9.4: Health Content for English Language Class

HealthCorps Content Through Your English-Language Arts (“ELA”) Lessons

In the 2012-2013 school year, Peter Vidovich, a passionate language arts teacher from Hiram Johnson High School, was inspired through his work with Coordinator Felix Martin to write core conten,t standard aligned English-Language Arts lessons using HealthCorps as the main subject source. Lesson plans and student handouts for four different areas of ELA follow.

Lesson 1: Persuasive Letter

Lesson 2: Write and Perform a Skit

Lesson 3: Narrative

Lesson 4: Informational Summary and Analysis

Lesson 1: Persuasive Letter

READING/LISTENING WORK
What students do before the lesson.	Students are accessing their knowledge of the HealthCorps topic.
The standards on which students work.	Common Core Listening and Speaking Standard 2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats while evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.
The task.	Students brainstorm and recall HealthCorps facts they have learned this year from several lessons.
What students do before writing.	What the students do	How you teach.
	1) Students partner and discuss what they have learned in HealthCorps and create a brainstorm list.	1) Instructor and HealthCorps Coordinator place students in pairs and facilitate student brainstorming.
What students do while writing and observing.	What the students do	How you teach.
	Students write a half-page reflection from their brainstorm lists on what they have learned this school year from HealthCorps.	The Instructor and HealthCorps Coordinator will write some of their reflections related to HealthCorps facts on the board for the class to see .
What students do after writing.	What the students do.	How you teach.
	Students write an answer on the board or share it aloud with the class as partners.	Instructor and Coordinator ask students if HealthCorps has changed or impacted their lives.

WRITING WORK
What students write.	Students write a persuasive letter to Dr. Oz.
The writing standard(s) on which students work	Common Core Writing Anchor Standard 7 Conduct and write short, sustained research projects to answer a question or solve a problem while demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.
The writing task	Students select three or four facts they learned this year from HealthCorps and write a draft for a persuasive letter.
Writing samples you share with your students to identify the work.	Instructor writes the start of letter simultaneously with the students in order to model completion of the writing task.
What students do before writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students select important health information that has impacted them.	In a large group discussion, the instructor reviews potential topics and facts that students may select.
What students do during writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students write their letters with the HealthCorps data in mind. Students be turn their brainstorm facts into persuasive paragraphs.	The instructor shares aloud volunteer student paragraphs from the class and indicates why these letters are successful or need improvement.
What students do after writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students partner and read aloud their letters for grammatical or exposition mistakes. Students confirm the requirements of the persuasive letter: target audience, thesis, three Health facts, separate concluding paragraphs, transitions, a call to action, etc.	The instructor and HealthCorps Coordinator assures that each student reads his or her writing aloud for errors and encourage them to look for other components of the persuasive letters in these first drafts.

INDEPENDENT WORK
What students write	Students go home and write a final draft of their persuasive letter to send to Dr. Oz
The writing standard(s) students work on?	Common Core Language Standard 6 Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific (health) words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level
The writing task	Students revise their persuasive letters for all requirements of the assignment.
Writing samples you share with your students to identify the work	Instructor poses the question, “How has HealthCorps impacted or changed your life, if at all?”
What students do	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students complete their final revisions per the requirements of the assignment.	Instructor connects with all students to revise their final drafts or provide feedback and revisions.
What students do after their writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students print their letters.	Instructor collects and grade the letters.

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Lesson 1: Student Handout

HealthCorps Persuasive Letter

1.) You will write a minimum of a five paragraph persuasive letter to a target audience of your choice, for example: your parents, a friend, a celebrity, a rock star, etc.

2.) You will use at least three facts you learned from HealthCorps.

3.) You will use proper paragraph structure and active voice sentence structure.

4.) You will write an introduction that addresses your target audience, introduces you, makes a claim, and takes a stand.

5.) You will include one section that identifies trends the HealthCorps Coordinator has discussed or talked about in class.

6.) You will make sure to use the second and third paragraphs to include one or two facts related to your topic—then turn them or examples into paragraphs.

7.) You will write a call to action in your concluding paragraph, asking your reader to engage in a health related activity upon which you took a stand in your letter.

