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Alexander Hayner

English 10 Writing Unit

Target Audience: The specific grade-level that this unit is designed for is 10thgrade.
This unit is to be taught as the second unit of the semester, with the first unit
focusing on Shakespearian plays and poetry. The students will be taking the ACT
the following year.

Concept: The Best of Both Worlds: The Embedded Research Paper

Unit length: 3 weeks

Rationale:

“Teaching writing” is an umbrella term that encompasses many different


aspects of the English language. From observation, there appears to be a division
that categorizes differentfacets of writing into two categories. The first category is
non-fiction. Research papers are the bread and butter of this type of writing. This
type of writing is also seen as the more boring side of writing, though more practical
in some cases. The other side is creative writing. Writing about one’s passion,
thoughts, ideas, and concerns is a staple of the English curriculum as well. This unit
attempts to create a marriage of the two contrastingly different divisions of writing
—a union of the research paperand the creative writing piece of work. What
beautiful, gurgling offspring do we get from this matrimony?...the embedded
research paper.

The embedded research unit attempts to take away the meat from a few
different traditional English units. This unit provides a crash-course session on the
benefits and structure of a research paper, while at the same time being wholly
saturated in the process of creative writing. The reasoning for combining these two
seemingly distant relatives on the English curriculum family tree is that they
complement each otherwell in the eyes of the common student. Some students
excel at the idea of research assignments. This provides the opportunity to delve
into a topic, to learn new information, and at the same time it does not require a
whole lot of literary thinking or self-exploration. The students who subscribe to this
theory are the “left side of the brain” students. In other words, these are the
students who embrace logic and structure over creativity. The research portion of
the assignment applies to these students.
In the other ring we have the students who see English class (writing
specifically) as an outlet where they can embrace their inner feelings and create
spectacular works of originality and inspiration. These are the students who would
choosea fantasy novel over Time Magazine any day in their lives. For these
students, obviously, the creative writing aspect of the unit is what they salivate at.

Seeing the different types of students that this assignment applies to, it is
necessary to pose the question: Can one unit please everyone? If the students were
asked, I anticipate a resounding “NO”. The reason for this is that the
summativeassignment, that of an embedded research assignment, requires both
left-side and right-side (of the brain) students to break away from their comfort
zone. Creative writers cringe at the idea of spending classes in the media center
researching a topic to present in outline form, while the math and science
population of the class mark the same research dates on their calendar while having
nightmares about incorporating their research into a creative writing piece. This
type of response is the goal of the unit. Just because a particular subject or concept
is uninteresting or intimidatingdoes not mean that we skip over it. Learning is a
process, and sometimes (or for some,many times) it is a difficult process. It is
essential to embrace these difficulties so that ultimately they can be mastered.
This philosophy is paired with the idea of including aspects of writing that the
students enjoy and excel at. Though the creative writing enthusiasts woe at the
idea of researching and correctly providing citations for a specific subject, their
saving grace is the fact that they can take the research and put their creative spin
on a story that includes the topic. Likewise, the advocates of structured research
can enjoy the first part of the assignment which can propel them through mastery
of their dreaded creative writing requirements.

Essential questions:

– What is my passion?
– How can research frame creative writing?
– How can research be smoothly imbedded into fictional writing?
– How/why is non-fiction research essential to some fictional works?
– How does fiction and non-fiction intertwine in my own life?

Objectives: Students will be able to…

– Identify non-fiction concepts/ideas/information used in fictional texts


(Heart of Darkness).
– Properly cite researched material.
– Construct a useful and organized outline of researched material.
– Use research to frame thoughts and ideas for a creative writing piece.
– Embed researched non-fiction material into a fictional writing piece.
Michigan Standards Addressed: 1.3.4, 1.1.4, 1.1.5, 1.3.7, 1.5.5, 7.2 (all)

Texts/media Used:

– Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad


– “Hurricane” by Bob Dylan
– Grammar Girl podcasts found at www.quickanddirtytips.com
– Library/media center computers

Formative Assignment and Assessment:

– Students will be required to provide journal entries focusing on a broad


area that they are passionate about. As the unit progresses, entries focus
more on a specific passion that the student has. An ideal entry follows
the guidelines of the day (see lessons for specifics).
– At the end of the research unit, students are required to construct a 1-2
page outline of the non-fiction area they researched. The outline must
include citations and follow the model format of an outline (see lesson for
specifics).

