​Content Objective: I can gather and present relevant research data on an informational topic in form of an infographic. 
Language Objective: I will identify and analyze traits of infographics, contrast pros and cons, and begin researching data to create my own infographic relevant to my research topic. 

Agenda: 
1. Bellwork: Watch the following video about infographics:

After watching, turn to your partner and discuss the following: 

• What facts stood out to you? Why? 
• Based on the video you just watched, what is your definition of "infographic"?

2.) Watch this animated infographic about diversity and the Oscars, then go to your respective class Padlet: 

• Infographics Pro/Con 2A
• Infographics Pro/Con 2B
• Infographics Pro/Con 4B

Appoint one Scribe for your group and together answer the following questions:

•  What information does this infographic give? 
• What does it NOT say? 
• What context or background knowledge do you need to fully understand this graphic?
• What are the pros and cons of using an infographic to present data like this?

3. Watch the first 12 minutes of David McCandless' TED Talk "The Beauty of Data Visualization." 
In your GoogleDoc, take notes on the following question: 

• What are important considerations when visualizing information? 

4. In your group, view your assigned infographic and analyze it based on the following questions: 

• What information does the graphic give you? 
• What does the infographic NOT say? 
• EarWhat about it captures your attention? 
• Is your graphic presenting absolute or relative data? 
• How could this infographic be improved? 

Group 1: World Octopus Day
Group 2: Obesity
Group 3: 60 Seconds
Group 4: Earth Day
Group 5: Pinterest
Group 6: Parks and Recreations
Group 7: The Arts
Group 8: The Peacock Mantis Shrimp
Group 9: Diabetes
Group 10: Fast Food 

​Share your findings with the rest of the class.

6. Exit Ticket: On the bottom of your GoogleDoc, write down what in your opinion is the most important thing to consider when creating an infographic. 

Assignments: 

• ​Infographics Pro/Con Padlet
• Notes on McCandless TED Talk 
  
• Group Infographic Analysis
• Exit Ticket
  

Content Objective: I can write an informational news article containing three primary and three secondary sources. 
Language Objective: I will edit and peer-review the rough draft of my news article. 

Essential Question: How do you effectively assess your own as well as your peers' writing?

Agenda:

Follow these steps to finish editing and revising, and to turn in your final draft of your news article by the end of the period TODAY: 

1. Open a new document and copy/paste ONLY your revised draft into it. Title this document: News Article Final Draft. 
2. Formatting: Make sure your article has the following:
   1. a headline (must contain a strong verb and get the reader interested in your article; center and bold your headline) 
   2. your full name centered below your headline 
   3. your article should be single-spaced and not contain any links to websites
3. Finish your peer feedback and address all feedback (resolve all comments you have been given) 
4. Make sure your article is broken into short, 1-3 sentence paragraphs; start a new paragraph for each new thought. Transitions and quotes should have their own paragraphs. 
5. Make sure your writing is concise: Can you say the same thing in a shorter, simpler way? Change it.
6. Proof read your article twice. Read it out loud to catch any irregularities or sentences that don't quite make sense. 
7. Follow this Deadline Checklist. Check for each question on this list. 
8. Check your rubric. Make sure you have hit "Above Average" criteria in all categories.
9. Submit your News Article Final Draft doc on CANVAS. 

Assignment: 

• Submit the final draft of your news article on CANVAS

Content Objective: I can write an informational news article containing three primary and three secondary sources. 
Language Objective: I will edit and peer-review the rough draft of my news article. 

Essential Question: How do you effectively assess your own as well as your peers' writing?

Agenda:

1. Bell Work: Join my class on Newsela (sign up with your Google account)

• Read the article and complete the "Write" and "Quiz" assignment in Newsela
• After reading, answer the following two questions: 
  • Choose three things that this article does especially well.
  • How can you use this article as a model to improve  your own writing? 

2. Revise your own writing. Use the following as guiding questions:

• Before proceeding, you MUST have peer feedback on your story
• Are you covering your topic in depth?
• Are you unbiased and are you covering all sides involved in this story?
• Are you avoiding restating any questions?
• Is your lead effective? How can you make it better?
• Is your story based on interviews?
• Are your transitions effective?
• How can you make your closing even more effective?

3. Once you have addressed ALL of these questions, get two more readers to review your work. Have them comment on the following: 

• What is the author doing well in this story? Why/how?
• What confuses you?
• What would you like to see more of? Suggest further questions the author could ask or additional subtopics they could include.

Assignments:

• Newsela assignment
• Submit your revised draft
  • Final Drafts Due: Tuesday, February 23 (A-Day) / Wednesday, February 24 (B-Day)

Content Objective: I can write an informational news article containing three primary and three secondary sources. 
Language Objective: I will edit and peer-review the rough draft of my news article. 

Essential Question: How do you effectively assess your own as well as your peers' writing?

Agenda: 
1. Read through the news writing tips in Inside Reporting, p. 60-61. 

Choose the top three tips that you feel you need to work on in your article.
List them and briefly describe why you think they are important and how you will ensure to improve this in your own article. 

2. Self Assessment: Make a copy of this rubric, then grade your own article based on it. On the bottom, briefly justify why you would give yourself the grade you did. 

3. Identify two specific areas of improvement for your article. Focus on these areas in your revisions. 

4. Create a headline for your article:Good headlines should:

• tell the reader about your story
• make readers curious to read more
• include a strong verb

BAD: School Spirit! Go, Warriors!
GOOD: Warriors flaunt school spirit to boost motivation

5. Peer review and use the "comment" tool on GoogleDrive to leave comments for two partners. Address the following questions in your feedback: 

• What is the author doing well in this story? Why/how?
• What confuses you?
• What would you like to see more of? Suggest further questions the author could ask or additional subtopics they could include.

