Phase 2: Teacher Generated Question

Timeframe: (2) Ninety Minute Periods

Deep Connections: 

How a person faces conflict and adversity reveals a lot about their character.

You can overcome any challenges and still succeed. 

Student Inquiries: 

What do I notice when reading this question?

How can the stories of other people’s triumph influence my life? 

Learning Outcomes: 

Students will make text-to-self and text-to-world connections. 

Online Reading Comprehension Outcome: 

Students will know how to unpack a question to choose keywords. 

Materials: 

Projector

Access to computer lab

Graphic Organizer for unpacking question. 

Process: 

Warm-up: (20 min) 

Have students in their journals answer this question: What was the hardest challenge that you faced and how did you overcome it?

• Identify the challenge
• Describe the challenge
• Explain how you overcame the challenge.

Ask if any one is willing to share. Then ask the class to list some of the challenges they face. Students can go up to electronic white board and write the challenges.  

Ask students, “How are the challenges Hollis Woods faces similar to the challenges they face. Briefly discuss these responses 

Model:  (20 min)  

• Point students back to question that started the lesson. Ask them why would I provide the bullets? How would the question be different without the bullets?
• Show students how they could have developed the same list by unpacking the question.
• Pass out the unpack question worksheet.
• Go step-by-step and unpack the question.
  • Identify different parts of the question
  • Rewrite the question in your own words
  • Identify key terms
  • Consider your audience
• Explain to students you use these steps during online inquiry to help choose keywords.
•  

Guided Inquiry: (40 min)  

• Pass out another copy of the five steps worksheet
• Distribute the Teacher-Generated question: Can you find three famous people who grew up in foster care? What are some of the challenges they overcame? How do these challenges compare to those faced by Hollis Woods?
• Have class use a graphic organizer to unpack the question.
• Walk to each group and assist them in unpacking the question.
• Each group must email the teacher a list of three famous people who grew up in foster care and describe how their challenges compare to those of Hollis Woods?
• Once all groups email the teacher, open the email and read the responses to class.
• Then as a class unpack the question, choose a keyword, and find three examples.

IRT Inquiry Challenge 1: (30 min) 

• Break students into groups of four.
• Pass out the challenge card: “Fictional, folklore, and comic heroes often come from foster homes. Can you find at least three?”
• Divide students into roles and have them unpack the question.
  • student a: reread the question and rewrite it in their own words.
  • student b: highlight and record the important words in the question.
  • student c: try to guess what type of person would ask this question.
  • student d: develop key words to search
• Groups must email the teacher with a list of three fictional heroes with a detail about how each hero grew up in foster homes/

.

Independent practice (30 min) 

• Pass out the following question to each student: How many children are currently in foster care? How has this number changed in the past decade?
• Pass out unpack the question graphic organizer.
• Have students unpack the question and search for the answer.
• Then have students write an email to Hollis Woods letting her know how the challenges she faces are similar to 3 real life people and three fictional people.
• Then let her know how many children face similar challenges.  Finally give her advice on how to overcome her challenge.

Reflection:  

• Email any person you want and cc the teacher describing two details you learned in the past two days.

Assessment 

• The learners ability to unpack a question in order to choose keywords will be assessed using the graphic organizer.
• The learners ability to make text to world and text to text connections will be assessed using the email.