Write a Narrative: Plan Character and Setting | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G8:M1:U2:L8

Write a Narrative: Plan Character and Setting

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • W.8.3a, W.8.5

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.8.4, RL.8.10, W.8.4, W.8.10, SL.8.1, L.8.4, L.8.6
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can demonstrate understanding of the excerpt of chapter 17 of Summer of the Mariposas.
  • I can create a character profile for my new, modernized monster. (W.8.3a)
  • I can use the original settings in Summer of the Mariposas to create an appropriate setting for my narrative. (W.8.4)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket (RL.8.4, L.8.4a)
  • Work Time C: Character and Setting planner (W.8.3a, W.8.5)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Read Summer of the Mariposas, Chapter 17 Excerpt (15 minutes)

B. Model Plan: Character and Setting - W.8.3a (5 minutes)

C. Plan: Character and Setting - W.8.3a (15 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Pair-Share - SL.8.1 (5 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Answer Text-Dependent Questions: Using Homework: Text Dependent Questions: Character and Setting, students answer selected response questions and constructed response questions about character profiles and settings in Summer of the Mariposas.

B. 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

  • W.8.3a - Work Time C: Students will plan the monster character profile and setting for their new scene. This will prepare students to engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters.
  • W.8.5 - Work Time C: Students will practice developing and strengthening writing as needed by planning the monster character profile and setting for their new scene.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • In Work Time B, students may add complexity in the profile of their modernized monster to reveal the character's origin, motivation, fears, desires, etc. 

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In previous lessons, students read chapters 1-16 of Summer of the Mariposas. Students analyzed the point of view of the characters, figurative language, and themes in the story. Students also analyzed a model narrative to generate characteristics of a quality story. Students researched monsters from Latin American folklore to determine which monster they will use in their narrative. Students will use this information to create their own narratives using a monster from Latin American folklore, while following the events and outcome of Summer of the Mariposas.

Support All Students

  • Students may need additional support with putting their ideas into writing. Sit with those students who require additional support with writing to help them actualize their ideas.
  • Chapter 17 again brings up the potentially sensitive topic of the supernatural as the girls interact with the goddess Tonantzin. As previously noted, supernatural content may be scary or a may be a restricted topic for some students. Allow for time to process and respond to these topics during discussion, and reach out to families as needed.

Assessment Guidance

  • Review students' Character and Setting planner from Work Time B to ensure students are prepared to plan a narrative that fits seamlessly into the existing novel.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will plan the plot of their narrative including the basic five elements of a plot: introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. Students will use their plan to draft their narratives in Lesson 11.

In Advance

  • Prepare Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 8.
  • Strategically pair students for partner work in Work Time B.
  • 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 8.I.A.1, 8.I.A.3, 8.I.A.4, and 8.II.A.1.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson provides guidance in planning a narrative, incorporates pair work and peer feedback into the writing process, and uses a model graphic organizer to give students an example of how to approach planning their narrative.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to engage with planning their narratives, as it is the first time they will be carrying out this kind of creative task. Encourage students to rely on Model Narrative: "Peuchen," Character and Setting: "The Peuchen," and previous notes on setting, theme, and character in Summer of the Mariposas to help guide their planning work. 

Vocabulary

  • character profile, dissipated, setting (A)

Key

(A): Academic Vocabulary

(DS): Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 4, Opening B)
  • Academic word wall (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • Chart paper of Spanish words (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time A)
  • Text Guide: Summer of the Mariposas (for teacher reference)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (example for teacher reference)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (one for display; from Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time D)
  • Summer of the Mariposas (text; from Unit 1, Lesson 1)
  • Vocabulary logs (one per student; from Unit 1, Lesson 2, Opening A)
  • Model Narrative: "Peuchen" (one per student; from Unit 2, Lesson 6, Work Time A)
  • Note-catcher with research notes (one per student; from Unit 2, Lesson 7, Work Time B)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 8 (answers for teacher reference)
  • Character and Setting: "The Peuchen" (one to display)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 8 (one per student)
  • Sticky notes (one per student)
  • Synopsis: Summer of the Mariposas, Chapter 17
  • Character and Setting: "The Peuchen" (one per student)
  • Character and Setting planner (one per student)
  • Homework: Text Dependent Questions: Character and Setting (one per student; from Homework Resources)

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

Opening

A. Engage the Learner (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: As students arrive, invite them to complete Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 8.
  • Once all students are ready, invite students to share a suggested meaning for the word dissipated (disappeared). Turn and Talk:

"How did you come up with that definition? What clues did the context give you?" (Student responses will vary, but may include how it is difficult to see through mist and how something happens that exposes "an entire community of canoes." If something is exposed, it was not seen before, which means the mist must have disappeared in order to expose the canoes.)

"What words could you replace it with to have a similar meaning?" (Vanished.)

