A 12-Week Curriculum for Students to Develop Comprehension ... Comprehension... · Students will...

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Alabama Reading Initiative Grade 8 Comprehension Training 2016, Weeks 6-12

A 12-Week Curriculum for Students to Develop

Comprehension Skills for Reading Complex Text

Weeks 6-12

This is a 12-week scaffolded curriculum, which can be used to help students become skillful readers

of complex text. There are 60 daily lessons that are linked to texts. Each lesson is designed to be

used in whole group and each lasts about 30 minutes.

Consider the scaffold for instruction that is illustrated on pages 3 and 4. This curriculum is based on

the work of Stephanie Harvey and Ann Goudvis as published in the Comprehension Toolkit for

Grades 3-6. The lessons focus on six strategy clusters:

1. Monitoring Comprehension

2. Activating and Connecting to Background Knowledge

3. Asking Questions

4. Inferring

5. Determining Importance

6. Summarizing and Synthesizing

With this 12-week curriculum, students are introduced to these strategy clusters individually with

each cluster building upon the previous one. Following this very deliberate introduction, students

use the six strategy clusters interchangeably depending on the requirements of the text they are

studying.

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THE CURRICULUM IS - AN ATTEMPT TO BE FAITHFUL TO WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT SKILLFUL READERS:

Skillful readers are accurate, fluent readers.

Skillful readers monitor their comprehension and know how to fix the situation when their comprehension breaks down.

Skillful readers use certain comprehension strategies flexibly and in combination.

Skillful readers vary the strategies they use and their reading rate, depending upon the nature of the text and the nature of the

reading task.

Skillful readers persevere. That is, they stick with the challenge, reread when needed, use graphic organizers when they are

helpful (e.g., outlines, illustrations), and ask others for help if they get lost.

Skillful readers know when they understand, when they partially understand, when they don’t understand, and generally, they

know what is preventing their comprehension.

Skillful readers read very often and very widely.

Skillful readers read because they want to enrich their lives.

Skillful readers are eager to share their insights when the text is worth talking about.

THE CURRICULUM IS - A CAREFULLY SCAFFOLDED, 12-WEEK CURRICULUM THAT WILL INCLUDE NOTES

FOR WHAT TO DO EVERY DAY FOR 60 DAYS

It gradually builds the ability of students to read, think about, talk about, write about, and answer questions about text that

gradually grows in complexity.

Each lesson is designed to take about 30 minutes and to be delivered whole group.

THE CURRICULUM IS NOT - A SCRIPTED CURRICULUM THAT NEEDS TO BE IMPLEMENTED EXACTLY AS

WRITTEN

The scaffolded instruction needs to be respected.

Teachers need to maximize the amount of student involvement, reducing their talk and insisting on the students’ doing the

work.

Text matters, so some of the passages were selected because they lend themselves to teaching certain aspects of

comprehending.

The ways that the activities are conducted can vary and may be improved upon.

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THE CURRICULUM IS NOT - A MAGIC WAND THAT WILL TEACH STUDENTS TO COMPREHEND IF THOSE

STUDENTS ARE NOT ALREADY ACCURATE, AUTOMATIC, AND FLUENT READERS

Students who do not have the alphabetic principle (i.e., read accurately, automatically and fluently) need to be in intervention

classes with highly skilled teachers who can accelerate their learning.

There is no comprehension strategy more powerful than being able to read the words.

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ARI Grade 8 Comprehension Training – 12 Week Overview

Monitor Ask

Questions

Activate &

Connect

Infer Determine

Importance

Summarize

Synthesize

Other

Comments

Week 1 Read,

Think, &

Talk Day 1 An Insignificant Occurrence

Day 2 Becoming a Doctor

Day 3 Becoming a Doctor

Day 4

Are the

Everglades forever? Day 5

Week 2

Day 1

The Road Not Taken Day 2

Day 3 Paul Revere’s Ride

Day 4

Day 5

Week 3 Read,

Think, Talk,

& Write

Day 1 A Bone to Pick

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5 An Unwelcome Newcomer

Week 4

Day 1

Excerpt from Hatchet Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

5


Week 5 Read,

Think, Talk,

Write, &

Answer

Questions

Day 1 A Special Delivery

Day 2

Day 3 Mother to Son

Day 4

Day 5 One Perfect Rose

Week 6

Day 1 A War of Symbols Read,

Think, Talk,

Write, &

Answer

Questions

Day 2 Dinner Plans

Day 3 High Jumpers

Day 4

Day 5

Monitor Ask

Questions

Activate &

Connect

Infer Determine

Importance

Summarize

Synthesize

Other

Comments

Week 7 Read,

Think, Talk,

Write, &

Answer

Questions

Day 1 Sea Lizards

Woolly

Mammoths Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Week 8 Increase

Text

Difficulty Day 1 A Bone to Pick

Day 2 The Guest

Day 3

6


Day 4 How Do We Taste?

Day 5

Week 9

Day 1 The Railway Train

Day 2

Day 3 Chicago

Day 4 Casey at the Bat

Day 5

Week 10 Increase

Text

Difficulty &

Build

Endurance

Day 1 Hippopotamus

Day 2

Day 3 Food From the Tomb

Day 4 The Ransom of Red Chief

Buses Leaving Mobile Day 5

Week 11

Day 1 Kid Fights Cheater Meter and Wins

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4 1920: Women Get the Vote

Day 5

Week 12 Replicate

High Stakes

Test

Situation

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

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Week 6 Passages

“A War of Symbols” and “ Dinner Plans”(Pre-GED Critical Reading Skills) is used on Day 1 and Day 2.

“High Jumpers” by Stephan Fraser (http://www.readworks.org/get/233404) is used on Day 3, Day 4, and Day 5.

Standards (The activities in this lesson provide scaffolds to help students reach the following standards.)

RL.8.1. & RI.8.10. Cite textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as

well as inferences drawn from the text.

W.8.20b. Support claims with logical reasoning & relevant evidence…

L.8.39d. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g. by checking the inferred

meaning in context or in a dictionary).

Outcomes Emphasized

Students will continue to practice:

Making inferences by merging information from the text with what they already know about something in the

passage and/or something in a question about the passage.

Answering questions about a passage by reading the question carefully, consulting clues in the text and consulting

what is already known about information in the question and/or in the passage.

Making a written response to an open-ended question and judging the responses according to a rubric (on Day 5).

Teacher Notes for the Week

Week 6 provides needed practice for making inferences and answering multiple choice questions, since these two

outcomes were introduced in Week 5 and practiced for only one week.

Practice on Day 1 and Day 2 involves locating clues in the text and in prior knowledge that support the readers’

choices of an answer.

Practice on Day 3 and Day 4 helps students realize that the wording in the correct multiple choice option will vary

from the wording the readers would use in responding orally to the same question. The correct option, however, will

be the BEST OPTION among the choices provided.

http://www.readworks.org/get/233404

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During Week 6 students will continue to practice making inferences and using inferences to answer multiple choice

questions. The main thing for students to understand is that answering multiple choice items correctly depends upon

locating pertinent clues from the text and drawing upon what the reader already knows about information in the text,

in the multiple choice question, and in the answer options. On Day 5, students will reply to two open-response items

and apply a rubric to judge how well they answered the question.

Text

material

Other

materials Students will make inferences by merging information from the text with what they already know.

Day 1 “A War

of

Symbols”

Anchor

chart

Copies of

text for

students

Copies of

questions

for students

The teacher will read aloud the first paragraph of “A War of Symbols” and ask students what they know

about WWII and Winston Churchill. Have them share. Ask one partner to read the next paragraph to

his/her partner. After students complete their reading of the paragraph, ask students what they have learned

so far. Be prepared to clarify as needed. Probe for any questions that the students may have.

Tell students that in an article that is short, the author will often use inferences to make a point. The reader

can use clues that are stated directly to infer ideas that are only suggested or hinted.

Ask partners to finish reading the story. Reading the story and related discussion should take no more than

15 minutes.

Distribute the page that contains the questions. Tell students that you will model what you want partners

to do with the questions. Take Question 1 for modeling. Write two columns so that students can see them:

Clues From Passage What I Inferred

Read Question 1 and model your thinking out loud as you read the answer choices. Say something like:

A. He was angry over the attack by Germany.

B. He had a sense of humor.

C. He did not care about the people of England.

D. He no longer felt he was an effective Prime Minister.

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Model how you can record the main points of your thinking under the two-column chart. The teacher

might write something like the following:

Clues From Passage What I Inferred

Churchill knew he needed a way to Only someone with a sense of humor would think

cheer up the people. to change a rude gesture.

Mark answer B.

