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Beyond Words

INTRODUCTION AND RATIONALE

This literature unit is designed to engage primary students with high abilities in the verbal domain in challenging reading, writing, and interpretation skills in the language arts. It reflects the need among young gifted students for a greater exposure to higher-level thinking activities sooner in their school years than other students. In addition, the unit specifically focuses on literature that utilizes extensive figurative language, with the intent of supporting young children's development of metaphoric competence in the areas of both comprehension and production.

The unit is based on the Integrated Curriculum Model (VanTassel-Baska, 1986, 1995), which involves the integration of an advanced content dimension, a process-product dimension, and a central concept dimension. The central content of the unit is the analysis of literature, particularly literature incorporating the figurative language devices of simile, metaphor, and personification, with a heavy emphasis on the structure and purpose of figurative language. A secondary content emphasis is the role of context in understanding language, with a corresponding focus on vocabulary study. Third, the content includes an introduction to a model for persuasive writing. The major process involved in the unit is analogical reasoning, with figurative language devices broken down into their components for analysis. Student products include writing products as well as a long-term project related to the unit's central concepts. The unit is centered around the concept of change, with particular emphasis on the concept of language and its relationship to change. Discussion of change is threaded throughout the unit, and students explore how language changes as well as the changes language can cause.

The goals of the unit include goals for literary analysis and interpretation, figurative language, persuasive writing, linguistic competency, analogical reasoning, and conceptual understanding of change. These goals are accomplished through a series of reading, writing, and discussion activities, as well as hands-on nonverbal tasks. Student achievement is assessed with embedded assessments throughout the unit as well as preassessments and postassessments for literary analysis and interpretation and persuasive writing.

CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK

CONTENT GOALS

Goal 1 To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature
Students will be able to

1. Describe what a selected literary passage means;
2. State an important idea of a reading;
3. Analyze similarities and differences in meaning among selected works of literature;
4. Create a title for a reading selection and provide a rationale to justify it.

Goal 2: To develop skills in identifying, analyzing, and using figurative language
Students will be able to

1. Recognize figurative expressions in text, including simile, metaphor, and personification;
2. Analyze a metaphorical expression for topic, object of comparison, and shared characteristics;
3. Use the forms of simile, metaphor, and personification to create figurative comparisons.

Goal 3: To develop persuasive writing skills
Students will be able to

1. Write a persuasive paragraph that includes a claim, reasons, and conclusion;
2. Revise and edit a piece of writing.

Goal 4: To develop linguistic competency
Students will be able to

1. Use context clues and analogies to discover word meanings;
2. Develop vocabulary skill commensurate with reading.

GOALS

CONTENT

1 To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature
2 To develop skills in identifying, analyzing, and using figurative language
3 To develop persuasive writing skills
4 To develop linguistic competency

PROCESS

5 To develop analogical reasoning skills

CONCEPT

6 To develop an understanding of the concept of change, especially changes related to language

PROCESS GOAL

Goal 5: To develop analogical reasoning skills
Students will be able to

1. Solve verbal analogy problems;
2. Use analogies as support for understanding new words;
3. Recognize and analyze figurative language that appears in analogy form.

CONCEPT GOAL

Goal 6: To develop an understanding of the concept of change, especially changes related to language
Students will be able to

1. Understand that change is linked to time;
2. Analyze changes to determine whether they are positive or negative, natural or human in cause, and orderly or random;
3. Recognize the change process at work in a selection of literature;
4. Demonstrate changes in language over time;
5. Describe changes language can cause in human behavior and emotions.

LESSON PLANS

Alignment of Lessons with Unit Goals

Letter to Parents

Lesson 1 Introduction and Preassessment
Lesson 2 The Concept of Change
Lesson 3 Language and Change
Lesson 4 Adjectives
Lesson 5 Similes and Metaphors
Lesson 6 More about Metaphor
Lesson 7 Creating Imagery
Lesson 8 Using Context Clues
Lesson 9 Owl Moon
Lesson 10 Persuasive Writing
Lesson 11 Analogies
Lesson 12 Understanding Words in Context
Lesson 13 Haiku and the Seasons
Lesson 14 Personification
Lesson 15 Symbols
Lesson 16 Wordless Books
Lesson 17 The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
Lesson 18 Pictures Made of Words
Lesson 19 Project Presentations
Lesson 20 Unit Wrap-Up and Postassessment

LETTER TO PARENTS

Dear Parents:

Your child is engaged in a special language arts unit called Beyond Words: Imagery in Literature. It is designed specifically to meet the needs of high-ability students. The goals are as follows:

To develop analytical and interpretive skills in literature

To develop skills in identifying, analyzing, and using figurative language

To develop persuasive writing skills

To develop linguistic competency

To develop analogical reasoning skills

To develop understanding of the concept of change, especially changes related to language

A variety of literature selections will provide the context for our exploration of figurative language and
change. The literature will stimulate discussion, writing, listening, and vocabulary activities. In class, we will read and discuss numerous poems, several picture books, and one novel. Students will keep response journals to help them reflect on what they read. We will specifically look for examples of figurative language in what we read, and we will learn to understand the parts of similes and metaphors and why they are used.

The unit includes the following activities that will require some work outside of class and may need your support at home:

Independent reading, including a novel

Written homework assignments

A research project on language changes in your family over time

Further information will be sent home as assignments are given. There will be opportunities for students
to work with the teacher and classmates on each project as the unit progresses.

Student progress in the unit will be assessed in several ways. First, a pretest will assess skill level in the language arts areas of literature analysis and persuasive writing. Second, a writing portfolio will document progress in writing. Students will use self-assessments to evaluate their use of figurative language in writing. I also welcome comments and feedback from parents on how the unit is progressing.

Good curriculum and instructional practice should involve parents as well as teachers. The following ideas may be useful as your child experiences the unit:

Read the books and poetry your child is reading and discuss key ideas and use of language.

Play word games to enhance vocabulary and language usage.

Encourage your child to write every day in a diary or journal.

Try to set up a letter-writing or e-mail arrangement with someone from another country or another part of the United States in order encourage writing on a regular basis.

When watching movies or television together, discuss the ideas presented with your child and encourage close attention to how ideas are handled in the media.

Thank you in advance for your interest in your child's curriculum. Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information as the unit progresses.

Sincerely;