Lesson 5 - Cherokee Literature

Lesson 5 - Literature
Literature Circles

1. Focus and Review

Since we have already visited the Oconluftee Indian Village, the students have been introduced to the "Trail of Tears". I want the students to recall the facts that they were told during our visit and to also recall any facts thaqt they have been taught at home.

2. Objectives

2.02 Interact with the text before, during, and after reading, listening, and viewing by:
          making predictions.
          formulating questions.
          supporting answers from textual information,
          previous experience, and/or other sources.
          drawing on personal, literary, and cultural understandings.
          seeking additional information.

The students will select and read a text related specifically to the Cherokee removal of the 1860s or a text related to another Native American removal.
The students will write daily in a reading response journal.
The students will participate in teacher led literature circles every other day.
The students will create a final product relating their interpretation of the book's importance.

3. Teacher Input

I will show the students the copies of the Indian Removal Act from the LOC website. I will also show pictures of Andrew Jackson and explain his importance in the Indian Removal Act of the 1860's. I will give a chort book talk about each of the books that the students can choose to read. I will remind the students of what is expected and acceptable in a Reading response journal.

4. Guided Practice

Students will choose on of the following books after listening to the book talk, studying the cover and surveying the books:

Armstrong, Nancy M. Illustrated by Paulette Livers Lambert. Navajo Long Walk. Scholastic: New York, 1994.
Banks, Sara H. Illustrated by Birgitta Saflund. Remember My Name. Scholastic: New York, 1993.
Cornelissen, Cornelia. Soft Rain A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Ban
Hoobler, Dorothy and Thomas. Illustrated by S.S. Burruls. The Trail on Which They Wept The Story of a Cherokee Girl. Silver Burdett Press, INC.: Morristown, NJ 1992.

The students, grouped according to the book they have chosen, will meet with the teacher to decide on reading expectations for each literature circle. Contracts for the amount of reading will be signed and recorded. The students will then begin reading for their first literature circle meeting.
During the literature circles, the students will share their reactions and interpretations of the chapters that they have read.
The students will also express any confusions they have with the story line or vocabulary. The other members of the literature circle will help the students come to an understanding if at all possible. If the students are unable to ease the confusion, the teacher will intervene.

5. Independent Practice

The students will read the required chapters during DEAR reading time. After the assigned texts have been read, the students will then write a one page response in their reading response journals. The students will note, with sticky notes, the places in the text where they are experiencing difficulty, either with vocabulary or comprehension.
The students will be asked to create a non-traditional book report. The project will be of the student's own choosing and it should represent some aspect of the book. The projects can be dioramas, acrostic poems, books of illustrations, clay works, etc.

6. Closure

We will have a book celebration day. Since, there were four books in our literature circles, not every student will have read all of the books. The students will present and explain their projects so that the other students will want to read their books.

Heather Payne /Cherokee Elementary School / AAM Unit Plan