6. Revise your own writing. Use the following as guiding questions:

• Before proceeding, you MUST have peer feedback on your story
• Are you covering your topic in depth?
• Are you unbiased and are you covering all sides involved in this story?
• Are you avoiding restating any questions?
• Is your lead effective? How can you make it better?
• Is your story based on interviews?
• Are your transitions effective?
• How can you make your closing even more effective?

Assignments: 

• Three rules of news writing you want to make sure to use
• Self assessment
• two areas you want to improve in
• Revised draft with peer comments (make sure NOT to resolve comments you received)

Content Objective: I will write an informational news article using at least three primary and three secondary sources. 
Language Objective: I will begin writing the rough draft of my informative article. 

Agenda: 
1. Model Article: Inside Reporting, p. 49

2. Finish your rough draft: News Article Rubric
Article Requirements: 

• Length: 400-500 words 
• must include 3 in-person interviews 
• must include 2 secondary (online) sources 
• must be factual, without reporter's opinion (opinion of sources are okay); must treat the subject in depth and fair and balanced
• no opinionated language or "I" or "you" statements, stick to the third person 
• "Format quotes correctly," said English teacher Ms. Floch. 
• include headlines and bylines (your full name)

​
Assignments: 
Turn in the link to your rough draft. To do this properly, so I can give you feedback, follow these steps: 

1. Click the "share" button
2. Click on "Get shareable link"
3. Where it says "Anyone with the link can view," click on the drop-down and change to "anyone with the link can comment" (If you don't see this option, click on "more" and find the "anyone with the link" option and change the blue drop-down to "can comment"; hit "save" to complete.
4. Click on "copy link" to copy it and hit ctrl+v on Canvas to add the link into the website url box to submit your assignment

Content Objective: I will write an informational news article using at least three primary and two secondary sources. 
Language Objective: I will begin writing the rough draft of my informative article. 

Agenda: 

1. Bell Work: Current events: 
For 10 minutes, read current events articles. Choose from the following outlets:

• The Salt Lake Tribune
• The Deseret News
• The New York Times
• The Wall Street Journal 
• The Washington Post
• The Huffington Post
• BBC

After reading, open up a new GoogleDoc, title it with your name and today's date and answer the following questions: 

1. How does the article you read start? How does the author try to make it interesting? 
2. How does the article you read follow the Inverted Pyramid model (starting wit hthe most important fact and moving on the least important ones)? 

2. Inverted Pyramid Model: Structure model article

3. Begin writing your article. Make sure your interviews have been transcribed and you have pieces of your two online sources you are using. 

Article Requirements: 

• Length: 400-500 words 
• must include 3 in-person interviews 
• must include 2 secondary (online) sources 
• must be factual, without reporter's opinion (opinion of sources are okay); must treat the subject in depth and fair and balanced
• no opinionated language or "I" or "you" statements, stick to the third person 
• "Format quotes correctly," said English teacher Ms. Floch. 
• include headlines and bylines (your full name)

News Article Rubric

Timeline: 

• Thursday, February 10 and Tuesday, February 16: finish rough draft
  
• Wednesday, February 17 and Thursday, February 18: Peer-Review and Final draft due

Assignments: 

• Current Events questions
• First half of news article rough draft

Content Objective: I can write engaging news article leads and effectively structure informational text.
Language Objective: I will write the lead to my news article and effectively structure my news article going from most important information to the least.

Essential Question: How do you effectively structure a news article?

Agenda: 
1. Finalize interviews and research. (You have 20 minutes)

2. Based on your interviews and research, as well as this Lead Writing Presentation, determine the 5Ws and 1H for your article. [Note: The lead is the opening of your article.]

Make a list of your 5Ws and 1H: 

• Who? (Who is the subject of your story? Who is affected/involved?)
• What? (What is happening? What is the issue?)
• Where? (Where does it take place?)
• When? (When does it take place?)
• Why? (Why is it happening? Why do people care?)
• How? (How is it happening? How is it affecting others?)

[Any question you can't answer, you should be able to answer from your research or interviews; follow up if necessary]

3. Bold the most interesting fact of your 5Ws and 1 H. Use this fact to start writing a lead paragraph for your article. You have 5 minutes to write. (See lead writing presentation for examples of how to lead into your story. Your lead can be anywhere from one sentence to one paragraph long). 

5. Next, share your lead with the person to your right via GoogleDrive. In your GoogleDoc, click on "Share", then type in your right-hand partner's gmail or granitesd address. They have 5 minutes to improve your lead before they, again, share your now improved lead with the person to their right. This person will take another 5 minutes to edit and revise this lead. 

6. Use the Inverted Pyramid model to outline your article. In bullet points, start with the most important fact, going down to the least important one. Include quotes in your outline.

Assignments:
Submit the following, all in one document:

• 5 Ws 1H (bold most interesting one) 
• Your lead (with your partner's feedback)
• Inverted Pyramid outline

Content Objective: I can conduct effective interviews and research as a basis of informational texts.
Language Objective: I will interview three primary and research three secondary sources for my news article.

Essential Question: What are your findings from your sources and how do they influence your own ideas?

Agenda: 

Conduct your interviews and research this period. Remember to record your in-person interviews. Fill out this research document for all of your sources: 
News Article Research
News article requirements: 

• 3 primary sources (in-person or email interviews) 
• 3 secondary sources (online, print, handouts, etc.) 
  
• For each source, record their quotes you are going to use in the "Direct Quotes" box, record summaries or paraphrase what they said in the "Summaries/Paraphrase" box, and record your own ideas in regards to these quotes in the "My Ideas" box. 
  
• Complete this for each of your primary and secondary sources
  

Assignments:

• Submit News Article Research Doc on CANVAS