Unit 2: Media
Learning Goals
We are learning to…
- Understand the features of a variety of media texts
- Communicate ideas effectively in multimedia texts
- Develop effective critical questions about media texts
- Be able to identify example of bias in media texts
Success Criteria
I will know I’m successful when I can…
- identify the features of blog posts and podcasts
- write blog posts with effective titles, tags, links, multimedia, and clearly developed paragraphs
- record podcasts that include conversational dialogue, sponsorship info, critical discussion
- use specific criteria to evaluate and critique the level of diversity in popular media texts
- listen and watch for slanted language and missing voices in media texts
Unit 3: Literature
We are learning to…
- Construct an effective analysis of literary texts (not plot summary)
- Construct critical interpretations of contemporary non-fiction texts
- Independently select and use reading comprehension strategies for challenging texts
- Develop effective discussion questions
I will know I am successful when I can…
- Make complex inferences about the text by combining ideas from a variety of places within the texts with my own knowledge, and draw conclusions
- Identify a variety of literary devices including metaphor, symbol, motif, imagery, diction, and draw conclusions about their significance
- Use evidence from the text to draw conclusions about theme
- Express theme in a sentence that is applicable to the text itself and the world
- Apply more than one literary theory to a text to develop critical interpretations
- Use literary theory to draw conclusions that go beyond the obvious and literal interpretation of a text
- Set a purpose for reading
- Use strategies like chunking the text, coding, talking back to the text, questioning the text to support comprehension
- Ask difficult questions of the text that force readers to question assumptions and use evidence to support ideas.
Unit 4 Writing and Oral Communication
We are learning to
- Develop ideas in properly constructed paragraphs;
- Demonstrate unity and coherence in longer pieces of writing;
- Use grammar and punctuation correctly to communicate clearly;
- Adjust our diction and sentence construction for different audiences and purposes;
- Incorporate quotations smoothly into our writing to support our ideas;
- Use MLA formatting accurately;
- Deliver engaging and well organized presentations;
- Support ideas with effective visuals;
- Use effective note-taking techniques during lectures, videos, and presentations.
I will know I am successful when I can…
- State my point; illustrate with a relevant quotation, paraphrase, or summary; explain how that illustration supports my point;
- Use transition words and phrases, as well as logical organization to create coherence in paragraphs and essays.
- Recognize when my paragraphs may stray away from the main idea and revise my writing to ensure paragraphs are unified;
- Use semicolons, commas, dashes, and colons correctly to enhance my ideas;
- Use techniques like climactic order and repetition to enhance my ideas;
- Identify, through revision, where I may have used words that are not as specific or effective, or do not have the right connotation for the idea I’m trying to express;
- Write about literature in the present tense;
- Provide a context for quotations;
- Use punctuation around quotations correctly;
- Provide accurate in-text citations;
- Create an accurate works cited page;
- Format the pages of my essay correctly;
- Make eye contact with my audience when speaking;
- Speak without reading from slides or cue cards;
- Create slides that emphasize key ideas but do not stand in for them;
- Use a minimal amount of text on the screen;
- Choose eye-catching, high resolution images to emphasize key ideas in my presentation;
- Create handouts for my audience that contain my presentations thesis and supporting details.