Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

• L.6.4 - Opening A: After completing the entrance ticket, students use context to determine the meaning of the word segregation.
• RI.6.1 - Work Time B: Students complete the Analyze Word Definitions in Hidden Figures activity. They use textual evidence to support their analysis of words used in the text.
• RI.6.4 - Work Time B: Students determine the figurative, connotative, and technical meanings of words as they are used in chapters 2 and 3 of Hidden Figures.
• L.6.4 - Work Time B: Students use vocabulary strategies to determine the meanings of unknown words in chapters 2 and 3 of the text.
• RI.6.4 - Closing and Assessment A: Students wrap up the Analyze Word Meaning activity. They select one of the words from the Work Time B task, and they sketch drawings that demonstrate their understanding of the words' literal and figurative or connotative definitions.
• L.6.4 - Closing and Assessment A: Students use drawings to clarify the meanings of multiple-meaning words.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

• After Opening A, students interested in etymology and affixes may want to look up the root words of segregation in an online etymology dictionary. Discuss how the centuries-old roots of the word add to our understanding of the word's meaning. Compare the common roots in segregate, aggregate, and congregate.
• As an extension to Work Time B, challenge students to think of other words with multiple meanings and write sentences that use the same word in different ways. Students can share their sentences with a partner and discuss nuances in meaning of their words.
• Remind students of all the different facets of language that they have analyzed throughout the four modules. Note that they have discussed the literal and figurative meanings of words, their denotations and connotations, their affixes and parts of speech, as well as the way words can convey point of view and author's purpose. Challenge students to design a simple visual or symbol that represents the many functions and facets of language. Offer an example, such as a superhero's crest, to represent how words are powerful and their powers can be wielded to benefit or hurt others.

How It Builds on Previous Work

• In the previous lesson, students began reading Hidden Figures. They started to develop the Gists anchor chart, and they determined the gist of the prologue and chapter 1. In this lesson, students read chapter 2 and an excerpt of chapter 3 and determine the gist of those chapters. They also build on past work with connotative and figurative language by participating in a language activity in which they track the meanings of multiple-meaning words as they are used in chapters 2 and 3. For homework, they read a text, "Moon Dust and Black Disgust," which elaborates on an argument students analyzed in a different text during the End of Unit 1 Assessment.

Support All Students

• Chapter 2 highlights some of the attitudes toward female employees that were common at the time that the events in the book took place. For example, the author points out that "most employers never would have considered a woman for a job that had always been performed by a man" (10). Invite students, especially female students, to share their feelings about these attitudes.
• In chapter 2, the author also notes that, due to the many men fighting overseas in World War II, "the country needed all the help it could get" (10). For this reason, jobs that were previously available only to white men were now open to women and African Americans. As students move through and more deeply explore the text, they may encounter portrayals of NACA as a key contributor to progress made during the Civil Rights Movement. Some students may notice or point out that NACA's mission to hire women was due less to interest in equality and more out of need for labor. Encourage and welcome critical examination of this if it comes up in class.

Assessment Guidance

• The final question of the entrance ticket asks students to reflect on their rereading of the excerpt from the anchor text that delineates the laws that made segregation legal by explaining how these antiquated laws violate the habits of character students attempt to embody in their daily interactions. Rephrase and repeat this question in different ways to ensure students understand the type of response that is expected (e.g., "Segregation laws cannot coexist with habits of character because . . ." or "In what ways do segregation laws conflict with our habits of character?")

Down the Road

• In the next lesson, students read chapter 4 and an excerpt of chapter 5 of Hidden Figures and determine the gist of those chapters. Students then grapple with a complex text, "Moon Dust and Black Disgust," that proposes a different perspective of the Apollo 11 mission, one of deep disappointment.