  • Invite a student to guide the class through checking the definition in a dictionary, and invite a student to add the word and definition to the academic word wall, with translations in home languages where appropriate.
  • Add any relevant notes to the vocabulary strategies on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as 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 previous lessons.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same routine to focus students on character profile (the way a character looks and acts) and setting (where a story takes place) and to use a dictionary to define the words or the vocabulary strategies on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart. With students' support, record the meanings of the words on the academic word wall. Invite students to record the words in their vocabulary logs.

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Read Summer of the Mariposas, Chapter 17 Excerpt (15 minutes) 

  • Repeated routine: Follow the same process as with previous lessons for students to read chapter 17 of Summer of the Mariposas, using the Text Guide: Summer of the Mariposas (for teacher reference). Instruct students to read the chapter independently and support struggling students as needed. If students do not finish reading the chapter within the allotted reading time, distribute Synopsis: Summer of the Mariposas, Chapter 17 to each student to review the key details from the chapter. Then have students identify the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary, add words to the chart paper of Spanish words, reflect on their reading as they choose, and record the gist on sticky notes using the following resources as appropriate: vocabulary logs and Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart.
  • Gist: The girls travel through a city of their Aztec ancestors and take a canoe home.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

For Lighter Support

  • At the end of Work Time A, highlight how plot unfolds in this chapter with a short exercise in which students put the events from chapter 17 in order. Display the following key events out of order on the board or on strips of paper and have students work in groups to reorder the events chronologically: 
    • The Garza girls arrive at the shore of a lake with Abuelita.
    • Ixtali transports the Garza girls and Abuelita Remedios in her canoe. 
    • The Garza girls and Abuelita arrive at the river near their home.
    • The Garza girls leave Ixtali and their grandmother. 
    • Odilia picks roses for "the mother." 
    • Border patrol arrives.
  • Thinking about the story in this way will prepare students for the thinking they will need to engage in to plan plot in their narratives in Lesson 9.

B. Model Plan: Character and Setting - W.8.3a (5 minutes)

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

"I can create a character profile for my new, modernized monster."

"I can use the original settings in Summer of the Mariposas to create an appropriate setting for my narrative."

  • Invite students to retrieve the Model Narrative: "Peuchen" and to briefly skim to reread it.
  • Display and distribute the Character and Setting: "The Peuchen." Tell students this is the planning document the author of the model narrative used to plan how the monster would appear in the model narrative and invite them to read through it in pairs.
  • Ensure students understand that the author has written in notes rather than complete sentences, as this is a planning document.

For Heavier Support

  • During Work Time B, spend time having students use colored markers to highlight where they find evidence of the planning notes on the Character and Setting: "The Peuchen" handout in Model Narrative: "Peuchen" to emphasize how character development and setting are woven into the narrative and to draw a connection between the planning process and a finished writing product. For increased support, provide students with a copy of the model narrative with examples of character development and setting prehighlighted to direct students' attention to how the author has incorporated these into the essay.

C. Plan Character and Setting - W.8.3a (15 minutes)

  • Distribute the Character and Setting planner. Tell students they are now going to plan their own character profiles and setting using the research notes they collected in the previous lesson. Think-Pair-Share:

"If your scene is going to fit seamlessly into Summer of the Mariposas, what does that mean for the setting?" (It needs to be based on a setting that is already in the book.)

"Where in the book would be an easy place to insert a new scene? Why?" (Student responses will vary, but could include somewhere that is between action, as inserting a new scene into the middle of action could be challenging. Additionally, Odilia and her sisters encounter the monster in the story after they have passed the border and before they arrive at Abuelita's house, so this is the part of the novel in which we want to insert our new scene.)

  • Invite students to retrieve the note-catcher with research notes they created in the previous lesson and their copies of Summer of the Mariposas. Give students 5 minutes in silence to look through the text and to use their notes and text to think about their responses to each question.
  • Refocus the group and invite students to work with a partner to answer each question on the Character and Setting planner orally before they write anything. Encourage students to ask each other questions to push thinking and planning, for example, "If it happens between those chapters, where are the girls at that point and how does that affect the setting?"
  • Circulate to support students as they plan. Invite those students who need to sketch out their character and setting to do so. Look out for students who are moving away from the setting of the book, as this will make it challenging to fit the story seamlessly into the book.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

Closing & Assessments

Closing

A. Pair-Share - SL.8.1 (5 minutes) 

  • Invite students to find a different partner from the one they orally planned with to share their plans. Remind students to consider how well the character and setting fit into the existing novel, as this should fit seamlessly. Students Think-Pair-Share to provide feedback with this in mind.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

Homework

Homework

A. Text-Dependent Questions

  • Using Homework: Text Dependent Questions: Character and Setting, students answer selected response questions and constructed response questions about character profiles and settings in Summer of the Mariposas.

B. 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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