Analyze Language: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 5 | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G6:M2:U1:L9

Analyze Language: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 5

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RI.6.3, RI.6.4

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

  • RI.6.10, SL.6.1, L.6.4a, L.6.4c
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can analyze how William is developed in the text. (RI.6.3)
  • I can determine the meaning of words as they are used in the text by identifying context clues. (L.6.4a)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket (L.6.4c)
  • Work Time A: Gist on sticky notes
  • Work Time A: Analyze Key Individual: William note-catcher (RI.6.1, RI.6.3, RI.6.10)
  • Work Time B: Language Dive note-catcher (RI.6.1, RI.6.4, L.6.4a)
  • Closing and Assessment A: Chapter 5 Effective Summary Practice (RI.6.2)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.6.4c (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 5 Excerpt - RI.6.3 (20 minutes)

B. Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 - L.6.4a (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Assess Effective Summary - RI.6.2 (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Preread Anchor Text: Students preread chapter 6 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind in preparation for studying the chapter in the next lesson.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • L.6.4c – Opening A: Students complete an entrance ticket in which they reflect on the dictionary definition of a word, compassion, and confirm understanding of its meaning.
  • RI.6.3 – Work Time A: After students finish reading chapter 5 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, they use their note-catchers to capture ideas about how the authors develop William as a key individual in the text.
  • RI.6.1 – Work Time B: Students participate in a Language Dive using a sentence from chapter 5 of the text and use textual evidence to support their analysis of what the sentence means.
  • RI.6.4 – Work Time B: During the Language Dive, students determine the figurative and connotative meaning of words as they are used in a sentence from chapter 5 of the text.
  • L.6.4a – Work Time B: During the Language Dive, students make guesses about the meaning of an unknown word by extracting clues from the surrounding context.
  • RI.6.1 – Closing and Assessment A: Students use textual evidence from chapter 5 of the text to support their analysis of the text and identify an effective summary.
  • RI.6.2 – Closing and Assessment A: Given three options, students choose the most effective summary of chapter 5 of the text. They also explain what needs to be revised in the two summary options that they do not select.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • If time allows, consider showing clips from the documentary William and the Wind (http://eled.org/0171) to provide a visual representation of William’s struggles during the devastating famine.
  • In Closing and Assessment A, students select the most effective summary from a collection of summaries. To extend student learning, students who are able to write a brief summary in the time allocated could write a summary instead, either independently or in pairs or triads.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lesson, students read the first half of chapter 5 in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. They analyzed specific parts of the chapter to determine how a particular sentence contributes to the development of the central idea.
  • The Independent Research Reading assignment was launched as well.

Support All Students

  • The second half of chapter 5 continues to explore the profound losses being felt by the people of William’s community during the famine. Often, these descriptions are very sad, and occasionally they may be graphic: page 87 features a description of a mob scene in which people are fighting for the limited maize that is available. If necessary, remind students of the overall focus of the module: critical problems and their solutions.
  • When choosing the best summary during Closing and Assessment A, provide students who may need additional support with an individual checklist containing the criteria from the Criteria for an Effective Summary anchor chart. Instruct students to check off each criterion as they find it in the selected response options. ▲ For increased visualization, color-code elements of the checklist and also provide colored pencils or highlighters for students to mark their writing.
  • Some ELLs may find it challenging to read four sample summaries during Closing and Assessment A. To reduce the amount of reading required for each student, consider assigning one summary to each group or pair to evaluate against the Criteria for an Effective Summary anchor chart. Wrap up the task as a whole class and draw student attention to the features of the most effective summary. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • Review the Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 note-catcher to ensure that students understand how a relative clause can be used to add further information. This will build on their understanding of RI.6.5 as they examine how an individual sentence contributes to the overall development of a text’s ideas.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will read chapter 6 of the anchor text, continuing to note the ways the authors develop William as a key individual.
  • Students will also use the Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face protocol to review figurative language as it is used in the chapter before writing an effective summary of the chapter.

In Advance

  • Prepare sentence chunk strips for the Language Dive in Work Time B.
  • Gather colored markers or pencils for annotations made during the Language Dive.
  • Prepare copies of handouts for students, including the entrance ticket (see Materials list).
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout previous modules to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 6.I.A.1, 6.I.A.2, 6.I.B.6, 6.II.A.1, 6.II.B.4, and 6.II.C.6.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson features the second Language Dive of Module 2. The objective of this Language Dive is to help students continue to apply vocabulary and reading strategies to interpret unknown words and figurative language. These skills remain critical for ELLs as they develop into confident, independent readers.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to review the available summaries and determine the most effective one in time allotted for Closing and Assessment A. As an alternative to the Dance Card protocol, consider strategically pairing students who need heavier support with students who are more comfortable taking the lead during the summary task.

Vocabulary

  • compassion, morose (A)
  • relative pronoun, symbol (DS)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time A)
  • Text Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (for teacher reference) (from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time C)
  • Gist anchor chart: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (example for teacher reference) (from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time C)
  • Analyze Key Individual: William note-catcher (example for teacher reference) (from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time B)
  • Author's Methods anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time B)
  • Author's Methods anchor chart (one for display) (from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time B)
  • Criteria for an Effective Summary anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time C)
  • Strategies to Answer Selected Response Questions anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 3, Opening B)
  • The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (text; one per student) (from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time A)
  • Vocabulary logs (one per student; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time B)
  • Synopsis: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 5 (one per student; from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 8, Work Time A)
  • Analyze Key Individual: William note-catcher (one per student; from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time B)
  • Dance cards (from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 5, Closing and Assessment A)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 9 (example for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Windd, Page 92 (for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 note-catcher (example for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 sentence chunk strips (one per student and one for display)
  • Effective Summary Practice: Chapter 5 (example for teacher reference)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 9 (one per student)
  • Sticky notes (one per student)
  • Colored pencils or markers (blue and yellow) (one of each per student)
  • Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 note-catcher (one per student)
  • Effective Summary Practice: Chapter 5 (one per student and one for display)

