Bethany+Doorlag

Bethany Doorlag bethany.l.doorlag@wmich.edu Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

What do you think about when you hear the word poverty? For many students and families in our own community, this word is a very stark reality. In this unit, students will study the cycle of poverty in their own community and complete projects which work toward ending the repetition of this cycle. This unit is designed for 9th graders, and is based on the community of Kalamazoo, MI. It is a 6-week unit plan, striving for change in the community.

====In this unit, students will read texts such as: [|www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty], @http://www.globalissues.org/issue/6/world-hunger-and-poverty , [|www.poverty.com/]‎, [|www.haltpoverty.org/]‎ ,//A Framework for Understanding Poverty// by Ruby K. Payne, “Blaming Poverty on the Poor,” by Josephine DixonBanks, //Buried Onions// by Gary Soto, //Make Lemonade// by Virginia Euwer Wolff, //Emako Blue// by Brenda Woods, //Slam!// by Walter Dean Myers, and watch this clip on youtube on Poverty: [] (“Poverty” by Taban). ====
 * So What Does This Change Look Like? **

Along with reading these required texts, students will reflect on what they have learned through the readings by completing 3 written assignments in both creative and formal formats.

There will also be a volunteer component to the unit. Students will be required to participate in a Poverty Simulation held by the Kalamazoo Poverty Initiative and write a two page reflection on the experience, as well as log 15 hours of volunteer work with an approved organization. Students will keep a weekly journal of reflections on their volunteer experiences.

Through class discussion and writing, students will collectively decide on one or two projects which they wish to undertake in order to fight against poverty in their community, which could include a community event (i.e. series of guest speaker lectures about poverty, a community fundraiser, a poetry reading event, etc.) a protest, 30-hour famine, a race/walk to raise awareness, or a different approved project.

By the end of the class, students should have a portfolio which will include their class writing, selected journal entries on their experience in doing volunteer work, their log of volunteer hours, a reflection on the Poverty Simulation experience, and a record of their specific duties for the class project. 


 * What is the purpose of this unit? **

This unit is designed to raise awareness of poverty in our community and to propel a change in the community, breaking the cycle of poverty. When students have completed this unit, they will have learned:

-Some of the causes of poverty -About organizations that fight against poverty -How poverty affects their own community <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">-How to volunteer/contribute in their community <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">-How to create a community event <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">-How to use different writing techniques and genres to contribute to a cause

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Through this unit, students will also not only complete CCSS, but exceed them. These are the CCSS that this unit will exceed:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-W.9-10.1 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-W.9-10.2 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-W.9-10.3 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-W.9-10.4 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-W.9-10.5 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-W.9-10.8 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-W.9-10.10 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-RL.9-10.2 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-SL.9-10.1 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-SL.9-10.2 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-SL.9-10.4 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-SL.9-10.6 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-L.9-10.3 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">-L.9-10.5


 * <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">6-Week Unit Lesson Plan **

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Week One
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Monday: **

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Ask the class what poverty is, writing their ideas on the board.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Then watch this video on the history of Poverty and discuss how their idea of what poverty is has changed from what they have learned about its history. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">media type="youtube" key="TxbmjDngois?list=SPWB0UfoChWY2gN1daubiv6A5HNQqicAxM" width="560" height="315"

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students start the class by journaling about the video from the previous day. Some question prompts might be: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">After seeing this video, how has your viewpoint on poverty changed? What are your personal experiences with poverty? Do you think that there is a problem with poverty in our community? Explain your answer. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">After giving students 15-20 minutes to journal, have a class discussion about what they have written in their journals. This discussion should last for at least 15 minutes, and you should guide the students in engaging discussion by inserting prompts if the conversation is slow. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Then, have students begin to read the first website:
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Tuesday ****<span style="color: #008080; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">[|www.worldbank.org/en/topic/poverty]
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">If they don't finish before the end of class, have them either read it online at home for the next day, or print it out to read at home for Wednesday.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Today, have the students split up in pairs and discuss what they learned from reading the website for 5-10 minutes. Review what the class discussed on Tuesday, especially the question about poverty in our community. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini Lesson: (5-10 minutes)Talk about different techniques used in poetry--give students this [|handout] and choose a few techniques to demonstrate/discuss. Tell students that they are going to hear a poem about poverty. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Watch: media type="youtube" key="-x8jO8gbuHg" width="560" height="315" <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Then discuss as a class what makes this poem effective. Talk about other good genres that could be used to write about this topic. Tell students that they will have to write in a few formats about the topic by the end of the unit, and ask them to brainstorm ideas. Hand out the assignment description:. Give students about 10 minutes to do this.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif;">Wednesday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Now bring out the four young adult fiction books (Buried Onions, Make Lemonade, Emako Blue, and Slam!), introduce them, and have students each choose one book to read during the 6 weeks of the unit, splitting them into four "book groups." Let students know that they will be discussing the book with their group once a week and doing a short presentation on it with their group for the rest of their classmates. This presentation will be during the last unit week. If there is extra time, have students start reading their books.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students split up into 4 equal groups. Give each group a different article to read: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Group 1: [] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Group 2: [] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Group 3: [] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Group 4: [] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">When it seems that most students are done reading their article, ask them to write a short summary of the information they have read. Give them about 10 minutes to do this, then ask them to discuss the article in their individual groups. As they do this, you should walk around and see if they are hitting the main points of the articles. If they are missing an important point, redirect them. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">After 10 minutes, ask one member from each group to share his/her summary of the article with the entire class. Get feedback from the class: Were they surprised by what they read? Why or why not? Ask if anyone has ever done any volunteering in the community before. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Then tell the students that over the next five weeks they are going to volunteer a total of 15 hours with a community organization, which will translate to about three hours a week, depending on the student's availability. Give students this assignment handout. Students should check with you about an organization's suitability, because the purpose of the volunteering is to contribute toward the fight against poverty, so the organization they volunteer with should be doing this in some way. Some suggestions are: The Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, Youth for Christ, and Communities in Schools. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students brainstorm ideas about how they would like to volunteer and help them to get started in contacting the organizations.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif;">Thursday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students split up into their book groups and have a discussion about the first few chapters of their books. Their discussions should include: themes they have noticed, main characters, the author's style of writing, and what they think will happen next in the book. Give students about 20 minutes for this discussion.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif;">Friday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Next, talk about the Kalamazoo Poverty Initiative. []

