Literature Lesson Plan #2

Transcription

1 Date of Lesson: 11/21/2012 Lesson Topic/Book Title: The Unbreakable Code Literature Lesson Plan #2 BASIC LESSON INFORMATION Grade: 5th grade Estimated Time: 45 minutes (20 minutes read-aloud, 25 minutes activity) Connections to Standards and Lesson Objectives: Arizona Content Standards for Reading Key Ideas and Details Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. (5.RL.2) Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative language such as metaphors and similes. (5.RL.2) Describe how a narrator s or speaker s point of view influences how events are described. (5.RL.6) Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, and poem). (5.RL.7) Analyze multiple accounts of the same event or topic, noting important similarities and differences in the point of view they represent. (5.RI.6) Students will determine the theme from the story of The Unbreakable Code. (5.RL.2) Students will see how the Navajos faced their challenges of whether to help a Nation that was trying to take away their language.(5.rl.2) Students will be able to summarize the literature. (5.RL.2) Students will determine meanings of figurative language as they are read aloud in the novel such as what Our Mother meant to the Navajo Code talkers. (5.RL.2) Students will describe how Grandpa s point of view on the War influences what they think about heritage and Patriotism. (5.RL.6) Students will analyze the pictures of the novel to add a historical setting images perspective to the story. (5.RL.7) Students will see the Native American perspective of World War 2 and how they sacrificed and saved their country through the language the US told them to forget. Materials and Supplies: Literary Selection: The Unbreakable Code

2 Author: Sara Hoagland Hunter Illustrator: Julia Miner Publication: 1996 Genre: Historical Fiction Supplies Needed: White board and markers 2 secret items 2 codes with different patterns for students to decrypt, written on pieces of paper 2 answers for how to decrypt the code, on pieces of paper Paper for students to try and decrypt the code. A bag Homemade stars Key Vocabulary: Reservation, platoon, corridor, transmission, Response Activity: Students will play a game that simulates what it was like to be in the war, decrypting codes and hiding secret items. Half of the students will have secret items and the other will have codes that say what those items are. Students will find out how to decrypt these codes but they won t be able to decrypt the Navajo code. They will see how the Navajo language was a code that was unbreakable and how the US could keep their secret items safe from enemies knowledge. Connections to Prior Learning/Knowledge/Experience: I will bring up my lesson on Squanto. Squanto was a Native American who also chose to help the white settlers despite what many people from that group had done to him and his family. I will also use the student knowledge on communication and how that helps people unite and plans to work. LESSON PROCEDURES/ACTIVITIES 1. Gather students around the reader sofa chair and say, Lets close our eyes and have 15 seconds of complete silence. No talking! to get students in a peaceful, focused mood. 2. Say, Do you remember my lesson on Squanto? Do you remember that he was a Native American that helped the white settlers even though many of the people from that group had done bad things to him? He s not the only Native to ever help America Say, Class, what helps people get along and to work together? Wait for 1-2 responses. 4. Answer That s right! Talking. Being able to communicate is something that helps people work together and understand each other so that everything that is being planned turns out right. We wouldn t want any misunderstandings! Did you know that in WW2, we had to get messages and plans to each other so that we knew what we were doing? How do you think we did that with the enemy all around? 5. Allow a couple of responses, then say, We had what were called codes. Secret codes. But even though we had these codes, codes have patterns that can be found out by the enemy and our messages can be known! So we wanted an unbreakable code. A code that no one will be able to understand. This is the story about a group of people that helped us win the war with their language, which became our unbreakable code.