Be prepared to read your draft aloud to the class or a group or partner!

Common Core Writing Standard 7—Conduct and Write short sustained research projects to answer a question or solve a problem, while demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

Common Core Listening and Speaking Standard 2 — Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats while evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.

Common Core Language Standard 6 — Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific (health) words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level

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Lesson 2: Write and Perform a Skit

READING/LISTENING WORK
What students do before the lesson	Students watch a video on a HealthCorps topic or listen to information delivered from the HealthCorps Coordinator.
The standards students work on	Common Core Listening and Speaking Anchor Standard 5 Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
The task?	Students will partner up and prepare to draw and listen to the coordinator’s presentation and video. Their notes form the basis for the skits.
What students do before writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students find partners to draw and notate the important points of the video or presentation.	Instructor and HealthCorps Coordinator pair students in pairs and ensure they understand which components to write.
What students do while writing and observing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students make their drawings and notes.	The Instructor and HealthCorps Coordinator draw or write on the white board several important points to ensure students recognize the important points. Additionally, they circle the room to support students who need extra help.
What students do after writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students observe and reflect on other partner groups’ notes and large group discussion.	Instructor asks for volunteers to share their notes and prepare to transition to the writing.

WRITING WORK
What students write	Students start their first drafts of a skit.
The writing standard(s) students work on	Common Core Writing Standard 5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
The writing task	Students write skits in groups or with partners. The skits have HealthCorps as the theme and high school students as the cast.
Writing samples you share with your students to identify the work	Instructor writes the first paragraph or two of his own skit to model for them the completion of the writing task and give them ideas.
What students do before writing	What the students do	How will you teach it
	Mindful of a health-related theme, students brainstorm and originate some ideas for a skit,	In a large group discussion, the instructor and Coordinator review potential scenes that students may use as skits or act some scenes.
What students do during writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Mind that data drives the writing, students write their skits and adhere to the assignment’s requirements.	Instructor and coordinator demonstrate their own brief skit by modeling, distributing, or demonstrating.
What students do after writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students continue the development of their skits and practice them out loud.	Instructor and HealthCorps Coordinator ensure that each student group is making progress with its skits.

INDEPENDENT WORK
What students write	Students are going to write their final skit.
The writing standard(s) students work on	Common Core Writing Standard 5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience.
The writing task?	Students revise their skits for cohesiveness, data, and assignment requirements.
Writing samples you share with your students to identify the work	Instructor reminds the class of the samples shown to the class. If an early-finishing group wants to try some dialogue. give it an opportunity now.
What students do	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students make final revisions per the requirements of the assignment. Students finalize writing and reading aloud for finishing touches.	Instructor connects with all students to revise their skits or provide feedback and revisions..
What students do after their writing	What the students do	How will you teach it
	Students will perform their skits on video or in class.	Instructor grades the performances and shows the videos.

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Lesson 2:

Student Handout

HealthCorps Write and Perform a Skit

Write a skit for the classroom describing a scene that happens or could happen to high school students from one of the topics the HealthCorps coordinator presented. Create a scene that sends a HealthCorps message to your audience! Be sure to include:

1) Give the Skit or Performance your own creative title.

2) Use concrete sensory details, such as sights, sounds, smells of the scene

3) Describe the physical setting of your skit.

4) Write dialogue from the HealthCorps lesson into your skit.

5) Sequence events connected by a central health theme and communicate that significance to your audience.

6) Make effective use of descriptions, appearances, images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details through narrator, dialogue, etc.

7) Be creative and originate a morale or message at the end of your work.

What is the HealthCorps message your audience will

take away from your skit?

8) Create a cast of characters for your dramatic play, you can use illustrations.

Writing Standard 5—Write with guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting or trying new approach.

Listening and Speaking Standard 4— Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task.

Language Standard 5 & 6 — Demonstrate understandings of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific (health) words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking and listening at the college and career readiness level.

