Purpose of lesson and alignment to standards:

• In the Opening, students read along silently as the teacher rereads A River of Words. Although students do not do a close read of this rich text, it is worth a second read in order to give students a foundational understanding of the life of William Carlos Williams, which in turn will support them as they closely read the Author's Note (a more complex text) later in the lesson.
• In Work Time A, students participate in a teacher-led close read of the Author's Note in A River of Words. This close read guides students through explaining what inspired William Carlos Williams to write poetry (RI.4.1, RI.4.3, RI.4.4, L.4.4).
• During the close read, students participate in a Language Dive that guides them through the meaning and purpose of a sentence from A River of Words (RI.4.1, RI.4.3, L.4.4a). The conversation invites students to unpack complex syntax--or "academic phrases"--as a necessary component of building both literacy and habits of mind. The sentence is compelling because it uses an adverbial clause to provide information about a poets writing process. Invite students to discuss each chunk briefly, but slow down to focus on the structure by stripping away unnecessary details. Students then apply their understanding of the concepts in this sentence to reflecting on their own writing process. A consistent Language Dive routine is critical in helping all students learn how to decipher compelling sentences and write their own. In addition, Language Dives hasten overall English language development for ELLs.
• The close reading in this lesson is mostly teacher-led, so all students work at the pace the teacher sets with support where necessary. Consider inviting students who need an extension opportunity to be peer coaches.
• The Author's Note in A River of Words is provided in the supporting materials, so each student can have his or her own copy. This is a complex text, so closely reading it will ensure students learn more about William Carlos Williams, in particular his poetry style and how it is unique. This will be important later in shared writing sessions when students learn to extract appropriate information from the book, the Author's Note, and the timeline in A River of Words to use in their writing.
• In this unit, the habit of character focus is on working to become effective learners. The characteristic they practice in this lesson is collaborate, because they will be working to together to closely read the Author's Note from A River of Words.
• Students practice their fluency in this lesson by following along and reading silently as the teacher reads A River of Words in Opening A and the Author's Note in Work Time A.
• The research reading that students complete for homework will help build both their vocabulary and knowledge pertaining to poetry and what inspires people to write. By participating in this volume of reading over a span of time, students will develop a wide base of knowledge about the world and the words that help describe and make sense of it.

How it builds on previous work:

• Students previewed A River of Words and read the book for the gist in the previous lesson. In this lesson, they complete a close reading of the author's note.
• In Unit 1 and the first half of Unit 2, students thought about what inspired Jack to write poetry using the What Inspires Poets to Write Poetry? note-catcher. In this lesson, students think about what inspired William Carlos Williams to write, and they use a similar note-catcher as when collecting details about what inspired Jack.
• Throughout Unit 1, students were introduced to various total participation techniques (for example, cold calling, equity sticks, Think-Pair-Share, etc.). When following the directive to "Use a total participation technique, invite responses from the group," use one of these techniques or another familiar technique to encourage all students to participate.
• Continue to use Goal 1 Conversation Cues to promote productive and equitable conversation.

Areas in which students may need additional support:

• Throughout the close read, students should work with a reading partner. Strategically partner students so they can support each other well as they read this complex text.

Assessment guidance:

• Throughout the teacher-led close read, call on students to share their responses with the whole group in order to build knowledge collectively and clarify any misconceptions. As students are writing, circulate to clarify misunderstandings and use these as teaching points for the whole group.
• Consider using the Speaking and Listening Informal Assessment: Collaborative Discussion Checklist during students' small group discussions in Work Time A. See the Tools page.

Down the road:

• In Lessons 7-8, students will work in expert groups to read a short biography about and poems by their selected poet in preparation for writing an essay about what inspired this poet to write.
• Students will continue adding to the Close Read Note-catcher: A River of Words, Author's Note in Lesson 8. In that lesson, students will complete the "What evidence do you see of this in his or her poetry?" box of their Close Read Note-catcher: Expert Group Poet after analyzing poems by their poet. Later in the unit, they will use the note-catcher to analyze an informational essay about William Carlos Williams. Because of this, the "What evidence do you see of this in his or her poetry?", Focus Statement, and Reflection/Connection parts of the note-catcher should be left blank for now.