Gr. 11 Unit: Writers on Writing

UNIT OVERVIEW

The 11th grade unit titled “Writers on Writing” focuses on the concept that writing is metacognitive in nature, and that effective writing is deliberate and thoughtful, requiring reflection and purposeful choices. Many students believe that professional writers naturally write with effortless style, voice, and creativity, not recognizing the writers’ struggles and or process. In this unit, through memoirs of varying length and complexity, students evaluate how writers deliberately use words, syntax, and structure to convey their purpose; analyze how and when writers break conventions (e.g. deliberately using fragments); imitate professional writers’ style; and apply the tools that writers use to develop their own style. While they close read and analyze the memoirs, students will make connections between how literacy has shaped the writers’ lives and their own lives as they construct responses to the essential questions, How is language purposeful, distinctive, and essential to conveying an author’s purpose? How does the language we use reveal who we are?

Students begin the unit by considering the definition of literacy, as well as why so many people think and write about their experiences with literacy. In this introductory lesson, students examine clips from digital literacy narratives, and read an excerpt from an article on the literacy narrative as a genre. Next students explore the characteristics of effective sentences as well as how writers deliberately use words, syntax, and structure by examining, evaluating, and imitating a mentor sentences from a variety of professional writers. These mini-lessons continue on a regular basis throughout the unit, leading students to apply the sophisticated structures in their own writing. Next, students examine a professional literacy narrative to identify common patterns in the genre, e.g. the success story, the literacy winner, the outsider, the stigmatized writer, etc. Students close read, drawing connections between the writer’s deliberate use of structure and techniques and his purpose for writing. Through the gradual release model, students continue the close reading process with literacy narratives of increasing complexity, culminating in a written analysis of a literacy narrative demonstrating their ability to independently analyze author’s style and purpose and interpret thematic elements. Throughout this lesson, students also write routinely in response to the different texts they read. They make claims about the ideas presented in the texts and support their claims with information derived from the texts. In all writing, routine and extended, students apply the sophisticated syntax from the mentor sentences. As a culminating task, students write their own literacy narratives, applying the stylistic techniques they have identified and analyzed in the professional models. Students will reflect on the effectiveness of their writing using a self-analysis tool, PAMDISS. Finally, students create a visual representation of their literacy narratives using, a variety of print and digital media.

TEXT MODELS FOR LESSONS AND LESSON SEEDS

Interdisciplinary Connections

Additional Resources