Analyze Character and Theme: Two Roads, Chapter 21 | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G6:M3:U2:L2

Analyze Character and Theme: Two Roads, Chapter 21

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RL.6.1, RL.6.2, RL.6.3, RL.6.4, RL.6.6, L.6.1d, L.6.4c

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.

  • RL.6.10, W.6.10, SL.6.1a

Daily Learning Targets

  • I can analyze how Cal responds and changes due to the events in chapter 21. (RL.6.3)
  • I can determine possible themes in Two Roads. (RL.6.2)
  • I can analyze Cal's point of view in chapter 21 and how it is developed by the author. (RL.6.6)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket (RL.6.1, RL.6.3)
  • Work Time A: Close Read: Chapter 21 Excerpt note-catcher (RL.6.1, RL.6.2, RL.6.3)
  • Work Time B: Language Dive: Two Roads, page 221 note-catcher (RL.6.1, RL.6.2, RL.6.3, RL.6.4, RL.6.6, SL.6.1a, L.6.1d, L.6.4c)
  • Closing and Assessment A: Exit Ticket (RL.6.1, RL.6.2)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - RL.6.3 (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Close Read: Two Roads, Chapter 21 Excerpt - RL.6.2, RL.6.3 (15 minutes)

B. Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 - RL.6.2, RL.6.6 (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Exit Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 - RL.6.1, RL.6.2 (10 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Finish Reading: Students finish reading chapter 21 in Two Roads.

B. Race and Ethnicity: Students complete Homework: Race and Ethnicity to respond to the prompt: How are Cal's understanding and point of view toward race and ethnicity changing as a result of his experiences at Challagi? Students may need their vocabulary logs as reference.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • RL.6.3 – Opening A: Students complete an Entrance Ticket in which they describe how Cal responded to key events in the text.
  • RL.6.1 – Work Time A: Students use evidence from chapter 21 of Two Roads to answer questions about the text during a close read.
  • RL.6.2 – Work Time A: During the close read, students analyze how a key excerpt from the text reveals a particular theme.
  • RL.6.3 – Work Time A: During the close read, students analyze how Cal changes in response to his experiences at Challagi Indian Industrial School.
  • RL.6.2 – Work Time B: Students participate in a Language Dive in which they analyze themes that are emerging in Two Roads.
  • RL.6.4 – Work Time B: Students participate in a Language Dive in which they determine the precise meanings of words, including pronouns, as they are used in the sentence.
  • RL.6.6 – Work Time B: During the Language Dive, students analyze the way in which the author develops Cal’s point of view toward his own identity.
  • L.6.1d – Work Time B: During the Language Dive, students interpret pronouns with a vague antecedent and explore other pronouns that may more effectively express the author’s ideas.
  • L.6.4c – Work Time B: During the Language Dive, students use dictionaries to clarify the precise meaning of the pronouns ‘it’ and ‘that.’
  • RL.6.1 – Closing and Assessment A: Students complete an exit ticket in which they provide evidence from the text that leads toward a specific theme based on the topic of race and identity.
  • RL.6.2 – Closing and Assessment A: Students complete an exit ticket in which they determine which theme emerges from the text.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • In chapter 21, students at Challagi are studying Rudyard Kipling’s “The Ballad of East and West.” Only a small portion of the poem is quoted in this chapter. Expand on this introduction to the poem by having students read the poem in its entirety. Invite students to write a brief summary of the poem and determine the poem’s theme. Ask students how the poem’s theme matches a theme of Two Roads.
  • For homework, students answer a prompt related to race and ethnicity as it emerges in the anchor text. Encourage students to engage in a discussion with their peers or parents using a similar prompt: What do you understand as the difference between the terms race and ethnicity?

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lesson, students read the end of chapter 18 and all of chapter 20. They began building a theme anchor chart where they distinguished topics from themes and compiled possible themes emerging in Two Roads. This lesson reinforces work with theme in a close read and Language Dive that both support students as they determine possible identity-related themes in the text.

