- Unit 1
- Level 1
- 1 periods
- not specified
- Download Lesson
Standards Addressed:
- RL.7.2
- SL.7.1
Objectives
- I can effectively participate in discussion with my classmates.
- I can determine the meaning of visual representations on a map.
- I can read for gist as we begin Chapter 1 in A Long Walk to Water.
Assessment/CFU
- I Notice/I Wonder note-catcher
- Reader’s Notes
Opening/Warmup/Connecting Prior Knowledge
Engaging the Reader Part I: Scenarios (10 minutes)
Note: assumed seating chart with students arranged in partner pairs—consider this day’s seating chart to be an “A Day” (see Teacher Notes above).
- Tell students that today they will begin a long-term study of a topic. Let them know that much of the important work they will be doing—reading, thinking, and writing—will be done in partners. They will have one partner on certain days, and a different partner on other days (if there is an uneven number of students, a triad is fine).
- Explain that before you introduce the topic of study, you would like students to think and talk about a few scenarios (or situations). In order to do this, they must be able to “effectively participate in discussions” with their partners.
- Post the first learning target, “I can effectively participate in discussion with my classmates.” Explain to students that this is one of their learning targets for the day. If students are unfamiliar with learning targets, explain their purpose briefly: learning targets will help them to know what they are expected to learn. Tell them that each time a learning target is introduced, it will be discussed by the class so that its meaning is clear.
- Invite students to turn to the partner next to whom they are sitting. This will be their “A-Day” partner. Ask students to make sure that the partners know each other’s names. Ask them to briefly discuss “what it means to ‘effectively participate in a discussion.’” Ask a few partners to share out their thinking. Tell students that you would like them to continue to think about what this target means throughout the lesson. They will revisit the target at the end of this lesson to reflect on their progress and set goals for future discussions
- Distribute the Discussion Scenarios to each pair of students: give one partner Scenario #1 and the other partner Scenario #2.
- Tell students that these scenarios will give them a chance to think about how people are affected by various factors in their lives. Tell them that this is an idea they will dig into more deeply during their study over the coming weeks.
Note: Do NOT yet reveal the topic of the module. This will allow students to become engaged with the topic and generate curiosity as they begin to read the novel.
Introducing Learning Targets (10 minutes)
- Tell students that now you will give them a bit more information about the topic they will study. Post the learning targets for students: “I can determine the meaning of visual representations on a map.” “I can read for gist as we begin Chapter 1 in A Long Walk to Water.”
- Explain to them that they will often determine the meaning of learning targets by circling key words and discussing the meaning of the targets with a partner. Then they will share out their thinking and clarify the meaning of the targets with the entire class.
- Guide students through this process with the second learning target:
- Circle the words determine and representations and explain that these words are important for understanding the learning target. Tell students that they are also likely to encounter these words in future reading.
- Ask students to turn to a partner and discuss the meanings of the words determine and representations.
- Have partners share out their thinking on the meanings of both of these words.
- Then clarify the meanings of these words. For example, tell students that the word determine means to decide after study. Tell them that the word representations is made up of the root word present, meaning “to show or symbolize,” and its affixes (beginning and endings) re- and -tion. Explain that adding these affixes changes the meaning of the word present with re- meaning “again” (like repeat) and -tion meaning
“the act of doing something.” Explain that when these parts of the word are put together, re-presenta-tion, the word means the act of showing or symbolizing something again, in this case with visuals or pictures on a map. - Have students turn to a partner and explain what they think the learning target means now. Have a
few pairs share. - Annotate the learning targets to help students clarify the meaning of the target. For example, you can write
the meanings of the words determine and representations above these words in the target.
- Use a similar process to help students clarify their understanding of the last learning target.
- Ask a student volunteer to read aloud the learning target, “I can determine the meaning of visual representations on a map.” Prompt all students to raise their hands to represent how they feel about their ability to meet this learning target right now, using the Fist to Five checking for understanding technique. Refer students to the Fist to Five chart to cue their hand raising. This self-assessment helps students to rate themselves on a continuum from 0 (fist), meaning far from the target, to five (five fingers), having solidly met the target.
- Describe to the students any patterns that you notice in this early self-assessment. (Ex. “I see that a number of students are holding up 4s or 5s. Great! Many of you are confident in your ability to make meaning of a map. This will be a great help to us.” “I wonder if those of you who have held up 2s or 3s are unsure about what you’ll see on the map.”)
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