“But the skill I am most grateful for learning this year,* is how to write a thesis statement. In the past, I had learned what it was, but had no knowledge of how to write a good one with the required elements.”1
Contemporary Topics Unit
Unit Overview
The “Contemporary Topics” curriculum unit was developed in partnership with my colleague Ms. Kim. Collaboration in developing assignments is not only rewarding but supports developing materials for different teacher styles. Working in a very small English department as teachers who shared similar class assignments, together we developed what we both saw as a gap in our students’ learning.
Goal of Developing the Unit
As teachers who taught the Language and Composition Advanced Placement (AP) course on a rotating basis, we both recognized a need for our students to improve their topic knowledge going into the college-level AP course. The Language and Composition class requires a broad range of non-fiction textual readings from a diverse range of authors and time periods. Our goal for students was for them to begin to develop critical reading and analysis skills that would be used in the course while at the same time developing deeper understanding of topics of interest.
While topics chosen by students would not necessarily overlap with most of the course readings, the hope was that students would begin to understand the complexities and nuances of topics that recur in contemporary discourse. This way, students would better understand some of the background they might be required to read when analyzing a text such as Letter from Birmingham Jail or Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.
Background of Development
In addition to ideas about constantly returning themes in our AP Language class selections, we discussed two areas that would inform the development of our unit. The first was an existing strategy developed by Kelly Gallagher, named “Article of the Week.” The important preliminary ideas allowed us to have a starting point from which to discuss how our curriculum would expand and differ the ideas Gallagher developed. The second was identifying internet research skills we believed were especially important for our students to develop, for example selecting reputable sources and how to cite those sources. (Georgetown also has a good breakdown for elements to consider for Evaluating Internet Resources.)
Some key differences developed. One example of a distinct difference with our structure was that we wanted our students to independently both pick a topic and select the articles, skills we both identified as underdeveloped for 11th and 12th grade students experiencing a college-level course. (It must be noted that Gallagher’s curation of articles is exceptionally useful for a curriculum exposing students’ to a broad range of current topics and ideas.)
Finally, we reviewed the Common Core Standards, which were being newly instituted at the time we were beginning to develop the unit. This allowed for an opportunity to immediately integrate the standards in a newly developed unit that we would institute and develop together as we transitioned to some of the changes in focus that the CCSS presented for our work.
Unit Structure
Because the Contemporary Topics assignment work is meant to be a year-long undertaking, elements of the work students are asked to do are introduced in stages. Each of these worksheets are available on this page.
- Introduction – Meant as the first exposure to the assignment, presenting an overview of what students will be asked to do. It establishes initial resources students can review before being presented with a student example packet of what a completed assignment will look like.
- Student Example – A completed version of all three individual articles is presented so students understand both each of the three articles they are asked to present in addition to how they come together as a set. Each of the three articles are now reviewed alongside the students’ first attempts at completing the assignment. The student example packet becomes extremely familiar to the students as they return to it throughout each of the three individual article assignments.
- Rubric – Prior to the first due date of the first article of the series, the rubric is introduced as a way for students to review their work independently before working with a peer.
- Peer Review Checklist – At this point, each of the students has attempted completing the assignment to some degree. This checklist serves as both a type of scaffolding, with instructions enumerated, and a way for peers to support and improve each other’s work. The checklist is used for two of the three articles in the series. The checklist requires deep engagement with the completed student work, and supports teacher’s by minimizing the work of grading the assignments. The assignments can each receive an independent grade in addition to a “final packet grade” which allows teachers to inform students of partial progress in addition to a final grade, allowing for improvement and review. This type of grading aligns with standards based grading principles.
- Peer Review Checklist Coversheet – There is a coversheet for the checklist which addresses the final steps of the assignment before the completed packet is turned in to the teacher.
Unit Revision and Development of Supplemental Materials
Successful teachers understand units are constantly revised and adapted as assignments come to life with student interaction. Because the assignment works in tandem with the progress of the AP class, our experience has shown that a constant modification and dialogue with the elements of the assignment occurs as the year progresses. Some students require more detailed help in finding success with the assignment, and a set of scaffolding handouts have been developed to support differentiation.
Testimonials
“I improved in reading comprehension and actually understanding what I was reading because I had many different sources and way* to understand the book, that really helped me. … Mr. Viskanta really seeked* out to help everyone understand everything and make sure no one was lost and I really appreciate that. “1
SA 2014
“This semester I have learned many things. For example, I have learned how to read books by William Shakespeare. … I also learned how to read between the lines. Often times, authors put hidden meanings in their places. Ive* learned to look deep into whatever im reading now instead of just taking everything at face value.”1
TM 2014
“I try to practice mindfulness at the beginning of the class to support my thinking and my quantity* of work. But, I have also use my mindfulness outside of class, when I have to deal with problems at my house.”1
CD 2016
“I really liked the books that we read* they really caught my attention. I also really liked what the stories were about.”1
SC 2016
“What I learned in this class is that I learned to be more patient especially on writing essays which is one of my weaknesses. But I was able to overcome it because I know in myself that I can do it, and because of your help.”1
QA 2016
“One thing I learned in this class is how to start a good paragraph. To start a good paragraph, you need to gather evidence first, then have a topic sentence, and a main idea.”1