Voices of Other Survivors | EL Education Curriculum

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ELA 2019 G8:M3:U2:L11

Voices of Other Survivors

In this Lesson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

  • RL.8.1, RL.8.2, W.8.5, L.8.1b, L.8.3a

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.8.3, RL.8.4, RL.8.10, W.8.4, W.8.10, L.8.4c
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Daily Learning Targets

  • I can independently determine a theme and analyze its development in a text. (RL.8.1, RL.8.2)
  • I can write an objective summary of a text. (RL.8.2)
  • I can give kind, helpful, and specific feedback to my partner and revise my writing based on feedback. (W.8.5, SL.8.1)

Ongoing Assessment

  • Opening A: Entrance Ticket
  • Work Time A: Track Gist, Plot, Character, and Theme: The Other Victims, Excerpts 1 and 2 note-catcher (RL.8.1, RL.8.2, RL.8.3)
  • Work Time B: Objective Summary: Text of Your Choice (RL.8.1, RL.8.2)

Agenda

AgendaTeaching Notes

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - L.8.1b (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Read Texts of Survivors and Identify Development of Theme - RL.8.2 (20 minutes)

B. Write an Objective Summary - RL.8.2 (10 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Peer Feedback and Revisions - W.8.5 (10 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

  • L.8.1b – Opening A: Students answer a constructed response question about the active voice.
  • L.8.3a – Opening A: Students answer a constructed response question about the active voice. 
  • RL.8.2 – Work Time A: Students choose a new text, identify key plot elements, determine the theme(s), and analyze the development of the theme(s) over the course of the text.
  • RL.8.2 – Work Time B: Students write an objective literary summary with a theme statement for a new text.
  • W.8.5 – Work Time C: Students review their partner’s work and provide feedback to help strengthen their peer’s writing.
  • W.8.5 – Closing and Assessment A: Students develop and strengthen their writing with the support of peer feedback and revisions.
  • In this lesson, students focus on working to become an effective learner, practicing collaboration during the peer feedback of their summaries, and initiative and responsibility as they revise their summaries. Students also show respect as they work to become ethical people as they analyze a peer’s summary and give them feedback.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

  • Students can read The Other Victims in its entirety and write a whole-text summary and text reflection. Invite students to share about the book with the class.
  • Students may identify additional themes in the text in their objective summary.
  • Create additional selected and constructed response questions so students may continue determining verb moods and their effects in sentences.
  • Students may research additional stories of survivors of the Holocaust to further build their background knowledge of the topic. Students can share what they have learned in small groups or with the whole class.
  • Students can develop a checklist to use during the peer feedback. Encourage students to consider all of the learning they have done over the course of the module when working on writing tasks and to use this knowledge to identify key priorities that can be addressed while revising. Students can use these checklists to reflect on their own writing and to help peers identify strengths and areas for improvement.

How It Builds on Previous Work

  • In the previous lesson, students read an excerpt from a text about a Holocaust survivor, determined the theme, and wrote an objective summary of the excerpt. Students will build upon this work by independently selecting a text about a Holocaust survivor to read and write an objective summary, including the theme statement.

Support All Students

  • Note that the excerpts from The Other Victims and from the website in this lesson bring up potentially sensitive topics such as death camps, religion, fire pits, the separation of families, and the persecution of Romani and Sinti people and physically disabled people by Hitler’s Nazis. Allow for time to process and respond to these topics during individual, small group, or full class discussion, and reach out to families as needed. Use thoughtful strategic pairing for discussions around these topics to ensure that all students feel comfortable.
  • Note that in The Other Victims, Excerpt 1, the speaker states the sentence “I will outlive these bastards,” in reference to Nazis. This phrase connects to thematic elements of the human will to survive. Cursing may be sensitive for some students or families. Address this sentence with students or families as needed.
  • In Work Time A, if access to technology is limited for students to explore Holocaust survivor texts online, have students select their text from the printed options.
  • Some students may have difficulty determining the theme of a new text. Ask prompting questions to support students in identifying themes in Work Time A. ▲
  • Some students may require reminders about synthesizing a text to identify the most relevant details for the context of a summary. Support students in annotating the text for the most poignant details to include in their summary. ▲
  • Some students may benefit from choosing how they will read the text. Read aloud the text with some students, have student-led groups read amongst themselves, and allow other students to read independently. ▲

Assessment Guidance

  • Review student summaries after the lesson to check whether they are on the right track. Use common issues as teaching points for the whole group in the next lesson.

Down the Road

  • In the next lesson, students will apply the language skills they have developed in this unit, reading an objective summary of a text and answering selected and constructed response questions about verb mood.

