Lesson Design and Delivery: 8th Grade Research Unit Plan and Calendar

8th Grade Research Unit: Unit Plan and Calendar 

This unit is designed for eighth-grade students at Big Rapids Middle School during either the first semester or the first trimester of the school year. This would be one of the first units that we have in the class, so that students are provided with an opportunity to learn about how to conduct research and strategies for thinking critically about the information they find or are presented with. These are skills that will be necessary as the students move forward in the class, as well as while they prepare to go into high school. This unit would begin a semester that focuses on research; this unit would mark the beginning of the students’ semester-long research project. This unit, and its activities, are centered on research skills, including developing research topics and research questions, finding sources, and evaluating sources. The primary reason for my decision to develop a unit focused entirely on informative reading and effective research is to prepare students for the advanced writing and critical thinking they will be expected to practice in high school and beyond. The culminating activity or assignment for this unit will be an annotated bibliography, which will require students to use the research skills they have gained to find, cite, and summarize research sources, as well as think critically about how these sources might be applied to a larger research project. This unit is necessary as a foundation for subsequent units in the semester/trimester, as students will be expected to utilize research, research skills, and source evaluation skills throughout the subsequent units on informative writing and informative speaking. This unit, which centers on informational reading, provides an introduction to the nature of informative texts, as a genre, and how these texts differ from the literary texts that students may be more accustomed to.

