Analyze Development of Theme: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G7:M1:U1:L11

Analyze Development of Theme: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RL.7.2, L.7.2a

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.7.1, RL.7.10, SL.7.1, L.7.6
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can identify how themes in A Long Walk to Water have developed in chapter 8. (RL.7.2)
  • I can write an objective summary of chapter 8 of A Long Walk to Water. (RL.7.2)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 11 (L.7.2a)
  • Work Time B and C: Themes and Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 (RL.7.1, RL.7.2)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.7.2a (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Read A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 (15 minutes)

B. Analyze Themes: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 - RL.7.2 (10 minutes)

C. Write a Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 - RL.7.2 (10 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Pair Share: Summaries - SL.7.1 (5 minutes) 

4. Homework

A. Text-Dependent Questions: Students complete Homework: Summary and Theme: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8, answering questions related to the use of language to develop tone and theme.

B. Preread Anchor Text: Students should preread chapter 9 of A Long Walk to Water in preparation for studying the chapter in the next lesson.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • Repeated routines occur in the following:
    • L.7.2a – Opening A: Entrance ticket activity focuses on the use of punctuation (commas, parentheses, and dashes) to set off nonrestrictive and parenthetical elements.
    • Opening A: Students review learning targets.
    • Work Time A: Students read the next chapter of the text, noting unfamiliar vocabulary and the gist of the chapter.
    • RL.7.2 – Work Time B: Students analyze the development of themes in chapter 8.
    • RL.7.2 – Work Time C: Students write a summary of chapter 8.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Invite students to track the development of more than one theme evident in chapter 8. (RL.7.2)
  • In Closing and Assessment A, allow students the opportunity to share work with partners and give and receive feedback before convening as a whole group.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In Work Time C, students continue to develop their skills analyzing themes and writing objective summaries, building on the work from previous lessons.

Support All Students

  • At this point, students should be reading the text independently. However, if some or all students need more support, read several pages aloud and then release students to read independently, in pairs, or in small groups.
  • Note there are differentiated versions of Synopsis: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 used in Work Time A and Themes and Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 used in Work Time B in the supporting materials download. ▲
  • Students may need additional support analyzing the development of theme and writing summaries in Work Time C. Sit with a group of those students to help guide their discussion. ▲
  • The subject matter in this chapter includes sickness and water scarcity issues. Continue to monitor students to determine if there are issues surfacing as a result of the content of this chapter that need to be discussed as a whole group, in smaller groups, or individually.

Assessment Guidance

  • In Work Times B and C, circulate to support students as they complete their note-catcher and write their summaries. Collect completed handouts to review after the lesson to identify common issues with RL.7.2 to use as teaching points before the assessment in the next lesson.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will build on their work analyzing themes as they begin their end of unit assessments, which entails analysis of the development of the theme in chapter 9 of A Long Walk to Water.

In Advance

  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 11 at each student's workspace.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Continue to use the technology tools recommended throughout previous lessons to create anchor charts to share with families; to record students as they participate in discussions and protocols to review with students later and to share with families; and for students to listen to and annotate text, record ideas on note-catchers, and word-process writing.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standard 7.I.B.6.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson provides opportunities for students to work with theme in literary text, write summaries, answer text-dependent questions, and collaborate in small groups.
  • ELLs may find the processes of analyzing theme and writing summaries in English challenging if they are not familiar with the language associated with these complex tasks. The design of the lesson—including modeling, gradual release of responsibility, and small group/peer work—provides support for these complex tasks.

Vocabulary

  •  impressive (A)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
  • Text Guide: A Long Walk to Water (for teacher reference) (from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time A)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening B)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening B)
  • Questions about A Long Walk to Water anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time A)
  • Questions about A Long Walk to Water anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time A)
  • Criteria of an Effective Literary Summary anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 9, Closing and Assessment A)
  • A Long Walk to Water (text; one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time C)
  • Vocabulary log (one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • Model Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 9, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Common Themes in Literature (one per student and one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 9, Work Time B)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 11 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Synopsis: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 (example for teacher reference)
  • Themes and Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 (example for teacher reference)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 11 (one per student)
  • Synopsis: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 ▲
  • Sticky notes (one of each gist color per student)
  • Themes and Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 (one per student and one for display)
  • Themes and Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 ▲
  • Homework: Summary and Theme: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 (one per student; in unit download)

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 - L.7.2a (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 11.
  • Once students have completed their entrance tickets, use a total participation technique to review their responses:

"Which of these shows the correct punctuation of a sentence from chapter 8 of A Long Walk to Water?" (D. Those he could reach, though, he scratched until they bled.)

  • Remind students that this is called an interrupter because it breaks up the flow of the sentence. Explain that writers should always use commas to separate interrupters from the rest of the sentence.
  • Repeated routine: follow the same routine as with the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Read A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 (15 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: follow the same process as previous lessons for students to read chapter 8 of A Long Walk to Water, using the Text Guide: A Long Walk to Water as necessary. For struggling readers only, if they do not finish reading the chapter within the allotted time, use the Synopsis: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 9 ▲ as needed to ensure these students are able to practice paragraph writing later in the lesson. ▲ Then have students identify the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary, reflect on their reading as they choose, and record the gist on sticky notes using the following resources as appropriate: vocabulary logs, Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart, and Questions about A Long Walk to Water anchor chart.
  • Gist: 
    • Nya: Akeer better but must boil water and can’t—not enough
    • Salva: stay in middle of Nile with mosquitos, eat well, about to go in desert—hardest part yet
  • N/A

B. Analyze Themes: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 – RL.7.2 (10 minutes)

  • Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

“I can identify how themes in A Long Walk to Water have developed in chapter 8.”

