Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 | EL Education Curriculum

You are here

Home › Our Curriculum › ELA 2019 Grade 7 › ELA 2019 G7:M1 › ELA 2019 G7:M1:U1 ›

ELA 2019 G7:M1:U1:L8

Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6

In this Lesson

You are here:

Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RL.7.1, RL.7.3, RL.7.4, RL.7.6, L.7.4, L.7.6

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.7.10
Download Materials

Daily Learning Targets

  • I can identify strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary. (RL.7.4, L.7.4)
  • I can analyze how the setting shapes the characters and plot in chapter 6 of A Long Walk to Water. (RL.7.3)
  • I can analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different narrators in chapter 6 of A Long Walk to Water. (RL.7.6)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 8 (L.7.4c)
  • Work Time B: Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (RL.7.1, RL.7.3, RL.7.4, RL.7.6, RL.7.10, L.7.6)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.7.4c (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Read A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (10 minutes)

B. Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (25 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Reflect on Learning Targets (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Preread Anchor Text: Students should preread chapter 7 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:
    • 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.
  • New skills are introduced in the following:
    • L.7.4c – Opening A: Entrance ticket activity practices using a dictionary to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words.
    • Work Time B: Students determine unfamiliar vocabulary and analyze the setting, plot, and point of view in chapter 6 of A Long Walk to Water in their mid-unit assessments. (RL.7.1, RL.7.3, RL.7.4, RL.7.6, RL.7.10, L.7.4, L.7.6)
    • Work Time B: Integrity is added to the Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart as students answer questions independently and with integrity for the mid-unit assessment.
    • Closing and Assessment A: Students use the Think-Pair-Share protocol to engage in collaborative discussions about habits of character and academic mindsets.
  • The Think-Pair-Share protocol is used in this lesson. Protocols are an important feature of our curriculum because they are one of the best ways we know to engage students in discussion, inquiry, critical thinking, and sophisticated communication. A protocol consists of agreed-upon, detailed guidelines for reading, recording, discussing, or reporting that ensure equal participation and accountability in learning.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • In Work Times A and B, students may want to read the chapter silently and complete the mid-unit assessment without any instruction. Release them to do this independently if they are ready for it.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the first half of this unit, students began reading A Long Walk to Water, determining the meanings of unfamiliar words, and analyzing how setting shapes plot and characters and how the author develops and contrasts points of view in chapters 1–5 of the text. This lesson continues those routines in an assessment to give students the opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the standards.

Support All Students

  • If students receive accommodations for assessments, communicate with the cooperating service providers regarding the practices of instruction in use during this study as well as the goals of the assessment.
  • 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. ▲
  • The subject matter in this chapter includes war, hunting, illness, and the death or disappearance of a child or friend. 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.
  • For some students, this assessment may require more than the 25 minutes allotted. Provide time over multiple days if necessary. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • All assessment materials (student prompt and teacher checklist) are included in the Assessment download.
  • When assessing and providing feedback on this assessment, use Work Time B: Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (answers for teacher reference).

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will continue to read A Long Walk to Water, beginning to analyze the novel for themes.
  • Students’ Mid-Unit 1 Assessments will be returned in a future lesson with feedback.

In Advance

  • Prepare Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (see Assessment download).
  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 8 at each student's workspace.
  • Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

  • Work Time A: Audiobook version of A Long Walk to Water as an option for fluent reading. Digital sticky notes for gist to support engagement and organization.
  • Work Time B: Students complete assessments online—on a Google Form, for example.
  • Work Time B: Students can use print or online dictionaries (including ELL and home language dictionaries) during Part II of the lesson and on designated items in Part I.
  • Work Time B: Students complete assessments in a word-processing document—for example, a Google Doc—using speech-to-text facilities activated on devices or using an app or software such as http://eled.org/0103.

Supporting English Language Learners

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 7.I.B.6, 7.I.B.7, 7.I.B.8, 7.II.B.3, and 7.II.B.4.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson provides students with opportunities to use strategies to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words, analyze how setting shapes plot and characters, and analyze how the author develops and contrasts points of view to complete a mid-unit assessment.
  • ELLs may find completing the mid-unit assessment in the allotted 25 minutes challenging and may need extended time to complete the assessment.