Unit Calendar and Daily Plans

Date	Key Standards Addressed	Daily Plan	Notes/Strategies:
Monday	Reading Standards for Informational Texts: Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is sound and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; recognize when irrelevant evidence is introduced.	·   Introduce Unit ·   Briefly discuss that the final assignment for the unit will be an annotated bibliography, where students will find and discuss sources they find. ·   Discuss the importance of using research, in small groups and with the whole class. Ø  Students will complete the “How Do You Know?” activity, which involves reading a sample short research paper without any sources and noting the spots/information where a source would be needed to verify information. This activity would be framed as partner or small group activity.
Tuesday	Speaking and Listening Standards: *Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. *Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in light of the evidence presented.	Ø  Discuss strategies for developing research topics and research questions. Ø  Research Topics v. Research Questions and how the two connect. Ø  A discussion of general strategies for planning research and developing research topics. Ø  Discuss the utility/benefit of developing and using a research word bank of key terms. Ø  “Planning Research” notes sheet, including difference(s) between research topics and research questions, and how they connect. Ø  Small group and class brainstorming activities. Ø  Activity: “Generating Research Topics and Questions” worksheet with research word bank: Students will begin this worksheet for their independent research projects, and work on it for the rest of the week, in addition to our in-class work.	Independent Work on Individual Projects: Students will practice these concepts by beginning to develop research topics and questions for their research projects.
Wednesday	Speaking and Listening Standards: *Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. *Acknowledge new information expressed by others, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views in light of the evidence presented.	“Sources of Research” Activity Day #1: Ø  Discussion: What do we mean by “sources of research”? What are some different sources of research? Students will brainstorm in small groups/with partners, before we discuss as a whole class. Ø  Discussion: Why would it be helpful to use or look at multiple different types of research sources? Ø  What are some advantages and disadvantages of different types of sources? Ø  Discuss search engines like Google, Bing, etc.; introduce Google Scholar. Introduce Boolean searching. Model a few “Advanced” Google Scholar searches with Boolean searching.     “Sources of Research” Packet (Including a section of advice/guidelines on how to use search engines like Google (ie; “advanced search”, and an introduction to Google Scholar, with tips on how to use).	Independent Work on Individual Projects: Using the “Sources of Research” packet, students will begin developing a plan for the types of sources they will search for, while conducting their research.
Thursday	Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.   Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.	“Sources of Research” Activity Day #2: Ø  How can we find different sources of research? Ø  Where can we find the different sources of research? Ø  How can we use different sources of research? “Sources of Research” Packet	Independent Work on Individual Projects: Using the “Working Research Plan” section in their “Sources of Research” packet, students will work on developing a research plan for their projects.
Friday	Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.   Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.	“Sources of Research” Activity Day #3: Ø  Discuss source credibility. Ø  Introduce and model CRAAP test using example sources we find as a class. Ø  Introduce “Sources of Research ‘Webquest’” as means for students to take independent research notes. Ø  Independent work on research. Ø  Informal small group discussions while working Ø  Informal individual “conferences” with students about their findings, CRAAP tests, and research notes. Ø  Class discussion of students’ findings with feedback from teacher.	Independent Work on Individual Projects: This “webquest” will involve students researching their own topics, for their research projects, and taking notes. This will serve as students’ “independent practice”. Students will also complete CRAAP tests for the sources they find and include in their webquests.
WEEK 2
Monday	Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.   Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.	WORK DUE: CRAAP test worksheets for at least two sources. Continue CRAAP tests and independent research. Ø  Independent work Ø  Informal small group discussions while working Ø  Informal individual “conferences” with students about their findings, CRAAP tests, and research notes. Ø  Class discussion of students’ findings with feedback from teacher.	Independent Work on Individual Projects: This research will involve students researching their own topics, for their research projects. This will serve as students’ “independent practice”. Students will also complete CRAAP tests for the sources they find and include in their webquests.
Tuesday	Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.   Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.	Continue research, notetaking, and CRAAP tests. Ø  Independent work Ø  Informal small group discussions while working Ø  Informal individual “conferences” with students about their findings and webquest entries. Class discussion of students’ findings with feedback from teacher.	Independent Work on Individual Projects: This webquest will involve students researching their own topics, for their research projects. This will serve as students’ “independent practice”. Students will also complete CRAAP tests for the sources they find and include in their webquests.
Wednesday	Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.   Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.	·       Review what we’ve learned so far about finding sources and vetting/determining their reliability. ·       We will review MLA format for citations on Works Cited pages. Ø  Show students Purdue OWL website as a source for learning about how to format citations. ·       Introduce and discuss Annotated Bibliography Assignment. ·       As a connection to the annotated bibliography, we will discuss strategies for taking notes while conducting research. ·       Students will continue their in-class research for their projects and will work on their annotated bibliographies. ·       I will conference with individual students.	Link to Purdue OWL: https://owl.purdue.edu/
Thursday	Same as above.	·       Students will continue their in-class work on their annotated bibliographies. ·       I will conference with individual students.
Friday	Speaking and Listening Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacherled) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.	·       Whole-class discussion on students’ research findings so far. ·       Small group discussions on the research strategies students have been using and the notetaking strategies they have been utilizing. ·       I will conference with individual students to briefly check their research notes and give them a grade for completion. ·       Homework: Students will continue working on their annotated bibliographies and will come to class on Monday with a completed rough draft for peer review.
WEEK 3
Monday	Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.   Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation.	·       Introduce Annotated Bibliography peer review. ·       Students will conduct peer reviews for their annotated bibliographies, using the rubric provided for the assignment to assess one another’s progress towards meeting the assignment expectations (see rubric on assignment sheet for annotated bibliography)
Tuesday	Same as above	·       Students will work on revising their annotated bibliographies. ·       Informal conferences with students, focusing on source reliability and how students are evaluating sources for their relevance to their research topics and questions.
Wednesday	Same as above.	·       Continue in-class work on revising annotated bibliographies. ·       Informal conferences with students on their progress/work on annotated bibs.
Thursday	Same as above.	·       Final in-class work day on annotated bibliography revisions. ·       Informal conferences with students on their progress/work on annotated bibs.
Friday	Language Standard: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.	·       WORK DUE: Annotated Bibliography Final Drafts. ·       Discuss students’ experiences with the Annotated Bibliography assignment, their experiences with research, strategies they found helpful and unhelpful, etc. ·       Each student will share at least two pieces of advice, regarding research, that they have for their classmates, and this advice will all be compiled into a document for students to reference while they conduct research in subsequent units.