Tell students that for each question (2, 3, and 4) they should note which clue(s) they used in the text and/or

what they inferred to answer the questions.

If time remains, review the students’ answers and evidence (clues from text and what they inferred). If

time is short, save the review for the next day.

Students will make inferences to answer questions about a passage by merging information from the text

with what they already know.

Day 2 Anchor

chart from

previous

day

Article

“Dinner

Plans”

The teacher completes the review of the students’ work on questions 2, 3, and 4. Lead students to

understand why the correct answer option is correct. Use the two column format from the previous activity

to summarize how the clues from the passage and the students’ inferences led to the correct response.

When the review is complete, the two-column class chart could resemble the following:

Question Clues From Passage What I Inferred

2 “..bombings and lost battles depressed He understood they needed hope.

the English people.”

3 “When the English people saw the symbol They understood that Churchill was using the

they laughed.” rude symbol to make fun of Hitler and

symbolize something positive at the same time.

Distribute the article “Dinner Plans”, and have students read the passage silently. Tell students to answer

questions paying careful attention to how they use clues, prior knowledge, and inferences. Allow about 5

minutes for students to work in pairs to answer the questions. Allow at least 10 minutes for students to

share their answers with the class. Emphasize having students explain how they knew what the correct

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answer was. Praise responses that explain how the student used clues, prior knowledge, and/or inferences

to answer the questions correctly. Note: At this stage it is critical that students acquire the discipline of

using clues from the text and their prior knowledge to make the inferences needed to comprehend text.

Students will answer questions about a passage and understand that there are many ways to express a

correct answer.

Day 3 “High

Jumpers”

Copies of

text for

students

Note: Practice on Day 3 will help students realize that there can be more than one correct answer to a

question. It will also help students realize that there are different ways of expressing the same idea.

Wednesday’s work is important in setting up Thursday’s practice when students will respond to written

questions by selecting from multiple choice options.

Distribute copies of “High Jumpers.” Tell students to look at the title and the illustration. Ask them to

turn and talk to ask what they predict the passage might be about and give evidence for their predictions.

Stop and listen and select one or two to share. (The evidence is the critical piece.)

Tell students that the passage is about tree kangaroos.

Ask students to read the passage silently. Explain that they will be answering questions using examples

from the text to support their answers.

When students finish reading, have them respond to the following questions with examples from the text.

After each question allow students a few seconds to discuss the answer with their partners. Then, after

each question, ask for partners to share their answers. Record a few student responses to each question.

The questions to be asked are listed below. Examples of student responses are provided for each question.

Question Example of Possible Correct Answers

What is this story mostly about? “High Jumpers” describes why tree kangaroos are

endangered and what scientist, Lisa Dabek, is

doing to save them.

What made Lisa Dabek become interested in the

tree kangaroo?

When she first saw them, she thought they were

amazing. She decided to dedicate her life to them.

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What makes tree kangaroos so hard to find? They only venture out to find food.

The important thing is for students to realize that there are many different ways of expressing a correct

answer. Teachers should discuss students’ contributions with an emphasis on their being accurate and

asking students to explain what in the text made them think so.

Students will answer questions about a text using clues from their text and their prior knowledge.

Day 4 “High

Jumpers”

Copies of

text and

questions

for students

Note: Day 4’s practice is intended to make students aware that the correct answer among the options

provided will be the BEST OPTION among the choices provided.

Distribute “High Jumpers” and the page of questions that go with the story. Ask students to work

independently to answer the five questions. Tell students to mark the clue(s) in the text that prompted

them to choose that option as the best choice, or if it is stated explicitly in the text, cite the evidence. Tell

students that they will have about 8 minutes to mark their answers.

Ask students to compare their answers to the answers of their partners. Tell students to alternate telling

each other why they chose a particular answer as the best choice. Tell students that they may change one

of their answer choices if their partner convinces them that another answer is the best choice. Allow about

6-7 minutes for students to confer with their partners.

In the final 15 minutes, review each answer. Ask students to volunteer the best choice and to provide the

clue from the text, and any prior knowledge, and/or inferences that made them pick that choice. For

example:

Question 1: CIt is explicitly stated in the first sentence of the section labeled Tree to Ground.

Question 2: B In the introduction Lisa Dabek tells of the landowners who are helping with a

conservation area to protect tree kangaroos. In the section Forest Preserve, it says that forest has

been provided as a protected area for conservation.

Question 3: B – She will continue to return because this is her “life’s work”.

Question 4: CThe clues in the surrounding sentences say that they “live far out of sight”, “ their

orange-brown fur blends with the moss of the trees”, and“their natural habits are still a mystery.”

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All of this make them hard to find. .

Question 5: A- In the introduction it asks the question, “Can they be saved from extinction?” The

next paragraph says that Lisa Dabek is trying “to take the animals off the endangered species list.”

Students will respond to a question by writing and use a rubric to evaluate written responses.

Day 5 “High

Jumpers”

Copies of

text and

questions

for students

Rubric

Paper/pencil

Distribute copies of “High Jumper” and write the following prompt so that students can see it:

“According to the passage, local people call the tree kangaroos the ‘ghosts of the rain forest.’ “Why do

you think that the locals use this term to describe them? Is this a good characterization of the tree

kangaroos? Explain your reasoning and cite evidence from the text to support your answer.

1. Does the response tell why the locals call tree kangaroos “ghosts of the rainforest”

2. Does the response explain why this is or is not a good characterization?

3. Does the response cite evidence to support the reasoning?

Distribute pieces of paper and allow 5 minutes for the students to write their responses.

Tell students to read their responses to their partners. Tell the partners to judge their own work and their

partners’ work. Tell students to agree upon a grade of “Yes” if the written response earns a “Yes” to only

one of the rubric questions. The partners should agree upon a score of “Yes, Yes” if the paper earns a

“Yes” to two of the rubric questions. The partners should agree upon a score of “Yes, Yes, Yes” if the

written response earns a “Yes” on all three of the rubric questions. Circulate to observe which students are

able to judge a written response accurately using the rubric.

Write the following prompt on the board.

The title of the passage is “High Jumpers.” Why do you think the author named it this? Cite details from

the text to support your answer.

1. Does the response explain why the writer thinks the author named the passage “High Jumpers”?

2. Does the response include details from the passage?

Tell students to do their best work because you are going to read their responses and give them a grade of

“Yes, Yes.”

Collect the papers and find time to read them. Be sure to talk to students individually if they do not earn a

“Yes, Yes.” Let students know what it would take to make a response worthy of a “Yes, Yes” grade.

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“A War of Symbols” 1. What can you infer about Winston Churchill from this article? E. He was angry over the attack by Germany.

F. He had a sense of humor.

G. He did not care about the people of England.

H. He no longer wanted to be Prime Minister.

2. With which one of the following statements would the author of this passage most likely agree?

A. Good leaders use rude gestures.

B. Good leaders do not allow their people to display their emotions in public.

C. Good leaders understand the needs of the people.

D. Good leaders maintain a serious and unapproachable attitude at all times.

3. What can you infer about the English people?

A. They understood the double meaning in Churchill’s gesture.

B. They were angry that Churchill made fun of Hitler.

C. They had no reason to feel depressed.

D. They did not support Churchill as Prime Minister of England.

4. What can you infer about the people’s attitude toward winning the war after Churchill invented his symbol?

A. The people continued to be depressed.

B. The people resented the fact that Churchill was making fun of Hitler.

C. The people’s morale improved, and their will became stronger.

D. The people no longer cared about the war.

Alabama Reading Initiative Grade 8 NAEP Lessons 2016

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A War of Symbols Winston Churchill was Prime Minister of England during World War II when England was attacked by Germany. In the early, terrible days

of the war, bombings and lost battles depressed the English people and threatened to destroy their will to fight Hitler’s Germany.

Churchill knew he needed a way to cheer up the people. He knew the hated Nazi symbol, the swastika, had originally symbolized good, but

the Nazis had changed it into a symbol for power, death, and war. So Churchill invented a symbol, a “V for Victory,” that he used whenever

he appeared in public. To make the “V for Victory” sign, he held his hand up, palm out, with the first two fingers raised to form a V.

When English people saw it, they laughed, because if the hand had been reversed, palm in, it would have made a rude gesture. Churchill was

telling the people what he really thought of Hitler. The “V for Victory” gesture soon became known worldwide as a sign of hope.

Dinner Plans “Anger is just hurt covered over,” Aunt Rosie had said. “If you want to solve the problem, stay in touch with the hurt. Don’t let the anger

take over, or you’ll never get anything worked out. The ego uses anger to build a fence around itself so it won’t get hurt again.”

I thought about her advice. Les was late again. He’d said he’d be home by six. It was nearly 8:30.

