Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

• RI.6.2 – Opening A: Students complete an entrance ticket in which they analyze sample annotations that identify the central idea of a text excerpt.
• RI.6.1 – Work Time A: Students read and annotate “The Space Race” using evidence from the text to support their annotations.
• RI.6.2 – Work Time A: Students add annotations to “The Space Race” with the purpose of identifying the central idea of the text and summarizing it.
• RI.6.4 – Work Time B: Students analyze an excerpt of John F. Kennedy’s speech and examine ways in which words with specific connotations convey his point of view.
• RI.6.6 – Work Time B: Students analyze John F. Kennedy’s speech and complete the Analyze Point of View: President Kennedy’s Speech note-catcher with information about Kennedy’s point of view toward space travel.
• L.6.5c – Work Time B: Students choose a word from John F. Kennedy’s speech that has a strong connotation and explain how the word’s connotation reveals his point of view.
• In this lesson, students engage in a protocol. A protocol consists of agreed-upon, detailed guidelines for reading, recording, discussing, or reporting that ensure equal participation and accountability in learning. Protocols are an important feature of the EL curriculum because they are a useful way to engage students in discussion, inquiry, critical thinking, and sophisticated communication. Students engage in the following new protocol in this lesson (instructions for which appear at the first point of use):
• Annotating Text: Annotating text goes beyond underlining, highlighting, or making symbolic notations or codes on a given text. Annotation includes adding purposeful notes, key words and phrases, definitions, and connections tied to specific sections of text. Annotating text promotes students’ interest in reading and gives learners a focused purpose for reading. It supports readers’ ability to clarify and synthesize ideas, pose relevant questions, and capture analytical thinking about text. Annotation also gives students a clear purpose for actively engaging with text and is driven by the goals or learning targets of the lesson. Later in the unit, students will participate in a collaborative iteration of this protocol, in which annotations are made by multiple individuals on the same text.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

• Although the Annotating Text protocol is typically done silently, consider inviting students to think aloud with a partner as they annotate “The Space Race” in Work Time A. Listening partners can follow along and note the annotation choices made by their partners and ask one another questions about their approaches to annotation.
• For further practice with the Annotating Text protocol and to deepen understanding of John F. Kennedy’s “Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs,” challenge students to annotate the excerpt of the speech provided in Work Time B. Clarify the purpose for annotations, choosing tasks that are relevant to students’ needs and the goals of the unit. These purposes may include the following: to locate evidence in support of a claim, to identify the central idea and supporting details, and/or to determine the author’s purpose. Additionally, students only read and analyze part of President Kennedy’s 1961 speech to Congress. Consider giving students another section of the speech to understand the other “urgent needs” that the United States was facing at this time.
• The Analyze Point of View: President Kennedy’s Speech note-catcher from Work Time B asks students to describe Kennedy’s point of view toward space travel using evidence from the transcript. Challenge students to use other evidence from the transcript to determine Kennedy’s point of view toward additional topics, such as innovation, patriotism, or the Soviet Union.

How It Builds on Previous Work

• In the previous lesson, students were introduced to the module topic through the Infer the Topic protocol and details of the performance task. Students also watched a video of the moon landing that concluded the Space Race in 1969. In this lesson, students learn more about the goals of the Space Race by examining two supplemental texts. They practice determining the central idea, analyzing point of view, and interpreting the technical meanings of words.

Support All Students

• The Annotating Text protocol helps readers to process information at a deeper level and increases their ability to recall information from the text. It helps learners comprehend difficult materials and more critically engage with the text. Although this protocol is supportive for students at all reading levels, ELLs may especially benefit from opportunities to gauge and demonstrate their understanding of the text. ▲
• If ELLs find it challenging to locate words, phrases, and sentences to annotate during the protocol, give them the opportunity to annotate for different purposes, such as to react, reflect, or pose clarifying questions. ▲

Assessment Guidance

• In this lesson, students learn to annotate a text as they read to deepen their comprehension. Consider creating standard annotations for students to draw from (e.g., circle unfamiliar words, highlight key details, draw a question mark next to confusing parts). Create an anchor chart with the different possible annotations, and encourage students to add to it with their own ideas. Remind students to use annotations in moderation, as they are meant to draw attention to only the most important ideas.
• During Work Time A, students complete a note-catcher about author’s point of view similar to the note-catchers they used in Module 3. Students should keep in mind how the audience may affect the way the author conveys their point of view. Invite students to think about how the author, in this case President John F. Kennedy, might have changed his word choices or delivery based on his audience.
• For homework, students begin filling in a timeline to track the background knowledge they are building through texts and multimedia resources about the Space Race. Ensure that students bring home the texts from this lesson to help fill in their timeline.

Down the Road

• In the next lesson, students continue to develop their understanding of the events leading up the moon landing. They read an excerpt from a new text, Team Moon, and annotate the text to determine the author’s point of view.