Secondary Elements of Plot Unit

This unit always followed the unit on bullying for two reasons:

1. I picked books that brought the issue of bullying alive (Crash by Jerry Spinelli, The True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexi, and Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher are three I'd recommend).
2. I tackled the issue of bullying, while teaching the students the importance of picking out important details while reading.

The perks of this particular unit include:

• This unit follows the 4MAT Lesson Design: 
• Connect: Creating an experience for the learner. (Day 1) 
• Attend: Learner reflects and analyzes experience. (Day 1) 
• Image: Developing concept images. (Day 2) 
• Inform: Explain to learners how experts understand the concept. (Day 3-4) 
• Practice: Where the learner practices the defined concept and skills. (Day 4) 
• Extend: Where the learner experiments and adds something of oneself. (Day 5) 
• Refine: Where the leaner analyzes the concept for relevance and usefulness. (Day 6-7) 
• Perform: Where the learner is now applying what was learned to a new and more complex experience. (Day 7 and 8)

• Common Core Aligned (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.3 & CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.6) 
• Assessment Included 
• This 41 page unit uses YouTube video’s, graphic organizers, cartoons,
  
  a think-aloud to the short story The Lady or the Tiger? by Frank Stockton, manipulatives,
  
  and projects… Students Will: Identify and apply knowledge of the structure, elements and literary techniques to analyze fiction, identify the structure (beginning, middle, end), identify and analyze the elements (characters, setting, plot conflict, and point of view), describe how character traits determine resolution of the conflict, analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different characters or narrators in a text, analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot). 
• After completing the two weeks teaching the basics of the elements of plot, we'd read a book and complete the witches hat graphic organizer together as a class: 

  

  The PDF format is available for FREE on my TeachersPayTeachers account (go here to download it now).

Find it on TeachersPayTeachers and TeachersNotebook for $20 or contact me at rafikeys.to.success@gmail.com for purchase and we'll hash out the details.

A Unit on Bullying

The first two weeks of school were spent on classroom expectations. I found this training to be vitally important for the classroom environment. After this unit students understood the different types of bullying and how to help a victim, this in turn created a community of learners who treated one another with respect and kindness.

I highly recommend beginning your year with this. You will have less discipline issues, you will speak to their heart with issues that affect them every day, and they will understand how much you care about their well-being.

This unit is designed for junior high and high school students.

Day 1 begins with an activities to connect them to a victim of bullying. The rest of the days include many media motivators, journaling activities, role playing scenario's, classroom discussions, a survey, reading and discussing the short story The Fan Club by Rona Maynard (comprehension questions included), building community games, a research project, ending with knowing the school's bullying policies and creating anti-bullying student committee.

Here you can see page 1 where the objectives are clear, the 4MAT lesson design is explained and what day accomplishes each task and suggested books for different grades.

An example of how each day is written.

One example, of many, role play scenario's.

Recommended Books

• 7th Grade: Crash by Jerry Spinelli
• 8th & 9th Grade: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
• 10th - 12th Grade: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexi

Additional Resources:

• PBS Bullying Education Resources
• http://www.stopbullying.gov
• http://www.stopabully.ca/teacher-resources.html
• Giving Teachers Tools to Stop Bullying

Additional Activity Ideas: Create posters of the different types of bullying to hang in your classroom, as well as a "What to Do" or "How to Help" poster.

Check out my Pinterest board on Bullying for more resources.

Purchase this unit on:

• TeachersPayTeachers 
• TeachersNotebook