3 6. Hold up the book and say, This is The Unbreakable Code by Sara Hoagland Hunter, illustrated by Julia Miner. 7. Begin Reading about a Native American boy who doesn t want to leave his reservation. 8. During the reading, stop when the boy s Grandpa tells about his time in the Native American boarding school. 9. Ask, What didn t the authorities in the Boarding school want the Native Americans to speak? 10. Read further until the part where the boy s grandpa is telling of the time where he was speaking about the code. 11. Ask, What 2 parts did the code have? 12. Continue with the story and finish the book. 13. For the discussion, ask, Why did the boy s grandpa and many Native American Navajos feel that they needed to help America? and Why did the boy feel better about leaving the reservation now? 14. After the discussion, transition by saying, We now know of what the Navajos did to help the cause in WW2, so today we are going to be secret code agents too! 15. Start by dividing the students into 4 groups. Number them off 1-4 and have all the ones be a team and twos be a team, etc. 16. Once that is completed, have each team move to a corner of the classroom. 17. Have everyone but team 1 cover their eyes and team 1 need to surround the teacher giving the activity. 18. The teacher will hand them the secret item that they must protect. 19. Then, the other teams will be allowed to open their eyes as soon as team 1 hides their item in their corner. 20. After, Team 2, adjacent to the corner of team 1, will get the corresponding code, that, if cracked, will tell team 2 what item team 1 is hiding. This piece of paper with the code will not have the secret to breaking the code on it. That will be given later. 21. Repeat steps 16 through 19, for team 3 and 4, having one hold the secret item while the other has the code, that if unlocked, will tell the team without the secret item what the secret item is. 22. Once the teams with the codes get some time to try figuring it out themselves, the teacher will give the secret to unlocking and decoding the paper. For example, Secret Code # 1- sgdx gzud z bzs. The answer would be They have a cat. The code unlocked would be to just replace each letter with the one just after it in the alphabet. Read a book, for example, would be Sfbe a cppl. To make a z, Loop back to the start and write a. The other code, so that each team has a chance to decode and hold the secret item is Any time, i start Crying, Reggie starts to Avoid me, especially at the Beach. The message is composed by stringing only the capitals together. Eat good food, for example, would come from Every time Arthur went to Total Goodness to eat Outrageous Orange Donuts, he ended up seeing his arch enemies, Fred, Oscar, Ozzy and Danny. Circle the CAPITALS! The answer is a A crab. 23. Once every team has had a chance to be the item secret holder and the decoders, Then the entire class will be together to decode a Navajo message on the board. 24. The teacher will write out the message on the board and give students the code unlocker that will say, This language was never written down and is unknown. 25. Students will guess at the meaning, and then the teacher will hear responses on what the inferred meaning was. 26. The teacher will then give the answer. It means two stars. As in the rank. 27. The teacher will then check for understanding by saying, What language was difficult to decode in the activity? What about the book? Why? 28. The teacher will ask, What part was your favorite and why?

4 29. The teacher will close out the lesson by saying, We learned a lot today about the secret codes of WW2 and how the Navajos were involved in helping America win the war. If you re interested in learning more, check your library for more books on the topic. Hope you enjoyed the activity and learned about all the different people that love America and helped protect her. REFLECTION Why did I choose this particular literary selection? I chose this book because it kept with the theme that I had about Native Americans and how they chose to help a country that had taken their homes and was trying to take their very being. The Unbreakable Code mentions the Native American boarding schools which very little of the mainstream population knows about. These schools often were environments of extreme prejudice and many horrific scenes took place while the Native children were there. For example, they made students speak only English. On the outside this doesn t seem all that bad. However, what people may fail to realize is that by being forced to speak only English, many students forgot their Native tongues. Hence, when these children would go home, they would not be able to communicate with their families and community. In essence, they had lost their heritage and culture. There were other humiliations and atrocities that took place in the school, but I knew that my class was made up of students who had a first or second language that was not English. I wanted to stress for them to never forget their language and who they are. America still stresses English only; so many students pick up English and begin to forget their first of second language. I also chose this book because it showed a perspective to the war that is not always talked about. I love choosing topics that most of the population is not aware of. Especially, for students to learn a new point of view on the war. To Natives, this war was not a war of the oppressors; it was a war for our mother. The fact that they had this kind of outlook, despite what many went through in the boarding schools just amazes me. I felt that the students would be amazed as well. Such selflessness is to be admired and shared with others. This literature was of good quality because the author had done so much research and interviewed so many first-hand accounts from Navajo code talkers that I believe this book is a great resource and has terrific insight into what Navajos were feeling and what their motivations were. How did the children receive it? Why did they like or not like the story of literary selection? I believe they really liked the story. They loved saying and repeating all the colorful names of the Navajo codes and seeing what they meant in English and in battle. Despite a couple students who did not want to remain focused, most were curious and wanted to ask a huge amount of questions. Throughout the story, they wanted to raise their hands and ask how the Natives did this, why did the US treat them like that and so on. In our discussion, we talked about what the boarding schools were trying to do with the English only rule they established. We also brought up the point that despite what happened in the boarding schools, the Native Americans saw the US as our mother as the novel said, and they were willing to protect her and support her at all cost. The students thought that the Navajo grandpa in the story should be a greater hero than he was, because he had given up so much and embarked on some of the most deadly battles in the war. Unfortunately, the book states that these men did not get any sort of parade when they came home. The students felt that he should have received much more praise and gratitude. What were my challenges in planning the lesson? Delivery? The challenges that I faced were just putting enough thought in every aspect of the lesson to make sure I knew what I was doing once again. The depth and the amount of time that goes into lesson planning for

