Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

• RL.6.3 – Opening A: To hone their attention to the way a story’s plot unfolds, students complete an entrance ticket in which they create a bulleted list of the events that take place in a passage of The Lightning Thief.
• RL.6.1 – Work Time A: Students read the next chapter of the text and find the gist. Students also unpack unfamiliar vocabulary and answer comprehension questions using inferences and evidence from text.
• RL.6.3 – Work Time B: Students analyze a model narrative in which a scene from The Lightning Thief has been rewritten to add a new character, one developed from research about a different Greek god. Students annotate the text, taking note of the way the story unfolds in the original scene and how this has changed or remained the same in the model narrative.
• W.6.3 – Work Time B: Students use the model narrative as a guide to write their own narratives for the end of unit assessment.
• W.6.4 – Work Time B: Students review the model narrative and use it as an example of clear and coherent writing, developed for a particular task, purpose, and audience.
• W.6.3 – Closing and Assessment A: Students analyze the Narrative Writing checklist. They compare the attributes of narrative writing to the model narrative, noticing how the model aligns with the criteria to further establish the expectations for the end of unit assessment.
• In this lesson, students focus on working to become ethical people, showing empathy, respect, and compassion, as they reflect on their reading of the next chapter in the anchor text.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

• Students read the model narrative considering how the narrator, in this case Parker, the child of Hypnos, responds to challenges and what this reveals about her character. Students have answered these questions in previous lessons about Percy. Applying them to the model narrative allows students to consider the same questions with a new character in mind.
• Invite students to make their own narrative writing checklist before giving them the checklist handout. Ask them to compare their self-generated lists with the “official” one to see how many attributes they were able to identify independently.

How It Builds on Previous Work

• In the previous lesson, students completed their Mid-Unit 3 Assessment, in which they read an informational text and determined its central idea, around which they wrote a summary. The second half of this unit builds on that work as students use what they have read about another Greek god or goddess to create an original character that they will insert into a scene from The Lightning Thief.

Support All Students

• Note there is a differentiated version of the Close Read: “Hestia” note-catcher used in Work Time B in the supporting materials download. ▲
• Students may be surprised, offended, confused, or upset by some of the events depicted in this chapter. Be aware of the following:
• Percy has been set up, framed, and betrayed to spark a war that would affect the entire world.
• Percy has abandoned his mother to Hades in an effort to stop the war.
• Percy engages in an intense battle with Ares that leads to a police standoff and resulting explosion.
• Time for debriefing and reflection might help get these concerns out into the open so they can be addressed and tracked throughout the text.
• Some students may require additional support reading for gist in pairs. Work with students who may need additional support in small groups. ▲
• For students who may be overwhelmed by too much print on a page: reduce anxiety and support sustained effort by offering a copy of the model narrative with one paragraph per page. ▲
• Comparing and contrasting the model narrative and the scene may be difficult for some students. Consider ways to support those students through strategic grouping, modeling, or by offering guiding questions on the model narrative. ▲

Assessment Guidance

• This lesson establishes many of the expectations for students’ End of Unit 3 Assessment. It is critical that their understanding of the attributes of narrative writing and the details of their own narrative are clear. The model narrative may seem a bit long but since students are using parts of the text already written by Riordan, it should still be within reach for sixth graders. Allow time to address the inevitable questions that will arise as students analyze the model. Emphasize that their own narrative should not change the outcome of the novel. In the coming lessons students will be planning their narrative; use these opportunities to check in with students individually and support them as needed so they will be prepared and ready for the End of Unit 3 Assessment in Lesson 9.

Down the Road

• In the next lesson, students will begin planning their narratives, developing a character profile for their original character, a child of the Greek figure they researched in Lesson 3. They will also begin zeroing in on the scene in which they want to insert this character. Planning for the narrative will take place throughout Lessons 5–8.
• Students will present their Performance Tasks in Lesson 12 of this unit. If an outside audience is being invited to this celebration of learning, remember to invite guests long in advance and secure any necessary rooms and equipment.