ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

Students in 7th grade are just beginning to recognize the power of prepositions to enhance their writing. In order to really apply them to the writing they do, they need to be able to identify the 48 most frequently used prepostions, understand how to place prepositional phrases in a sentence, and understand how prepositional phrases enhance the description in their writing.When students are pretested both formally and informally about prepositional phrases and the elements of poetry, there appears to be a gap in their knowledge in both the knowledge of and application of prepositional phrases in writing (NDSA and MAP tests both indicate a weakness in this area). In addition, their knowledge of poetry is limited to types of poems and rhyme. By dovetailing both poetry and prepositional phrase instruction in this unit, they are better able to apply their newly aquired knowledge to their writing. The dovetailing of the grammar instruction into their actual writing makes the activity more engaging and authentic. They also are just beginning to understand and apply the elements of poetry. Because of this, it is necessary to do multiple activities integrating the instruction of prepositions and prepositional phrases, as well as help students to understand their power in making writing more specific and clear. Using poetry to teach the power of prepositional phrases helps to make the students understand how prepositional phrases make their writing more detailed as well as forces them to understand the prepositional phrase because of the compact nature of poetic language.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding: Students need to understand that prepostional phrases enhance the description in their writing. Goal(s): Students will learn the 48 most common prepositions. Students will understand that a preposition must always have an object.Students will understand that prepositional phrases begin with a preposition and end with a noun. Students will identify prepositional phrases in their own writing and in modeled writing. Students will articulate how prepositional phrases enhance their writing and relate to the trait of ideas.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: How do prepositional phrases impact word choice? Why are sentences containing prepositional phrases clearer and more vivid? Objectives: Given a blank piece of paper, students will list the 48 most common prepositions either in pretests of 10-12 prepositions, or on a final test where they list all 48 prepositions. Given 10 sentences, students will identify prepositional phrases identifying the object of the prepositions. Given sentences containing both prepositional phrases and adverbs, students will demonstrate understanding of prepositions by distinguishing between prepositions and adverbs. After discussing the benefits of prepositional phrases for description,students will create poetry using prepositional phrases with the help of a preposition list to enhance description. In a class discussion using the Discourse tool, students will describe the need for concise language in poetry. Using a PowerPoint slide show, students will demonstrate an understanding of the elements of poetry by creating poetry with prepositional phrases.

Assessment

What quiz and test items e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding? Memorization quiz on 48 preps. Identification test on prepositional phrases. Identification of prepositional phrases in student’s own writing including the poem they create. Essay test on relationship of prepositional phrases to the six traits of writing. What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding? Describe a picture using at least four prepositional phrases in the paragraph. Discussion of which of the 6-traits of writing prepositonal phrases enhances. This discussion includes an analysis of why word choice and ideas is the most effected. What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding? Students will create a preposition poem. They are going to word process this poem and then we will post them on the classroom webpage. The challenge for them will be to pull everything they know together. They need to apply the six-traits of writing, the writing process, the elements of poetry, and word processing/powerpoint skills What other evidence (e.g. observations, work samples, dialogues, student self-assessment) of understanding will you collect?  Powerpoint or word processed poems. If the student chooses powerpoint, we will record their voice reading the poem and they will add music or other sounds.

Instructional Strategies

Both inquiry-based and project-based strategies will be employed in this unit. Students are being asked to pose questions about prepositional phrases and their placement in sentences. They are asked to wonder about how these phrases enhance the writing making it more picturesque. In addition,