Lesson 8

Lesson Goals

Texts

Materials

Tools

• What Does It Mean to Live a Life Well-Lived?: Supplemental Texts Handout

Activity 1: Read – Write

We will review what we learned from exploratory keyword research of additional research sources or websites. We will determine if we want to extend our team research using information or texts from those sites during section 3 of the unit.

Step 1

Report to your seminar team about what you discovered through a keyword search of research sources or websites from the Supplemental Texts Handout. Report specifically about the following:

• potentially valuable information that might enrich your understanding and help you refine your team claim

• supplemental texts you or your teammates might read next

• multimedia resources that could be used within your team’s presentation at the end of Section 3

Step 2

Discuss a seminar team strategy going forward for doing additional research.

Determine what each team member might do between this lesson and the first lesson of Section 3 to extend your individual and team research.

Activity 2: Discuss

We will write and send a progress report to our teacher and our seminar teammates.

Step 1

Considering the guidelines for informal research proposals and business memos that you learned about in Section 2, Lesson 3, compose a memo to your teacher in the prescribed format that presents a progress report on your research so far. Organize the content of your memo as follows (or in another format suggested by your teacher):

• What have you and your seminar team accomplished so far? Succinctly review and reflect on the goals for your research, including the following:

  • what you had hoped to learn about your focus topic and have learned so far

  • what you have learned about working with a seminar team

  • your current, developing ideas about what you will write in response to the texts you have read

• How have your reasons for doing research, your focus, and your thinking evolved during the seminar process? Succinctly explain how your research and focus have evolved, including the following:

  • the pathways you investigated

  • the reasons you continue to be interested in these pathways, or why you shifted your interests

  • what you still hope to learn as you continue your research, reading, and seminar discussions

• How have you conducted the research? Succinctly identify the questions you have addressed or generated and the texts, keywords, or research portals you have used:

  • List your current inquiry questions, including the unit’s Central Questions and questions developed by your seminar team.

  • List the three (or more) texts (including their genres) from the Supplemental Text Handout that you have read, presented to your team, and discussed so far.

  • List any research sources, websites, and keywords you have used (or might use) to find additional texts, videos, or information.

Step 2

As you compose your memo, remember to be brief, to the point, and professional. Consider using clear headings and bullets to make the information easier to follow.

Submit your memo to your teacher via email for review and approval. Also send it to your seminar team members so that they will be updated about your reflections on the team research process.

Step 3

Using the Discussion Checklist from the Academic Discussion Reference Guide, assess your participation and contributions to your seminar team discussions so far.

Activity 3: Discuss

We will review the expectations for the section 2 diagnostic, then review our performance on the previous Section Diagnostic to determine what we want to focus on in writing a response to a text we have read during this section of the unit.

Step 1

As a class, review and discuss the questions, task, and expectations for the Section 2 Diagnostic, noting that the task parallels the one you did at the end of Section 1:

Task

Considering what you have learned from reviewing the Section 1 Diagnostic, write an interpretation of and personal response to one of the texts you chose to read in this section of the unit.

Part 1: Interpretation of the Text

Write a brief summary of the text you selected. In your interpretive summary, address these two questions:

1. What meaning have you found in the text, and how does it address the unit’s first Central Question: What does it mean to live a life well-lived?

2. How has the author of the selected text communicated that meaning through a story, other textual details, and figurative language (imagery, metaphors, symbols)?

Part 2: Personal Response

Develop a short personal reflection, essay, or narrative, which you will write in class. In your personal response, consider the unit’s second Central Question: What compass might you carry as you undertake your journey in the world?

Your personal response might take one of the following forms:

• Option 1: A reflective narrative, in which you tell the story of how you have come to understand the text and find meaning in it.

• Option 2: A personal essay, in which you discuss the central stories and ideas of the selected text and how they might be significant as a compass for you.

• Option 3: A personal narrative, based on a meaningful story from your own life that is somehow connected to the stories and ideas in your selected text.

Ask any clarifying questions about the nature of the task and how you will prepare for it.

Step 2

Review the response you wrote for the first Section Diagnostic, which also involved writing an interpretive summary and a personal response to a text you selected.

Look at the feedback you received from your teacher and areas that were designated as strengths or in need of improvement.

Based on your review, set a goal for one key thing you want to work on and improve.

Activity 4: Read

We will determine which text, from the five we read during this section of the unit, we want to focus on for the Section Diagnostic.

Step 1

Review your notes, responses to questions, tools, and summaries for the five texts you read during this section of the unit: two (an essay and a poem) as a seminar team and three (or more) independently. Look for the best text for you to respond to, considering the following:

• the text’s meaning for you as a compass and its relevance to the Central Questions and your own inquiry questions

• your understanding of the text, its perspective and central ideas, and the ways in which stories and figurative language have been used to communicate its ideas

• the quality of the interpretive summary and explication you wrote, as well as the quality of any personal responses you wrote in your Learning Log

Step 2

Select the text you will respond to for the Section Diagnostic.

Review your Summarizing Text Tool and interpretive summary of the text. Revise the summary paragraph so that it represents your best thinking and writing about the meaning of the text. Be sure that your summary does the following:

• begins with a topic sentence that presents your claim about the meaning of the text (its central ideas)

• cites language from the text and explains how the detail is connected to the overall meaning of the text

• presents a concluding claim that explains how and why you think the text, and the meaning you identified, represents an interesting commentary on what it means to live a life well-lived and how it might be a compass for you as you undertake your journey in the world around you

Step 3

Determine which of the three options for a written personal response to the text you want to do as an in-class writing task in the next lesson.

Your personal response might take one of the following forms:

• Option 1: A reflective narrative, in which you tell the story of how you have come to understand the text and find meaning in it.

• Option 2: A personal essay, in which you discuss the central stories and ideas of the selected text and how they might be significant as a compass for you.

• Option 3: A personal narrative, based on a meaningful story from your own life that is somehow connected to the stories and ideas in your selected text.

Step 4

Based on the option you have chosen, begin to plan the personal response to the text that you will write. Develop an outline, cluster diagram, storyboard, or other organizing plan for the response you will write.

Activity 5: Read

For homework, we will finish preparing to write a personal response to a selected text for the Section Diagnostic.

For homework, finish revising your previously written summary and explication for the text you will respond to. Then, further develop your plan for the personal response you will write for the Section 2 Diagnostic during the next lesson and class.