Reading 1st Reading Selection: “Victory in the Pacific-The Atomic Bomb Brings Japanese Surrender” excerpt from World History: Patterns of Interaction. McDougal Littell. 2004. Reading Comprehension (Focus on Informational Materials) 2.7 Critique the logic of functional documents by examining the sequence of information and procedures in anticipation of possible reader misunderstandings. Task: Students will create a T-Chart and write the following headings: Important Words Unknown Words Teacher will model/think aloud by reading the first paragraph of the reading and will identify words that are important and words that may be unfamiliar and write them on the board in the appropriate category. Then, the students will be asked to write a summary of the reading by using five of the important words listed in the chart. The students will do the same procedure-identify important and unknown words and summarize with the remaining two paragraphs on their own. This activity also utilizes chunking. Writing Applications 2.3: e. Anticipate and address readers’ potential misunderstandings, biases and expectations. Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics) a. Marshal evidence in support of a thesis and related claims, including information on all relevant perspectives. c. Make distinctions between the relative value and significance of Rereading the Text Reading with a purpose (Gallagher, Kelly). Task: From the same reading, instruct students to identify two arguments or reasons that supported the decision to use the A-Bomb and two arguments or reasons that would suggest that it wasn’t a good decision to use the A-Bomb.
1.4 Develop the main ideas within the body of the composition through supporting evidence (e.g., scenarios, commonly held beliefs, hypotheses, definitions). Students will compose a “letter to the editor” to the local newspaper stating why they support or do not support the United States government’s decision to use the A-Bomb to end the war with Japan. They will use the documents in the source packet that they have been analyzing to write the letter. RAFT Role: You are a teenager writing this letter on August 6, 1946. This letter is being written one year after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan to end WWII. Audience: Readers of your local newspaper and your world history teacher. Format: Informative, Argumentative, Your Point-of-View, Letter to the Editor – no more than 250 words. Topic: Was it justified for the United States to use the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end WWII with Japan? EVIDENCE! The letter to the editor must include evidence from the resources that have been analyzed for the assignment. Three sources of evidence must be used to back up the opinion stated. Writing Strategies 1.9 Revise writing to improve the logic and coherence of the organization and controlling perspective, the precision of word choice, and the tone by taking into consideration the audience, purpose, and formality of the context. 1.6 Integrate quotations and citations into a Revising First drafts of the letters will be returned to students along with copies of two letters written by students which are good examples of the RAFT assignment. The teacher will read the first student letter example and explain why it was a good: States point of view Uses proper evidence to back up opinion Is in letter format Follows guidelines of the assignment. The teacher along with students will identify by either underlining or highlighting where in the letter evidence is used to support the author’s point of view. The students will be asked to read the second student example and find the evidence in that letter as well.