What the heck is "critical inquiry" in the 2019 ELAR TEKS?

Shona, 

     I am so excited for my next unit because I am planning to use Inside the Villains and the lesson you reviewed with us at the New ELAR TEKS training that I attended this summer. 

     I do have a question about the lesson, though. I am wondering if you think that author's purpose should be reviewed in depth prior to the lesson, or if it is okay to teach as I go.

I want the students to discuss the author's purpose of each villain's introduction, but I don't want to have to stop the lesson for the student to take notes over what the author's purpose is. While at this point they should know what it is, I am afraid if I don't discuss it, I will be moving too quickly for some. 

    If you have any other tips or suggestions for this lesson, I'd love to hear them!

  I hope all is well!

 

First of all. LOVE this question.

There are two ways to design lessons. The first is: frontloading and explaining everything up front. Which tends to be boring. Behavioristic. 19th Century Drivel. Nobody really needs what you are having them write down at that point in the lesson. Creates compliance and won’t result in the correct storage and retrieval mechanisms that will allow deep, critical thoughts and transfer to new situations.

The second method is: Inquiry, which establishes a creative stimulus or puzzle. Constructivist. Progressive Brilliance. Once there is a need to know, you teach from the position of discovery. Which tends to allow students to be more engaged and curious. And inquiry happens to be what our TEKS espouse! 😊 So, I’d say, DON’T stop and take notes simply about the definitions. Your feeling is correct. But you are also correct that we still have to name and explain this stuff. And it has to be more than about PIE.

A better question is to ask what TEKS you are referencing for Author’s Purpose.

The new standards state: The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the author’s choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author’s craft purposefully to develop his or her own products and performances.

This means that your lesson must address both analysis of a written text and composing of an original text. We know they are analyzing Inside the Villains. What have they written that they may “re-enter” in their collaborative groups where they can try out first person? Onomatopoeia? Items in a series? Etc. Or, what will they be composing so that they may re-enter this work to revise for craft? 

(An aside rant: It is generally too much to ask people to come up with ideas AND simultaneously stick the craft moves in there. Usually you end up with inane and silly stuff that is technically what you are looking for, but does little to enhance the purpose and message. Think about all those silly metaphors and similes people ask kids to put in their STAAR essays. Why? Usually, they are silly and distracting. A good simile ought to slide right by you like a snake in the grass because it fits so well into the way your mind is creating meaning. But I digress.)

Underneath that analysis and application of the knowledge and skills statement, you have three areas to address in your student expectations:

• Point of View: first, third, omniscient, limited, subjective, objective: Why are these chosen by the author? What does this perspective do in helping to communicate the author’s message? What would happen to the effect the text has if the perspective were changed?
• Structure: (test structure plus print and graphic features) How did the text structure achieve the author’s purpose? Why was this the best delivery system for the message and audience? What print and graphic features helped achieve that purpose?
• Language: (language, literary devices, diction, syntax) How did the author’s language inform and shape the perception for the reader? What impact do the literary devices have on the author’s purpose and message? In what ways did the author use diction and syntax to create the desired mood, voice, and tone for the text? How did the author use rhetorical devices to communicate the purpose and message?

I had to go back to the book and look at the purpose. We have to move beyond PIE. So, here’s what Allison and I wrote down. And funny how these look more like the answer choices on STAAR!  

• to more deeply explore common characters we already know; to help the audience think more critically about what motivates a villain
• to help us look into their traits and motivations beyond the stories they are in; to explore what makes them tick
• most of the time, the focus is on the main characters and not the villains, so the author gives the central stage to the character
• to use first person to make the villains real and the center of the story; to give the villain a voice
• to entice the reader to turn the page and learn more about what’s “inside” each character and to see more stories that could be explored that are not so common
• to show how their weaknesses and strengths play on each other in delightful and interesting ways

So: I’d start like this: 
 

What did you notice? What surprised you?

What did the author think you already knew?

What changed, challenged, or confirmed what you already knew?

Then make a chart:

I noticed:             That’s called: (annotate)               Effect:                   Apply: 

Here are three examples: 

I noticed: I noticed that the author lets the character speak for himself.

That’s called: That’s called first person. The author uses pronouns like I, my, myself. (Find these and annotate in the text.)

Effect: When the character is the speaker, he isn’t just the “bad guy” character being talked about in the story. He becomes the protagonist and focus of the story instead of the hero.

Apply: find it in your reading, find it-revise it in your writing

I noticed: I noticed that the author writes awooooooo to simulate the wolf’s howl.

That’s called: That’s called onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is when authors write words that sound like what is named. Pop. Sizzle.

Effect: The author uses this at the end of the introduction and a warning for us all to beware. It serves as a chilling ending, intended to make us shiver in fear. (Or perhaps laugh, because we know what always becomes of the wolf.)

Apply: find it in your reading, find it-revise it in your writing

I noticed: I noticed the popup features of the wolf (layers and the misery guts). I noticed a second layer behind his introduction (the characteristics/motivations) and a third layer behind the wolf (the story of the goats I’d never heard of)

That’s called: That’s called print and graphic features. Perin has used a pop-up book technique common in children’s literature and anatomy books. She has also used a chart to separate and list all of the wolf’s character traits. She has used a symbol to visually illustrate each category. She has also used a flap to reveal a hidden story underneath the wolf.

Effect: The pop-up and flap are metaphors for the title. They reveal, literally, what is “inside” the villains. The flaps are a concrete representation of things that are usually more abstract – character traits and background experiences/stories. The chart quickly orients the reader to all the separate characteristics with the visuals that add meaning to the characteristics.

Apply: In science class, I’m learning about photosynthesis. I can use a pop-up book technique to show what’s happening deep inside the leaves. Here’s a sketch of how I think it would work. I also found an example of the pop-up in an Eyewitness book about the Titanic. The illustrator uses a cutaway technique to show how the ship was designed.

In the that’s called section, you draw out the academic vocabulary and list more examples. This gives the students more background. You can then ask them to find other examples of this in their independent reading and share with the class.

In the effect section, you really get to the heart of the lesson and the rigor of the standard – purpose and message. By using this technique, what did the writer do to you? And why did he want to do that? How did that help you understand what the author was saying about the wolf?

*Teaching Tip: Take what the kids offer. Then fill in what they didn’t notice. “I noticed… Did anyone else see that?” or “In first period, ___ noticed. Does anyone else see that in the text?” And then teach from there.)

Then you have to go to the apply section. 1) Students find the techniques in their independent reading. 2) Students re-enter their work or compose an introduction that uses the same technique.  They annotate their work, naming the moves they have made as writers – employing the correct academic vocabulary.  

I’d love to see what you do with this!

Your Fan,

Shona Rose