Assessment

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Opening

Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.6.4c (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as previous lessons to distribute and review Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 9. Refer to the Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 9 (example for teacher reference) for possible responses.
  • Add compassion to the Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart. Explain that the chapter students will read during today's lesson contains sensitive content. Students should show compassion towards their peers during the reading by noticing and reaching out to those who seem sad or upset.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 5 Excerpt - RI.6.3 (20 minutes)

  • Explain that chapter 5 is an especially long chapter. Today students will finish reading the second half of the chapter starting on page 83 ("A couple of weeks later . . . ") and ending at the conclusion of the chapter on page 98.
  • Repeated routine: Read the excerpt of chapter 5 of the text, using Text Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (for teacher reference) for comprehension and vocabulary questions as needed. Students who are ready to read independently or in small groups should be released to this independence. Students continue to record the gist on sticky notes, unpack and record unfamiliar vocabulary, and reflect on their reading as they choose. Refer to the following resources as appropriate to support this section of the lesson: Gist anchor chart: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (example for teacher reference), Synopsis: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 5, vocabulary logs, and Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart.
  • Gist: William fights desperate crowds to get a small bag of maize from the government. He resorts to eating boiled goat skin for his Christmas dinner.
  • Turn and Talk:

"Which habits of character did you practice as you read this excerpt? Why?" (Student responses will vary, but may include empathy and compassion for the fear people were feeling about not having enough food, and for the scary situation where people, including William, nearly got crushed as they waited in line for food.)

  • Repeated routine: Using strategic groupings, invite students to work with their peers to complete the next row of their Analyze Key Individual: William note-catcher. Refer to the Analyze Key Individual: William note-catcher (example for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Direct students to the Author's Methods anchor chart. Provide or ask a student to read the definition of allusion from the anchor chart. Refer to the Author's Methods anchor chart (example for teacher reference). Ask a student to rephrase the definition of allusion in their own words (reference to another text).
  • Direct students to reread the paragraph on page 92 starting with "When Christmas morning rolled around . . . "
  • Turn and Talk:

"What other text do the authors mention in this paragraph?" (The Christmas carol "Silent Night.")

"What do we learn about William from this allusion?" (William is upset when he hears the Christmas carol "Silent Night" because it contradicts the experiences he and his community are having during this particular Christmas, when everyone is suffering and hungry, rather than being at peace.)

  • Ensure that students also notice that in chapter 5 the authors use description to convey a central idea--the situation facing William and the people of Wimbe has reached a critical and dangerous point, and hunger has made many people, including William, desperate and willing to do whatever necessary to survive. Remind students that they learned about description in Lesson 2. Ask a student to share the definition of description and ensure they can point out instances of description in the chapter as they share their responses.
  • Use a total participation technique to review and correct any misunderstandings before moving on and to update the Author's Methods anchor chart. Refer to the Author's Methods anchor chart (example for teacher reference).
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.
  • N/A

B. Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 - L.6.4a (15 minutes)

  • Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can determine the meaning of words as they are used in the text by identifying context clues."

  • Tell students they will now participate in a Language Dive to practice using context as a clue to the meaning of an unfamiliar word in the text. They will also work together to interpret figurative language in the sentence. Distribute colored pencils or markers (blue and yellow) to each student.
  • Reread aloud the excerpt from The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind on page 92 from "But on Christmas . . . " and ending at " . . . dared touch her."
  • Focus students on the sentence:
    • "All that remained was one lonely hen, who became a kind of morose symbol of everything we'd lost."
  • Use the Language Dive Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 to guide students through a Language Dive conversation about the sentence. Distribute and display the Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 note-catcher and the Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 sentence chunk strips. Refer to the Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 92 note-catcher (example for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

For Lighter Support

    • During the Language Dive of Work Time B, students analyze the word morose and determine its part of speech. Invite ELLs to remind the class what adjectives are and what function they serve in a sentence. Encourage them to provide more examples, which students can note in their vocabulary logs.

    For Heavier Support

      • The word morose may be challenging for some students to pronounce or recall the pronunciation of later. Encourage students to repeat the word aloud several times. The Language Dive of Work Time B may also provide a good opportunity to begin a consistent practice of annotating new words for their pronunciation. Teach students to mark words for stress, with a small dot above the stressed syllable.

      Closing & Assessments

      Closing

      A. Assess Effective Summary - RI.6.2 (5 minutes)

      • Ask students to think about the sentence they just explored during the Language Dive: "All that remained was one lonely hen, who became a kind of morose symbol of everything we'd lost." Remind them of the connections they drew between this sentence and the central idea(s) of chapter 5.
      • Display and distribute the Effective Summary Practice: Chapter 5 handout. Remind students that a central idea is a key component of an effective summary. Explain that students will choose the most effective summary from the selected response options on the handout. Invite students to reference the following resources as they work:
        • Criteria for an Effective Summary anchor chart
        • Strategies for Answering Selected Response Questions anchor chart
      • Using the Dance Card protocol, choose a color or category from the dance cards to assign partners. Allow students 3 minutes to read the options, discuss their choices, and determine the most effective summary of chapter 5.
      • Refocus whole group and check for understanding. Refer to Effective Summary Practice: Chapter 5 (example for teacher reference) as necessary.

      Homework

      Homework

      A. Preread Anchor Text

      • Students preread chapter 6 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind in preparation for studying the chapter in the next lesson.

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