By

Nina Sacco

Oliver High School

Working with the 62 Content Standards in the Pittsburgh Public Schools (see appendix B) has proven to be successful. In the English classroom we are responsible for completing standards based portfolios. In doing this we use various types of rubrics and participate in student/teacher and student/student writing conferences. Standards, rubrics and writing conferences afford the students the opportunity to take ownership of their work. Ownership of the work is directly linked to pride and concern, on the students’ part, that the work meets and/or exceeds the standards.

In trying to promote student ownership, pride and concern for their work, as well as attempting to aid the students in meeting and/or exceeding the standards, I enjoy creating units that afford the students the opportunity to connect their own life experiences to the literary text. It has been my experience that doing this provides a great sense of ownership, pride and concern on the students part. I personally believe that when the students are able to relate to the subject matter they become more interested in it. As we all know, interest promotes a desire to do well, own the work, and display a sense of pride and concern. This unit, Writing Pittsburgh, provides opportunities for the students to participate in reading, writing, and speaking activities that promote personal ownership through a personal connection to the text(s).

This unit has emphasis on the city as a whole with a special focus on the North Side. The reason for this is a simple one. Oliver High School is located on the North Side of Pittsburgh; a community made up primarily of African American low-income families. Many of my students’ families are rooted on the North Side and have been for generations. It is common to hear students talk about when their grandparents grew up on the North Side or what it was like when their grandparents attended Oliver. I know that providing a special emphasis on the community will prove to be successful.

The primary objective of this unit is to create an anthology of student writing, which meets and/or exceeds specific portfolio standards. Each student will receive a copy of the anthology and will participate in a class reading from the anthology. Creating the anthology will enable the students to practice the writing process and create standards based portfolio pieces. We will focus on all three exhibited areas of the portfolio: reading, writing and speaking, listening, and viewing.

The reading exhibit will focus on two portfolio entries: Reading Accomplishment in Literature and Quantity, Range, and Depth in Reading. Students will follow all standards and rubrics related to these entries. All reading exhibit cover sheets are in appendix A.

The writing exhibit will focus on six portfolio entries: A Response to Literature, A Literary Genre, A Narrative Account, A Report, Control of Writing Conventions, and

Use of Process and Strategies for Writing. Students will follow all standards and rubrics related to these entries. All writing exhibit cover sheets are in appendix A.

The speaking, listening, and viewing exhibit will focus on two portfolio entries: Speaking Accomplishment: Information and Viewing Option. Students will follow all standards and rubrics related to these entries. All speaking, listening, and viewing coversheets are in appendix A.

Throughout the unit students will participate in writing workshops that are rich in student/teacher conferences, student/student conferences, and peer editing. The purpose of these conferences and editing practices is to help aid the students in successfully completing the writing process. Creating, organizing, and completing the class anthology will force the students to perform all tasks housed within the writing process: prewriting, drafting, composing, revising, proofreading, and publishing.

Creating a student anthology, which contains original writings of the students, is the main strategy of this unit; however, imbedded within are multiple tasks directly related to the main strategy. Before the students begin writing they must understand the types of writing that are expected from them. In order to implement and maintain a full understanding of the writing tasks at hand, the students are presented with model writings.

All of the model writings are examined by the students for qualities that must be present in their own writings. The model writings share the same theme, Pittsburgh. Writers who grew up in Pittsburgh, or who visited the city for an extended period of time write all of the model writings.