I heard the click of the door. “Stay in touch with the hurt,” I told myself.

Les stood hesitantly, as if I were going to throw something. “Sorry I’m late,” he said softly. He had tired lines around his eyes and mouth.

His shoulders drooped.

“I felt really hurt that you weren’t here when you said you would be. I fixed a really nice dinner, but it’s all cold now,” I said.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t even call. The boss insisted I go out to the new construction site and settle the change of plans with the foreman. I

couldn’t even get to a phone to call you. Thanks for not being mad.”

Aunt Rosie was right, I thought. If I had hit him full tilt with anger, we’d have just had a big fight. I smiled at him. “Well it can’t be undone

now, I guess, “I told him. I wasn’t feeling angry any more.

Les put down his briefcase and drew me into his arms. “Tell you what,” he said, “how about Friday night, we’ll go out to eat, just to make

up for tonight’s ruined dinner.”

“Okay,” I agreed. Then to myself I said, “Thanks, Aunt Rosie, you were right. If you want to solve the problem, don’t let anger take over.

Stay in touch with the hurt.”

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WEEK 7

Passages

“Sea Lizards” (from Massachusetts Passages) and one page of questions will be used Days 1-3.

“The Woolly Mammoth” (http://www.readworks.org/books/passages) will be used Day 4.


RI.8.10. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RI.8.11. Determine the central idea of a text … including its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.

RI.8.13. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings…

Outcomes Emphasized

Students will be introduced to a new type of thinking: Determining Importance.

Students will learn to distinguish between important information and interesting details.

Students will merge prior knowledge with clues in the text to make an inference.

Students will summarize information from a passage.

Students will infer word meaning by using information from a text.


http://www.readworks.org/books/passages

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The ability to paraphrase is evidence that students comprehend. Insist that students paraphrase when they

make contributions to the class chart. Do not allow students to repeat sentences or large parts of sentences

from the text verbatim.

It is essential for students to experience that there are many different ways of expressing the same idea.

Day

1

Text

material

Other

materials

Students will learn to distinguish between important information and interesting details.

“Sea

Lizards”

Copies of

text for

students

Anchor

Tell students that today’s passage will allow the students an opportunity to practice an important type of

thinking: determining importance. Explain that determining what is important depends upon what kind of

material they read and the purpose for the reading. Explain that, when we read non-fiction, we are usually

reading to learn something. Explain further that non-fiction material usually has important information and

many interesting details. Tell students that there are usually just too many details to remember them all, so it is

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chart very important to learn how to separate the interesting details from the important information.

Distribute copies of “Sea Lizards.” Tell students that some animals are found in only one part of the world.

Explain that sea lizards (also called marine iguanas) are one such animal that is found only in the Galapagos

Islands.

Read paragraphs 1 and 2 to students. Display a two-column chart as follows:

Important Information Interesting Details

Tell students the important information in paragraphs 1 and 2. Record the important information in the first

column of the anchor chart. Then ask students to contribute one or two interesting details found in the first two

paragraphs. Record students’ contributions in column two.


Marine Iguanas (sea lizards) are found only on the Galapagos Islands.

The Galapagos islands are off the coast of South America. They live on lava rocks.

Note: The ability to paraphrase is evidence that students comprehend. Insist that students paraphrase when they make

contributions to the class chart. Do not allow students to repeat sentences or large parts of sentences from the text

verbatim. If students do repeat verbatim, ask, “So, what does that mean?”

Repeat this procedure for paragraphs 3, 4, and 5. The teacher will model the important information in each of

these paragraphs and allow students to contribute a few interesting details for each paragraph.

The completed anchor chart will include items similar to the following:


The marine iguana is ugly, looks like a little dragon, but is

gentle and harmless.

It has spikes down its back and tail.

It’s about 4 feet long.

It’s stupid and moves slowly.


To get their food, iguanas swim out in the ocean,

dive deep to the ocean floor, grip the rocks with their

claws and feed on algae.

Sea lizards can’t breathe under water, so they hold their

They swim as much as 100 yards into the ocean.

Their flat tails help them swim.

They dive as deep as 60 feet to get food.

They can hold their breath for 5 to 10 minutes.

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breath when they go under water. One marine iguana held its breath for one hour under

water.

Day

2

“Sea

Lizards”

Anchor

chart from

previous

day

Copies of

text for

students

Copy of

chart for

students

Review the class chart from the previous day.

Remind students that when they read non-fiction, they are usually reading to learn something. Explain further

that non-fiction material usually has important information and very many interesting details but too many

details to remember them all.

Divide the class into pairs and tell students that they will try to find the important information and the interesting

details in the final four paragraphs of “Sea Lizards.” Distribute a tool similar to the class chart used the previous

day with three headings:

Paragraph Important Information Interesting Details

Allow partners about 10 minutes to read paragraphs 6, 7, 8, and 9 and to record the important information and

interesting details for paragraphs 6, 7, 8, and 9.

Allow about 15 minutes for the class to share their work. Circulate to find interesting expressions of the big

ideas that can be shared.

Write at least two examples of important information for each paragraph so that students can evaluate them for

accuracy and completeness. It is important for students to see that a correct expression of the important

information can be worded differently.

Completed student work could resemble the following:

6 Iguanas can hold their breath for so long because they know how to slow their heart rates.

Iguanas can slow their heart rates from 100 beats per minute to 30 beats per minute.

7 Iguanas are cold-blooded and have ways of warming up and cooling off.

They lie on warm rocks and absorb heat. They stand up and let the breeze cool them off.

8 Iguanas have a way of getting extra salt out of their bodies.

Extra salt collects in a special gland. They jerk their heads and sneeze to get the salt out. They get a white crust around their noses from so much sneezing.

9 Marine iguanas have a way of sleeping that They sleep right next to each other in a pile on the

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keeps them warm during the cool nights. rocks.

.

Day

3

Students will merge prior knowledge and clues in the text to make an inference.

“Sea

Lizards”

Anchor

chart

Copies of

text for

students

Copies of

inference

tool for

students

Remind students that during the past two weeks they have practiced how to merge something they already know

(K) with clues in a text (C) to make an inference (I).

Display another class chart with three columns labeled K, C, I so that students can see it.

What I Know ( K ) Clues in the Text ( C ) What I Inferred ( I )

Distribute copies of and the four multiple choice questions that go with it.

Using question 35 model for students how to use the inferring scaffold to help with the questions.

Read the question aloud. Say something like: “My clue is found in paragraph 4, sentence 3.” Have students

locate the sentence and read that sentence to the students.

Model your thinking by saying something like: “I know that ‘moving gracefully through the water’ is something

like swimming. Another clue in the text is in the next sentence when we are told that sea lizards can dive as

deep as 60 feet. Therefore, I can infer that the marine iguana uses its tail (D) to help it swim and dive. And, I

mark D on my answer sheet.”

Distribute copies of the three-column inference tool. Tell students to work individually to complete the tool and

to answer questions 36, 37, and 38.

Allow students an opportunity to compare their thinking (as recorded on their three-column scaffold) and their

answers with a partner. Tell them to change their answers if a partner convinces them that they used more

pertinent clues and/or had more pertinent knowledge.

Share the answers and the information in the inference tool. Record the thinking of individuals in the class so

that students can see it. A class chart would contain items like the following:

What I Know (K) Clues in the Text (C) What I Inferred (I)

#36 I know that staying under water

requires that I not breathe.

Diving requires you to stay

under water for a long time and

Paragraph 5 (last

sentence) and paragraph

6.

Staying under water requires

not breathing, and not breathing

for a long time is possible

because iguanas slow their

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not breathe. heart rates down.

#38 Swimming in cold water makes

me feel cold and I want to get

out of the water.

Paragraph 7 The iguanas are trying to warm-

up when they get out of the

cold water…so they would

need to take in heat. So absorb

must mean take in.

Day

4

Students will distinguish between important information and interesting details in a passage.

“The

Woolly

Mammoth”

Copies of

text for

students

Copies of

tool for

students

Tell students that they have spent three days learning how to read through dense, non-fiction text. Explain that

when reading non-fiction, it is easy to get overwhelmed with all of the details and with all of the new

vocabulary. Tell students that it is very important to “chunk” the text, i.e., read a portion of the text, stopping

periodically to paraphrase the important information, and making any notations in the margin that can signal a

question (?) or a reminder of the important information.

Distribute copies of “The Wooly Mammoth” and a three-column tool like the one below:


Read the title and first paragraph and model your thinking and how to record it on the three-column chart. After

modeling, a classroom chart might look similar to the following:


1 Wooly Mammoth is a large land animal

lived during the Ice Age

died off 4,000 years ago

Similar to the Asian elephant but furry

Was a tough beast

Could live in very cold conditions

Have students work independently to complete their three column chart for paragraphs 2 -5. Allow about 15

minutes for this work. Circulate to find examples of the Important Information statements that can be shared.