Summative Assignment and Assessment:

– The summative assignment is an embedded research paper. This type of


paper is a piece of creative writing that incorporates research on a non-
fiction topic. For assessment of student progress and mastery of the
subject, consult the hand-out for the assignment.
Part I: Exploring embedded research (Conrad and Dylan)

Rationale:

The ultimate goal of this unitis for students to be able to complete their own
embedded research creative writing piece. In order for these students to develop
the knowledge and skills necessary to complete such a project, it is first essential
for them to see how professional writers use research on non-fiction topics in order
to frame their writing, as well as make their fictional pieces more believable. With
this in mind, it is necessary to start off the unit by studying two key pieces of
literature where the research on the broad topic is evident. The first text studied is
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, a piece of British Literature that embraces the facts of
the Ivory Trade business while telling a tale of human morality and courage. The
other text used, a Bob Dylan song titled “Hurricane”, tells the story of an African-
American boxer and the unfair treatment he receives from racist legal officials. The
reasoning for starting the writing unit off with analysis of these two texts is to
demonstrate to students the ideal way to include researched topics into fictional
writing. By showing and studying the inclusion of non-fiction in these pieces of
fiction, the students are presented with a model to think on and go back to when
creating their own embedded research fictional works.

How to sell this portion of the lesson:

To start this unit off (and hopefully to start every unit), I seek to first sell what we
are covering to the students. Why are we doing this? If I have a solid
answer/reason for this, I feel I can draw in a lot more attention/interest on the unit
than I would get if I did not start off with a sales pitch.

In order to sell literary analysis of Heart of Darkness, the first thing that I
willmention is that this text is commonly included in the ACT cannon of literature.
Having a grasp on this text is something that can definitely come in handy a year
down the road when these then-eleventh graders take the test. Also, we are not
going to be reading a ton of material in this mini unit. The coverage of H of Dis less
than fifty pages, and the analysis of Bob Dylan’s song is no more than thirty lines
total. Because of the brevity of the reading, students hopefully will not be turned
off by such literary analysis.

Week 1:
Day 1: Selling the lesson

– Presentation of why it is essential to read and study H of D. Brief


classroom discussion of how non-fiction aspects are found in nearly all
pieces of fiction and creative writing.
– Homework: Find an example of how non-fiction is present in a piece of
fiction. Any type of fictional piece is acceptable. Come in tomorrow ready
to discuss the fictional piece and its non-fiction aspects.

Day 2: Intro to embedded research

– Journal assignment at beginning of class: Write about the fictional piece


you researched. Where is the non-fictional aspect? How do you think the
author came across this information? Why is this included in the piece?
– Have students discuss their entries in small groups. Question to pose: Are
there any similarities between your journal entry and your neighbors?
– Presentation/discussion on how authors use researched non-fiction topics
to frame their thought-process and inspire ideas for fictional purposes.
Questions to pose: Is it necessary to include non-fiction in a piece of
fiction? Can there be any piece of writing that is totally fictional (have no
hints of non-fiction research)?
– Homework: Read the first 37 pages of Conrad’s H of D. Look for ways in
which non-fiction elements influence and are present in the novel.

Day 3: Analysis of embedded research in Conrad

– Journal assignment at beginning of class: Summarize what you read last


night in Conrad’s novel. Here’s the catch: the summary has to be in
outline form.

Rationale for this assignment: Students will be scaffolded on how to


construct a desirable outline during next week’s lessons. This assignment
gives them a chance to demonstrate what they currently know about
outlining, as well getting them familiar with the concept

– After journal assignment, I will lead a class discussion about different ways
in which H of Dcontains elements of researched historical topics. The
main part of the research, the ivory trade in Africa during the early
twentieth century, will be the focus of the presentation. Questions to
pose: How does having pre-existing knowledge on a topic (researched
material) aid in the development of a fictional story?