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Project Connect and the Poverty Simulation.

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">media type="youtube" key="EbQW4CFirkw" width="560" height="315"

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Project Connect video

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">media type="youtube" key="kYbuEHOLgyU" width="560" height="315"

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Poverty Simulation video

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Explain to students that on a Saturday during this 6-week unit, the entire class will be attending a Poverty Simulation and writing a reflection on the experience. The reflection assignment should be in a short essay format, and should be at least 2 pages, double-spaced in length, and include what they learned from the simulation, and how their thinking about poverty has changed since the experience. This will go into their final portfolio. Over the weekend, have them read two chapters from Ruby Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 11pt;">Week Two

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini lesson: Start the class with a 5 minute mini-lesson about the differences between persuasive and argumentative writing. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">then,give students 40 minutes to work on one of their required papers for the class. Let them write for 15 minutes and then start traveling around to students, conferencing with them about what they are working on. Keep a list of each student's initial idea for their writing assignment. After the 40 minutes is over, explain that they will have this opportunity twice every week, and whatever they cannot finish during that time, they must finish at home.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif;">Monday **:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students watch this video clip about breaking the cycle of poverty: media type="youtube" key="vWXEVg0dNgs" width="560" height="315"

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Then have a classroom discussion about what they have read so far in A Framework for Understanding Poverty.


 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif;">Tuesday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students to brainstorm in groups of 3 about ways that we can fight the cycle of poverty. After 5 minutes, ask for suggestions to write on the board. Then watch this video about how one girl changed the cycle in her city.

media type="custom" key="23370410"

<span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif;">**Wednesday**:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Begin class by talking about the final class project which they will participate in. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Give students this handout on the assignment. Ask them to brainstorm on their own for 5 minutes about possible events, and then ask them to write their ideas on the board. After everyone has contributed at least one idea, ask students to vote for three of the events on the board. When it has become narrowed down to three events, ask students to choose the event they would like to work on. The number of students in each group should be about equal. Have the students do some planning in groups for about 20 minutes. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">media type="youtube" key="gl9iSSsMoQg" width="560" height="315"

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students to consider how they might use social media in their event. Remind them that they should be farther along in their books from their book groups before Friday class.


 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif;">Thursday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini Lesson: Talk to the students about how to effectively do research and find good sources for their formal papers. This will probably take 15-20 minutes. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students work on one of their Class Writing Assignments for the rest of the class period. While they are writing, move around the room and conference with them about their progress and any concerns they have. If possible, have a few computers available for them to test out searching for sources they could use in a paper.


 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Friday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Split students up into their book groups. Have them discuss what else has happened with the characters in the book. Ask them to share with the others in the group which character is their favorite and why. Ask them to talk about how they think the book will end. This conversation should last from 20-30 minutes.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students to share with the rest of the class if they have been able to begin volunteering with an organization and how it's going. Have students read the next two chapters in //A Framework for Understanding Poverty// over the weekend.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 11pt;">Week 3

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">**<span style="color: #008080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Monday: ** <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini-Lesson: How to effectively advertise your event <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">After this lesson, have students break into their three different event groups. Ask them to create advertising strategies for their event, and begin work on some of them. Give students about half of an hour to do this, and ask them to write down their ideas and turn them in to you so that you can give them feedback.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students journal for 10 minutes about the Payne reading, then discuss what students found interesting about the reading as a class.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Tuesday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini-Lesson: Rhetorical strategies for persuasion: Writing a letter to an official

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students use the rest of the class period to work on one of their Class Writing Assignments. Conference with students as needed.


 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Wednesday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students begin class by reading: @http://www.globalissues.org/issue/6/world-hunger-and-poverty They should pick one or two of the articles about poverty to read. When they finish reading the website article(s), ask them to journal about one or two of the issues which they read about. They can journal for 15-20 minutes about this.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">After 20 minutes, ask students to share with the rest of the class one interesting thing which they read about. Then ask them to reflect back to the first day of class. Ask them what some different things they have learned about poverty since then.


