Informative Non-Fiction + Personal Research Unit Plan

Unit Focus: Non-

Grade(s): 8 Fiction and Personal Unit Dates: Nov. 19th – Dec. 14th Teacher: Megan Grant
Research
Overview:
In this unit, students will practice reading informative texts for research purposes. Students will choose and refine a topic of interest,
which eventually they will write a research report on and then teach the class about in a short presentation.

Rationale:
In an age where students have access to so much information right at their fingertips, it is important for them to know how to get the
most out of texts that are designed to inform them. Students need to know how to find information, assess the credibility of a
source, and how to communicate the things they have learned in a way that will be clear to others. Students must learn how
to think for themselves when presented with information, and that is the focus of this unit.

Objectives / Learner Outcomes:

G.L.O. 2 – Students will listen, speak, read, write, view, and represent to comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print, and
other media texts.

2.3 Understand Forms, Elements and Techniques

 Understand forms and genres
o Discuss how the choice of form or genre of oral, print and other media texts is appropriate to purpose and audience
o Compare the usefulness of different types of media texts
 Understand techniques and elements
o Distinguish theme from topic or main idea in oral, print and other media texts
o Summarize the content of media texts, and discuss the choices made in planning and producing them
G.L.O. 3 – Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to manage idea and information.

3.1 Plan and Focus

 Focus attention
o Experiment with several ways to focus a topic, and select a form appropriate to audience and purpose.
o Identify and trace the development of arguments, opinions or point of view in oral, print and other media texts
 Determine information needs
o Select the most appropriate information sources for topic, audience, purpose and form
 Plan to gather information
o Choose a plan to access, gather and record information, according to self-selected parameters
3.2 Select and Process
 Use a variety of sources
 o Obtain information from a variety of sources, such as artifacts, debates, forums, biographies, autobiographies, surveys,
documentaries, films, CDROMs, charts and tables, when conducting research.
 Access Information
o Expand and use a variety of tools and text features, such as subtitles, margin notes, key words, electronic searches, previews,
reviews, visual effects and sound effects to access information
o Record key ideas and information from oral, print and other media texts, avoiding overuse of direct quotations
o Adjust rate of reading or viewing to suit purpose and density of information in print or other media texts
 Evaluate sources
o Develop and use criteria for evaluating the usefulness, currency and reliability of information for a particular research project

3.3 Organize, Record and Evaluate

 Organize information
o Organize ideas and information creatively, as well as logically, to develop a comparison or chronology, or to show a cause-effect
relationship
o Organize ideas and information to establish an overall impression or point of view in oral, print, and other media texts
 Record information
o Make notes in point form, summarizing major ideas and supporting details; reference sources
o Discard information that is irrelevant for audience, purpose, form or point of view
o Use a consistent and approved format to give credit for quoted and paraphrased ideas and information
 Evaluate information
o Evaluate the relevance and importance of gathered information address information gaps
o Incorporate new information with prior knowledge and experiences to develop new understanding
3.4 Share and Review
 Share ideas and information
o Communicate ideas and information in a variety of oral, print, and other media texts, such as interviews, minilessons, and
documentaries
o Integrate appropriate visual, print, and/or other media to inform and engage the audience
 Review research process
o Assess the research process, and consider alternative ways of achieving research goals

G.L.O. 4 – Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance the clarity and artistry of communication

4.1 Enhance and Improve

 Appraise own and others’ work
 o Share draft oral, print and other media texts in a way that will elicit useful feedback
o Evaluate how particular content features contribute to, or detract from, the overall effectiveness of own and others’ oral, print
and other media texts; make and suggest revisions
 Revise and edit
o Revise by adding words and phrases that emphasize important ideas or create dominant impressions
o Revise to enhance sentence variety, word choice and appropriate tone
o Enhance the coherence and impact of documents, using electronic editing functions
o Use paragraph structures to demonstrate unity and coherence
 Enhance legibility
o Choose an effective format for documents, depending on the content, audience and purpose
4.2 Attend to Conventions
 Attend to grammar and usage
o Use words and phrases to modify, clarify and enhance ideas and descriptions in own writing
o Use a variety of simple, compound and complex sentence structures to communicate effectively, and to make writing interesting
o Use correct pronoun-antecedent agreement in own writing
o Use verb tenses consistently throughout a piece of writing
 Attend to spelling
o Develop a systematic and effective approach to studying and remembering the correct spelling of key words encountered in a
variety of print and other media texts
o Use knowledge of spelling generalizations and how words are formed to spell technical terms and unfamiliar words in own
writing
o Identify the use of spelling variants in print and other media texts, and discuss the effectiveness depending on audience and
purpose
 Attend to capitalization and punctuation
o Use hyphens to break words at the end of lines, and to make a new word from two related words in own writing
o Identify semicolons, dashes and hyphens when reading, and use them to assist comprehension
o Use parentheses appropriately in own writing
o Use appropriate capitalization and punctuation for referencing oral, print and other media texts
Key Teaching and Learning Activities:
 Reading a variety of articles on social media and critical literacy


