Compare an Informational Text to A Long Walk to Water | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G7:M1:U2:L8

Compare an Informational Text to A Long Walk to Water

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RL.7.9, W.7.9a, W.7.9b

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.7.4, RI.7.1, RI.7.10, W.7.2, W.7.2b, SL.7.1, L.7.6
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can begin gathering and analyzing evidence to use in planning and writing my essay. (RL.7.1, RI.7.1)
  • I can compare and contrast events in A Long Walk to Water with an informational text describing the same events. (RL.7.9, W.7.9a, W.7.9b)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 8 (RL.7.4)
  • Work Time B: Similarities and Differences: A Long Walk to Water and "The 'Lost Girls' of Sudan" note-catcher (RL.7.1, RL.7.9, RI.7.1, W.7.9a, W.7.9b)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - RL.7.4 (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Read A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 15 - SL.7.1 (15 minutes)

B. Compare and Contrast Texts - RL.7.9 (20 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Whole-Group Share (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Independent Research Reading: Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

  • Repeated routines occur in the following:
    • Opening A: The entrance ticket activity asks students to determine the connotative meaning and impact of the word staggered.
    • Opening A: Students review learning targets.
    • Work Time A: Students read the next chapter of the text, finding the gist, and adding to the Questions about A Long Walk to Water anchor chart.
    • Work Time A: Students engage in collaborative discussions as they use the Think-Pair-Share protocol to discuss the habits of character demonstrated in A Long Walk to Water.
  • New skills are introduced in the following:
    • RL.7.9 – Work Time B: Students compare and contrast events in the article “The ‘Lost Girls’ of Sudan” to events in the novel in preparation for their end of unit assessment.
    • W.7.9 – Work Time B: Students gather evidence from the novel to compare to the article in preparation for their end of unit assessment.
  • The Think-Pair-Share and the Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face protocols are 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.
  • In the chapter of A Long Walk to Water read in this lesson, Nya’s fellow villagers demonstrate collaboration as they work together to finish the well. Salva’s new family demonstrates empathy, showing they understand as they are kind to him and provide clothes for him.
  • After students read chapter 15 of A Long Walk to Water, they will pause to examine images of Juba, the city in Southern Sudan that Salva visits on his way to the United States. These pictures offer a different portrayal of the setting of Southern Sudan from Linda Sue Park’s portrayal of the setting. This inquiry allows students to see Sudan and its people as multidimensional with diverse experiences.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Allow those students proficient in making connections between the texts to work independently or in mentoring roles with other students. These students can also begin thinking about their overall interpretation of the evidence and how it may influence their essay.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lesson, students were introduced to the prompt for their end of unit essay and analyzed a model essay written in response to the same prompt. Here, students have a chance to revisit an informational text from a previous lesson and analyze it for evidence to use in their own essays while continuing to refine the skill of analyzing the connections between informational and literary texts, which they’ve built in previous lessons.

Support All Students

  • In Work Time A, students should read the chapter 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.
  • Students may need additional support in using the note-catcher in Work Time B to identify the events that the two texts share in common. Consider providing additional support to small groups or partners in looking back through the novel to identify related events. ▲
  • The subject matter in this chapter includes water insecurity and immigration. Continue to monitor students to determine if there are issues surfacing as a result of the content of this lesson that need to be discussed as a whole group, in smaller groups, or individually.

Assessment Guidance

  • Circulate and monitor student progress on the note-catcher in Work Time B to ensure understanding.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will begin planning their essays using the information gathered in this lesson. For the rest of the unit, students will work on planning and writing their essays analyzing the connections between the texts in this lesson.

In Advance

  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 8 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 modules 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 Standards 7.I.A.4, 7.I.B.6, 7.II.A.1, 7.II.A.2, 7.II.B.5, 7.II.C.6, and 7.II.C.7.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson revisits a text from Lesson 1 to teach students how to compare and contrast fictional and informational texts. Reusing a familiar text to teach a challenging new concept benefits ELLs by ensuring that they can focus the bulk of their attention on learning the new concept, rather than trying to understand the language of an unfamiliar text.
  • ELLs may find locating paragraphs from A Long Walk to Water to compare to sentences in "The 'Lost Girls' of Sudan" challenging because of the speed at which it is necessary to read and/or skim both of these texts to have enough time to compare them in the note-catcher. Therefore, additional supports such as the ones listed below may be useful.