Support All Students

  • In chapter 21, Cal describes how students at Challagi interpret and react to the races of their classmates. He says, for example, that "mixed bloods" feel "real sensitive whenever a full-blood says they're not real Indians" (217). Cal discusses inequities in treatment toward people of different races, saying that black students "too dark to pass for white. . . might do better in this world by passing as Indian" (226). He notices that the black students (or staluskey, as they are called at Challagi) sit by themselves at lunch and may or may not be invited to be part of groups like Cal's "Creek gang" (221). He hears Bear Meat speculate that the "darkest-skinned students" are attending Challagi in order to "get free room and board and an education all paid for by the government" (226). Use these moments to guide students in a thoughtful discussion of one of the module’s guiding questions: “What factors influence our identities?”
  • For students with low English-language proficiency, it may be even more challenging to understand the complexity of the issues raised in chapter 21. During the close read, use strategic combinations of Conversation Cues to help ELLs clarify their ideas, listen carefully to one another, and deepen their thinking. ▲ For example,
    • “I’ll give you a minute to think and write or sketch.” (Goal 1)
    • “So, do you mean ___?” (Goal 1)
    • “What, in the chapter, makes you think so?” (Goal 3)
    • “Who can repeat what your classmate said?” (Goal 2)
    • “Who can add on to what your classmate said?” (Goal 4)
  • After the close read, a Language Dive facilitates a critical “pause” and a closer look at a key sentence in the chapter, helping students tackle the theme of identity in a more scaffolded way. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • The close read and Language Dive for this lesson are intended to directly connect to the third module guiding question: What factors influence our identities? Pause to use the learning from the close read and Language Dive note-catchers to add to the Module Guiding Questions anchor chart.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students continue building on their awareness of the themes in Two Roads. A summary of chapter 22 helps students to connect their ability to identify key details and determine theme in a structured paragraph.

In Advance

  • Preread chapter 21 of Two Roads to identify potentially challenging vocabulary or plot points.
  • Review the new materials used in this lesson to ensure clarity about what students will need to know and be able to do.
  • Preview the Close Reading Guide: Chapter 21 Excerpt and Close Read: Chapter 21 Excerpt note-catcher to become familiar with what will be required of students.
  • Preview the Language Dive Guide: Two Roads, Page 221 and Language Dive Two Roads, Page 221 Sentence Chunk Chart to become familiar with what will be required of students.
  • Prepare copies of handouts for students (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 note-catchers with larger font and more white space. Consider providing the close read and Language Dive materials on an online platform 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. Additionally, a font called OpenDyslexic can be downloaded for free and used to make materials, such as the Close Read and Language Dive note-catchers, for students with this need.

Supporting English Language Learners

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

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson features a Language Dive to reinforce students' understanding of theme in Two Roads, helping to prepare them for the mid-unit assessment. The Language Dive also invites an examination of pronoun use and guides students through steps to correct a vague antecedent. Pronoun work, a key component of Grade 6 Language standards, is also supremely valuable for ELLs. Appropriate pronoun use is directly connected to ideas of clarity and cohesion; learning to quickly and accurately interpret pronouns, track antecedents, and revise misuses will support ELLs as readers and writers.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to interpret the Language Dive sentence, which contains multiple embedded clauses and gerund phrases. Point out that the focus of the Language Dive is theme, point of view, and pronoun use, and remind them that it is okay if some of the more complicated grammatical structures do not make sense to them yet. It may also be helpful for students to understand the gist of the sentence before beginning the Dive. Consider inviting students who need lighter support to share any paraphrases of this sentence that they may have written on their own during the previous lesson or as homework in preparation for this Language Dive. Alternatively, write and provide paraphrases of the sentence for the whole class to analyze before beginning the Dive. These paraphrases may include: "I felt bad to see other people bullied for something they could not control" or "It made me sad if I saw people mistreating my classmates for the color of their skin."