Resources: Planning for Diversity: Assessment and Evaluation:

 Resource Lines 7/8  NewsELA website allows for the same article  Critical Literacy Campaign
to be modified for reading level while Project
 Nonfiction Mentor Texts: maintaining content
Teaching Informational  Research Paper
Writing Through Children’s
Literature, K-8  Research Presentation

 Teachingkidsnews.ca

 Newsela.com

Assessment/Evaluation
Teaching and Learning Planning for
Day Outcomes Resources (Formative &
Activities Diversity
Summative)
1 Reading for Informational Resource Lines 7/8 (p. 21-35) Formative
2.3 Understand Purposes Class discussion
Forms, Elements and Review – there are the three Brainstorming Activity
Techniques – main purposes for writing? (to
understand forms entertain, persuade, or to Summative
and genres inform) N/A
 3.1 Plan and Focus – Go over different kinds of non-
focus attention fiction

In what different situations

might you need to read for
informational purposes?
(brainstorming activity)

Lecture – Strategies for reading

informative texts – KWL Charts,
Think-Write Plan, or SQ3R
Reading Plan – have students do
guided notes for this?

Survey – what do students find

motivating in the classroom?
(P.I.P.)

2.3 Understand Issue Overview: Are Social Article Use Newsela to Formative
Forms, Elements, Networking Sites Good for our https://newsela.com/read/lib-procon-social- accommodate Pro-con t-chart
and Techniques – Society? networking/id/23704/ reading level for
understand Tammy Summative
techniques and Read through article as a class N/A
elements modelling the SQ3R method for
students.
3.1 Plan and Focus –
focus attention Read critically, trying to figure
2 out what the point of view of
3.2 Select and the author of the article is. Do
Process – access they think social media is helpful
information/evaluate or harmful?
sources
Have students make a pro-con t-
chart about social media listing
the benefits and downfalls for
individuals and for society.
3 2.3 Understand Read “Negative, positive effects Article https://newsela.com/read/study-teenagers- Formative
Forms, Elements, of excessive social media use on emotional-health-social-media/id/31749/
and Techniques – teens studied” Summative
understand Use yesterday’s pro-con chart as Opinion Paragraph
techniques and pre-reading material and
elements continue to update this chart.
 3.1 Plan and Focus – Have students write an opinion
focus attention piece on the effects of social
media. Outline the positive
3.2 Select and aspects, the negative aspects,
Process – access and then write a paragraph with
information/evaluate your own opinion about social
sources media.
2.3 Understand Read “New Study: Books Don’t Articles Formative
Forms, Elements, Take You Anywhere” together as https://www.theonion.com/new-study-books-dont- Class Discussion
and Techniques – a class take-you-anywhere-1819563809
understand Summative
techniques and What is satire and why is it so https://newsela.com/read/fake-news- N/A
elements dangerous? (Mini-Lesson) – ramifications/id/24809/
discuss websites like “The
3.1 Plan and Focus – Onion”, and how an age of
focus attention political satire makes it so
important for us to be critical
3.2 Select and readers especially when you’re
Process – access on the internet.
4 information/evaluate
sources Have students read “Suddenly,
many American readers have
decided fake news isn’t fake
anymore” and fill in a SQ3R plan
for it.

Discuss the growing problem of

“Fake News” – why do you think
this is a problem? How can we
combat this issue?
 2.3 Understand Read “Google news stories will Article Formative
Forms, Elements, now be accompanied by a fact- https://newsela.com/read/google-fact-check- Class Discussion
and Techniques – checking tool” tool/id/29191/ Brain Storming
understand
techniques and Discuss how relying on the Summative
elements internet to read critically for us is Critical Thinking Campaign
not a valid solution to the Project
3.1 Plan and Focus – problem.
focus attention
Refer back to the importance of
3.2 Select and reading critically when reading
Process – access for information. Brainstorm
5 information/evaluate what this looks like when
sources reading articles online

Project – have students create

some kind of campaign to
promote critical thinking when
reading information online. This
could be a brochure, a poster, a
Powerpoint, etc. (must have
some kind of visual component,
can’t just be a paragraph)