Vocabulary

  • compare and contrast, staggered (A)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Equity sticks (from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Opening A)
  • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 4, Opening A)
  • 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)
  • 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)
  • "The 'Lost Girls' of Sudan" article (one per student and one for display; from Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time A)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 8 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Images of Juba (one for display)
  • Similarities and Differences: A Long Walk to Water and "The 'Lost Girls' of Sudan" note-catcher (example for teacher reference)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 8 (one per student)
  • Online or print dictionaries (including ELL and home language dictionaries; one per small group of students)
  • Synopsis: A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 15 (one per student)
  • Sticky notes (one of each gist color per student)
  • Similarities and Differences: A Long Walk to Water and "The 'Lost Girls' of Sudan" note-catcher (one per student and one to display)

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

OpeningLevels of Support

A. Engage the Learner - RL.7.4 (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 8.
  • Once all students are ready, use total participation techniques (equity sticks, cold calling) to select students to share their responses to the entrance ticket questions.
  • Think-Pair-Share:

"If we replaced this word with the word walked, how would that change the meaning of the sentence?" (The children wouldn't seem as tired or sick.)

  • Remind students that this use of staggered has a second meaning, a connotation or feeling. We know that staggered means "to walk or stand in an unsteady way," but in this context it also conveys exhaustion and illness.
  • 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.
  • With students, use the vocabulary strategies on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart to deconstruct the words compare and contrast (to note or describe the similarities or differences between two things) in the learning target. Record on the academic word wall with translations in home languages, where appropriate, and invite students to record words in their vocabulary logs.

For Lighter Support

  • In the discussion of the word staggered and the contrasting word walked, introduce and act out the movement of the words. Using body language and acting techniques to help define words supports ELLs by giving them a visual, non-linguistic, universal clue to a word's meaning for which they do not necessarily need a substantial knowledge of English.

For Heavier Support

  • Write or type words while discussing vocabulary, gradually writing each chunk of the word as it is said, so students have a visual and an auditory representation of the word. This helps ELLs by providing them with more than one modality with which to comprehend and remember the word.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Read A Long Walk to Water, Chapter 15 - SL.7.1 (15 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: follow the same process as with previous lessons for students to read chapter 15 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 15 document to review the key details from chapter 15. 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.
  • Gists:
    • Nya: have to dig more, put in pipes, gravel, pump, cement = few days
    • Salva: truck to Nairobi, planes to Frankfurt, NY, Rochester, nice new family
  • Once students have finished reading and reflecting on the chapter, ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

"Which habits of character did you see in this chapter? Who demonstrated them? What did they look or sound like?" (Possible response: Nya's fellow villagers demonstrates collaboration as they work together to finish the well. Salva's new family demonstrate empathy as they are kind to him and provide clothes for him.)

  • Then display the images of Juba and ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

"How do these images portray Southern Sudan? How does this portrayal differ from the descriptions Linda Sue Park gives in A Long Walk to Water? What do these two different portrayals of Southern Sudan tell us about the country?" (The images show that there are cities, big buildings, wealthy people or places, and urban jobs in Southern Sudan. Park describes the setting as dry, violent, rural, and without a lot of money or food. These two descriptions show how not everyone's experience in Southern Sudan is the same. Some people in Southern Sudan are wealthy, live in the city, and work and live in large buildings.)

  • If students do not note that the pictures show us that the country, people, and experiences of Southern Sudan are diverse just like all countries in the world, explain this to students
  • N/A

B. Compare and Contrast Texts – RL.7.9 (20 minutes)

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

“I can compare and contrast events in A Long Walk to Water with an informational text describing the same events.”