Look for examples where the big idea is captured accurately but the wording is different. Record the examples

of student work on transparency film for easy sharing.

Display several examples of Important Information statements for each paragraph

Note: The purpose of sharing several examples of correct responses is to emphasize that paraphrasing is proof

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that someone understands something they have heard or read. Additionally, it is essential for students to

experience that there are many different ways of expressing the same idea.

Day

5

Students will summarize the information from a passage.

Anchor

charts from

the previous

day

Anchor

Chart of 3

important

things for

summarizin

g

Paper/pencil

Tell students that next week you will be emphasizing summarizing a passage. Explain that when non-fiction

passages are summarized, three things are important:

1. Pick out the most important information.

2. Put the information into your own words (paraphrase).

3. Keep it brief.

Display charts that include the Important Information found in paragraphs 1 -5 from the work of the previous

day.

Tell students that you want to model how you might write a summary of “The Woolly Mammoth.”

Say something like the following: “This passage is about the Woolly Mammoth and why they were hunted.

There is also a lot of information about why they became extinct so I am going to put this in my summary.”

Then, write something like the following so that students can see it:

The Woolly Mammoth lived during the Ice Age. Humans hunted them for their meat, fur, and even their bones.

Fossils, bones and pictures of the Woolly Mammoth have been found all over the world. They were able to live

during the Ice Age because their course hair kept them warm and their strong tusks protected them. Two

reasons they may have become extinct are that they were hunted so much and because when the Ice Age ended,

the weather became warmer and it was too hot for them.

Point out that although the passage has many sentences, the summary has only 5 sentences and contains all the

important information.

Ask students to work with a partner to summarize “Sea Lizards.” Tell students that they should use no more

than five or six sentences. Circulate to find examples of summaries that can be shared with the class. Again,

look for examples that are accurate but that use different words to express the thoughts.

If time remains, display examples of the student summaries, pointing out how different the words are in the

summaries, but how similar the important information is in each.

22


WEEK 8

Passages

“A Bone to Pick” http://www.readworks.org/passages is used on Day 1.

“The Guest” (Massachusetts passages) and one page of questions for “The Guest” is used on Day 2 and

Day 3.

“How Do We Taste?” (Toolkit text) is used on Day 4 and Day 5.


RL.8.2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text,

including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.

RI.8.11. Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including

its relationship to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.

RL.8.4 & RI.8.13. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including the

figurative and connotative (and technical) meanings, analyze the impact of specific word choices on

meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Outcomes Emphasized

Students will learn to summarize fiction.

Students will practice summarizing a non-fiction passage.



To this point, all of the work on summarizing has been done on non-fiction passages.

The teacher will model a rubric for helping students summarize fiction.

http://www.readworks.org/passages

23


Text

material

Other

materials


Day

1

“A Bone

to Pick”

Summary

Scaffold

Anchor chart

of 3 Things

To Do When

Summarizing

Remind students that they have been concentrating on non-fiction for the past week. Tell them that they will

work for three days on passages that are called fiction. Explain that fiction is writing that has been

created by the imagination, that generally tells a story, and that is not necessarily based on fact.

Remind students that they worked for an entire week on “A Bone to Pick.” Explain that it is an example of

fiction because it is not a factual passage and that it tells a story.

Ask students to talk to a partner and try to retell as much of “A Bone to Pick” as they can remember. Allow

2-3 minutes for students to talk with each other.

Tell students that there is a scaffold that helps readers summarize a passage that is fiction. That scaffold

consists of four words:

Somebody -

Wanted –

But -

So -

Model how that scaffold can help you summarize the main points of “A Bone to Pick”. The teacher may say

something like the following:

Somebody – Javier

Wanted –to cool off and lie in the shade after a hard day working at Bones

But - he was interrupted by Kelsey who didn’t like killing animals for food

So – he told her attacks were no way to defend her cause and closed his eyes again

As the teacher models responding to the scaffold, write the response where students can see it.

Remind students that a summary of a passage requires the reader to do three things:



24


3. Keep it brief.

Model for students how what was written about “A Bone to Pick” could serve as a summary. Say something

like: “When I respond to the scaffold (Somebody, Wanted, But, So), I am picking out the most important

items in the story. I put the information in my own words. (Illustrate by reading what you have written in

response to the scaffold.) And, the summary is brief (only two to three sentences).”

Remove from the students’ sight your response to the summary scaffold.

Ask students to work with their partners on their own versions of a summary for “A Bone to Pick.” Keep the

summary scaffold in front of the students. Tell them that it is important that they use their own words to

respond to the scaffold. Tell them that they will have 3-4 minutes to respond to the scaffold.

Circulate to find examples from partners who have accurately responded to the scaffold but who use

different words from those that you used.

Share a few examples of the students’ work as time permits


Day

2

“The

Guest”

Copies of

text for

students

Summary

Scaffold

Distribute copies of “The Guest.”

Tell students that they are going to read a special kind of fiction called a folktale. Explain that a folktale is a

story about common people, usually transmitted orally, that characterizes a special group of people or a

particular region. Explain that the story today is an Asian folktale about a character called Mullah

Nasreddin. Tell students that a Mullah is a religious teacher or religious leader, so the story is probably

going to try to tell us something to help us be better people.

Explain to students that when they read about another culture or people in a foreign land, the names will

sound strange. Ask students to locate Mullah Nasreddin in the first sentence. Tell them that you are going to

call him Mullah N. because that is easy to say.

Read the subtitle and paragraphs 1 and 2. Be careful when reading paragraph 2 to explain the footnote and to

get the intonation just right, as the phrasing and intonation are closely related to the comprehension of

paragraph 2. Assess students’ comprehension to this point through a prompt such as, “So, what’s going on?”

Before directing students to partner read, make sure that they know that the rich man has invited the Mullah

to be his guest at a feast.

Ask students to partner read the first 13 paragraphs and the first sentence of paragraph 14 carefully. Display

the Summary Scaffold (Somebody, Wanted, But, So). Tell students to try to summarize what is going on by

responding to the Summary Scaffold in writing.

25


Circulate to discern how well students are reading and how well they are responding to the scaffold. Look

for examples of student work that are accurate and that use different wording. See examples below:

Example 1

Somebody – A rich man

Wanted – A rich man wanted the Mullah to come to dinner at his house.

But – When the Mullah dressed in ragged clothes like a beggar, neither the rich man nor his

servant recognized the Mullah. The mullah even told the servant that he was invited, but the

servant did not believe him.

So – The Mullah went home.

Example 2

Somebody – A Mullah

Wanted – A Mullah accepted an invitation to dinner at the house of a rich man.

But – The Mullah put on shabby, comfortable clothes that made him look like an old beggar.

So – The servant and the rich man did not think that he belonged at the feast, threatened the

Mullah with a stick, and told the Mullah to go home.

Have a few students share what they have written in their scaffolds. Listen for accuracy. Students may not

comprehend entirely, so it is important to acknowledge understanding that is accurate, even if it is surface

understanding (like that displayed in the two examples above).

Ask questions that will allow you to assess the degree to which students have comprehended and that might

prompt deeper understanding. Ask questions such as:

Why do you think the rich man invited the Mullah to the feast?

Why in the world would the Mullah dress like he did?

At first, the rich man spoke with respect to the Mullah (e.g. “Mullah sahib,” and “…grace us with

your presence…”). Then, the rich man’s servant is unkind (e.g. “Be off before I take a stick to

you.”).

What do you think made the difference?

It is acceptable for students to understand partially. Tell students that they will complete the reading

tomorrow and more will become clear.



Day “The Copies of Distribute copies of “The Guest” and ask students to partner read paragraphs 14 through 25.

26


3 Guest” text and

questions for

students

Anchor chart

Tell students to try to summarize by responding to the Summary Scaffold (Somebody, Wanted, But, So).

Circulate to discern how well students are reading and how well they are responding to the scaffold.

Look for examples of student work that are accurate but that use different language. Share a few

examples that might resemble the following:

Somebody – The Mullah

Wanted – A Mullah wanted to get into the party so he went home, put on his finest clothes,

combed his beard, and went back to the rich man’s house.

But – When the Mullah got in the house, he did not eat the food. He put the food all over his fine

clothes.

So – The rich man asked the Mullah if he refused to eat because he did not like the food.

Display a few examples of student work that may prompt understanding and wondering. Ask students,

“What are you wondering?” Tell them that you are wondering why the Mullah did what he did and that

you are going to read the rest of the story to find out.