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Lesson 3: Narrative

READING/LISTENING WORK
What students do before the lesson	Students will participate in stretching prior to brainstorming their own list of events or situations that make them frustrated or cause them stress. Students can work by alone or with a partner.
The standards students work on	Common Core Listening and Speaking Anchor Standard 2 Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source.
The task	While working alone or with a partner, students write a brainstorm about what upsets them.
What students do before writing	What the students do	How you teach this
	Students will partner up or work alone.	Instructor and HealthCorps Coordinator place students in pairs for them to work together.
What students do while writing and observing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Partner groups write their lists of at least four events or situations that caused them stress.	The Instructor and HealthCorps Coordinator write on the white board some of their own answers for the students to recognize as a possible model.
What students do after writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Partner groups share aloud their responses or, if possible, go to a white board and write their group answers on it. Individual students share out listen to larger group discussion.	Instructor emphasizes that each group must share academic credit and the instructor and coordinator must share their answers.

WRITING WORK
What students write	Students take notes from multiple sources provided by HealthCorps Coordinator
The writing standard(s) students work on?	Common Core Writing Anchor Standard 8 Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources; assess the usefulness of each source in answering the research question and integrate information to maintain the flow of ideas,
The writing task?	Students write a narrative and describe what they see, hear, touch, and smell. They use interior monologue, dialogue, pacing, and literary devices and provide a message at the end of their narratives.
The writing samples you share with your students to identify the work	Instructor takes notes the same as the students to model for their proper academic behavior and emphasize to them the important facts to include.
What students do before writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students recognize that they need to take notes in order to write a narrative later.	In a large group discussion, Instructor reviews the requirements of the narrative assignment.
What students do during writing	What the students do	How will you teach it
	Mindful of the requirements of the assignment, students will take notes.	Teacher and Coordinator ensure that all students take notes during important aspects of the lesson.
What students do after writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students partner, compare, collaborate, and enrich their notes.	Instructor and HealthCorps Coordinator ensure that all students are comparing and collaborating on their notes.

INDEPENDENT WORK
What students write?	Students write a narrative about the lesson through their eyes.
The writing standard(s) students work on	Common Core Writing Anchor Standard 3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
The writing task?	Students write a narrative and describe what they see, hear, touch, and smell. They use interior monologue, dialogue, pacing, and literary devices and provide a message at the end of their narratives.
The writing samples you share with your students to identify the work.	Instructor shares two or three paragraphs he or she wrote or one from an over-achieving student who has finished.
What students do	What the students do	How you teach it
	Mindful of the requirements of the narrative assignment, students write their narratives from their notes.	Instructor and Coordinator help support each student by providing feedback or other tips.
What students do after their writing	What the students do	How you teach it
	Students confirm that their assignment contain components of the narratives: a strategy for introduction, health facts, interior monologue, dialogue, sensory details, etc.	Instructor and Coordinator make themselves available to students who need additional support to achieve the academic learning goal.

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Lesson 3:

Student Handout

HealthCorps Narrative

HealthCorps Interactive Lesson

Write an Autobiographical Narrative describing the lesson

Write a one page minimum Narrative from your perspective describing in detail what you see, smell, hear and saw from your lesson with the HealthCorps Coordinator. Make sure to satisfy the following requirements in your story about what you learned from HealthCorps:

1. Give the narrative your own creative title.
2. Make descriptions with concrete sensory details (sights, sounds, smells, dialogue). Include specific actions, gestures, and feelings of the people involved.
3. Use interior monologue to depict your feelings.
4. Write dialogue from the interactive lesson in your Narrative.
5. Relate and keep a sequence of events and communicate this significance to an audience.
6. Be creative and originate a morale or message at the end of your narrative.
7. Organize, describe and develop the different people involved in the lesson.
8. Use at least one literary device in your Narrative (flash forward, flash back, foreshadowing, metaphor, figurative language, etc.)
9. Describe the physical setting.
10. Finally, read aloud for revision and have a partner proof read your writing!

Have this partner sign and print their name at the bottom of your writing.

Writing Applications 2.1 — Write a biographical or autobiographical narrative

Written English Language Conventions 1.0-1.5 — Students write with the command of English Language Standards

Listening Strategies 1.1, 1.3 — Students formulate judgments about ideas under discussion and choose logical patterns of organization

Common Core Writing Anchor Standard 2B, 2C — Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, dialogue, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic. Use appropriate and varied transitions to link the major sections of the text and create cohesion.