2.3 Understand Read “Facebook’s new normal is Article https://newsela.com/read/midterms- Formative

Forms, Elements, behind locked doors in its ‘war facebook/id/46991/
and Techniques – room’” Summative
understand Critical Thinking Campaign
techniques and Work Day for Project Project
elements

6 3.1 Plan and Focus –

focus attention

3.2 Select and

Process – access
information/evaluate
sources
 3.2 Select and Reading Critically Resource Lines 7/8 (p. 36-42) Formative
Process – evaluate What does the word critical Class Discussion
sources make you think of? Why is it
important to read with a critical Summative
mind? N/A

This kind of reading involves

several different kinds of
thinking – recognizing, analysing,
evaluating
7
Recognize fact vs. opinion and
testing the logic of opinions

Check point of view (bias)

Use historical and biographical

cues – important to keep in
mind to know where the author
is coming from.

3.2 Select and Finding the real experts – Video on checking source credibility Formative
Process – evaluate checking the validity of sources Class Discussion
sources online. Who should you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ122WakNDY Credibility Checking Activity
believe?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-Y-z6HmRgI Summative
Credibility checking activity –
8 provide students with three
different resources and have
them decide which one they
think is real and which ones they
think are real and which ones
they think are fake.

2.3 Understand Lit. Circle Activity #1 – give Formative

Forms, Elements and students a chance to choose Group Discussion
Techniques – which issue they want to look at
understand and group them according to Summative
9 techniques and these texts. Each group will look
elements at 2 articles on their assigned
topic
3.3 Organize, Record,
 and Evaluate – Topics
organize information
1) The effect of plastic on
the environment

2) Is musical study
important in our
educational system?

3) Do teenagers need
more sleep?
3.1 Plan and Focus – Lit. Circle Activity Day 2 Formative
focus attention Topic narrowing activity
Writing Assignment – students Summative
will use their literacy circle Opinion Paragraph
information to write an opinion
10 paragraph based on an issue
related to their topic.

Work on narrowing the topic

3.1 Plan and Focus – Finding a Topic and Point for Nonfiction Mentor Texts p.13-35 Formative
focus attention personal research Expert Lists
Developing an essential question
for research Summative
Expert Trees – Have students
create a list of topics they are
quite knowledgeable about.
11 From each topic branch off to
show all of the different sub-
categories within that category.

Students will choose a topic to

research and write a report on.

12 3.2 Select and Review note-taking strategies Formative

Process when reading sources for Class Discussion
3.3 Organize, Record, specific information Observation/Conversation
and Evaluate
Finding and recording research – Summative
review strategies for finding
 reliable informative sources and
provide students with a list of
websites they can use

Research time
3.2 Select and Review using KWL charts to fill in Formative
Process the gaps of your research, using Class Discussion
the unanswered wonder Observation/Conversation
13 3.3 Organize, Record, questions to guide searches
and Evaluate Summative
Research time
3.4 Share and Review Essay Writing Review – go over Formative
common errors from the last Conferencing
essay. (tone, sentence structure,
capitalization Summative

Review the structure of a

14 research essay and what each of
the body paragraphs should
contain

Pre-writing – have students

make a plan for their research
essay
4.3 Share and Review Drafting – Review how to write Formative
an effective introduction Peer Evaluation

15 Have students write their Summative

introduction and then peer
evaluate. A strong introduction
is the first step to a strong essay
4.3 Share and Review Drafting – Body Paragraph #1 + Formative
#2
Summative
16 Practice writing topic sentences
and discuss transition sentences
and transition statements
17 4.3 Share and Review Drafting – Body Paragraph #3 + Formative
Conclusion
Summative
Review how to write a solid
 conclusion.

4.3 Share and Review Editing Day – edit for Formative

capitalization, punctuation, tone,
18 and structure. Summative
Research Essay
Essays Due
4.3 Share and Review Presentation Preparation – Formative
students will take the
information from their research Summative
essay and present it to the class.
This could take the form of a
Powerpoint or a poster. Each
19 presentation will be 3-5 minutes
long with some time for
questions

Discuss the components of an

effective presentation.
4.3 Share and Review Prep for Presentation – Final Formative
work day for students to prepare
for their presentations Summative

Small group practice

20 presentations

Discuss the role of the presenter

and the role of the audience
during a presentation.

4.3 Share and Review Presentations – each student Students who are Formative
will have a few minutes to uncomfortable
present on their topic and then with making a Summative
they will answer their peers presentation to Presentation of Research
questions the whole class
21 can speak to me
Active Listening Exercise – about doing a
students will need to hand in a presentation just
chart with one thing they for me.
learned from each student’s
presentation