Read the rest of the story (paragraphs 26-29) to students.

Ask questions that will allow you to assess the degree to which students have comprehended and that

might prompt deeper understanding. Ask questions such as:

o Let’s reread paragraph 28. What does the Mullah mean when he says, “Clearly it is my clothes

you are welcoming and not me?”

o Let’s reread paragraph 29. What is the most important lesson that the rich man learned in this

story?

If time remains, have students work on questions 10-14. Questions 11- 14 are opportunities to revisit the

scaffold that has been helpful in answering multiple choice questions.

Share the answers and the information in the inference tool. Record the thinking of individuals in the

class so that students can see it. An anchor chart would contain items like the following:

What I Know (K) Clues in the Text (C) What I Infer (I)

# 14 When I dress up in nice Paragraph 4 The Mullah was wearing his most

clothes to go to church or comfortable clothes and a ragged coat so

a wedding, my clothes are shabbiest must mean old and worn out.

usually uncomfortable.

I wouldn’t wear an old,

27


ragged coat over nice clothes.


Day

4

“How Do

We

Taste?”

Copies of

text for

students

Anchor chart

Distribute copies of “How Do We Taste?”

Remind students that they have been concentrating on summarizing fiction for the past three days. Tell

them that they will practice for two days on a non-fiction passage.

Remind students that when they read non-fiction, they are usually reading to learn something. Explain

further that non-fiction material usually has important information and very many interesting details.

Remind students that there are usually just too many details to remember them all, so it is very important

to learn how to separate the interesting details from the important information.

Read introduction and paragraph 1 to the students. Tell students that they used a scaffold a week ago that

helped them distinguish important information from the interesting details. Model for students how you

would record the information in paragraph 1 using that scaffold:

Paragraph Important Information Interesting Details Topic

1- Your tongue is made up of tiny organs It is covered in tiny points of flesh.

that enable it to taste different flavors. Taste buds can be found all over the tongue.

Humans are born with about 10,000 taste buds.

Tell students that a passage often has one big idea in each paragraph. Model for students that the big idea in

paragraph 1 is how we are able to taste different flavors. Tell students that the big idea of a paragraph (or

several paragraphs) is called the topic.

Paragraph Important Information Interesting Details Topic

1- Your tongue is made up of tiny organs It is covered in tiny points of flesh. How we are

2- that enable it to taste different flavors. Taste buds can be found all over the tongue. able to taste

3- Humans are born with about 10,000 taste buds. different

flavors

Distribute a sheet of paper on which students can record the topic and interesting details for chunks 2 and 3.

It would look similar to the following:

Paragraph Interesting Details Topic

Tell students to read the next two chunks with their partners. Ask students to try to identify the topic for

28


each of the paragraphs. Ask students to discuss the interesting details for each topic with their partner, but

not to take the time to write the interesting details. Allow about 12 minutes for this activity and pace

partners through the paragraphs by making announcements such as: “You should be working on chunk 3 at

this time.” Circulate to identify topics that can be shared with the class.

Share good examples with the class. Be sure to include two examples for each paragraph as a reminder of

the importance of paraphrasing. A class chart might resemble the following:

Chunk Interesting Details Topic

2 How other parts of our bodies help us taste

The many parts that enable us to taste

Chunk Interesting Details Topic

3 Why it is important that we can taste

Two important functions of tasting

Discussion should focus on determining the topic for each chunk. Encourage students, however, to share

interesting details for each chunk as time permits.


Day

5

“How Do

We

Taste?”

Copies of

questions

Prompt

Rubric

Distribute copies of the three questions that accompany “How Do We Taste?” Tell students that the first

question concerns an interesting detail found in chunk 4. Give students an opportunity to locate the

information and to determine the correct response.

Tell students that the other two questions involve written responses. Explain that the question that

prompts the written response can be turned into the rubric that guides the evaluation of the written

response.

Model how this is done with question 2. Read the prompt. Say something like:

1. Did the written response state why it is important that we are able to taste?

2. Did the written response include specific details from the passage?

Explain that the top score for this written response is “Yes/Yes” (2 Yeses).

Post these two questions where students can see them. Tell students that they will be used to evaluate the

responses to question 2.

Remind students that when non-fiction passages are summarized, three things are important:

29




3. Keep it brief.

Read question 3 to students. Ask students to discuss with their partners how to change this prompt into a

rubric for scoring the written responses. Tell the partners to “jot down” their proposed rubric. Circulate

to find examples to share that meet the criteria.

Display a rubric for question 3 that resembles the following:

1. Did the written response tell how the medium tasters were similar to and different from the

supertasters?

2. Did the written response give at least two examples of how the two tasters were similar?

3. Did the written response give at least two examples of how the two tasters were different?

Explain that the top score for this written response is “Yes/Yes/Yes” (3 Yeses).

Ask half of the students to write a response to question 2. Ask half of the students to write a response to

question 3. Allow 7-10 minutes for the writing.

Provide about 5-7 minutes for students to read their written responses to their partners. Have the partner

score the response according to the applicable displayed rubric.

Collect the written responses and review them to determine how students are progressing. Give any

needed guidance the next time that students are together.

30


WEEK 9

Passages

The Railway Train by Emily Dickinson (http://www.readworks.org/books/passages) is used on Day 1 and

Day 2.

Chicago (https://www.poets.org) is used on Day 3.

Casey at the Bat (https://www.poet.org) is used on Day 4 and Day 5.

Standards: (The activities in this lesson provide scaffolds to help students reach the following standards.)

RL. 8.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and

connotative meaning; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies

or allusions to other texts.

W.8.20c. Use words, phrases, and clauses to create cohesion and clarify the relationship among claim(s),

reasons, and evidence.

L.8.40. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word

meanings.

a. Interpret figures of speech in context and analyze their role in the text.

b. Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.

Outcomes Emphasized

Students will learn to use figurative language to create visual images.

Students will practice writing in response to a passage.

Students will practice creating a rubric for answering a specific question or prompt.


http://www.readworks.org/books/passages

https://www.poets.org/

https://www.poet.org/

31


This week students will be working with passages that contain personification and will have the opportunity

to discuss how this can be helpful to the reader.

The teacher will help students learn to read and think about poetry in ways that support understanding. The

teacher will help students create a rubric to evaluate their responses to a writing prompt.

32


Day

1

Text

material

Other

materials

Students will learn to recognize examples of personification.

“The

Railway

Train”

Copies of text

for students

T-chart

Distribute copies of “The Railway Train” by Emily Dickinson (with parts of the text numbered)

to students. Tell them that a train is an object, but in this story, it acts like people or animate

beings. Personification is giving human characteristics, traits, and qualities to non-human

things. Personification helps bring the story to life and helps us to see clearer pictures in our

minds of what is happening in the passage. What clue in the word personification helps you

understand the definition of the word? (person)

Ask students to read the passage with 2 partners, with one partner reading Part 1 and the other

partner reading the remaining Part 2. Give them time to read the passage (about 4 minutes).

Tell students, “In the first two sentences, the author of the story says that the train laps the

miles, and licks the valley up; but trains don’t lap or lick. I am going to underline those words

– “I like to see it lap the miles, and lick the valleys up” are used – as an example of

personification. This helps me to get a picture in my mind of the swift traveling train. When

an animal laps and licks, that means they are feeding on water and/or food. But trains don’t eat

or drink water. (M)

Ask students to read part 1 silently and underline any words that personify the train. Invite

students to share examples. When a correct example is given, ask how the student knows this

is personification (A person would do this--A thing would not.) If students are hesitant to

share, continue to model for them. Explain to them how this helps them understand what is

happening. Say, “The train ‘crawls between, complaining all the while’ This helps me picture

in my mind that even though the train is not human it is acting like an animate being crawling

and complaining.”

Ask students to reread Part 2 silently and underline any examples of personification. Ask them

to share with a partner what they have underlined and why. Invite a few students to share. Ask

them to explain how this helps them understand the story. If they do not make connections to

the feelings and actions, continue to model for them.

Tell students, “The author has helped us see that the train as having human characteristics and

these different traits cause them to take different actions. We can make a chart of these

differences.” Make a simple chart and ask students to contribute from the passage.

33


Examples

Animate Being

Laps

Licks

Feeds itself

Prodigious step

Supercilious peer in shanties

Is there any other “thing” in the story that takes on the traits of a person? (it crawls) Tell your

partner what this is and have a discussion about how the human traits help you get a picture of

the train in the story.

Day

2

Students will write a response to a passage.

Students will create a rubric for a written response and use the rubric to evaluate a written

response.

The

Railway

Train

T-chart from

previous day

Writing

prompt

Continue with “The Railway Train.” Remind students that the author has used personification

to make the train seem like a creature with feelings and actions. Review the class chart that

lists some of the personality and human traits of “The Railway Train.”

