This explanatory LDC module is embedded within a larger unit; both the larger unit and module are documented here. The LDC module, on its own, starts at the "Task and Rubric Analysis: Part 4 of the Unit: Breaking Down the Prompt." Teachers may choose to teach the entire unit or teach the LDC module on its own depending on their students' needs.
The unit centers on diction and tone: how words carry multiple layers of meaning, and how authors purposefully choose words to convey deeper meanings. The ELA content is represented by these essential questions:
- How is it that words can mean so much more than their dictionary definitions, and
- How can word choice (a single word and/or a pattern of word choices) impact meaning?
This LDC module is designed to support the reading and writing process for the unit's final performance task, in which students write a literary analysis essay explaining how George Orwell's diction in his essay "Shooting an Elephant" develops tone and meaning.
The pre-module portion of the unit, represented here as a series of mini-tasks in the "Preparing for the Task" segment of the instructional ladder, utilizes supplemental texts that provide opportunities for students to practice this kind of analysis as a whole class and in small groups: Pat Mora's "Same Song," Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays," and Sandra Cisneros's "Eleven."
The pre-module portion of the unit also features pre- and formative assessment activities, engagement activities designed to get students thinking about and playing with the core ideas and concepts of connotation and the power of word choice, and lessons around the concepts of diction and tone.
The unit and module were designed by a cohort of Common Assignment Study (CAS) teachers from Kentucky and Colorado, working with several partners, including the Gates Foundation; The Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity; Westat; Research for Action; the Center for Assessment; The Colorado Education Initiative; The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky, and others. The design was based on the UBD template of Wiggins and McTighe.
Note: The full unit is represented here; the true beginning of the LDC module occurs with the Task & Rubric Analysis mini-task at the very end of the "Preparing for the Task" segment of the instructional ladder.
