Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 11 | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G6:M2:U2:L2

Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 11

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, RI.6.5, L.6.5c

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.

  • SL.6.1, W.6.10, L.6.4
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can determine meanings of words and phrases as they are used in the text. (RI.6.4)
  • I can determine the central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through details. (RI.6.2)
  • I can analyze how a key event is elaborated in a text. (RI.6.3)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket (RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RI.6.3, RI.6.5, W.6.10)
  • Work Time A: Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196-201 note-catcher (RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RI.6.3, L.6.4, L.6.5)
  • Work Time B: Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 note-catcher (RI.6.1, RI.6.4, RI.6.5, L.6.3a, L.6.5c)
  • Closing and Assessment A: QuickWrite: Understand Connotation (RI.6.4, W.6.10, L.6.5c)
  • Homework A: Write Summary and Analyze Structure: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 11 (RI.6.1, RI.6.2, RI.6.5)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - RI.6.5 (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196-201 - RI.6.2 (25 minutes)

B. Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 - L.6.5c (10 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. QuickWrite: Understand Connotation - L.6.5c (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Write Summary and Analyze Structure: Students complete Homework: Write Summary and Analyze Structure: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 11.

B. Preread Anchor Text: Students preread chapter 12 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

  • RI.6.2 – Opening A: Students complete an entrance ticket in which they explain how a paragraph of chapter 10 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind helps develop a central idea within the chapter.
  • RI.6.5 – Opening A: Students complete an entrance ticket in which they determine the function of a section of chapter 10 within the overall structure of the chapter.
  • RI.6.1– Work Time A: Students participate in a close reading of a chapter 11 excerpt from the text and use textual evidence to support their analysis of the text’s ideas.
  • RI.6.2 – Work Time A: During the close read, students determine the central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through key details in the chapter.
  • RI.6.3 – Work Time A: During the close read, students analyze how a key event is introduced and elaborated in the text.
  • RI.6.4 – Work Time B: Students participate in a Language Dive and interpret the meanings of related words as they are used in the text.
  • L.6.5c – Work Time B: During the Language Dive, students analyze nuances in the meanings of similar words.
  • RI.6.4 – Closing and Assessment A: Students complete a QuickWrite in which they determine the connotative meaning of words as they are used in chapter 11 of the text.
  • L.6.5c – Closing and Assessment A: Students complete a QuickWrite in which they distinguish among connotations of words with similar denotations.
  • In this lesson, students focus on working to become ethical people by reflecting examples of William’s determination and initiative during the close read and working to become effective learners by collaborating as they work in triads throughout the lesson.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • As an extension to the Language Dive in Work Time B, provide a mini lesson on the authors’ use of alliteration in The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. Focus first on the sentence of the Language Dive, which contains multiple examples of alliteration (e.g., flicker/flash; burst/bright), then invite students to explore other familiar texts for examples of alliteration. Help students notice the role of alliteration in creating rhythm and mood and in drawing attention to sections of a text. Encourage students to write their own stories using alliterative techniques.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In this lesson, students continue to develop their understanding of central idea, building upon the work of earlier modules and units. A close read will invite students to analyze a portion of chapter 11 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind for its central idea and how that central idea is conveyed through key details.

Support All Students

  • The close read and Language Dive of this lesson are intended to facilitate “pauses” that allow readers to dig more deeply into the meaning of a chapter or sentence. These activities are critical for the development of ELLs’ reading and linguistic skills. To help students begin to connect the strategies of the close read and Language Dive to their own independent reading, debrief by encouraging students to identify new reading strategies they learned. ▲
  • Students may need additional support with recording their answers on their note-catchers. Consider sitting those students in a group together for teacher support when necessary. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • Review students’ close read note-catchers to ensure students understand how key details hint at a central idea.

Down the Road

  • Note that students will not finish chapter 11 (pages 201–207) in class. Strongly encourage them to read these remaining pages independently so that they are prepared to read chapter 12 in its entirety during the following lesson. In Lesson 12, students will also focus on how word connotations add meaning in the anchor text.

In Advance

  • Prepare Language Dive sentence chunk strips.
  • Gather colored markers (blue, green, and yellow) for annotation work during the Language Dive.
  • Strategically group students into triads for the work in this lesson, with at least one strong reader per triad. ▲
  • Preview the Close Reading Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 and Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 note-catcher to become familiar with what will be required of students.
  • Preview the Language Dive Guide, and consider how to invite conversation among students to address the questions and goals suggested under each sentence chunk strip. Select from the questions and goals provided to best meet students’ needs.
  • 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

  • Work Time A: Students with visual challenges may need a version of the text and note-catchers with larger font and more white space. Consider providing the text and other close read materials using an online word-processing tool, such as http://eled.org/0158, so students can adjust the size of the font and the typeface.
  • Work Time A: Some typefaces, especially sans serif typefaces, have been shown to ease reading for students with dyslexia. Specifically, the font located at http://eled.org/0170 can be downloaded for free and used to make materials for students with this need.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 6.I.A.1, 6.I.A.3, 6.I.B.6, 6.I.B.7, 6.I.B.8, 6.II.A.1, 6.II.C.6, and 6.II.C.7.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson invites students to participate in a close read of an excerpt from The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. A Language Dive isolating an important sentence from this excerpt immediately follows the close read. Both of these tasks facilitate a deep look at a text or sentence and offer strategies that students can apply to texts that they read independently in the future. More specifically, the close read and the Language Dive focus on developing skills related to determining central idea(s), identifying structural elements in a text, and interpreting the meaning of words as they are used by the authors--all skills that are assessed in the mid-unit assessment of Lesson 4.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to interpret the scientific language of the excerpt selected for the close read. Although students are already very familiar with the anchor text from which the excerpt is derived, the excerpt describes a particularly critical and complex breakthrough in the construction of William's windmill. The questions of the close reading guide are carefully crafted to support students' understanding of the text. Continue to check in with students, using Conversation Cues to verify understanding and deepen students' thinking.