Display the following writing prompt:

o Identify and discuss how personalities and human traits of “The Railway Train” bring

the story to life. Use specific details from the story to support your answer.

Remind students that each time we have done a written response, we have used a rubric to be

sure that we have answered the question completely. Tell them that they can create their own

rubrics by looking carefully at the question or prompt. “What is the first thing that the prompt

tells us to do? (Identify and discuss the personalities and human traits of “The Railway Train.”

Put a #1 next to this part of the prompt. Ask, “What is the next thing that the prompt tells us to

do? (Use specific details from the story to support your answer.)” Put a #2 next to this part.

Ask, “Does the prompt tell us to do anything else? Does it tell us how many details we need?

(Only that ‘details’ indicate that we need more than one.) So, when we write our answers, we

34


know that we have to do two things – #1, identify and discuss and #2, use specific details. We

are going to use our class chart to help us respond to this prompt together.”

Explain that, when we identify and discuss, we name the people-like characteristics and talk

about how each give meaning to the story. Model the beginning of the response.

The Railway Train has animate traits and personalities.

Ask partners to complete the response by naming human characteristics and providing specific

details from the story, using chart paper so that you can display the responses.

Use the rubric to evaluate the responses, pointing out that several different responses can be

correct. Ask, “Did we contrast – tell how things are different? Did we use specific details

from the story?”

Tell students, “When we turn the prompt or question into a rubric, we can always be sure that

we are giving a complete response.”

Students will recognize examples of personification.

Students will create a rubric for a written response.

Day

3

Chicago Copies of text

for students

Writing

prompt

T-chart

Explain that this is a poem written by Carl Sanburg.” The author uses personification to

express how people often view the city of Chicago. Ask students to read the poem silently and

to underline examples of personification. Ask students to share their examples with a partner.

Ask them to talk with their partners about how the city’s explicitly negative characteristics are

all framed to be applicable to real people. Invite a few students to share their thinking. Remind

students that personification helps the reader get a clearer picture in his/her mind about what is

happening in the story. In this case, it helps the reader understand how different people’s

outlooks are developed from experiences and background knowledge.

Display the following prompt: In the poem, the author uses negative words to describe the

city— “brutal and “crooked.” Although the speaker describes the city with negative

connotations later he shows a more positive outlook. Remind students that personification

helps the reader get a clearer picture in his/her mind about what is happening in the story.

Display the following prompt:

Think about the two poems that you have read, “The Railway Train” and “Chicago.”

Compare these two passages. Give specific details from the passages to support your

comparison.

35


Display a simple T-chart to compare the two passages. Explain that, in order to

compare, it is necessary to think about how things are alike and how they are different.

Ask students to give examples from the chart to explain how the two passages are alike

and how they are different. Examples might include the following:

Alike Different

Both use personification. One talks about a train.

Both use negative connotations at some

point.

One talks about a city.

Both are poems.

Help students examine the prompt and create rubrics for the responses. After they have

completed their rubrics, have students share with a partner. Have a few students share their

examples with the group.

Day

4

Students will practice reading poetry.

Students will discuss the meaning of figurative language.

Students will merge prior knowledge with clues in the text to make an inference.

“Casey

at the

Bat”

Copies of texts

for students

Transparency

Anchor chart

Tell students that we will be reading a poem today. Poetry uses mental pictures like the

pictures created in “The Oak and the Reed” and “The Wind and the Sun.” Poetry uses only a

few words to create these mental pictures so the reader has to “fill in the gaps.”

Distribute copies of the poem. The teacher reads the first two verses of the poem, “Casey at

the Bat,” modeling how to read to the punctuation without stopping at the end of each line.

Demonstrate that poetry is easier to understand if you read it as a thought rather than line by

line.

Invite students to join in a choral reading of verses 3 and 4.

Ask students to partner read the poem with one partner reading verses 5 and 6 and the other

partner reading verses 7 and 8.

Explain that instead of personification – making things seem like people – the author of this

36


poem is comparing people (their actions) to things. In the third verse, player Flynn was

thought of as pudding. Ask students to talk to their partners about the picture they see in their

minds. Invite a few students to share.

Ask students to talk with their partners about (in verse 7) 5,000 tongues applauding and the

vision that brings to mind. Invite some students to share. If the conversation does not seem

focused, model some ideas. (My thoughts are, if a lot of tongues are applauding, that might

mean you have the whole stadium yelling or cheering.)

Invite students to join in a choral reading of the final five verses.

Repeat the reading of the final five verses, having students partner read with each partner

reading alternating verses of the poem.

Lead a discussion of the kind of atmosphere there was in Mudville so that students can

“picture” the day. Ask focused questions like:

o What kind of yell bounds from the mountain top and rattles in the dell? (Verse 5)

o What does it mean for a muffled roar to be like the beating of storm waves? (Verse 9)

o What does it mean for the air to be shattered? (Verse 12)

Display question 4. Remind students of the scaffold for inferring (What I Know, Clues in the

Text, What I Infer).

Theme (Even the mighty fall)

What I Know Clues in the Text What I Infer

I know that the “theme” is the

main subject or idea.

There was pride in Casey’s

bearing.

And Casey stood a-watching it

in haughty grandeur there;

…scornful look from Casey,

and the audience was awed

….mighty Casey has struck

out.

The answer is . . . . . D.

Complete questions 1-3. Discuss your answers with a partner.

Day

5

Students will practice reading poetry.

Students will write in response to a passage.

Students will create a rubric for a written response and use the rubric to evaluate a written

37


response.

“Casey

at the

Bat”

Copies of texts

for students

Writing

prompt

Rubric

Transparencies

Ask students to reread the poem from yesterday.

Display the following writing prompt:

o Write a paragraph about someone you admired in the past who later did something that

disappointed you. Give specific details about what you first admired about that person.

Give specific reasons for being disappointed by that person?

Ask students to help create a rubric for this prompt. “What is the first thing we need to do?

(Write a paragraph.) Put a #1 there. What is the next thing? (Specific details about what the

person did.) Put a #2 there. Anything else? (Reasons for continued respect) Put a #3 there.”

Give students time to write their responses.

Ask students to check their responses using the rubric.

o Did they write a paragraph about who they respected?

o Did they give specific details why they admired that person?

o Did they give reasons why they were disappointed by that person?

Allow time for students to revise if necessary.

Collect the paragraphs. Choose a few good examples to share with the class on the overhead,

pointing out that very different responses can be equally correct.

38


WEEK 10

Passages

• “Hippopotamus” (from Massachusetts passages) is used Day 1 and Day 2. • “Food from the Tomb” (Massachusetts Passages) is used on Day 3. • “The Ransom of Red Chief” Excerpt by O. Henry is used on Day 4. • “Buses Leaving Mobile” (Item Specifications for the Alabama Graduation Exam, 1999 Bulletin) and two pages

of questions are used on Day 5. Standards (The activities in this lesson provide scaffolds to help students reach the following standards.)

• RL.8.1. & RI.8.10. Cite textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

• W.8.20b. Support claims with logical reasoning & relevant evidence… • RL.8.9. & RI.8.19. By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature… literary nonfiction at 8th grade text

complexity independently and proficiently. Outcomes Emphasized

• Students will use text features to help locate and remember important information.

• Students will differentiate between the topic (important information) and interesting details.

• Students will write in response to a passage and use a rubric that they have created to evaluate the response.

• Students will monitor their comprehension of a text.

• Students will practice using a variety of strategies to answer questions in response to a text.


39


• This week, the teacher will be guiding the reading giving special attention to text features. Students will be doing

all of the reading themselves and monitoring their own comprehension.

• Students practice the use of a variety of strategies previously introduced.

Day Text Material Other

Materials

Day

1

Students will learn to use text features to help them pick out important information.

Students will differentiate between the topic (important information) and interesting details.

“Hippopotamus”

Copies of

text for

students

• Distribute copies of “Hippopotamus” to students.

• Tell them that we will be reading a non-fiction passage. Remind students that, when they read

nonfiction, they are usually reading to learn something. Non-fiction material often has

important information and very many interesting details. Remind students that there are usually

just too many details to remember them all, so it is very important to learn how to separate the

interesting details from the important information.

• Sometimes, a non-fiction passage will have some text features that help us pick out the

important information. “Hippopotamus” is one such text.

• Ask students to notice the bold print in this passage. This is one of the features sometimes

used to call attention to important information in a passage. The title is often printed in bold

because it is important in helping us know what the passage is about. The first word in the

passage, Hippopotamus, is also printed in bold to remind us again that this is the main topic of

the passage. In this passage, the subtitles are also printed in bold. Subtitles are another feature

to help us pick out important information. Subtitles often tell us the main topic for a section of

a passage so that we don’t have to figure out the topic.