5 students is something I am getting used to seeing as this is my second. I find that I plan things a certain way, but the timing is hard to get right. In most cases, the time always wants to run over and become a two hour ordeal if I let it. That s how I knew that there was a huge difference in the ideal and what actually happens. So from the start, I basically had to imagine and play out how I thought the lesson would go. From their I try to estimate a target time which I take into account the time I start and approximately how long it would take to finish my book with some stopping throughout. The delivery went okay again, but of course like last time, my words were not natural in coming out exactly like I planned in my script. For example, I have a habit of saying you know or right too often. This means that some of my natural speech was coming out due to the fact that I did not want to read from my lesson plan. I always believe in speaking straight from my heart or off the top of my head. This gives the sense of preparation and that I made this lesson personal. I did very well in giving extra and further explanation for each direction I wanted the students to know, and I tried to have the simplest speech I could when re-explaining items. This was difficult since there were a lot more directions for the activity this time. What worked well in the lesson? Why? I believe that the activity worked very well. The students were enthusiastic and excited about doing a secret mission and working with codes. I believe it really brought the literature to life and helped the students to apply what they just heard into something that was entertaining and fun. After the activity, we were able to make some good connections about the activity and the book. Students were able to connect what actually happened to the simulation that they did. It really sparked their interest in the subject after the activity was over with. Many had so many questions and just wanted to keep going. I believe that my preparation and my time thinking about an enjoyable and engaging response activity helped make students want to know more. Although they liked the book, when I did the activity with them, they really took to the subject matter quick. I also believed the 15 seconds of silence and closing their eyes got students calmer and in a mindset to listen, view and think. I am a firm believer that the stage needs to be set to get students in a different mindset. I also think that they learned a great deal about Patriotism and that the many questions helped students focus on the topic. The questions I asked were personal, as well as comprehensive. They also had a call to action based on the theme of the novel which is to go through life with courage and honor. What didn t go as hoped or expected? Why not? Despite the silence moments before we began, I still found many students could not focus or were rowdy at different points of the lesson. In the previous lesson, students sat next to friends that made it difficult for the students to concentrate and finish their work. To fix this, I tried to put them in teams randomly, but unfortunately, the way I put them into groups did not stop the talking and the off task activity as much as I had hoped. I also found that the time constraints were hard to go by. The discussions could take forever and the activity, although quick, was time consuming as well. I had to rush a little to meet the set times, and even then, we still went over time. But for the most part, I was happy where we were at and felt that we got so much done. Did the students learn? How do I know? I believe the students learned a great deal because of how they answered the questions I asked during read-aloud and the fact that when I was closing the lesson, they continued to explain what they thought of the issues that were presented and wanted to know more. Whenever I can spark interest in the students, I believe they learned because whatever obstacles come in their way of their desired information, they will be more willing to overcome to seek their answer. Self-learning is the ultimate

6 goal for many teachers and if I was able to spark that for my students, I believe that they are learning and learning for a lifetime. If I had to do this lesson over again, what changes would I make? If I had to do this lesson over again, I would personally put the students in groups myself so that they wouldn t have as many distracting best friends that keep them off track. My way this time did get too many friends together on the same team. I would also maybe have them write more. I felt that there was a lack of writing used beyond trying to decrypt codes, so I believe that more reflective writing should have been utilized. But I took into consideration the time, which I did not have a lot of, so I ultimately left it out. Despite that, I felt overall, the lesson was a success again and that most of the lesson went exactly as planned.