Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

• RI.7.6 – Work Time C: In a Language Dive, students analyze a sentence from the article “Boyan Slat: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Kid” that expresses the author’s point of view.
• SL.7.3 – Closing and Assessment A: In a debate, students delineate a speaker’s argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
• SL.7.4 – Closing and Assessment A: In a debate, students present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with key descriptions, facts, details, and example, and use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation.
• For the mid-unit assessment in Work Time A of this lesson, students complete selected and constructed response questions to analyze the author’s development of central ideas and point of view. (RI.7.2, RI.7.6) Then students analyze how different authors writing about plastic pollution shape their presentations of key information by emphasizing different evidence or advancing different interpretations of facts. (RI.7.9, RI.7.10). Students also answer selected response questions on using word relationships to better understand the meaning of the words. (RI.7.4, L.7.4a, L.7.5, L.7.5b)
• Two lessons have been allocated to ensure students have sufficient time for the assessment and to debate which part of the plastic life cycle is the most effective place to effect change. If these are taught in two separate lessons rather than together as one block, revisit the learning targets and the task at the beginning of the second 45-minute lesson to remind students of the task and purpose.
• In this lesson, the habit of character focus is on working to become effective learners and ethical people and to contribute to a better world. On the assessment, students practice integrity and perseverance as they work independently. While tracking progress, students take responsibility as they assess their own work by tracking their progress on reading standards. In the debate, students persevere, collaborate, take initiative, take responsibility, and show respect. Lastly, they work to contribute to a better world by sharing their ideas about plastic pollution in an effort to help the environment.
• The Think-Pair-Share protocol is used in this lesson. Protocols are an important feature of the EL Education 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.
• Decide on the debate format, either one whole-class debate or, for larger classes, a fishbowl or two groups debating simultaneously.
• Directions for whole-class debate: There are twelve roles. Assign more than one student to the roles of cross-examiner and responder for each position (Beginning, Middle, and End of the plastic cycle). Act as moderator and conduct a full-class debate.
• Directions for the Fishbowl protocol: You may need to add an additional period in order to conduct both debates. Invite groups of twelve (one Beginning Group, one Middle Group, and one End Group) to debate in front of the rest of the class. Ask students on the outside circle to record stars and steps for students of their choosing, or assign students to provide feedback to a particular student in the center of the fishbowl. Students may use sticky notes to provide feedback. When one debate is complete, have the inner circle switch places with the outer circle.
• Directions for two groups debating simultaneously: If students are ready to conduct the debate somewhat independently, split the class into two groups to debate simultaneously. You may want to provide recording devices for the groups. If students are not ready to conduct the debate independently, add an additional period and moderate one group’s debate while the other group reads their independent research reading text or completes another independent activity. Then switch groups.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

• Encourage students to create their own reading tests and text-dependent questions using Trash Vortex, “Five Weird Materials That Could Replace Plastic” by Jessica Hullinger (The Week),” and “Five Things You Can Do to End Plastic Pollution,” by Anjali Acharya (World Bank).
• Ask students to create a how-to book for students in younger grades, explaining how to analyze the ways in which authors present information differently.
• Invite students to watch a presidential debate or listen to a debate podcast, such as American Public Square, and name the academic strengths as well as which habits of character and academic mindsets the debaters require to forward their argument.

How It Builds on Previous Work

• In the first half of this unit, students learned about the different aspects of the plastic life cycle and the different roles in a debate. They also learned how to analyze how authors can present information on the same topic differently in Trash Vortex, “Five Weird Materials That Could Replace Plastic” by Jessica Hullinger (The Week),” and “Five Things You Can Do to End Plastic Pollution,” by Anjali Acharya (World Bank). This lesson continues this analysis with a new article, “Boyan Slat: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch Kid,” in an assessment and culminates with a debate utilizing all the texts studied.

Support All Students

• The subject matter in this article includes a discussion of plastic pollution and its environmental impact on animals and humans. Continue to monitor students to determine if there are issues surfacing as a result of the content of this poem that need to be discussed as a whole group, in smaller groups, or individually. To support students in processing this content, ask: “What habit of character did you use as you read and discussed this poem?” Students may need to draw on perseverance, empathy, and compassion as they read and discuss this content, being sensitive to their own and others’ reactions to the information presented.
• 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. ▲
• For some students, this assessment may require more than the 40 minutes allotted. Provide time over multiple days if necessary. ▲
• Some students may still require the following supports for the assessment, but most students should be able to complete the assessment without them. If necessary, situate students so those who need these supports can access them: academic word wall and domain-specific word wall, Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart, Strategies to Answer Selected Response Questions anchor chart, and print or online dictionaries. ▲

Assessment Guidance

• All assessment materials (student prompt and teacher checklist) are included in the Assessment Overview and Resources.
• When assessing and providing feedback on this assessment, use the answer key and sample student responses (see Assessment Overview and Resources) to help complete students’ Track Progress recording form.
• In this assessment, students are tracking progress toward anchor standards:
• R.1: By the end of Grade 12, I will be able to: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
• R.4: By the end of Grade 12, I will be able to: Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
• R.10: By the end of Grade 12, I will be able to: Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
• L.4: By the end of Grade 12, I will be able to: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.

Down the Road

• In the next lesson, students will study a model argument essay in order to prepare for writing their own pair and independent argument essays on plastic pollution. Students’ Mid-Unit 2 Assessments will be returned in Lessons 14–15 with feedback.