![]() Logical thought and the ability to draw conclusions are becoming more evident. They are capable of thinking in more abstract ways. Developmentally, these students are moving on from what Piaget characterized as the concrete stage of development to the cusp of the formal operational stage. One can easily see that they are "trying on" a variety of roles. Others help out in the kindergarten or in classrooms where children have special needs. Many assist teachers in roles of responsibility, such as safety patrol and office and library helpers. They are the oldest students in our school, and therefore hold a somewhat privileged position. My fifth- grade students are at a unique time in their lives. Therefore, my students continue to have access to the regular classroom curriculum, in addition to the Enrichment program. They are seen each day for a period of 45 minutes during an intervention time. This unit has been created for my fifth- grade Reading Enrichment students. The program begins in the first few weeks of school and students may enter the program at any time after a review by myself, the classroom teacher and the principal. Data used in the eligibility criteria include Delaware Comprehensive Assessment System (Delaware's State Test) and Terra Nova (norm referenced) scores in each subject area, along with teacher recommendation. ![]() Although being in the program one year does not guarantee that a student will be eligible the next, many of my students qualify for my program year after year. My groups are representative of the school's diverse population in terms of race and socioeconomic status. This means that I work with the students who perform in the highest 10% in the areas of Math and Reading. I am responsible for challenging our top academic students as Thurgood Marshall's Enrichment Teacher. Ours is the largest district in the state of Delaware and it encompasses both urban and suburban populations. Other characteristics include 7% of students that are English Language Learners, 40% from low income families, and 8% identified as Special Education students. Our demographics are diverse, with approximately 42% of students reporting their race as African American, 41% as White, 12% as Asian American, and 6% as Hispanic (DE Department of Education, 2010). It is a large suburban school in Newark, Delaware. I teach at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School. The final activity in the unit has students "walking a day in the shoes" of another, as they imagine themselves the owner of a real pair of shoes and they write from that perspective. Students will take a more personal approach to looking at these characters, as they write journals from the perspective of a chosen character. In the novel Indigo, by Alice Hoffman 4, the notion of change is experienced by three young friends, their families, and the very town in which they life. ![]() Students will examine the change that takes place in the two main characters through a collaborative activity. The first is "Shells", by Cynthia Rylant 3, a short story about a young teen who is forced to live with his older, single aunt after the death of his parents. Two pieces of literature will focus on character and in particular, the way in which characters may change over the course of a story. The Langston Hughes poem "Mother to Son" 1 will provide the text for a Socratic Seminar 2 about narrative voice. In order to consider the way that we use nonverbal cues in our communication, the unit will study silent film clips such as Charlie Chaplin and contemporary situation comedies (without the sound) from the Nickelodeon channel. I have chosen to use a variety of literature in this unit. This ability to read character in print and everyday life along with the inner-workings of this process is the focus of this unit. On the other hand, our assumptions can end up being absolutely false. Depending on how well we know the other person, our accuracy may be quite good. Truthfully, we can only know ourselves in this private way and must rely on our skills of observation and speculation to make conclusions regarding another person's thoughts, motivations, and intentions. We must rely on our own past experiences, along with social and visual clues to help us unlock the mysteries of the inner selves of others. Despite this potential for error, we must perform this trick every day as we interact with others of all ages and in a variety of situations. Have you ever been shocked to discover that you have totally misunderstood another's actions or intentions? Or wrestled with the notion that someone is lying to you? Unfortunately, there is no Mind Reading for Dummies to assist us in these situations. Reading Between the Lines: The Secret Lives of Characters by Nancy Ventresca Introduction
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