Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

• RI.6.1 – Work Time B: Students participate in a Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face protocol, working together to answer questions about the prologue and chapter 1 of Hidden Figures. They use textual evidence to answer questions about and support their analysis of the text.
• RI.6.6 – Work Time B: Students answer questions about the author’s point of view toward the hidden figures and how her point of view is conveyed in the text.
• RI.6.1 – Work Time C: Students participate in a Language Dive that focuses around a sentence from the prologue of Hidden Figures. They use textual evidence to support their analysis of the sentence and the text.
• RI.6.4 – Work Time C: During the Language Dive, students determine the meanings of words (e.g., heralded) as they are used in the sentence.
• RI.6.6 – Work Time C: During the Language Dive, students analyze the author’s point of view toward the hidden figures and their accomplishments. They locate words in the sentence that convey this point of view.
• L.6.1d – Work Time C: During the Language Dive, students identify a vague pronoun with an unclear antecedent. They rewrite the sentence to improve its clarity.
• L.6.2a – Work Time C: During the Language Dive, students examine the use of a dash to set off a nonrestrictive element in the sentence.
• L.6.4 – Work Time C: During the Language Dive, students use vocabulary strategies to make a guess about a word’s meaning.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

• Hidden Figures was made into a full-length feature film in 2016. Display the movie trailer to build excitement and provide some context before launching the text in this lesson. Strategically utilize clips from the film throughout this unit to highlight key details and events.

How It Builds on Previous Work

• In the previous unit, students read about major events of the Space Race, namely the Apollo 11 moon landing. They learned about many of the famous people who contributed to the Apollo 11 mission, like astronaut Buzz Aldrin and President John F. Kennedy. They also read texts that described the social context surrounding the moon landing and read arguments against it. Throughout Unit 1, students continued to develop their abilities to analyze how word connotations convey an author’s point of view. Unit 2 builds on this work by focusing on the contributions of the hidden figures, whose achievements in space science long went unrecognized. Students will learn more about the social context of the time, primarily the rampant discrimination that plagued the United States and limited opportunities for black women. Students will continue to identify authors’ points of view, as well as compare and contrast multiple authors’ presentations of the same events.

Support All Students

• Note that there is a differentiated version of the Entrance Ticket used in Opening A in the separate Teacher’s Guide for English Language Learners.
• Students begin the Module 4 anchor text Hidden Figures (Young Readers’ Edition) in this lesson. In this text, author Margot Lee Shetterly describes the lives of four black women whose mathematical and scientific prowess contributed to some of the most important advances in the history of space science. They began their work at NACA (now NASA) at a time of segregation in the United States, and they faced terrible discrimination. Hidden Figures (and Module 4 in general) aims to uplift and celebrate the talents and achievements of these women and other hidden figures in the field of space science.
• Note that, in activities and discussions throughout the module, the hidden figures are referred to by their first names: Dorothy, Mary, and Katherine. The choice to call these women by their first names was made for two reasons. First, it is consistent with practices of earlier modules, in which the main characters of texts (Percy, William, and Cal) were called by their first names throughout instruction, due to students’ familiarity with them. Second, it reflects Shetterly’s own decision to refer to the women by their first names throughout the text. Still, with this in mind, it is important to recognize that using first names may have a different impact in the context of this module, which aims to center the work of supremely accomplished and talented women in space science. Because the hidden figures experienced rampant discrimination and felt forced to “prove” their worth, referring to them by their first names could be interpreted as condescending, especially when compared to the naming of other (male) figures in Unit 1, like [Neil] Armstrong. If productive, invite students to further discuss the issue of naming, examining how the way in which we name someone or something can validate, or undermine, the subject’s perceived worth.
• Reading a complex text is more challenging for lower-level readers, including ELLs. To ease the reading load, the anchor text, Hidden Figures, has, in some lessons, been excerpted, helping students to focus on key sections of the chapter. More proficient readers should be encouraged to read the chapter in its entirety. ▲
• In contextualizing the experiences of the women in the story, Hidden Figures describes the circumstances and effects of segregation, highlighting some events that students are likely to find upsetting and unfair. Do not try to temper students’ reactions to these events. Instead, encourage them to practice empathy by imagining what the hidden figures must have felt at the time. QuickWrites and discussions throughout Unit 2 provide additional outlets for students to process their feelings.
• In the prologue, the author writes that “these women should be celebrated not just because they are black or because they are women, but because they are an important part of American history” (3). Keep this in mind throughout Units 2 and 3. It is critical to understand the bravery of these women, whose accomplishments are even more remarkable when considered in the context in which they took place. It is also important to uplift the hidden figures’ major mathematical, scientific, and historical contributions. Look for ways to highlight both the scientific and social elements of the hidden figures’ stories.
• In chapter 1, the author lists regulations that legalized racial segregation at the time that the book’s events took place. These regulations are presented in the text in a powerful way: in a list, with each regulation on its own line and each beginning with the phrase “They could not . . . .” Even if students are familiar with the history of racial segregation, they may still find it upsetting to process to scope of these racist laws. The entrance ticket of the following lesson creates a space for students to reflect on their feelings about this list of laws.

Assessment Guidance

• Review students’ Language Dive: Hidden Figures, Pages 2–3 note-catcher to ensure they are able to determine the author’s point of view and point to specific words and phrases that convey that point of view.
• Although an author’s purpose and point of view are often related, be sure to draw a distinction for students between the two. An author’s purpose is generally to inform, to persuade, or to entertain. Once the author of Hidden Figures establishes her main purpose in the prologue, to inform, it remains consistent throughout the text. Her point of view may vary depending on the topic on which she is writing.
• This lesson introduces the Remarkable Accomplishments anchor chart. In Unit 3, students will answer a writing prompt in which they argue why the accomplishments of the hidden figures are remarkable. Return to this chart often to thoroughly prepare students for the writing task. Point out how much of the writing process is the preparation and organization that takes place even before beginning to write.

Down the Road

• In the next lesson, students read chapter 2 and an excerpt of chapter 3 from Hidden Figures, continuing their gist work. Then, they participate in an activity to determine the connotative and figurative meanings of multiple-meaning words as they are used in the text.