After examining the model writings students will begin their own writing, which will center on various aspects of the North Side. In order to complete these writings the students will practice the writing process. This process is made up of all of the necessary steps included in creating an anthology of student work and is generated by the Board of Education’s Teaching Learning and Assessment Department:

Prewriting: generate ideas, sort through data, cluster or classify ideas

Drafting: make a rough outline, generalize from detail, support conclusions, emphasize cause and effect

Composing: write a first draft, leave space for rewriting, chose specific, concrete images and words, vary sentence length and type, use transition words and phrases

Revising: analyze logic and coherence, make changes and additions, support weak paragraphs, clarify, confer with a partner

Proofreading: edit, read each sentence aloud, replace nonspecific terms, capitalize, punctuate, check for spelling errors

Publishing: read work aloud, exchange papers, accept criticism, enter your writing in contests, post your work, make a decorative copy and display it, mail a copy or taped reading, take pride in your work

Week One:

Introduction to the unit

View the video North Side Story, Director and Narrator Rick Sebak/Outline unit expectations and standards/Begin Report Speaking Portfolio Entry: Viewing Option

There are two essential factors that must take place at the beginning of a unit. The first is that the students need to understand the expectations set upon them. The second is to provide an avenue of interest, to reel the students in and make them want to be a part of the unit.

My first instinct is to reel them in. Writing Pittsburgh is a unit that focuses on the city that the students live in. In order to make it appealing to them I feel the need to drive the subject matter home by using their neighborhood as a starting point. The first two days of the unit are dedicated to presenting their neighborhood to them. The public television station, WQED, has a wonderful video, which celebrates the history and richness of the North Side. The video chronicles the neighborhood from its conception to present day. There are interviews with storeowners, people who live in the neighborhood, those who work there, and much more. For the majority of the students watching the video will be like taking a walk down the street. I am certain that this focus will hold their attention

Day three is time to discuss and reflect on the video. The Viewing Option Portfolio Piece will be completed. The students will understand the elements necessary to produce the viewing option writing. As a class we will put the viewing option cover sheet and related standards on the over-head projector and discuss how we can meet and/or exceed all of them. Students will write responses that include:

*Making reasoned judgments about the video

*Retelling elements of the story behind the video

*Describing the views of the audience

*Identifying central messages within the video

*Demonstrating an understanding of the production technique used.

Day four will begin with the twenty-minute essay. During this writing a transparency writing rubric is placed on the over-head projector outlining student expectations. The writing prompt will be as follows:

What is your favorite North Side experience? Tell the story of your experience. Be sure to include vivid details and descriptions. Paint a picture in the reader’s mind.

Upon completion of writing, the students will participate in a read around. At the conclusion of each reading the class will discuss how the writer captured their attention, what was particularly vivid and descriptive, what they want to know more about, and what score the writing would receive on the rubric. Using the writing rubric with this exercise allows the students to focus on, recognize, and discuss the use of standards.

Day five is devoted to mapping out and discussing other areas within the city limits. At this time the students are made aware that the next six weeks will focus on writing about the city, studying authors from the city, and analyzing what visitors had to say about the city. Students are to be made aware that at the end of the unit a student anthology will be published and celebrated at an author’s party.

Week Two:

Focus: Library research necessary for report on one area of the city

Presentation: Community Report

Writing Portfolio Entry: A Report

Speaking Portfolio Entry: Speaking Accomplishment: Information

Days one through four of week two will be spent in the library. Each student will research a different community within the city. The student will be responsible for writing a research paper that details the birth of the community, the ethnic/cultural and socioeconomic makeup, and what the community is famous for. The students must also include photographs (past and present) of the community as well as newspaper and/or magazine articles pertaining to newsworthy events that took place in the community. The students will follow all standards and rubrics that pertain to the research writing standard.

The portfolio cover sheet for report writing will be used to ensure that the students are meeting and/or exceeding the standards. We will review the standards based coversheet on day one. Students will understand that they must produce a paper that:

*Captures the reader’s attention

*Establishes a clear context and view point

*Maintains control of the central idea/theme

*Displays organization and structure

*Excludes inappropriate information

*Includes descriptive, illustrative and detail oriented explanations.

On day five the students will present their research to the class. This presentation fulfills the Speaking Accomplishment: Information Portfolio Sheet. The students will critique one another’s presentation using a peer critique sheet, which outlines the standards that pertain to presenting an informative piece. The peer critique sheet will include elements of audible speech patterns, appropriate language for communicating the information, ability to capture the audience’s attention, appropriate organization and structure, audience’s ability to understand summarization made by speaker, and the speaker’s interaction with the audience in the area of a question/answer session.