Day 4: Embedded research in Dylan’s “Hurricane”

– Start class off by listening to Dylan’s “Hurricane”. Before playing song,


ask students to pay attention to the story that is being told. Provide lyrics
handout to students.
– After listening to song, students will write a journal entry about what the
song was about. Also, students are required to write about the non-fiction
aspects that influenced/structured Dylan’s creative piece.
– Homework assignment: Think about one thing that you are real passionate
about.
Rationale for this assignment: Students will eventually need to
choose a passion of theirs to look into for the research portion of the
unit, which in turn leads to the development of their embedded research
creative writing piece. This simple assignment gets the ball rolling on
this thought process.

Day 5: Introduction of unit summative assignment


– Journal assignment at beginning of class: What are you passionate about?
– Once students complete journal assignment, have students discuss with
their neighbors about what they wrote about.
– Presentation of the Unit Summative Assignment: The Embedded Research
Paper (see handout). The rest of the class period is devotedto fielding
questions about the assignment. If there is any class time left, students
are encouraged to think about what they are considering researching.
– Homework assignment: Come in to class Monday with an idea to research.
In order to develop such an idea, consider what you wrote about as your
passion.
Rationale for this assignment: Requiring students to come prepared
with a research topic for the following week allows them to take full
advantage of our research time planned for next week.
English 10 Embedded Research Paper Project

This is your major project for the unit and should be viewed as the culmination of
the writing skills you have developed, as well as the critical thinking skills we have
worked on throughout the year.

As with any useful Research Project, you need a specific and powerfulquestion to
motivate you to an answer. (How does stem cell technology work? What or who
created the first movie?) There is not any certain topic I am looking for. The
important goal of this project is that you go through the research process, critically
analyze information, and present your ideas in an articulate and well supported
fashion (outline). You are not graded on what your topic is; rather, you are
evaluated on how well you build your essay through the research supporting your
chosen topic.

Now the major difference between this project and other traditional research papers
is the purpose of your research. You will be researching a topic to such an extent
that you can embedthe research seamlessly into a piece of creative writing. You
can choose to write a poem, short story, or even script, so long as it is your own
original writing.

There are 3 Major Parts to this project:

I. Research Paper Outline (with proper citations) 100 points


II. Embedded Research Creative Writing Piece 150 points
III. Presentation: 3-5 minutes 100 points
IV. Active Participation (Daily Work and Partivipation) 100 points
HINT: come prepared to work and stay busy. 450 points Total
Keep in mind: You will be presenting your finished project to the entire class on the
last day of the unit. With this in mind, keep the material and language
APROPRIATE.

-from lesson plan from website http://www.mullingshs.com (English 9


department)

Part II: The Research Paper

Rationale:

The research paper is an essential aspect of the Englishcurriculum that needs to be


covered. However, it is difficult (if not impossible) to captivate an audience with
this topic alone. This philosophy leads to the creation of the Embedded Research
Paper, as mentioned earlier. This part of the overall lesson seeks to teach students
the basic skills needed to write an appropriate and desirable research paper, while
keeping the interest of the audience. The basics that will be covered include what
kind of sources work best for academic research, how to properly make citations on
a research paper, and how to create a useful outline of material researched. These
skills acquired are essential to completion of higher education, as well as necessary
to complete the summative assignment.

How to sell this portion of the overall unit:

I plan on selling this portion of the unit by turning student’s minds to college.
Research is an essential skill needed for college classes. I would even go so far to
say that research is a life skill, something essential for proving someone wrong in an
argument or for even getting a job. I elaborate on the necessity of research for a
job interview with the idea that if you go into an interview with preexisting
knowledge of the company and what they need/look for in an
employees(information acquired from research), then your chance of getting that
job are much higher than someone who does not have the skills available to find
such info. This scenario makes the argument for the benefit of research in general,
but it neglects arguing for the necessity of the outline. In this case, the outline is
something essential to students who don’t have a ton of free time to devoteto
homework (I feel this really hits home with a lot of the students). Rather than
constructing an elaborate and wordy paper about their research topic, learning how
to create an outline is a critical time-saving technique. This skill will aid the
students in their educational pursuits from this point on.
Week 2

Day 1: Research skills intro

– Students come to class on Monday with ideas ready to research


(homework over the weekend). Students are also aware of the
assignment due at the end of next week. With this in mind, we are ready
to get going on our research. After the presentation on selling the idea of
research, we proceed to the media center/library to go over the specifics
on research.
– At the media center, I co-teach with the librarian about the ideal tools for
research. We go over the importance of Google Scholar and MAGIC, and
discuss with the students the appropriate scholarly texts to consult for
academic topics. We also mention to be skeptical of anonymous-author
websites, such as wikipedia.org.
– The librarian then presents to students a short lesson on proper citation of
websites and texts. She provides a handout that includes properly cited
texts. This serves as a modeling tool.
– After the presentation/discussion on appropriate and available media and
text resources for research, the students use the remainder of their time
to research their topic in the library/media center.