In Advance

  • Prepare Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 11.
  • Ensure there is a copy of Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 11 at each student's workspace.
  • If technology is available, prepare to display http://eled.org/0214 and set up computers, laptops, or tablets for students to access the website in Work Time A.
  • 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.C.11 and 8.I.C.12.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

  • To support ELLs, this lesson includes repeated routines and time for an exchange of peer feedback. Students build upon this work they have done in Lessons 8, 9, and 10 by independently selecting a text about a Holocaust survivor to read and write an objective summary about, including the theme statement.
  • ELLs may find it challenging to choose an appropriate independent text and to write a summary of a text that is not being read as a whole class, with the same support that has been provided in other lessons. Encourage students to talk through both the texts themselves, as well as the summaries, in home language groups, as needed, to help ensure deep comprehension and meaningful interpretation.

Vocabulary

  • N/A

Materials from Previous Lessons

Teacher

Student

  • Homework: Verb Mood: Objective Summary: Night (answers for teacher reference) (from Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 10, Homework A)
  • Criteria for an Effective Literary Summary anchor chart (from Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 1, Work Time C)
  • Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart (one for display; from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time D)
  • Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart (one for display; Module 1, Unit 2, Lessons 4-5, Work Time D)
  • Homework: Verb Mood: Objective Summary: Night (one per student; from Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 10, Homework A)
  • Holocaust Glossary (one per student; from Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 3, Work Time A)
  • Independent reading journal (one per student; begun in Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Work Time B)

New Materials

Teacher

Student

  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 11 (example for teacher reference)
  • Track Gist, Plot, Character, and Theme: The Other Victims, Excerpts 1 and 2 note-catcher (example for teacher reference)
  • Objective Summary: Text of Your Choice (example for teacher reference)
  • Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 11 (one per student)
  • The Other Victims, Excerpt 1 (one per student and one for display)
  • The Other Victims, Excerpt 2 (one per student and one for display)
  • Track Gist, Plot, Character, and Theme: The Other Victims, Excerpts 1 and 2 note-catcher (one per student)
  • Objective Summary: Text of Your Choice (one per student)
  • Sticky notes (one per student)

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 - L.8.1b (5 minutes)

  • Repeated routine: As students arrive, invite them to complete Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 11.
  • Using a preferred classroom routine, collect or review the answers to Homework: Verb Mood: Objective Summary:  Night from Lesson 10. Refer to the Homework: Verb Mood: Objective Summary: Night (answers for teacher reference).
  • 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 in previous lessons.

For Lighter Support

  • To extend practice with verb moods, after students complete the Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 11, invite them to identify verb mood in the underlined clause in the following sentence: Does this develop the theme that impossible decisions may be required in the face of possible death? (Conditional.) To further expand students' thinking, invite them to offer examples of other words that can be used to express possible in the conditional besides may (would, could, might). Give students time to discuss how the meaning of the sentence would be different if one of these other modal verbs were used in place of may.

For Heavier Support

  • N/A

Work Time

Work TimeLevels of Support

A. Read Text of Survivors and Identify Development of Theme - RL.8.2 (20 minutes)

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

"I can independently determine a theme and analyze its development in a text."

  • Explain to students that they will read another text about a Holocaust survivor in this lesson as they did in Lessons 8-10. However, students will choose one of two printed texts or choose from a website that has a selection of other texts and identify the theme development independently.
  • Display The Other Victims, Excerpt 1. Explain to students that this excerpt is an autobiographical account of a Sinti boy who was taken to a concentration camp during the Holocaust. The Sinti are a Romani group of people of Central Europe, descendent of ancient tribes in India. They are often grouped together with other Romani people such as the Roma and other tribes and referred to by the slang term Gypsies. Though not Jewish, Hitler saw these people as racially impure and wanted to exterminate them.
  • Display The Other Victims, Excerpt 2. Explain to students that this excerpt is an autobiographical account of a deaf girl who was sterilized during the Holocaust. Sterilization is a surgery to make a person unable to have children. Hitler thought that some people were "defective" and should not be able to have children so that they would not pass on their so-called "defective" traits such as physical or mental handicaps.
  • If technology is available, display the website and explain that this website has other autobiographical accounts of Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. See Teaching Notes.
  • Ask students to choose the text they would like to read. Emphasize to students that they should consider their comfort levels with the two topics described. Also ensure students understand Excerpt 1 is considerably longer than Excerpt 2.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same process as with previous lessons for students to read The Other Victims, Excerpt 1, The Other Victims, Excerpt 2, or an autobiography from the website. Instruct students to read the text independently, and support struggling students as needed. Remind students that they can refer to their Holocaust Glossary if they encounter domain-specific vocabulary they do not understand. Have students track the gist, key plot elements, and character using the Track Gist, Plot, Character, and Theme:  The Other Victims, Excerpts 1 and 2 note-catcher. Students will independently track the gist, key plot elements, character analysis, theme, and supporting evidence. Remind students that they tracked these details in Lessons 8, 9, and 10.
  • Be available to support students in reflecting as they read. Ensure students have what they need to process, whether a quiet space to think, someone to talk to about how they are processing the text, or paper to write or sketch.
  • If students finish early, they may choose to read a second text.
  • Think-Pair-Share, and remind students of the habits of an ethical person, particularly respect, empathy, and compassion, as they discuss the theme and potentially upsetting content in this story:

"What are some of the major challenges faced by this Holocaust survivor? How did they respond?" (Answers will vary.)

