Curriculum / ELA / 8th Grade / Unit 5: Facing Calamity: Climate Change Facts and Fictions / Lesson 20
ELA
Unit 5
8th Grade
Lesson 20 of 23
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Outline a letter urging a congressperson to take action to stop climate change.
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Tasks that represents the peak thinking of the lesson - mastery will indicate whether or not objective was achieved
Create an outline in preparation for completing the following task:
Write a letter to one of your congresspeople (one of your two senators or your representative) to send along with your climate fiction scene. In this letter, you will explain why you think they should take immediate action to combat climate change and provide specific evidence for how climate change will impact your region of the country.
Your letter must:
An example response to the Target Task at the level of detail expected of the students.
Reading and/or task to be completed at home in preparation for the next lesson.
Complete any work not finished in class.
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W.8.1 — Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
W.8.1.a — Introduce claim(s), acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.
W.8.1.b — Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.
W.8.5 — With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed.
Standards that are practiced daily but are not priority standards of the unit
L.8.6 — Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.
SL.8.1 — Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
SL.8.6 — Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
W.8.4 — Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
W.8.6 — Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas efficiently as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
W.8.7 — Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.
W.8.8 — Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.
W.8.9 — Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
W.8.10 — Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Lesson 19
Lesson 21
Explain how specific words, phrases, and structural choices develop tone in Greta Thunberg’s speeches, and how tone impacts meaning.
RI.8.4
Identify the key ideas Gore uses to support his claims about climate change and assess whether the evidence he provides is relevant and sufficient.
RI.8.8
Identify a writer’s claims in a text and explain how they support those claims, as well as how they respond to conflicting viewpoints.
RI.8.6 RI.8.8
Infer the meaning of unknown words using context clues, use reference materials to verify the meaning of words, and explain how word choice develops meaning in an informational article.
L.8.4 L.8.4.a L.8.4.c L.8.4.d RI.8.4
Explain how Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner specific words and phrases develop tone in a poem and how tone impacts meaning.
RL.8.4
Write objective summaries and determine central ideas in informational articles.
RI.8.2
Identify claims made in an informational article and assess the relevance and sufficiency of evidence provided to support those claims.
Explain how writer Abby Geni uses imagery and figurative language to establish mood and meaning in a short story.
RL.8.2 RL.8.4
Determine a theme in the short story, "Notes from a Bottle" and explain how the author develops it; identify literary allusions and explain how they help to build meaning in a text.
RL.8.2 RL.8.9
Writing
Research the possible impacts of climate change and begin to brainstorm aspects of setting for climate fiction narratives.
W.8.3 W.8.8 W.8.9
Draft two paragraphs vividly describing the setting of your climate fiction narrative.
W.8.3 W.8.3.a W.8.3.b W.8.3.d
Draft a short climate fiction scene.
W.8.3 W.8.3.a
L.8.2 L.8.2.a W.8.3 W.8.5
Compare and contrast the central arguments of two articles about climate change, and explain how one author acknowledges and responds to viewpoints that differ from their own.
RI.8.6 RI.8.9
Determine the central idea of sections of An Inconvenient Sequel and synthesize information in a short presentation that educates classmates.
RI.8.2 SL.8.4
Synthesize information about a young climate activist and create a short presentation that educates classmates.
Delineate arguments made about climate change and assess whether the evidence provided is relevant and sufficient.
Socratic Seminar
Engage in a Socratic Seminar with peers, responding directly to others by rephrasing and delineating arguments, determining the strength of evidence, and posing clarifying questions.
SL.8.1 SL.8.1.d SL.8.3 SL.8.4
Research the potential local impacts of climate change in preparation for writing a letter to a congressperson.
W.8.1 W.8.7 W.8.8 W.8.9
W.8.1 W.8.1.a W.8.1.b W.8.5
Draft a letter urging a congressperson to take action to stop climate change.
W.8.1 W.8.1.a W.8.1.b W.8.1.c W.8.1.e
L.8.3 L.8.3.a W.8.1 W.8.1.d
Assessment – 2 days
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