Day 2: Outlining

– The structure of the outline is taught to the class. I will demonstrate the
appropriate and desirable form of an outline with a handout. This models
for students what an accurate and useful outline looks like. Students are
informed that the outline of researched material is due Friday of this week.
– After the outline handout, we listen to a podcast from
www.quickanddirtytips.com. The specific podcast is Grammar Girl #102,
titled “How to cite podcasts and webcasts”. This short podcast is
beneficial to the students in that it offers insight on how to cite more
unorthodox research tools. This is also critical to the students’ because it
is not included in the presentation by the librarian the day before.
– See handout
Handout borrowed from Los Angeles Valley County Library’s
website
http://www.lavc.edu/Library/outline.htm
How to Write an Outline

– What is it?
– An outline is a general plan of the material that is to be presented in a speech or a
paper. The outline shows the order of the various topics, the relative importance of
each, and the relationship between the various parts.

– Order in an Outline
– There are many ways to arrange the different parts of a subject. Sometimes, a
chronological arrangement works well. At other times, a spatial arrangement is best
suited to the material. The most common order in outlines is to go from the general to
the specific. This means you begin with a general idea and then support it with
specific examples.

– Thesis Statement of Summarizing Sentence
– All outlines should begin with a thesis statement of summarizing sentence. This thesis
sentence presents the central idea of the paper. It must always be a complete,
grammatical sentence, specific and brief, which expresses the point of view you are
taking towards the subject.

– Types of Outlines
– The two main types of outlines are the topic outline and the sentence outline. In the
topic outline, the headings are given in single words or brief phrases. In the sentence
outline, all the headings are expressed in complete sentences.

– Rules for Outlining
– 1. Subdivide topics by a system of numbers and letters, followed by a period.
– Example:
– I.
– A.
– B.
– 1.
– 2.
– a.
– b.
– II.
– A.
– B.
– 2. Each heading and subheading must have at least two parts.
– 3. Headings for parts of the paper of speech such as, Introduction and
Conclusion, should not be used.
– 4. Be consistent. Do not mix up the two types of outlines. Use either whole
sentences of brief phrases, but not both.
– Examples
– Topic Outline
– Choices in College and After
– Thesis: The decisions I have to make in choosing college courses, depend on larger
questions I am beginning to ask myself about my life’s work.
– I. Two decisions described
– A. Art history or chemistry
– 1. Professional considerations
– 2. Personal considerations
– B. A third year of French?
– 1. Practical advantages of knowing a foreign language
– 2. Intellectual advantages
– 3. The issue of necessity
– II. Definition of the problem
– A. Decisions about occupation
– B. Decisions about a kind of life to lead
– III. Temporary resolution of the problem
– A. To hold open a professional possibility: chemistry
– B. To take advantage of cultural gains already made: French
– Sentence Outline
– Choices in College and After
– Thesis: The decisions I have to make in choosing college courses, depend on larger
questions I am beginning to ask myself about my life’s work.
– I. I have two decisions to make with respect to choosing college courses in the
immediate future.
– A. One is whether to elect a course in art history or in chemistry.
– 1. One time in my life, I planned to be a chemical engineer
professionally.
– 2. On the other hand, I enjoy art and plan to travel and see
more of it.
– B. The second decision is whether to continue a third year of French
beyond the basic college requirement.
– 1. French might be useful both in engineering and travel.
– 2. Furthermore, I am eager to read good books which are
written in French.
– 3. How necessary are these considerations in the light of other
courses I might take instead?
– II. My problem can be put in the form of a dilemma involving larger questions
about my whole future.
– A. On the one hand I want to hold a highly-trained position in a
lucrative profession.
– B. On the other hand I want to lead a certain kind of life, with
capacities for values not connected with the making of money.
– III. I will have to make a decision balancing the conflicting needs I have
described.
– A. I will hold open the professional possibilities by electing chemistry.
– B. I will improve and solidify what cultural proficiency in another
language I have already gained, by electing French.

