IS229ELA-8 - Conflict Resolution

IS229 2008/2009 ELA Unit: Conflict Resolution Grade 7

	Reading Workshop	Writing Workshop
Start Date/End date	March 16, 2009-April 19, 2009
Standards & Performance Indicators	Students will use word recognition and context clues to read fluently. -Seek opportunities for improvement in reading comprehension by choosing more challenging writers, topics and texts	Students will continue to work on prewriting activities and writing process. -Identify transitional words -distinguish between dictionary meaning and implied meaning
Organizing Center	Launching the Reading Workshop	Launching the Writing Workshop
Rationale	Draw conclusions to help us understand conflict and the role of human nature?	What inferences can you make from two friends arguing?
Essential question	How does conflict resolution helps us understand ourselves and others, make good decisions about our lives, and improve our relationships with others?
Guiding Questions
Mini Lesson Topic Materials (Mentor texts, charts, notebooks, etc)	-Challenges (Accepting responsibility) -Respecting Nature -Environmental Issues -Racism/Prejudice/Cultural Diversity/civil Rights Issue -War/Holocaust/Human Rights Issues/Terrorism/911 -Immigration -Women’s right issues/Challenges/accomplishments Custer’s Last stand: Battle of the Little Bighorn Dr. Heidegger’s experiment by Nathaniel Hawthorne The Beirut Bombing, deadly terrorist attack SLAM by Walter Dean Myers	4 types of conflicts -Man vs. Man - man is in physical competition with another -Man vs. Nature- Man is competing with certain elements -Man Vs. Inner Man – Mental struggle the person deals with making some sort of decision or change -Man vs. Society - main source of conflict is social traditions or concepts.

Assessments (formative & summative)	Through the arts and humanities, students recognize that although people are different, they share some common experiences and attitudes	Discuss that conflict is natural; everyone has conflicts because we all have different wants, needs, ideas, and ways of doing things. Our behavior – what we do and say – can make our conflicts bigger or smaller.
Essential vocabulary	Conflict Solution Behavior Problem-solving skills alternative	Empathy Interactions
Extension activities	-Teamwork activities – create an elevator chart -Interview their partners about a time when they had a conflict. -Discuss the conflicts in current events, and identify the causes of the conflicts. (e.g. President Obama and issues he is currently dealing with) -Create a web with things that make you angry.	The Giver by Lois Lowry What advantage might “sameness” yield for contemporary communities? -Is the loss of diversity worthwhile? - Yield – to give in Worthwhile – valuable/important