Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

• RI.6.1 – Opening A: Students use evidence from the text to support their analysis of the text on their Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catchers.
• W.6.1 – Opening A: Students add to their note-catchers with relevant evidence and clear reasons that support claims that they will elaborate on in a later argument essay.
• W.6.9b – Opening A: Students gather relevant evidence from the anchor text and add it to their note-catchers to support their claims.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

• Focus students on a particularly powerful sentence in chapter 17 of Hidden Figures: “The problem was that women had to get over the high hurdle of low expectations—they needed to prove that they were just as good as men and should be held to the same standards and given the same opportunities” (143). Point out that this sentence mirrors a similar claim made by the author in chapter 6: “Because of the discrimination, they believed that African Americans needed to be twice as good to get half as far as their white counterparts” (46). The chapter 6 sentence was the focus of a Language Dive in Unit 2 Lesson 4. Challenge students to design their own Language Dive around this sentence from chapter 17.
• Chapter 17 of Hidden Figures discusses some of the ways in which Katherine Goble faced gender discrimination at work. Use a news source, such as Newsela, to find age-appropriate, contemporary articles about the ways in which gender discrimination and bias are still present in modern workplaces and how individuals and organizations are working against those discriminatory practices.

How It Builds on Previous Work

• In the previous lesson, students read two more chapters about Katherine Johnson, updating their Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catcher with text details to support the claim that her accomplishments were remarkable. Having completed this work in jigsaw groups, students meet back with their home groups during Opening A of this lesson to share what they learned previously.
• In this lesson, students read chapters 17 and 18 in the anchor text to complete their analysis of Katherine Johnson. They update the Remarkable Accomplishments anchor chart once more in preparation for the writing task in Unit 3. Students also review the requirements for the performance task to connect how their work with the anchor text acts as a foundation for the independent research they will conduct on an underrecognized focus figure.

Support All Students

• The list of focus figure options for the independent argument essay and the performance task is not exhaustive. Students may feel particularly strongly about conducting their research on another individual. Determine whether options beyond the list will be allowed. If so, ensure that the individual chosen meets the criteria of the task and that there are at least two other students who want to work together to research this alternative focus figure.
• Consider providing the “NASA Former Astronauts” page of the NASA website as a starting point for all student research (http://eled.org/0253).
• Some individuals on the Focus Figure Options list will require more extensive research to unearth all of the necessary biographical details. For students with less advanced research or computing skills, consider encouraging them toward research subjects whose information is more readily available online (e.g., Sally Ride).
• Students may not understand the “Houston, we have a problem” reference on the Performance Task: Picture Book Directions. A version of this statement was first uttered by astronaut Jim Lovell during the Apollo 13 mission and made famous when spoken by actor Tom Hanks playing the role of Jim Lovell in the 1995 film Apollo 13. Consider playing this film clip to provide context for this cultural reference.

Assessment Guidance

• Review students’ entries on their Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catcher to ensure that recorded textual evidence is appropriate, relevant, and comprehensive. Remind students that this note-catcher serves as preparation for the collaborative essays they will write in Unit 3; the more effort they put into the note-catcher now, the easier the writing task will be later.
• Circulate and monitor during the Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face protocol in Work Time B, taking note of the questions, misconceptions, or concerns students have around the independent argument essay and the related performance task. Address any major areas of confusion right away; consider placing more nuanced questions on a Parking Lot chart to be revisited as students become more familiar with the task and requirements.

Down the Road

• In the next lesson, students read two more chapters in Hidden Figures, and, as the text is coming to a close, begin to synthesize their learning by revisiting the module guiding questions. The rest of the lesson allows time for students to begin their initial research on their focus figure in preparation for the independent argument essay and performance task in Unit 3. Consider the logistics and materials preparation necessary to facilitate the research work in the next lesson.