Week Three:

Focus: A Narrative Account

Model: Annie Dillard, An American Childhood

Reading Portfolio Entry: Quantity, Range, and Depth in Reading

Writing Portfolio Entry: A Narrative Account

Day one and two are devoted to understanding the elements within the narrative account. In order to understand these elements the students will review and discuss the Narrative Account Cover Sheet. They will also be presented with a model writing that possesses these elements. The model writing will come from Annie Dillard’s An American Childhood. I chose this piece because it not only illustrates the narrative account, but it also uses Pittsburgh as its setting. Dillard was born and raised in the East End of the city and she provides wonderful descriptions of various locations within that area.

While reading the model writing the class discussion will center on the recognition of the elements and the interest the writer created for the reader. The discussion will also include Annie Dillard’s adaptation and illustration of various parts of the city included in her writing.

Days three – five are dedicated to writing the narrative account. At this point students understand that a narrative account is either a fictional or autobiographical narrative. The students also understand that in order to meet and/or exceed the standards they must implement the following elements characteristic to the narrative account:

*Engage the reader

*Create a point of view

*Continue to develop both the characters and the reader’s interest

*Establish elements of plot, setting and conflict

*Create a unified structure that has an organized beginning, middle, and end

*Maintain the reader’s attention through the use of details

*Include specific narrative action such as dialogue, tension and/or suspense.

The writing prompt for this assignment is as follows:

What is your story? Tell your story detailing an experience you had with your friends when you were a young child. Your story must take place in your neighborhood. Be sure to include specific details about your neighborhood. What did you see, feel, and hear as you walked around. What did it look like through your eyes as a child? How did it feel to be a part of the neighborhood?

Day four will include student teacher conferences. During each conference the student will read his/her rough draft to the teacher. It has been my experience that when the student reads to the teacher, the student is afforded the opportunity to recognize his/her mistakes. The student’s own recognition of errors and/or editorial changes that need to be made is a testament that the student is growing as a writer.

On day five the students will participate in a read around. During the read around the Narrative Account cover sheet will be placed on the over-head projector. After each student reads his/her work the class will discuss how well the student met and/or succeeded the standard. Participating in the read around allows the students to practice their listening skills as well as practicing on recognizing the standards within their peers’ work. This activity also permits an opportunity to appreciate the craft of writing.

The students will add the reading from this week to the Quantity, Range, and Depth in Reading cover sheet. This sheet illustrates the compilation of reading which are equivalent to 25 books.

Week Four:

Focus: Analysis of reading and comparison to Pittsburgh today

Models: Marcia Davenport, Valley of Decision and Thomas Bell, Out of This Furnace

Reading Portfolio Entry: Reading Accomplishment in Literature and Quantity, Range,

and Depth in Reading

Writing Portfolio Entry: A Response to Literature

The focus of days one and two are on an excerpt from The Valley of Decision by Marcia Davenport coupled with the Reading Accomplishment in Literature portfolio cover sheet. Davenport was an author who lived in Pittsburgh for several years. She returned to Pittsburgh while writing The Valley of Decision. The reason for her return may have been that the setting for the novel is Pittsburgh.

Davenport’s writing will be used to help the students write to the standards in the area of a reading accomplishment. The reading accomplishment in literature requires the students to read challenging material and write responses in the form of journals, logs, reviews, or response papers.

After the students read Davenport’s work, they will review the Reading Accomplishment in Literature cover sheet. Upon review and discussion the students will understand that a writing that meets and/or exceeds the standard includes the following:

*The writer’s ability to explore and develop textual concepts

*The writer’s ability to create tones that are analytical, interpretative, and evaluative

*Provide an illustration of the author’s craft

*Demonstrate an understanding to the connections between the literature read and present-day society, life experiences, and other texts

*Pose questions that challenge the author’s choices in the text

The writing prompt is as follows:

Imagine that you are explaining The Valley of Decision to a classmate. What is the premise of the story? What about the time period and setting? If the author had written the novel within the past five years how might it be different? Include excerpts from the reading as supporting evidence when writing.