• Ask students to underline the bold print in this passage. Ask, “What are the subtitles? (Allow

students to respond.) So, the main topics of this passage will be (reread the subtitles). When we

read each of these sections we will be reading many interesting details about these topics.”

• Ask students to read paragraphs 1 and 2 silently. Tell students, “This section has another text

feature that helps us pick out important information. Some of the important words are written in

40


italics like the way to pronounce the word hippopotamus. Why would the words ‘river horse’

be written in italics? Why would river hippopotamus? Pygmy hippopotamus? It is easy to pick

out the important information in this section because of the way it is printed.

• Tell students, “The subtitle for the next section is ‘The body of a river hippopotamus.’ How

many paragraphs are in this section? (four paragraphs) Each of the four paragraphs should tell

us something about the body of a hippopotamus. Read paragraph 3 silently, and then talk with

your partner about the important information in this paragraph.” Allow time for reading and

partner discussion. Tell students, “I read many different numbers about the size of a hippo in

this paragraph. I know that I cannot remember all of them, but the big idea seems to be that a

hippopotamus is very large.”

• Ask students to read paragraph 4 and then talk with their partner about the important

information.

Allow time for reading and discussion. Invite a few students to share, clarifying whether the response

is important information or an interesting detail.

• Continue this procedure with paragraph 5.

• Continue this process with paragraph 6. Point out that the picture is another text feature that

helps the reader better understand about the teeth of a hippopotamus.

• Review with students. “We knew from the subtitle that this section of the passage would be

about the body of a river hippopotamus. We stopped at the end of each paragraph to think about

the most important information about the body. Talk to your partner about what you learned

about a hippo’s body.”

• Tell students, “The subtitle for the next section is ‘The life of a river hippopotamus.’ How

many paragraphs are in this section? (4) As you read each of these four paragraphs silently,

think about what you are learning about the life of a river hippo.”

• Allow time for students to finish the passage. Ask them to talk with their partners about the

important information in each of the paragraphs. Invite a few students to share, clarifying

whether the response is important information or an interesting detail.

• Review with students. Some non-fiction passages use text features to help the reader pick out

the important information. This passage had two main sections with subtitles, ‘The body of a

river hippopotamus’ and ‘The life of a river hippopotamus.’ The subtitles should help you

remember some important information about hippos.

Day Students will respond to text by writing and creating a rubric to evaluate written responses to text.

41


2

“Hippopotamus” Copies of

text for

students

Writing

prompt

• Continue with “Hippopotamus.”

Review the questions

Read through the questions.

Display the questions where everyone can see them. Underline key words and phrases in the

questions that we think we might find in the passage. Use these key words and phrases to

determine which section of the text might help us answer each question.

Scan the selected section(s) looking for the words or phrases.

Reread the section and choose the appropriate answer for the question item.

Work through remaining questions in this manner.

• Display the following writing prompt: Write a paragraph telling the important information you

learned about the hippopotamus.

• Help students create a rubric for writing this response. The prompt asks for a paragraph – not a

list. This would be #1 in the rubric. The prompt asks for the important information you learned

– not just interesting details. This would be #2 in the rubric. Remind them of the 2 subtitles

(topics) in the passage. Some of the “important information” would be in these topics.

• Allow students time to respond to the prompt. Circulate to look for examples of good

paragraphs to share with the class.

• Choose one or two paragraphs to evaluate using the rubric. Display them where everyone can

see them. Ask the questions, “Is this in paragraph form rather than a listing? Does it include

important information from both of the subtitled sections?”

• Ask students to evaluate their own responses, using the rubric. Have them discuss with their

partners how they might improve their responses. Invite a few students to share their thinking.

Day

3

Students will use text features to identify important information in a passage.

Students will differentiate between the topic (important information) and interesting details.

“Food From the

Tomb”

Copies of

text and

questions

for students

• Distribute copies of “Food From the Tomb.” Ask students to scan through the passage for any

of the text features that we used in “Hippopotamus.” They should identify bold print, subtitles,

italics, and pictures.

Remind students that these text features usually call attention to the important information in a passage

and help the reader remember this information.

• Tell students, “Sometimes the introduction is also helpful in explaining the main idea in a

42


passage.” Read the introduction to students.

• Ask students to read the subtitles. Discuss the difference between these subtitles and the ones

for “Hippopotamus.” With “Hippopotamus,” the reader knew what each section would be about

before reading. These subtitles do not clearly state the topic. They may help the reader

remember important information after the reading.

• Ask students to read the first section (paragraphs 2-4) silently. After reading, ask students to

talk with their partners about the important information in this section. Circulate to listen to the

conversations to help assess whether students are able to distinguish between important

information and interesting details. Invite a few students to share. Do some teacher modeling if

necessary.

• Ask students to read the next section (paragraphs 5-6) silently. After reading, ask students to

talk with their partners about the meaning of the subtitle. Invite students to tell how the subtitle

explains the topic of this section. Discuss how the picture is helpful in this section.

• Ask students to read the next section (paragraph 7) silently. After reading, have partners talk

about the meaning of the subtitle and how it helps to explain the topic of this section. Display

(or distribute to students) the questions 1-8. Ask students to locate clues for the answer in the

text. Discuss why a particular answer is the best choice based on the clues.

Day

4

Students will monitor their comprehension of a text.

“The Ransom of

Red Chief”

Copies of

text for

Students

Prompt

Scaffold

• Tell students, “We know that we usually read non-fiction passages to learn something. As we

have been reading non-fiction passages this week, we have been stopping during the reading to

think about the important information that we have learned and to sort it out from the

interesting details.”

• “When we are reading fiction, it is also helpful to stop at some points during the reading to

check on our comprehension. The reader should have a picture (or a movie) in his mind about

what is happening in the story. This picture should include who is in the story, when and where

the story is taking place, and what is happening.”

• “Today’s passage is fiction. ‘The Ransom of Red Chief’ is from a short story by O’Henry. We

are reading an excerpt. That means that we are only reading a part of the story.”

• Tell students, “Today as we read, we will be stopping to think about and talk about the pictures

in our minds. Read sections 1 and 2 silently.” Allow time for reading. Then ask students to talk

with their partners. They should discuss the mental pictures they have of the story so far.

43


Display the following prompt for this discussion:

o Who is the main character(s)?

o Where is this character? (Setting)

o What is happening so far?

If the partners are not seeing similar pictures, they should go back, reread, and compare again.

Invite a few students to share with the group. Model if necessary.

• Ask students to read Section 3 silently. Allow time for reading and ask partners to compare

their mental pictures once again. Refer to the prompt and ask, “Have any of these parts of the

picture changed? How?” Remind students to reread if necessary to clarify. Circulate and listen

to the conversations to assess comprehension. Continue to model if necessary.

• Ask students to finish reading the passage silently and compare their mental pictures with their

partners. Discuss how their pictures have changed as they read more or as they talked with their

partners.

• Tell students, “Whether you are reading fiction or non-fiction, it is important to stop at a few

points during the reading just to check on your comprehension. (Do I have a clear picture in my

head? Is this making sense? Do I know what the author is trying to tell me? Have I learned the

important information?)”

• Have students work with their partners to summarize the story using the fiction scaffold from

Week 8. (Somebody, Wanted, But, So) Invite a few students to share with the group, calling

attention to the fact that an accurate summary can be expressed in several different ways.

Day

5

Students will practice using a variety of strategies to answer questions in response to a text.

“Buses Leaving

Mobile”

Copies of

text and

questions

for students

Display the

text and

• Tell students that today we will be looking at a special kind of text called functional text. It is

called functional text because it helps you function in day-to-day life. We will be using a bus

schedule.

• Place the bus schedule where all students can see it clearly.

• Ask students to look and silently notice some things about the text.

• Ask students to read the heading of the bus schedule. Tell students that today we will read the

functional text to locate important information that will help the user plan a trip. Share the

information above the bus schedule to illustrate the purpose of using the schedule.

• Orient students to the bus schedule by pointing out the columns and rows. Direct students to the

headings for the different columns. Explain that the columns and rows help you to find the

44


questions

where

everyone can

see them.

answers to questions easily.

• Model for students how to read the first row of the bus schedule.

• Ask students to turn and talk through the next two rows on the bus schedule.

• Guide students through the last two rows; thinking aloud as you infer what the departure and

arrival time means.

• Display the questions where everyone can see them. Remind students that they will encounter

questions like these on standardized tests. Remind students that sometimes in order to answer

questions about a text we have to merge something we already know (K) with clues in the text

(C) to make an inference (I).

