Little Buddy Stories

1. Little Buddy Stories Unit Portfolio Presentation Connie Matthews

2. Unit Summary Students will have eight weeks to write a short story for a child in the 2nd grade. Students must use the child as the main character and create a plot that the child has requested. The language in the story must be appropriate to children’s literature. Students must use at least one work of art that their specific child has created and develop his or her own artwork to fill the other pages of the short story. Students must use a scanner, computer, and a binder to publish his or her short story. At the end of this unit, the students will present his or her short story orally to their specific child.

3. CFQs Essential Question: Is truth stranger than fiction? Unit Questions: • What are reasons why people write things down? • Should characters in a short story be interesting? Content Questions: • Is it important to have an interesting plot? • What are the important elements of a short story?

4. Vision for Unit By creating this unit, I want to • Try to make writing short stories more approachable to all learners • Think of ways to involve my students more in the writing process During this unit, I want my students to • Learn ways to connect writing to their daily lives • Use technology to communicate with different audiences • Become a published author within their community

5. Project Approaches As my students work on this project, they • Connect the writing process to the real world • Focus on the writing process through collaboration • Learn skills necessary to meet the challenges of working with others in different capacities • Create a product that shows what they’ve learned • Share their learning with a real audience

6. 21st Century Learning Students will develop higher-order and 21st century skills in this unit as they • Use the Essential and Unit Questions to write expressively • Communicate their ideas to a specific audience • Reflect on their reading, writing, and thinking strategies, and modify and adapt them as necessary • Act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind • Demonstrate ethical behavior in community contexts • Use project assessments to self-assess their work and give feedback to their peers

7. Gauging Student Needs Assessments • Use CFQs to learn • Students’ ideas about what they already know about the steps of the writing process • Background knowledge of characters and plot in a short story • Assess 21st Century skills • Ability to act responsibly and work collaboratively with others

8. Gauging Student Needs Assessments I can use the information from these assessments to: • Focus on parts of the writing process • Plan activities in which they will answer their questions Students can use the information from these assessments to: • Compare their questions to those in previous units • Set goals for how they will change their stories to fit the topics the children set for them

9. Requests for Feedback • Need ways to help students understand the different steps of the writing process • Need help assessing students’ higher-order thinking skills