"What do you think is the theme of this text?" (Answers will vary.)

"What evidence supports this theme?" (Answers will vary.)

"What habits of character did you see this person display? How?" (Answers will vary.)

"What habits of character did you display while reading this text? How?" (Answers will vary.)

  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

For Lighter Support

  • At the beginning of Work Time A, in preparation for the reading task, help students recall strategies for reading unfamiliar texts. Invite them to apply these while reading the excerpts of memoirs. Examples:
    • Chunk the text into manageable amounts (e.g., sentences or paragraphs).
    • Circle unfamiliar words.
    • Use context or a dictionary to define unfamiliar words.
    • Annotate unfamiliar words with synonyms.
    • Underline important people, places, and things.
    • Read aloud.
    • Read repeatedly.
    • Silently paraphrase the chunks.
    • Summarize what you read for someone else, perhaps first in your home language.

For Heavier Support

  • In Work Time A, for ELLs who require heavy support, consider providing a version (or a summary of each version) of each excerpt in students' home languages prior to reading the English version. This will orient ELLs to the content they will encounter, helping them to balance the cognitive and linguistic demands of navigating new texts.

B. Write an Objective Summary - RL.8.2 (10 minutes)

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

"I can write an objective summary of a text."

  • Remind students that they will write another summary about a Holocaust victim or survivor. In the next lesson, they will choose one voice from a summary they have written in Lessons 8-11 that resonates with them and will choose visual elements to further convey this voice in a commemorative poster.
  • Repeated routine: Follow the same process as with previous lessons for students to write an objective summary of the text they selected. Instruct students to Turn and Talk and orally summarize the text to a partner. Distribute Objective Summary: Text of Your Choice and instruct students to begin writing their summary. Refer students to the Criteria for an Effective Literary Summary anchor chart to keep these criteria in mind as they write their summary paragraph as needed, and clarify any misconceptions.
  • Circulate to support students as they write. Ensure that all summaries are stored in a safe place for use in creating the commemorative poster in Lesson 12. Refer to the Objective Summary: Text of Your Choice (example for teacher reference) as needed.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.
  • N/A

Closing & Assessments

Closing

A. Peer Feedback and Revisions - W.8.5 (10 minutes)

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

"I can give kind, helpful, and specific feedback to my partner and revise my writing based on feedback."

  • Organize students into pairs. Instruct students to exchange summaries with their partner.
  • Focus students on the Criteria for an Effective Summary anchor chart.
  • Explain to students that they will read their partner's summary and determine if their summary includes all of the criteria on the anchor chart.
  • Focus students on the Work to Become Ethical People anchor chart, and remind them specifically of respect and compassion. Remind students that the purpose of peer feedback is to help the other student improve his or her work, so when providing feedback, be careful to be respectful and compassionate.
  • Distribute sticky notes. Instruct students to jot notes on the sticky notes to identify each criterion in their partner's summary.
  • Invite students to provide feedback to their partner based on the Criteria for an Effective Summary anchor chart.
  • Circulate to support students as they work together to give feedback to one another.
  • Prompt students to pair share prior to the end of the work session:

"What strengths are evident in your partner's work, as aligned to the criteria?" (Answers will vary.)

"What are areas of focus or revision for your partner?" (Answers will vary.)

  • Provide time for students to share feedback orally and/or give written feedback on sticky notes.
  • Refocus class.
  • Invite students to Think-Pair-Share while prompting them with the following questions:

"How will you address this feedback? Share specific strategies you have for revising this work." (Answers will vary.)

"What questions do you have about the feedback you received?" (Answers will vary.)

  • Clarify any feedback for students, and invite students to reflect on the habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.
  • Focus students on the Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart, and remind them of initiative and responsibility as they revise their work.
  • Invite students to revise their writing using the peer feedback, and circulate to support students as they revise their work. If necessary, model reading through several of a volunteer's peer suggestions and considering how best to implement them. Remind students that they may thoughtfully reject some suggestions and to use their vocabulary logs, the word walls, and a dictionary to check spelling.
  • Repeated routine: Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets.

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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