 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Thursday: **

media type="youtube" key="X8WnzCOXfjM" width="560" height="315"

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students watch this video, then have them explore the websites: @http://www.one.org/protestsongs/ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">and @http://www.one.org/us/

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students what they think about using songs to protest.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini-lesson: Talk about some of the techniques used in writing lyrics for songs. @http://www.songwritingfever.com/songwritingtips/ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Challenge students to use the rest of the class time to write lyrics to a song, either individually or in pairs.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Split students up into their book groups. Have them discuss the themes of the book, their favorite parts of it, the ending, and how it could apply to their own lives. Have them brainstorm how they are going to present their book to the rest of the class. Tell them that they will take turns presenting to the other groups on the next Friday. Allow students to spend the rest of the class period working on one of their Class Writing Assignments. Ask students to read the next 3 chapters of //A Framework for Understanding Poverty//.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Friday: **

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Week 4

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini Lesson about Short story writingThis should last about 30 minutes.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Monday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students to bring in their journal entries about volunteering on Tuesday so that you can give them feedback. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Tell students to journal about what they have read so far in Payne's book, specifically whether or not they agree with her ideas and why or why not.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Then hold a class discussion about the book.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students to give you their journals. Work on responding to each student in writing as they watch the video clip and write. media type="youtube" key="GuP5kUQro40" width="420" height="315"
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Tuesday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Discuss the short story by Ambrose Bierce, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. What was surprising? What techniques did the author/screenplay use? How could this format be used to promote a cause?

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Now have students work on one of their Class Writing Assignments for the rest of the class.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Return the student journals with your written feedback. Ask students to share with a classmate what they are currently doing to volunteer and what they are learning.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Wednesday: **

media type="youtube" key="4_ETtVAnQmI" width="420" height="315" <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">In the Blood part 1 by Suzan-Lori Parks

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students to react to this clip of the play in their journals for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, ask students to share what they wrote about.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini-lesson about script writing <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Let students use the rest of the class to work on their book group presentation. Remind them that every group will be presenting their book on Friday.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students begin the class by reading this poem: Discuss the techniques used in the poem, and what makes it effective.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Thursday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Let students use the rest of the class to work on one of their Class Writing Assignments.


 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Friday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Students will present their group presentations about the books which they have read. It should take almost the entire class period, but if there is extra time, have students continue working on one of their Class Writing Assignments. Ask students to finish reading //A Framework for Understanding Poverty// over the weekend.

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 11pt;">Week 5 <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Discuss the ending of A Framework for Understanding Poverty. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;"> Have students read www.poverty.com/ <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask them what they think works about this website? <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini-lesson on blogging <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students experiment with different blogging sites, and give them time to work on their Class writing assignment, using this format.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Monday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Let students work on their group event. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Go around the room, conferencing with the different groups. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Look for common areas where groups need help, and use the struggle areas to make a mini-lesson for the next day.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Tuesday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini Lesson on topic TBD about group event <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Use the rest of the class time to allow students to work on one of their Class Writing Assignments. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Go around the room and conference with students about their writing.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Wednesday: **


 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Thursday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Have students choose one or two of these projects to look at. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask them what they think a multimedia project would look like <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Lead a mini-lesson about how to use multimedia projects <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Allow students to work on their group event.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini-lesson about writing speeches <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Let students use the rest of the class time to work on one of their Class Writing Assignments. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Go around the room and conference with students about their writing. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Check to make sure that each student has made reasonable progress on his/her 3 papers.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Friday: **

<span style="color: #800080; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 11pt;">Week 6

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Let students use the class time to work on their group event. Conference with the groups and check to see that no group has a major problem with their project.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Monday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini-lesson about Revision <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students to work on revising the drafts for their Class Writing Assignments.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Tuesday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Mini-lesson about creating writing portfolios <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students to think about how they want their portfolio for this class to look. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Remind them that they will need to include: 3 Class Writing Assignment papers, Volunteer hours log and 2 page reflection on the volunteer experience, 2 page reflection on the Poverty Simulation, 2-3 selected journal entries about volunteering, and a description/reflection about their group event. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Allow students to use the rest of the class to start piecing together their portfolios and to continue to revise their papers.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Wednesday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Discuss the volunteering experience as a class, likes, dislikes, and overall learning experience. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">What would students change about the organization that they worked with if they were able to change something? Ask students if they will continue to volunteer in the future. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Remind students that all of their projects are due on Friday. Let them use the rest of the class to complete anything that they are still working on.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Thursday: **

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Collect the final portfolios from every student. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Ask students to evaluate the unit, explaining what they learned from it, and how it could be better. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 11pt;">Discuss the outcomes of the events.
 * <span style="color: #008080; font-family: Symbol,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Friday: **

__** Unit Grades **__ Class Writing Assignments: 30% Volunteering/Reflection: 15% Poverty Simulation/Reflection:10% Books/Presentation: 5% Class Participation/Homework: 10% Class Project/Reflection: 30%