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Lesson 14

We will compile and submit our portfolio of work from Section 1 and write a reflection, which will serve as the overview for the portfolio.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I make inferences and use evidence to support my understanding?

  • Can I discuss and write about the explicit or implicit meanings of text?

  • Can I write a reflection about my understanding of my character’s role in the allegory?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • Animal Farm, George Orwell, Signet Classics, 2004

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will plan a multi-paragraph reflection about connections among the work we have included in our portfolios for section 1.

Step 1

Review the purpose and expectations for a piece of reflective writing you will develop in class during this lesson.

Task:

Write a reflection in which you discuss how your first-person narrative vignettes are connected to your understanding of your character, your claim(s) about the character’s role in the allegory, and textual evidence you recorded in your Character Note-Taking Tool.

Review the guiding questions you will use to construct and organize your reflection:

  1. What is your current understanding of the allegory of Animal Farm and your character’s role in it (your evidence-based claim)?

  2. How are your first-person narrative vignettes connected to your claim about the allegory and your character’s role? How are they supported by evidence from your Character Note-Taking Tool?

  3. How have your understandings of the allegory and character developed as you have read and discussed the novel, leading to your evidence-based claim?

Discuss how you can use these questions to organize a three-part reflection. Develop a plan/outline for the reflection you will write.

Step 2

Review what you have prepared and brought to class as evidence to include in your Section 1 portfolio:

  • Your Character Note-Taking Tool

  • The explanation of an evidence-based claim about your character’s role in the allegory of Animal Farm

  • Your first-person narrative vignettes written from your character’s point of view

Think about how you will connect these together in the reflection you will be writing.

Activity 2: Write

We will write a reflection in response to the three task questions.

Write a multiparagraph reflection in which you discuss the connections among your notes, claim, and narrative vignettes, considering these questions:

  1. What is your current understanding of the allegory of Animal Farm and your character’s role in it (your evidence-based claim)?

  2. How are your first-person narrative vignettes connected to your claim about the allegory and your character’s role? How is it supported by evidence from your Character Note-Taking Tool?

  3. How have your understandings of the allegory and character developed as you have read and discussed the novel, leading to your evidence-based claim?

Activity 3: Write – Read

We will review and edit our reflections, then include them in our section 1 portfolios, along with our character Note-Taking Tools, claims, and first-person narrative vignettes.

Step 1

Review and revise your reflection, considering these expectations:

  1. Does your reflection tie your Character Note-Taking Tools, evidence-based claim paragraph, visual representations, and narrative vignettes together?

  2. Do you organize your reflection by the task questions, or chronologically, to follow your reading and understanding of the novella?

  3. Does your response make explicit references to the other pieces in your portfolio (Character Note-Taking Tool, evidence-based claim paragraph, visual representation, narrative vignettes)?

  4. Does your response integrate and cite quotations from the novel?

  5. Does your response use academic language correctly and refer to concepts studied in the unit?

Step 2

Compile the final evidence for your Section 1 Diagnostic portfolio and submit it to your teacher for evaluation and feedback:

  1. Your reflection, as an introduction/overview for your portfolio

  2. Your Character Note-Taking Tool, as a record of your reading and note-taking throughout Section 1

  3. Your explanation of your evidence-based claim about the meaning of Orwell’s allegory and your character’s role in it

  4. Your visual representation, which represents how you interpret and think of your character of study

  5. Your first person narrative vignettes in which your character introduces themself and tells the story of one or more key scenes from the character’s point of view

Activity 4: Write – Discuss

We will reflect on our work on the Section Diagnostic.

Choose at least three of the questions below regarding the Section Diagnostic and respond to them in your Learning Log:

  1. How well did you take necessary action to prepare for the task?

  2. What went well for you during the completion of this task?

  3. What did you struggle with during the completion of this task? How did you push through these struggles?

  4. How well did you actively focus your attention during this independent task?

  5. How well did you develop and use an effective and efficient process to maintain workflow during this task?

  6. What would you do differently during the next Section Diagnostic?

Activity 5: Read – Discuss

We will read and analyze the Culminating Task to identify the specific knowledge we are expected to learn throughout the unit and the specific skills we will need in order to be successful on the Culminating Task.

Step 1

Review the Central Question of the unit:

How do authors develop themes and social commentary through allegorical stories and characters?

Use the following questions to guide a discussion with a partner or small group:

  1. What is the Central Question asking?

  2. What might you already know in relation to the Central Question?

  3. What about the question piques your curiosity?

  4. How do you think this question relates to the texts or topic of the unit?

  5. If you were to provide an answer to the Central Question today, what would it be?

Step 2

In your Learning Log, write a response to Question 5:

  1. If you were to provide an answer to the Central Question today, what would it be?

You will return to this initial response in later lessons to examine how your understanding of the Central Question has evolved.

Step 3

Individually, review the Culminating Task Checklist, using the following guiding questions:

  1. What is the focus of the Culminating Task? What does the task ask you to do?

  2. What questions do you have about the Culminating Task?

Step 4

In a small group, discuss the following questions:

  1. Knowledge: What do I need to know to succeed on the Culminating Task?

  2. Skills: What skills do I need to succeed on the Culminating Task?

Use the Culminating Task Progress Tracker to note what you need to know and do to succeed on the Culminating Task. For each type of knowledge and skill identified, assess how prepared you are.

You will revisit the Culminating Task Progress Tracker and continue to build your understanding as you move through the unit.

Note how this first Section Diagnostic is linked to the Culminating Task. You will continue to develop and revise your narrative vignettes as you progress through the unit.

Activity 6: Write – Discuss

We will reflect on our work in relation to the unit’s Central Question and Culminating Task.

Step 1

Find your Culminating Task Progress Tracker. Think about the knowledge you have gained and the skills you have practiced thus far in the unit. Use the Culminating Task Progress Tracker to do the following:

  • Add or refine any skills and content knowledge required for the Culminating Task.

  • Evaluate how well you are mastering the skills and knowledge required for the Culminating Task.

Step 2

Review the Central Question of the unit:

How do authors develop themes and social commentary through allegorical stories and characters?

Use the following questions to guide a discussion with a partner or small group:

  1. What new knowledge do you have that relates to the Central Question?

  2. What are you still curious about that relates to the Central Question?

  3. What is the relationship between the Central Question and the texts you have read so far? How do the texts shed light on the question? How does the question help you understand the texts?

  4. How has your response to the question evolved, deepened, or changed?

In your Learning Log, write your response to Question 4. You will return to this response in later lessons to examine how your understanding of the Central Question has evolved.