  • Remind students that in the previous lessons, they discussed theme (the message of the story, a lesson or truth that can apply to the story itself and to the world outside of the book). They also examined a model summary and identified criteria to add to the Criteria of an Effective Literary Summary anchor chart.
  • Remind students that when something develops, it builds over time; it’s important to track the theme across the novel to see how it builds over time from chapter to chapter.
  • Invite students to retrieve their Common Themes in Literature handout and to remind themselves of the themes they marked or added. 
  • Invite students to work in pairs to identify a theme they saw in chapter 8. They can briefly reread the chapter if necessary.
  • Display and distribute Themes and Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 and Themes and Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 ▲ as necessary for students who need extra support. The differentiated handout supports students’ analysis and writing with sentence starters and images. ▲ Read the directions for Part I, and invite students to work in pairs to choose one of the themes in chapter 8 of which they have seen evidence in multiple chapters of the novel.
  • Invite students to identify evidence of their chosen theme in the novel so far, including chapter 8, recording the evidence in the first column on their handout. As in the previous lesson, tell students to ignore the second column for now.
  • Refocus the whole group. Invite students to read the column header of the second column: How has the author developed the theme from the last time it was evident? How has the way the theme has been conveyed changed from the last example?
  • Invite students to work in pairs to complete the second column of their note-catcher, thinking about how the author has developed the theme by conveying it differently from chapter to chapter.
  • After 5 minutes, refocus the whole group. Use total participation techniques to select students to share their theme and their thinking about how the author has developed that theme with the whole group. Refer to Themes and Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 (example for teacher reference) for an example of what to listen for. If students are far off course, use the example provided as a think-aloud, and invite students to go back to their second column and try again based on their new learning.
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

For Lighter Support

  • Model the final steps of Work Time B as a whole class activity before releasing students to do it independently with partners. As a class, choose a theme from chapter 7, then fill in evidence for that theme from chapter 8, and then have partners do the same thing independently. This gradual release of responsibility provides ELLs with a concrete model for directions, which may be difficult to follow if only explained and not demonstrated.

For Heavier Support

  • During Work Time B, the task of identifying themes and then articulating how they have developed across chapters can be made more manageable for ELLs by identifying some common themes in chapter 7 as a whole group, or by sharing a list of common themes in chapter 7 with students and having partners look for evidence of how one of these themes develops in other chapters. Making language-rich tasks more manageable for ELLs by focusing the task on fewer independent steps or activities scaffolds the task without diminishing opportunities for students to grapple with complex language.

C. Write a Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8 - RL.7.2 (10 minutes)

  • Review the appropriate learning target relevant to the work to be completed in this section of the lesson:

"I can write an objective summary of chapter 8 of A Long Walk to Water."

  • Focus students on the final question, invite them to retrieve and refer to the Model Summary: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6, and briefly review against the criteria on the Criteria of an Effective Literary Summary anchor chart. Remind students also of the link between theme and summary. 
  • Invite students in their pairs to label themselves A and B. Set a 30-second timer. Tell students that each student will have a chance to orally summarize chapter 8 in no more than 30 seconds to their partner, with B going first. Repeat with partner A.
  • Remind students as they write their summaries to use interrupters, where appropriate, to break up the flow of the sentence.
  • Circulate to support students as they write their summaries, and identify common issues to use as teaching points for the whole group.
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.
  • N/A

Closing & Assessments

ClosingLevels of Support

A. Pair Share: Summaries - SL.7.1 (5 minutes)

  • Invite students to share their summaries with a different partner and to provide feedback to their new partner using the criteria on the Criteria of an Effective Literary Summary anchor chart. For example, "I notice that you state the theme in your summary, but I'm not sure there is a brief overview of what happens in the chapter."

For Lighter Support

  • Model providing feedback on summaries with a student volunteer. Write down on a chart a summary of the steps entailed in the feedback model so students can replicate them. Seeing feedback acted out in a model and then described sequentially in a quick summary of the model supports ELLs by providing them with more than one way to access the language in the directions.

For Heavier Support

  • Provide sentence frames for ELLs to use when they give feedback about summaries if they are struggling to generate the metacognitive, academic language necessary to do this task. Sentence frames based on the Criteria of an Effective Literary Summary anchor chart might include the following:
    • I notice that your short summary is mostly about _____.
    • This _____ is where you state the main idea.
    • Your summary seems objective because _____.

Homework

Homework

A. Text-Dependent Questions 

  • Students complete Homework: Summary and Theme: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 8, answering questions related to the use of language to develop tone and theme.

B. Preread Anchor Text 

  • Students should preread chapter 9 of A Long Walk to Water in preparation for studying the chapter in the next lesson.

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