Maria

Introduction
Memorable Books!

Learning Objectives
After reading several books, from different genres, middle school students will determine which book is their favorite. Students will determine the book’s genre and what makes that genre interesting and can a book impact its reader to answer the Essential Question, // Has there been a book that I was glad to have picked up and read // ?

Content
 Students will write a brief summary of the book. They then will research and interview the author of to find out what inspired the author to write the book and write about it. After students receive feedback from their peers and participate in student-led conferences with the teacher about their writing, they work individually to compile their writings into a PowerPoint. In a final celebration, the students share their presentations with the class and author who they interviewed. 

Prior to the Unit Introduction PowerPoint 1. Tell students that they are now going to begin to write summaries that will go in a PowerPoint. Pair students with partners for the interviewing experience. Place students in small groups and ask the partners to role-play the interview while the group members fill out the Practice Interview Feedback form to help them improve their interviewing techniques. Before students go on the Web to conduct their interviews, give them the Interview Checklist to remind them of what they need to have and do before and during the interview.  2. Interview authors via Web and take pictures with a digital camera. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: Arial; msobidifontsize: 9.0pt; msolist: Ignore;">3. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Support students throughout the writing of the summaries with informal questioning, student-led writing conferences, and peer writing groups. Ask students to use the <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Student-Teacher Conference Preparation Guide <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">to prepare for their student-teacher writing conference. Provide the <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">PowerPoint Checklist <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">to help students write their summaries and the <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">PowerPoint Rubric <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">to make sure the article is high quality. When students meet in writing groups, ask them to use the <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Peer Writing Feedback <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">form to help them provide useful feedback to each other. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: Arial; msobidifontsize: 9.0pt; msolist: Ignore;">4. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">When students have finished writing their summaries and begin to put together the presentation, ask them to use the <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Individual PowerPoint Checklist <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">to make sure they manage their time wisely and the <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">PowerPoint Rubric <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">to guide the quality of their work. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: Arial; msobidifontsize: 9.0pt; msolist: Ignore;">5. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Have a celebration where the students share their presentations. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: Arial; msobidifontsize: 9.0pt; msolist: Ignore;">6. <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Ask students to write a <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">final reflection <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 9.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> to think about what they learned from this project and set goals for future projects. Product Your student sample should be uploaded to this section, along with the assessment rubric showing the score you gave the sample.
 * 1) Research various popular author websites and find out about authors availability to be contacted via email, webcast, official website, and mail. Find out which welcome student correspondence. Ask them if they would like to be interviewed.
 * 2) Collect a variety of age-appropriate book genres from the school library and classroom libraries to keep in your room during the project.
 * 1)  Read students an appropriate story, such as //__ If the Shoe Fits __// by Gary Soto. After reading it, ask students to discuss the Unit Question:  // Has there been a book that I was glad to have picked up and read //  ? Ask them to analyze why the author wrote the story. Ask them to make connections to the story. Can they relate to the character? Ask them to discuss possible reasons why someone may have been glad to have picked up and read the book. Make a T-chart on the board listing the details from the discussion with possible reasons and, with students input, also list the details that were included in the book with possible reasons why they were included.
 * 2) Place students in small groups and give each group several books with different genres. Ask each student to choose an book to read silently. After they have finished reading, have them write in their journals about the Unit Question: // Has there been a book that I was glad to have picked up and read // ? Discuss their books with a small group.
 * 3) In a large group, ask students to add to the T-Chart on the board. Ask them to think about why some reasons a book may be interesting to one person but not interesting to another. Ask students to discuss the question: // Has there been a book that I was glad to have picked up and read //  ? <span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
 * 4) Tell the students that they are going to write a book summary, find out about which type of genre it is, research its author, and then present it into a PowerPoint.
 * 5)  As students read different book genres during their silent reading time, they write in their journals about why they like the particular book and make creative responses to their reading, such as a meta-cognitive reflection in which they describe what they learned about summarizing and interviewing and set goals for their next writing project.

Credits
I'd like to thank Ms. Diana Gonzales, Presenter, Intel Corporation, author Gary Soto, and CPS for their support.

Author
I am a CPS teacher.