  • Ask students to take out their copies of the article “The ‘Lost Girls’ of Sudan” from a previous lesson. Inform students that they will now revisit this text and identify similarities and differences between the article and A Long Walk to Water. Tell students that the purpose of this activity is to gather evidence to support them in their essay writing for the end of the unit assessment. Remind students of the prompt for the essay, which was introduced in the previous lesson:

“How has the author of A Long Walk to Water used or altered history in the novel?”

  • Inform students that they will begin planning their essay in the following lesson, and that today they will have the chance to think about the similarities and differences between A Long Walk to Water and “The ‘Lost Girls’ of Sudan.” Ask students to retrieve their notes from the activity they did at the beginning of class, recalling some of the important events in A Long Walk to Water.
  • Instruct students to reread the article “The ‘Lost Girls’ of Sudan” independently. If necessary, read aloud the first few paragraphs and have students read the rest of the article independently, in pairs, or in small groups.
  • Refocus the whole class, and distribute and display the Similarities and Differences: A Long Walk to Water and “The ‘Lost Girls’ of Sudan” note-catcher. Model filling out the first event box by asking students to Think-Pair-Share about a topic in the article that appears in the novel. (As necessary, consult the Similarities and Differences: A Long Walk to Water and “The ‘Lost Girls’ of Sudan” note-catcher (example for teacher reference). If necessary, prompt students with questions such as the following:

“Are there similar settings in both texts? Are there similar issues or problems that the people in each text face? What is different between the two texts?”

  • Record this first topic in the first box on the model note-catcher. Then ask students to Think-Pair-Share about how the authors of each text describe or explain this topic. Record student responses on the note-catcher. Explain to students it is also okay to note an important event or idea from the informational text that is not in the novel. The fact that the novel does not describe a particular event or topic can be significant.
  • Use a Thumb-O-Meter to see which students are ready to work on the rest of the note-catcher in pairs or triads, and pull those students who need more support together in a group to continue working. ▲
  • After students have worked for 10 minutes, use the Back-to-Back and Face-to-Face protocol for students to share what they have recorded so far. Circulate to ensure that students are on the right track.
  • Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

For Lighter Support

  • In addition to modelling how to fill out the note-catcher, prefill one or two of the event boxes, and have students find the examples from the two texts for those topics before doing both the event boxes and the examples independently. This provides ELLs with a more concrete model for directions, which might be difficult to follow if only delivered verbally.

For Heavier Support

  • During Work Time B, provide a list of paragraphs from A Long Walk to Water for comparing and contrasting with sentences from "The 'Lost Girls' of Sudan." Providing this information, rather than leaving students to search for it themselves, ensures that ELLs can spend the bulk of their time focusing on understanding the language in the selected passages, rather than on searching for the passages, enabling them to learn and comprehend more from the comparison of the two texts. Even with this support, ELLs will still have the challenge of summarizing and recording these passages in their note-catchers, which ensures that the task remains appropriately rigorous.

Closing & Assessments

ClosingLevels of Support

A. Whole-Group Share (5 minutes)

  • Refocus the whole class for a discussion of the events students recorded on their note-catchers. Ask for volunteers to first identify an event or idea and then allow others to say whether they identified the same idea. Then volunteers can provide their evidence and analysis of the connection, so that students can build on one another's work. Remind students that they will be returning to this activity as they plan their essays over the next few lessons and will have a chance to deepen and refine the connections they've identified today.
  • Invite students to reflect on the habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

For Lighter Support

  • Conduct this activity in small groups or triads instead of whole class to give ELLs, who may be less confident about contributing to discussions, a better chance to participate.

For Heavier Support

  • As in Lesson 4, in order to allow ELLs to better participate in the whole-group share, build in an extra step in which students share the events or ideas they identified on their note-catchers with a partner before sharing them with the whole class. As noted earlier, this opportunity for one-on-one rehearsal of whole-class responses supports ELLs by providing them with the opportunity to practice their answers in a less challenging context before presenting them in a more challenging context, and thereby builds their confidence around participating in whole-class discussions.

Homework

Homework

A. Independent Research Reading

  • Students read for at least 20 minutes in their independent research reading text. Then they select a prompt and write a response in their independent reading journal.

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