Unit 6: Culminating Tasks

Culminating Task Resource 1

Download PDF Version of Opinion Writing Task

Students can complete the PDF version or complete the task using the assignment in canvas. 

 

Culminating Task Resource 2

From GADOE Teacher Guidance Document: Sample Performance-based/Standards-based Task(s):

ELAGSE5RL4: Have students choose a poem that employs a significant amount of figurative language and rewrite it in literal terms. Have students read the two versions of the piece aloud and carefully consider the differences in the reader/audience experience. On a chart with three columns, have students choose several quotes from an original poem that uses figurative language and write in the first column. In the second column, write the literal version of the language. In the third column, have students make a qualitative reader-response comment on the ways in which the experience was different or changed the meaning of the poem. Engage the students in a collaborative discussion about the ways in which figurative language and word choice enhances meaning within the writing experience. Examples of poetry using figurative language can be found at http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/figurative-language/figurative-language-poems-with-questions/ Links to an external site. 

ELAGSE5RL6: Provide a well-written passage written from any point of view (1st, 2nd, or 3rd). Have students rewrite the passage from at least one other point of view. Students can share their rewrites with the class. Discuss how the different point of view influences how the events are described within the text and why the author chose to write the passage from that point of view. Which way was more effective in describing the events and why?

ELAGSE5RI4: Choose a domain, such as computer terminology, medicine, or law, and provide students with several informational documents to study (manuals, installation guides, recipes, contracts, etc.). Have students compile a list of the ten most-often-occurring unknown terms in each document. At the end of that activity, have students compare documents and create another list of the most-often-occurring computer terms across all of the documents. After a list of need-to-know words has been constructed, work with students to identify strategies for making meaning of these words without resorting to dictionaries. Look at things like prefixes and suffixes, root words, languages of origin, abbreviations, and context. After a thorough study and discussion, have students (in teams or pairs) write a helpful “how to understand computer terminology” guide with a glossary of terms in the back to share with students in other classes or grades.

ELAGSE5RI6: Review the nightly news television schedule with your class. Ask students to view two local or national nightly news programs from two different networks. Students will take notes on the major stories, then watch for those same topics in the second newscast (or search the internet for information). Students will attempt to identify the differences in coverage, if any, of the topic between the two newscasts. Students should be made aware that they are looking for a particular attitude towards an event, an interpretation of an event, or bias in the presentation of information regarding the event. Their findings will be reported in a brief compare/contrast essay or in a graphic organizer/Venn diagram at instructor discretion. Compare newspapers from the same news cycle in class and make further comparisons between the written and visual reportage.