Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

• L.6.4 – Opening A: Students complete an entrance ticket in which they apply strategies to determine the meanings of unknown words.
• RL.6.1 – Work Time A: Students read the next chapter of the text and find the gist. Students also unpack unfamiliar vocabulary and answer comprehension questions using inferences and evidence from text.
• RL.6.2 – Work Time B: Students complete text-dependent questions to demonstrate their understanding of the main idea and theme(s) conveyed through the events of chapter 13.
• RL.6.4 – Work Time B: Students also answer text-dependent questions that ask them to interpret words as they are used in the text.
• RL.6.2 – Work Time C: Students collaborate with their peers to analyze a model summary and generate the criteria of an effective summary. By analyzing a model, students better understand the standard to which they should hold their own writing. By determining the characteristics of a summary through their own personal examination, students experience greater ownership over their learning than they would if simply given the criteria.
• Directions for routines that are repeated from previous lessons have been pared down and noted with “Repeated routine.” For the detailed outline of how to facilitate this part of the lesson, please refer back to previous lessons.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

• At this point in the novel, students have gathered a number of new vocabulary words. Challenge some students to deliberately use the words as they are discussing the novel or in their reading responses to internalize their meanings.
• For additional vocabulary practice, invite students to categorize by parts of speech the vocabulary they have pulled from the text so far. Check for understanding, then encourage students to create new categories and rearrange the vocabulary by the new classification.

How It Builds on Previous Work

• In this unit, students continue reading The Lightning Thief while also reading the original Greek stories referenced in the novel. Students practice writing summaries and continue exploring themes as they build toward writing a compare and contrast essay.

Support All Students

• Note there are differentiated versions of the Text-Dependent Questions: The Lightning Thief, Chapter 13 used in Work Time B and the Analyze a Model Summary note-catcher used in Work Time C in the supporting materials download. ▲
• Starting in this lesson, there is again another shift in how students are supported to determine gist. In the earlier lessons, students were guided through the process. Use knowledge of students to determine which students still need the support of the gist handout or more direct support.
• Students may be surprised, offended, confused, or upset by the sensitive content of this chapter (e.g., Annabeth’s difficult relationship with her father and stepmother; the Chimera is described as having a “blood-caked mane”). Additionally, Echidna is described in terms that are critical of her body size. Time for debriefing and reflection might help get these concerns out into the open so they can be addressed and tracked throughout the text.
• Students may struggle to read independently in the allotted time. Think about strategic grouping students of varying proficiency levels. ▲
• Students may struggle to differentiate gist writing from summary writing. Think about modeling, examples, clear definitions, and paraphrases of definitions into more comprehensible languages. ▲
• As students continue to move through a long text, it is important that poor reading habits don’t crystallize. Think about facilitating opportunities to gauge students' performance/progress/goals. ▲

Assessment Guidance

• Monitor what students are recording on their Text-Dependent Questions note-catchers to ensure that they understand the key points. Look for common errors to use as teaching points and also strong models to share whole group.
• Monitor what students are recording on their Analyze a Model Summary note-catchers to ensure that they understand the key points. See the Criteria for an Effective Summary anchor chart (example for teacher reference). If a lot of students are a long way from being able to write a summary similar to the sample response, add a lesson of additional instruction before the assessment.

Down the Road

• In the next lesson, students will expand their understanding of Greek mythology and theme by engaging in a close read of “Theseus and the Minotaur.” After studying a model summary in this lesson, students will practice writing their own summary of “Theseus and the Minotaur” in the next lesson. They will also read from chapter 14 in The Lightning Thief.