Vocabulary

  • ethnicity, irony, race (DS)

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)
  • Questions We Can Ask During a Language Dive anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 9, Work Time B)
  • Questions We Can Ask During a Language Dive anchor chart (one for display; from Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 9, Work Time B)
  • Domain-specific word wall (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • Determine Themes: Two Roads anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 1 Work Time B)
  • Determine Themes: Two Roads anchor chart (one for display; from Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • Vocabulary log (one per student; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time B)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 (example for teacher reference)
  • Close Reading Guide: Two Roads, Chapter 21 Excerpt (for teacher reference)
  • Close Read: Two Roads, Chapter 21 Excerpt note-catcher (example for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive Guide: Two Roads, Page 221 (for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 Sentence Chunk Chart (for teacher reference)
  • Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 sentence chunk strips (one per pair or group of students and one for display)
  • Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 note-catcher (example for teacher reference)
  • Exit Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 (example for teacher reference)
  • Homework: Race and Ethnicity (example for teacher reference) (see Homework Resources)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 (one per student)
  • Synopsis: Two Roads, Chapter 21 (one per student)
  • Close Read: Two Roads, Chapter 21 Excerpt note-catcher (one per student)
  • Print or online dictionary (one per student)
  • Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 note-catcher (one per student and one for display)
  • Exit Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 (one per student)
  • Homework: Race and Ethnicity (one per student; see Homework Resources)
  • Homework Resources (for families) (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 - RL.6.3 (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as previous lessons to distribute and review the Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2. Refer to the Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 (example for teacher reference) for possible responses.
  • 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 to or the same as previous lessons. Invite students to choose a habit of character focus for themselves for this lesson.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Close Read: Two Roads, Chapter 21 Excerpt - RL.6.2, RL.6.3 (15 minutes)

  • 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.
  • Move students into predetermined pairs.
  • Use Close Reading Guide: Two Roads, Chapter 21 Excerpt (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 following:
    • Close Read: Two Roads, Chapter 21 Excerpt note-catcher
    • Print or online dictionary
  • Refer to Close Read: Two Roads, Chapter 21 Excerpt note-catcher (example for teacher reference) as necessary. Distribute Synopsis: Two Roads, Chapter 21 after the close read as needed.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.
  • N/A

B. Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 - RL.6.2, RL.6.6 (15 minutes)

  • Tell students they will now participate in a Language Dive to determine possible themes that emerge in chapter 21 of Two Roads, as Cal processes his attitudes toward race and identity at Challagi. This Language Dive also reinforces practice with pronoun use. Remind students that the process of Language Dives in Modules 3 and 4 will be different from the Language Dive process of earlier modules.
  • Display the Questions We Can Ask During a Language Dive anchor chart. Ensure students understand how to use these questions, pointing out that the questions underlined on the anchor chart are questions that students should always ask when they dive into a sentence.
  • Refer to the Questions We Can Ask During a Language Dive anchor chart (example for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Tell students they will now begin the Language Dive. Reread aloud the excerpt from Two Roads on page 221, beginning with "It's a big thing here, I knew now" and ending at ". . . just for being born who they were."
  • Focus students on the sentence:
    • "But it still didn't mean that I felt good about seeing people treated bad just for being born who they were."
  • Use the Language Dive Guide: Two Roads, Page 221 and the Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 Sentence Chunk Chart to guide students through a Language Dive conversation about the sentence. Distribute and display the Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 note-catcher, and the Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 sentence chunk strips. Refer to the Language Dive: Two Roads, Page 221 note-catcher (example for teacher reference) as necessary.
  • Invite students to Think-Pair-Share:

"Now that we have completed our second new Language Dive, what additional questions should we add to our Questions We Can Ask During a Language Dive anchor chart?" (Responses will vary.)

