Mastery learning target
• Describe, discriminate, categorize, compare/contrast, criticize, identify, infer, justify, relate, select, support (Bloom)
  

5. Students can identify literary devices and explain how they are used by the author to convey the theme of the work.

• Mastery (Identification)/ Developmental (Explanation) learning target
• Define, give examples, identify, predict (Bloom)
• Defend, discuss, question (Krathwohl)
  

6. Students work cooperatively with peers to plan and submit a final portfolio that showcases their knowledge and skills.

• Developmental learning target
• Answer, ask, assist, complete, comply, discuss, invite, prepare, present, respect, share (Krathwohl)
  

7. Students clearly and effectively present a critical review of their literary works to their peers without relying upon summary.

• Developmental learning target
• Criticize, describe, explain, give examples, influence, justify, perform, prepare, select (Bloom)
• Answer, discuss, give, help, present, recognize, relate, share (Krathwohl)
  

"Who I am is a question for the ages..."

I am born to be wild…and to wear strange outfits handed down by two older sisters and, apparently, Star Trek characters. You might say that I am shamelessly willing to make a fool of myself but I think that it is a quality that has served me well in life and made me good at my job.

I am the daughter of a former professional boxer, which explains this picture...

…and this one, as well as my impressive knowledge of all things “Rocky I-V." Yes, even I can admit that "Rocky Balboa" was one sequel too many. I think it’d be fair to gather from this evidence that I’ve been hard on the men in my life, too. I’m pretty proud of that though.

I am a very creative person and likely the only one you’ll ever meet who had an imaginary friend named Godfrey, a native of the Bahamas. The “friend” pictured above was not fortunate enough to have been so memorably named. I rarely make hula-hoop/marker people anymore but those who visit my classroom immediately recognize my colorful and elaborate, usually interactive, bulletin boards, which have become an outlet for my marginal artistic talent and not-so-marginal Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

I am a 2001 graduate of Brockport High School, where I excelled academically, sang in the choir and various all-county/all-state ensembles, and played Varsity soccer and volleyball. I must have made some pretty good impressions on my teachers and coaches because they invited me back!

I did my undergrad work at Boston University, where I graduated cum laude in January 2005 and managed to finish early despite changing my major from journalism to secondary English education as a sophomore. During my tenure there, I found my calling while tutoring with a literacy program in a Roxbury project-neighborhood school. I did my student teaching at the prestigious Boston Latin School, which was the first public school in America. And YES…

I became a RED SOX FAN! If my husband can forgive me, so can you. We’re going to the Yanks/Sox game in New York on August 9^th and I fully plan to wear all my Boston “merch” whether he likes it or not!

Speaking of the devil, I do have a new, wonderful husband as of July 26, 2008. The wedding was the best day of my life and I’m pretty sure everyone else had a good time, too. There are MANY more pictures of this event on our wedding website if anyone’s interested: www.vinceanddawn.com. Vince and I are both pretty active individuals who continue to play league sports throughout the year and spend the occasional night out with our friends but, after four years together, we honestly prefer one another’s company over pretty much any other activity or crowd. We’ve become the poster couple for Netflix for better or worse and can make one another laugh instantly with a well-timed movie line or impression—his Christopher Walken can’t be beat. We also do great voices for our dog and cat, Samurai and Geisha, which we know that no one else can appreciate and most would likely mock mercilessly. It’s cool.

Indeed, the past four years have been the best of my life for many other reasons as well. Since September 2005, I have been lucky enough to work at the BEST school district around, my own alma mater, Brockport High School. I teach junior and senior English and have already had many successes to celebrate. I was awarded tenure at the beginning of this school year. This week I got a HANDWRITTEN letter from a former student who wrote a college essay about how I inspired her to become a teacher!

Also at Brockport High School, I have coached girls’ volleyball for the past three years (JV for 2 and Varsity this past season) and participated in many extra-curricular events that help to showcase, unite, recognize and entertain our wonderful students. This March, I’ll be humiliating myself for their amusement in the faculty skit for our annual talent show, Class Acts. If you’d like to attend, please let me know so that I can give you the wrong information!

***

While teaching and coaching and taking grad classes and starting my family, not to mention fronting my very own RockBand TM, "Camarosmith," have all kept me extraordinarily busy and the stress can sometimes cloud my vision of its near-perfection, my life is pretty amazing and I tend to be a very happy person because of it. I look forward to getting to know and working alongside everyone this semester!

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