Days three-five will focus on the standards based portfolio coversheet A Response to Literature coupled with an excerpt from Thomas Bell’s Out of This Furnace. Bell’s novel is set in the midst of Pittsburgh’s booming steel industry. It chronicles one family’s life throughout the grueling industry. The novel also provides insight into a time period that the students are not familiar with. I believe that Bell’s piece will offer a challenge to the students’ ability to analyze the author’s craft as the Response to Literature Portfolio Entry calls for.

The students will read Bell’s piece. They will then review the Response to Literature Coversheet. Students will understand that in order to meet and/or exceed the standard they must demonstrate the following abilities to:

*Capture the reader’s attention by effectively maintaining the context

*Create tones that are analytical, evaluative, and reflective

*Cite the text as a reference

*Identify interpretation and author’s craft
*Illustrate personal connections between the text and societal issues

*Address the reader’s questions and/or concerns.

The writing prompt is as follows:

Choose one character from Out of This Furnace and write a critical analysis of that character’s actions throughout the text. Be sure to include your personal insight into the character’s motivations. Also, you must include textual evidence to support all of your interpretations.

It should be noted that both readings will be added to the Quantity, Range, and Depth Portfolio Entry Coversheet.

Week Five:

Focus: City Inspired Writing

Models: August Wilson, Fences, Beth E. Trapani and Charles Adams III, Ghost Stories

of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, John Edgar Wideman, Brothers and Keepers and Various Poetry of Pittsburgh Writers

Reading Portfolio Entry: Quantity, Range, and Depth in Reading

Writing Portfolio Entry: A Literary Genre

This week is devoted to creative expression. The students will read and write in genres that lend themselves to creativity. Days one and two will consist of in class reading. Each student may choose what he/she wishes to read. The choices are as follows:

1. An excerpt from August Wilson’s Fences

2. Beth E. Trapani’s and Charles Adams’ Ghost Stories of Pittsburgh and

Allegheny County

3. An excerpt from John Edgar Wideman’s Brothers and Keepers

4. Selected poetry by Pittsburgh writers

Students may read more than one piece.

Days three through five will be in the form of a writing workshop. Students will write one creative piece in the form of a play, short story, a chapter of a novel, or a set of poetry. All students must use the North Side as their setting. The students will follow the standards set forth on the Literary Genre Portfolio Entry Coversheet. These standards include:

*Organization in relation to the selected genre

*Control of genre techniques

It should be noted that all readings will be added to the Quantity, Range, and Depth Portfolio Entry Coversheet.

Weeks Six and Seven:

Focus: Student Anthology

Model: Past Examples of student anthology books

Writing Portfolio Entries: Control of Writing Conventions and Use of Process and

Strategies in Writing

Presentation: Authors party and book signing

I have had students create anthologies of their work in the past. It has been my experience that these last two weeks are the ones that are most anticipated by the students. They are usually very eager and excited about seeing their written work published in the class anthology. At this point students tend to exhibit the greatest amount of pride. They want their work to be perfect for publication. This is a great help in having the students meet and/or exceed the standards.

Week six begins by having the students decide which writings they wish to have published in the anthology. They review all pieces written over the past five weeks and pick those they wish to revise. During this process we focus on the district model mentioned in the strategy section, and publish. This process may take one to two class periods due to the fact that the students may wish to listen to one another’s works and give feedback as to how pleasing the work is to the reader. This process will aid in revision because it fine-tunes both the readers and writers ear to what is aesthetically pleasing to the reader. It affords the writer the opportunity to become familiar with what keeps the readers interest. Understanding the readers needs is an essential part of the writer’s revision process. No writer wants to revise a piece that is not pleasing to a reader. If the writer does so then he/she just defeated the primary purpose for the revision.

