Creating Life!

The demands of teaching literacy skills have increased over the past years with the introduction of more rigorous standards such as the PA Common Core. Students at earlier ages are asked to read, comprehend, compare and evaluate more and more complex texts in order to be perceived as proficient or advanced. Non-fiction text has also played an increased role in ELA classrooms. Traditionally, these are not the most popular types of texts. This unit will address this problem by adding a creative slant to reading non-fiction that will hopefully intrigue students enough to engage them in more diverse texts.
The idea of there possibly being life on other planets is a question that I think will open up my student’s minds. Not only is it something that we rarely get to discuss in an ELA classroom, the topic and this unit will allow students to pair their creativity with their curiosity and most importantly, get them to read!