  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.
  • For Lighter Support
  • The Language Dive of Work Time B helps students recognize that the pronoun that may be a clearer and more appropriate alternative to the pronoun it which was used by the author. To clarify and extend this work and to connect it to RL.6.4, invite students who need lighter support to analyze the multiple meanings and uses of the word that in English. Provide example sentences from the text for students to analyze for the way they use the word that. Students can then match the uses of that to a list of definitions of the word. Examples of possible sentences (and their definitions) can be found below:
    • "Like that one huge railroad bull back in Omaha" (49) (used to identify a specific thing)
    • "We all laugh, but it's not all that funny" (222) (so; very; to such a degree)
    • "I hate seeing the others treated that way . . . " (224) (used to refer to a specific thing previously mentioned)
    • "That expulsion policy ended . . . " (225) (used to refer to a specific thing previously mentioned)
    • "It makes me wish I could find a magic thread that I could follow . . . " (230) (introduces a relative clause)
  • As another extension to the Language Dive of Work Time B, challenge students who need lighter support to further examine the grammatical function of the gerund phrases seeing people treated bad and being born who they were. For example, provide students with a simple version of the frame used in the Language Dive: I feel good about _____. Invite students to complete this frame with any words or phrases that are true for them. Then, students can compile their answers and note what they have in common grammatically (i.e., all are functioning as noun phrases). This will help students understand the function of the gerund seeing people treated bad as a noun phrase in the Language Dive sentence. Students will study gerunds in more detail during Grade 8 (L.8.1a); congratulate them on their ability to do advanced grammatical work.

For Heavier Support

  • As an extension to the Language Dive of Work Time B and to reinforce work with L.6.1, invite students who need heavier support to generate a list of all the pronouns they can think of. This list will likely include more familiar pronouns, like she, we, it, or myself. Push students' thinking by providing them a complete list of pronouns in English, like that provided on http://eled.org/0221. Students may be surprised to know that there are over 100 pronouns used for different purposes! Although students will likely have seen all the listed words before, they may not have known that they were pronouns. Invite open-ended discussion in small groups about strategies for learning and using pronouns.
  • As another extension to the Language Dive of Work Time B, invite students to revisit the meaning of the conjunction but, which begins the sentence and indicates a contrast. Invite students to reread the paragraph preceding this sentence in the text, beginning at "Being labeled as a white student here at Challagi . . . " (221). Then, using a Think-Pair-Share protocol, prompt students to examine what this conjunction tells us about the sentence. The following questions can be used to guide students' understanding:
    • What does the word but tell us about this sentence?
    • How is this sentence different from the sentence that came before it in the book?
    • What other words can we use to show the difference between this sentence and the previous one?

Closing & Assessments

Closing

A. Exit Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 - RL.6.1, RL.6.2 (10 minutes)

  • Distribute Exit Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2. Read the directions aloud.
  • Invite students to complete the exit ticket.
  • After 5 minutes have passed, direct students to Turn and Talk with a partner to share their response.
  • Direct student focus to the Determine Themes: Two Roads anchor chart.
  • Explain that race and identity were the topics that emerged from the text in the lesson today. Add "race and identity" to the anchor chart under Topic.
  • Ask:

"Looking at your exit ticket, what are some details from the text that address the topic?" (Cal explains his surprise at what he expected to encounter in regards to Indians at Challagi versus what he did encounter. Cal reports that "some of those white-looking Indian kids grew up thinking of themselves as Indians. . .". Cal reflects that "being labeled as a white student here at Challagi was almost as bad as being seen as an Indian in the white world." Cal recognizes that he didn't like the way other students were treated because of their skin color.)

  • Add students' responses to the anchor chart under Text Evidence.
  • Ask:

"Reflecting on your close read and Language Dive work, as well as looking at your exit ticket, what theme emerges from the textual evidence?" (Our peers, our school, our families, and our experiences can affirm or threaten our identities. Finding one's identity often involves recognizing one's values.)

  • Add students' responses to the anchor chart under Theme. Refer to the Determine Themes: Two Roads anchor chart (example for teacher reference) as needed.
  • Collect the exit ticket. Scan student responses and make a note of students who might need support. Check in with them moving forward.
  • Clarify the instructions for the homework and ask students to retrieve any materials that will help them complete the assignment.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their habit of character focus for this lesson.

Homework

Homework

A. Finish Reading

  • Students finish reading chapter 21 in Two Roads.

B. Race and Ethnicity

  • Students complete Homework: Race and Ethnicity to respond to the prompt: How are Cal's understanding and point of view toward race and ethnicity changing as a result of his experiences at Challagi? Students may need their vocabulary logs as reference.

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