Once pieces are selected the students will move to the computer lab to begin word processing, peer conferencing, and student/teacher editing. Although peer conferencing is essential it should not supercede the teacher as the ultimate editor. When producing a class anthology the teacher is the ultimate decision-maker in the arena of what is and is not acceptable.

Students will spend the remainder of week six using the word processing computer programs to process their pieces. On day five of week six the students will participate in peer conferencing. Students will follow the peer conferencing sheet below:

Name:

Date:

Conferencing With:

Title and genre of writing piece:

How does the writer grab your attention? Explain using an example from the introduction.

3. Is the writing organized? Explain using examples from the writing.

Does the ending really end the writing or does it leave unanswered questions in the

reader’s mind? Explain with examples from the writing.

5. Give examples and explain the importance of the writer’s use of striking details.

6. Where could the writer add details? Explain how this addition helps the reader.

Did the writer address all standards related to the genre of writing? Explain using

the portfolio coversheet’s bulleted points.

8. What score would you give this piece? Explain by referring to the standards.

9. Give advice to the writer based on your answer to question 8.

10. What is your favorite part of this writing? Explain.

Week seven begins with two days of final revision and editing. The teacher will conference with each student in the computer lab during these two days. Being in the lab affords the students the opportunity to make immediate revisions and editorial changes, at the teacher’s direction, to their writings. The students will attach the Control of Writing Conventions and the Use of Processes and Strategies for Writing Portfolio Entry Coversheets to their rough and final drafts. Upon completion of the revision process the teacher will collect all disks and edit one last time at the teacher’s convenience.

Days three and four of week seven are dedicated to the students deciding a cover sheet, title, and type of authors party that they wish to have. The students are to recommend titles and cover sheets. They are to then vote on both. As for the authors’ party, the students need to decide if they wish to invite anyone outside of their class such as other teachers, administrators, students, parents, etc. Invitations are to be drawn up and presented to each guest. The students may also wish to serve light refreshments and snacks. They will need to decide who is responsible for bringing various foods, refreshments, etc. to the party.

On day four the teacher needs to have all copies of the book ready to be assembled. The students will assemble the book. A good inexpensive binding tool is ribbon. Chose ribbon that complements the anthology cover, use a three-hole punch, and tie with ribbon. Sometimes using more than one color ribbon on each book is complimentary to the cover and it also lends a homemade flair to the book.

Day five of week seven is time for the students to shine. All participants of the author’s party should receive an anthology, enjoy the snacks, sit back, and listen to the students read their original writings from their publication.

Bodnar, John and Roger Simpson, and Michael P. Weber. Lives of Their Own: Blacks,

Italians, and Poles in Pittsburgh, 1900-1960. Chicago: University of Illinois

Press, 1982.

Davenport, Marcia. The Valley of Decision. Massachusetts: Robert Bentley, INC.,

1942.

Macartney, Clarence Edward. Right Here In Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh: The Gibson Press,

1937.

North Side Story. Videotape. Dir. and Narr. Rick Sebak. WQED Pittsburgh, 1997.

Rishel, Joseph. Founding Families Of Pittsburgh: The Evolution Of A Regional Elite

1760-1910. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1990.

Smith, Arthur. Pittsburgh Then And Now. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press,

1990.

Tripani, Beth E., and Charles J. Adams III. Ghost Stories Of Pittsburgh And Allegheny

County. Pennsylvania: Exeter House Books, 1994.

Tucker, Marc S. and Judy B. Codding. Standards For Our Schools/How to Set Them,

Measure Them, and Reach Them. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc., 1998.

Wideman, John Edgar. Brothers and Keepers. New York: Penguin, 1984.

Wilson, August. Fences. New York: Plume, 1986.

Yancey, Kathleen Blake and Irwin Weiser (Eds.). Situating Portfolios Four Perspectives.

Utah: Utah State University Press, 1997.