Vocabulary

  • gust (A)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 4, Opening A)
  • Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time A)
  • Structure anchor Chart (one for display; from Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 8, Work Time B)
  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
  • 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)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Close Reading Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196-201 (for teacher reference)
  • Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Windd, Pages 196-201 note-catcher (answers for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 (for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 note-catcher (example for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 sentence chunk strips (one per student and one for display)
  • QuickWrite: Understand Connotation (example for teacher reference)
  • Homework: Write Summary and Analyze Structure: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 11 (answers for teacher reference) (see Homework Resources)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 (one per student)
  • Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196-201 note-catcher (one per student and one for display)
  • Markers or colored pencils (blue, green, and yellow) (one of each per student)
  • Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 note-catcher (one per student)
  • QuickWrite: Understand Connotation (one per student)
  • Homework: Write Summary and Analyze Structure: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 11 (one per student; see Homework Resources)

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 - RI.6.5 (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as previous lessons to distribute and review Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2. Refer to the Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 (answers for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • 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. Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 – RI.6.2 (25 minutes)

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

“I can determine the central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through details.”

  • Focus students on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart and remind them that digging into the text deeper can help them understand it better, so they are going to dig deeper into an excerpt of the text through close reading.
  • Move students into predetermined triads.
  • Direct students’ attention to the Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart and review what collaboration looks and sounds like.
  • Use Close Reading Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 (for teacher reference) to set the purpose of the close read and to guide students through a close read of this excerpt. Refer to the guide for how to integrate the Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 note-catcher.
  • Refer to Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 note-catcher (example for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • The Close Reading Guide lists the text excerpts, key questions to ask students, and instructional moves required. Continue to use discussion protocols (e.g., Think-Pair-Share, Conversation Cues, and total participation techniques) to engage all students in a collaborative discussion about the text.
  • At the end of the close read, consider using a Goal 3 Conversation Cue to help improve students’ metacognition:

“How did our discussion of this excerpt add to your understanding of the central idea(s) of the chapter and the text? I’ll give you time to think and discuss with a partner.”

  • 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 200 - L.6.5 (10 minutes)

  • Tell students they will now participate in a Language Dive to analyze text structure from chapter 11 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. They will also practice interpreting words with slight differences in meaning and connotation. Distribute markers or colored pencils (blue, green, and yellow) to each student.
  • Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can determine meanings of words and phrases as they are used in the text."

  • Reread aloud the excerpt from The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind on page 200, starting at "Just then a strong gust flung me backward" and ending with "My heart nearly exploded."
  • Focus students on the sentence:
    • "Then it came: a flicker, a flash, then a burst of bright, magnificent light."
  • Use the Language Dive Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 (for teacher reference) to guide students through a Language Dive conversation about the sentence. Distribute and display the Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 note-catcher and the Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 sentence chunk strips. Refer to Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 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

  • Continue to support students’ awareness of their own thinking, learning, and strategy use. After Work Time B, invite a group of ELLs who need lighter support to generate a list of reading and vocabulary strategies that they have practiced during Language Dives. This list can be copied and shared with students who need heavier support in future Language Dives.
  • Invite students who need lighter support to scan pages 188–189 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which they read during the close read of Work Time A, and underline or mark with sticky notes words and phrases that signal a chronological text structure. Model this exercise for students before they begin by underlining the phrases “The first thing I wanted to do was . . . ” and “ . . . took nearly three hours” on page 188. Point out that these phrases show the reader events in the order that they occur. This exercise will both help strengthen student attention to language that signals structure in a text and improve students’ word-recognition abilities.
  • For an added challenge during the Practice section of the Language Dive in Work Time B, scramble the order of the three sentences provided and have students refer back to the text to determine the order in which they occurred before they combine them into a single sentence.

For Heavier Support

  • The sentence selected for the Language Dive features a few examples of alliteration (flicker/flash; burst/bright). Invite students who need heavier support to practice saying these alliterative pairs aloud, noticing the sounds that are easier or more difficult for them to say. Encourage these students to begin keeping a “pronunciation journal” to track their progress with particularly challenging English language sounds.
  • Invite students who need heavier support to scan pages 188–189 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which they read during the close read of Work Time A, and underline or mark with sticky notes words and phrases that signal a chronological text structure. Scanning exercises like this one help students improve their word-recognition abilities and become quicker decoders of text. To ease the cognitive load, provide students with a list of words and phrases from pages 188–189 to scan the text for the following:
    • “The first thing I wanted to do was . . . ”
    • “This process . . . took nearly three hours.”
    • “Next . . . ”
    • “That’s when I realized . . . ”
    • “Lastly . . . ”
    • “It was then that I noticed . . . ”
    • “The next thing was . . . ”
    • “Finally . . . ”

Closing & Assessments

Closing

A. QuickWrite: Understand Connotation - L.6.5c (5 minutes)

  • Distribute QuickWrite: Understand Connotation. Remind students that the goal of a QuickWrite is to get their ideas on the page without pausing to edit for conventions. Encourage students to write continuously for the allotted time. Refer to QuickWrite: Understand Connotation (example for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Refocus whole group after 4 minutes.
  • Invite students to reflect on the habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.
  • Collect the handout. Scan student responses and make a note of students who might need support. Check in with them moving forward.

Homework

Homework

A. Write Summary and Analyze Structure

  • Students complete Homework: Write Summary and Analyze Structure: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Chapter 11.

B. Preread Anchor Text
Students preread chapter 12 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind in preparation for studying the chapter in the next lesson.

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