Vocabulary

  • analyze, assessment, determine (A)
  • antelope, gnu, wildebeest (DS)

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)
  • Domain-specific word wall (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time B)
  • 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)
  • Setting/Characters/Plot anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 3, Work Time B)
  • Setting/Characters/Plot anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Unit 1, Lesson 3, Work Time B)
  • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 4, Opening A)
  • Strategies to Answer Selected Response Questions anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 3, Opening B)
  • Point of View anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 3, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Point of View anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Unit 1, Lesson 3, Closing and Assessment A)
  • Equity sticks
  • Vocabulary log (one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • A Long Walk to Water (text; one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time C)
  • Print or online dictionaries (including ELL and home language dictionaries)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 8 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (answers for teacher reference) (see Assessment download)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 8 (one per student)
  • Synopsis: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (one per student)
  • Sticky notes (one of each gist color per student)
  • Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (one per student and one for display; see Assessment 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.

Download this Lesson’s Assessment

Opening

Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.7.4c (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 8.
  • Once students have completed their entrance tickets, use a total participation technique to review their responses. Then add antelope, wildebeest, and gnu to the domain-specific word wall with translations in home languages where appropriate, and invite students to add the words to their vocabulary logs.
  • 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 6 (10 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: follow the same process as with previous lessons for students to read chapter 6 of A Long Walk to Water, using the Text Guide: A Long Walk to Water as necessary. If students do not finish reading the chapter within the allotted time, use the Synopsis: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 document to review the key details from chapter 6. 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: likes lake: no walk to water; mother hates lake: no house and husband and son in danger
    • Salva: uncle in group, shoots an antelope, all get sick; Marial missing . . . lion?

For Heavier Support

  • During Work Time A, do an "information gap" activity with the gist of chapter 6. Write half of a gist statement on the board, and encourage students to fill in the rest themselves on the sticky notes they have been using to record the gist for chapter 6 of A Long Walk to Water.

B. Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6 (25 minutes)

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

"I can identify strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary."

"I can analyze how the setting shapes the characters and plot in chapter 6 of A Long Walk to Water."

"I can analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of different narrators in chapter 6 of A Long Walk to Water."

  • Distribute Mid-Unit 1 Assessment: Analyze Setting, Plot, and Point of View: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 6. Ask students to read the title of the assessment and Turn and Talk to determine the meaning of the word assessment based on context, word parts, and previous experience. Use equity sticks to share the meaning of the word (an evaluation or test).
  • Direct students' attention to the following anchor charts:
    • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart
    • Strategies to Answer Selected Response Questions anchor chart
    • Setting/Characters/Plot anchor chart
    • Point of View anchor chart
  • Remind students to refer to these anchor charts as they answer the assessment questions.
  • Remind students that because this is an assessment, they should complete it independently in silence. Focus students on the Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart, and specifically, on integrity.
  • Read aloud the habit of character recorded:

"I behave with integrity. This means I am honest and do the right thing, even when it's difficult, because it is the right thing to do."

  • Invite students to Turn and Talk to an elbow partner:

"Using the anchor chart as a guide, what does integrity mean in your own words?" (honesty, trustworthiness)

  • Ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

"What does integrity look like? What might you see when someone is showing integrity?" See Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (example for teacher reference).

"What does integrity sound like? What might you hear when someone is showing integrity?" See Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (example for teacher reference).

"What will help you feel you can succeed at this assessment?" (Responses will vary. Possible response: Making sure I know what's expected of me, what the expectations are, how to complete the assessment, and working hard will all help me succeed.)

  • Remind students that because they will be reading and answering questions independently for the assessment, they will have to practice integrity.
  • Invite students to begin the assessment.
  • While they are taking the assessment, circulate to monitor and document their test-taking skills.

For Lighter Support

  • During Work Time B, while introducing the series of anchor charts that students can refer to during the assessment, select one or two of the charts that are the most useful for ELLs, and read them aloud with brief descriptions of how to potentially use them to help address the text-dependent questions on the assessment. Reading aloud selected charts makes them more accessible to ELLs.

Closing & Assessments

Closing

A. Reflect on Learning Targets (5 minutes)

  • Give students specific, positive feedback on their completion of the mid-unit assessment.
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.
  • Incorporate reflection on and awareness of the following academic mindsets: "I can succeed at this" and "My ability and competence grow with my effort."
  • Ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

"What helped you to be successful at that task? How much effort did you put in on this task? How did your effort affect your learning?" (Possible responses: I was successful at that task because I focused and worked hard. I also understood what I was doing and what was being asked of me, which helped me succeed as well.)

Homework

Homework

A. Preread Anchor Text

  • Students should preread chapter 7 of A Long Walk to Water in preparation for studying the chapter in the next lesson.

Copyright © 2013-2024 by EL Education, New York, NY.

Get updates about our new K-5 curriculum as new materials and tools debut.

Sign Up

Help us improve our curriculum.

Tell us what’s going well, share your concerns and feedback.

Terms of use. To learn more about EL Education, visit eleducation.org

Leave feedback