ALEX Learning Activity

  

Always Play Your A.C.E.!

A Learning Activity is a strategy a teacher chooses to actively engage students in learning a concept or skill using a digital tool/resource.

You may save this Learning Activity to your hard drive as an .html file by selecting “File”,then “Save As” from your browser’s pull down menu. The file name extension must be .html.
  This learning activity provided by:  
Author: Hannah Bradley
System:Dothan City
School:Carver Magnet School
  General Activity Information  
Activity ID: 1933
Title:
Always Play Your A.C.E.!
Digital Tool/Resource:
A.C.E Strategy Handout on TeachersPayTeachers
Web Address – URL:
Overview:

In this activity, the teacher will introduce the Answer, Cite, Explain (A.C.E.) strategy to help students answer questions that require text evidence. The students will practice answering text evidence questions using a text of the teacher's choice.

This activity results from the ALEX Resource Gap Project.
  Associated Standards and Objectives  
Content Standard(s):
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 6
3. Explain how authors use setting, plot, characters, theme, conflict, dialogue, and point of view to contribute to the meaning and purpose of prose and poetry, using textual evidence from the writing.
Unpacked Content
Teacher Vocabulary:
3.
  • Setting
  • Plot
  • Characters
  • Theme
  • Conflict
  • Dialogue
  • Point of view
  • Prose
  • Poetry
  • Textual evidence
Knowledge:
3. Students know:
  • Authors of prose and poetry use literary elements, such as setting, characters, theme, conflict, dialogue, and point of view, throughout a text to develop and drive the plot.
  • Poetry is a genre of text that uses distinctive style and rhythm to aid in the expression of feelings, while prose is written in ordinary language.
  • Analysis of a text should be supported with text evidence from the writing.
Skills:
3. Students are able to:
  • Identify the setting, plot, characters, theme, conflict, dialogue, and point of view in prose and poetry.
  • Explain how literary elements contribute to the meaning and purpose of prose and poetry.
  • Support their explanations of literary elements with textual evidence.
Understanding:
3. Students understand that:
  • Prose and poetry contain common literary elements, such as setting, plot, characters, theme, conflict, dialogue, and point of view.
  • Literary elements contribute to the meaning of poetry and prose.
  • When they analyze a text, they should include text evidence to support their claims.
Learning Objectives:

Students will cite textual evidence to support analysis of a piece of literature. 
  Strategies, Preparations and Variations  
Phase:
During/Explore/Explain
Activity:

1. Present the free-verse poem "Good Hotdogs" by Sandra Cisneros to students. You may choose to read the poem aloud to the class or have the students read the poem independently or in partners.

2. Next, pass out copies of the digital tool to each student, A.C.E. Strategy Handout. Discuss the acronym A.C.E. using the information on the handout. (See advanced preparation for additional teacher information.) 

3. Present the sample question from the handout to students, How do you know that the speaker and her friend are excited to eat hotdogs in “Good Hotdogs”? Use the handout to discuss and explain the sample answer. Review the phrases to cite and explain evidence as shown in the handout.

4. Present students with another question that requires them to support and explain their answer using text evidence. This question can be related to the same poem as used in the example, such as What type of poetry is "Good Hotdogs"? Use evidence from the text to support your answer. or What is the mood of the poem, "Good Hotdogs"? Use evidence from the text to support your answer. You can change these questions to reflect skills you have taught prior to this activity, or you can have students answer questions from a text read previously in class.

5. After presenting a question to students, have them write their answer using the A.C.E. strategy. Remind them to answer the question, then use the sentence starters from the handout to cite text evidence and explain their answer.
Assessment Strategies:

Collect student responses at the conclusion of the activity to assess their knowledge and use of the A.C.E. strategy. You can use the following guidelines to ensure students met the learning objective.

Check that the student:

  1. answered the question.

  2. cited textual evidence using the phrases from the handout.

  3. explained their answer and evidence using phrases from the handout.
Advanced Preparation:

Make a copy of the digital tool, A.C.E. Strategy Handout, for each student. Each student will need paper and a pencil or pen.

This resource, Introduction to ACE from TeachersPayTeachers, will provide additional information about teaching this strategy to students. 
Variation Tips (optional):

Once your students have mastered answer questions using the A.C.E. strategy, you can increase the rigor by requiring them to elaborate as well as explain in the last step of the strategy. This resource, Explanation of Elaboration Strategies from TeachersPayTeachers, will provide additional information about teaching this skill.

 
Notes or Recommendations (optional):
 
  Keywords and Search Tags  
Keywords and Search Tags: analysis, infer, literature, poetry, text evidence