Day 3-4: Research Days

– Class meets at the library/media center for these two days of the week to
continue research on their topics. Students are encouraged to ask
questions and help each other in the formation of their outlines.

Day 5:

– Completed outlines are brought to class.


– We look back at the instances from Heart of Darknesswhere we studied
the non-fiction influences Conrad used, as well as bringing up Dylan’s
“Hurricane” again. Students are encouraged to specifically look at how
the non-fiction information blends into the fictional and creative writing of
the authors.
– Outlines are handed in.
– We then listen to a couple of Grammar Girl podcasts relating to creative
writing. It is useful for the students to look atsome specific creative
writing skills to aid in their composition of the creative piece for the final
project. The specific podcasts used are GG #113 (writing with slang), GG
#148 (how to write your first novel) and GG #73 (simplify your writing).
– Homework for the weekend: Compose a rough draft of yourcreative
writing piece. Students are made aware again that any form of creative
writing is acceptable (poem, short story, script),with the only guideline
being that their researched information must find its way into the creative
writing piece. Students are required to come to class ready to discuss and
share their rough draft. Students must bring three copies of their writing
to class.
Part III: The Creative Writing Paper

Rationale:

The rationale for this final week, the project week, is analyzed in depth in the overall
unit rationale. Please consult these previous rationales.

Selling it:

This part of the overall unit is the easiest to sell because we have already been
talking about it for the past two weeks. Students have knowledge of the
assignment details and requirements, and have been working with the assignment
in mind. The main selling point for this particular part of the unit is that we are
learning to write like professional writers…an aspect that is visible through our
previous exploration of Conrad and Dylan (researching material for inspiration and
structure).

Day 1: Peer editing

– Students come to class on Monday armed with rough drafts for the
summative project. Today is the beginning of peer-editing day.
– After brief “selling it” presentation, students are divided into groups of
four. On the board are posted three “professions”: grammatical editor,
factual editor, and creative editor. I explain to the students the
requirements of each job, first stating that each student will embrace each
one of these occupations throughout class today.

Grammatical editor: This job requires the student to go over the


paper in detail with the intent to point out any grammatical errors.
Factual editor: This role requires student to specifically
analyze/critique the part of the fictional piece that contains the
information researched last week. The factual editor must make sure
that the non-fiction information is present, accurate, and fits in
cohesively with the rest of the story. It is critical to note that the
facts in the story should not take up one sentence and never be
mentioned again. Students are encouraged to keep in mind the way
Conrad and Dylan intertwine the facts with the creative aspects of
their literature.

Creative editor: This occupation focuses on the overall readability,


flow, and enjoyment of the story. The creative editor is encouraged
to input his/her opinion on likes and dislikes of the actual fictional story,
as well as provide insight on what to keep and what to change.
– Students in groups of four decide on whichwriting to read first. Students
also assign the three roles to the three students whose fictional piece is
not being critiqued. At the end of each reading, the three editors give
feedback on the writing piece based on the requirements of their editing
position.
– Students alternate editing positions for each paper. At the end of the
class, each student should have had a chance to occupy each position of
editing.

Rationale: By exploring the writing of peers through these three


different lenses, students are able to learn more about their own piece
of creative writing. Experiencing writing from different perspectives
(grammar, facts, creativity) students are able to gain valuable insight
on the different aspects of their own writing.

Day 2: Peer editing

– More peer editing. Students get into different groups than the day before
so that they get a chance to benefit from the feedback of more of their
peers. The same rules for the editing jobs apply to this day.

Day 3: Finale/Presentations

– Final projects are due.


– Class time today consists of students reading their creative writing pieces
to the class.
Citations for overall unit:

– This idea of an embedded research paper was presented to me initially by


Jeremy Wirtz in ENG 313 classfor Spring Semester 2008 at Michigan State
University. The rationales, “selling it” portions, and day-by-day exercises
and procedures were developed by myself.
– Outline handout borrowed from Los Angeles Valley County Library’s
website http://www.lavc.edu/Library/outline.htm
– Embedded research assignment borrowed from lesson plan from website
http://www.mullingshs.com (English 9 department)

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