• Model for students how to find important information in the question that we need to know in

order to answer the question correctly using question 4. Underline the key information. Refer

back to the text to find the answer. Use the K, C, I mapping strategy (as seen in Week 5) when

necessary. Have students work in pairs following the same procedure for answering the

remaining questions.

• Wrap up the day by reminding students that the text we read today is functional text.

“Functional text helps you function in day-to-day life.” Remind them of the importance of the

headings and the layout of this type of functional text.

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WEEK 11 Passages

“Kid Fights Cheater Meters and Wins” text and questions from NAEP Question Tool

http://nces.ed.gov/NationsReportCard/nqt/ and annotation pages for the written response questions are used

on Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3.

“1920: Women Get the Vote” text and questions from NAEP Question Tool are used on Day 4 and Day 5.

http://nces.ed.gov/NationsReportCard/nqt/ and annotation pages for the written response questions.


RL.8.1. Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as

well as inferences drawn from the text.

RL.8.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text…

W.8.20. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

W.8.23. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are

appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

RL.8.9. & RI.8.19. By the end of the year, read and comprehend…in grade 8 text complexity independently

and proficiently,

Outcomes Emphasized

Students will learn to judge how much time has passed as they work on a passage.

Students will learn how to orient themselves to a passage and the accompanying questions by scanning a

passage and the questions.


During the NAEP and ASPIRE testing situations, students will be given about 50 minutes to read a relatively

long passage and answer 10-12 questions related to the passage. Approximately half of those questions will

be written response questions.

http://nces.ed.gov/NationsReportCard/nqt/


46


During Week 11 students will have an opportunity to work independently on two NAEP passages and the

questions that accompany those passages.

Since we are attempting to keep the preparation to 30 minutes daily, the students will work three days on the

first passage and two days on the second passage.

On the days when students are asked to read (Day 1and Day 4) it is important that students work

independently for about 25 minutes in order to build endurance in approaching independent reading tasks.

Consequently, teacher talk must be limited on Day 1 and Day 4.

Since the complexity of text and questions has increased significantly, three days (Day 2, Day 3, and Day 5)

are devoted to reviewing how students answered the questions and to sharing examples of acceptable

responses to written-response questions.

Teachers are asked to provide a 45 minute class on Day 4 to allow students to work for 40 minutes

independently.

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Text

Material

Students will read a passage and answer questions using clues from the passage.

Day 1 “Kid

Fights

Cheater

Meters

and

Wins”

Copies of

text and

questions

for

students

Distribute copies of ““Kid Fights Cheater Meters and Wins.”

Tell students to read the passage independently. Tell the students that they can mark the text if that will

help them. Tell students that it will probably take at least 10 minutes to read the text. Explain to students

that they are not to start answering the questions until you announce that a period of 10 minutes has passed.

Tell them to read carefully and to reread if they finish reading before the 10-minute announcement is made.

Tell students that after the 10 minute mark they will have 15 minutes to start working on the questions.

Tell students to begin reading.

Tell students when a period of 10 minutes has passed.

Tell students to start answering the questions. Explain that they will not have enough time to finish all of

the questions, but that they should get a good start. Remind students to go back to find the clues in the

passage. Tell students that they will complete the questions tomorrow but to answer as many as they can in

15 minutes. Tell students that you will announce when they have 5 minutes remaining and when 10

minutes is up.

Collect student papers after the 15-minute period. Make sure that students put their names on the papers so

that you can return the papers the next day.

Look over the papers to see the range in the number of questions answered. Inspect the answers to know

how well the students handle the questions and to acquaint yourself with which items the students had the

most trouble.

48


Students will be able to explain which clues in the text supported their answers.

49


Day

2

“Kid

Fights

Cheater

Meters

and Wins

Copies of

text and

questions

for

students

Distribute papers to the students.

Tell students that they will have 10 minutes to finish answering the questions. Remind students that you will

review the answers to the questions after that.

Call time after 10 minutes. Ask students to work with a partner while you review the answers. Have each

student hold his/her own paper as the teacher directs the review of the questions and answers. Partners can

help each other stay on track.

Take multiple choice questions first (questions 3, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 11). For each multiple choice question, ask

students, “How did you know the answer?”

If there is an obvious clue in the text, take time to locate the clue. Try to keep the pace swift enough

to complete the review of multiple choice questions in the remaining 20 minutes.

Model how you knew the answer to question 3. Say something like, “I read the question very carefully. I say

the question using my own words. ‘Why did Ellie have to wait until 6.pm?’ Then I read the choices and talk to

myself, ‘Did Ellie care if people learned about her project?’

A. She did not want people to learn about her project. It didn’t say anything about caring.

B. She did not want to inconvenience motorists. That’s true; it would be a problem for them during the day.

C. She had to focus on a sample of 50 meters. She did, but why would the time matter for that?

D. She saved money because the meters cost less after 6 p.m. It didn’t say they cost less after 6.pm.”

Model how you knew how to answer Question #1. Say something like, “I read the question carefully. Then I

say it in a way I can understand it (Why did the author call the story ‘Kid fights Cheater Meters and Wins?’).

Then, I think that I must start my writing by restating the question and using a transition word like because.

So I write, ‘The author called the story ‘Kid fights Cheater Meter and Wins’ because…”

For each open-ended item, show examples from the scoring guide of what would be acceptable responses. For

example, show the following two acceptable student responses.

o Ellie found out that a lot of parking meters where she lived were cheating people and the town, so she did a report on it and became well known for her report.

o The meaning is that a kid (Ellie Lammer) found that parking meters in her city, Berkeley, California, were not accurate. She wrote a science project on it and got the government to buy new parking meters.

These responses demonstrate understanding that Ellie conducted a study and that her project had a significant outcome.

50


Students will be able to explain which clues in the text supported their answers.

Day

3

“Kid

Fights

Cheater

Meters

and

Wins

Copies

of text

and

questions

for

students

Rubric

Distribute papers to students.

Continue discussing how students knew the correct answers.

Again, have students work in pairs as they judge the correctness and adequacy of their responses to the

questions. If teachers anticipate being unable to review all of the remaining questions, they should choose

examples from the types of questions that seem to be causing the most difficulty for students.

Examples of how teachers might bring attention to how students know the correct responses are listed below.

Question #4

4. According to the article, what did Ellie learn from doing her meter project?

A. Every fourth meter ran too quickly. (This statement can be found in paragraph 5. It is not stated exactly like

the wording in the text, but it is close.) B. Nine out of ten digital meters were accurate. (Paragraph 5 also talks about nine out of ten meters, but the text

says that they were inaccurate not accurate, so this cannot be the answer.)

C. 3,600 parking meters were inaccurate. ( The text says that there were 3,600 parking meters in the city, but it

does not say that they were all inaccurate.) D. Almost none of the 50 meters ran too slowly. (Ellie tested 50 meters (paragraph 4). However, the term

“almost none” in the answer means that very few ran too slowly, but in paragraph 5 she says that nine out of 10

were inaccurate. That is more than a few.)

Question #5

Tell students that more lines to write on signals that a longer response is required.

Change the question into a rubric that can be used to score the response. The rubric would be similar to

the following.

Does the response name two things Ellie did?

Does the response explain what each of those things tell about her?

Does the response use examples from the article?

Share a response or two from the annotated student responses. One of those is the following.

Ellie Lammer got cheated out of her money, and then decided that she wasn’t going to give up. She was

going to do experiments and take this problem to the next level. This shows perseverance because she

chose to keep going with the problem even though it was time-consuming, to help people.

51


She also chose to prove the meters wrong by timing them with a stop watch. This shows intelligence

because she knew what methods to use in order to prove the meters were inaccurate.

Share an example from the students in your class. Look for an example that satisfies the rubric but is

different from the example. It is important for students to understand that an acceptable reply is one that

names two things Ellie did, explains what those things say about her, and uses evidence from the article.

Note: In today’s lesson, we are asking teachers to devote 45 minutes to the lesson. The teacher will use 5 minutes

for distributing the text and preparing students to read and answer the questions. Then, she will ask students to

read independently and answer the accompanying questions for 40 minutes. There is a good chance that students

can read the passage (780 words) and answer the 10 questions in 40 minutes. There are only 5 short, written

response items. If students can finish in 40 minutes, they will gain confidence in their abilities to sustain their

attention for longer periods of time and feel more confident about handling 50 minutes on the two final practice

passages next week.

Students will learn to judge how much time has passed as they work on a passage.

Day

4

“1920:

Women

Get the

Vote”

Copies of

text and

questions

for

students

Distribute copies of “1920: Women Get the Vote.” Tell students that they will work independently to read the

passage and to answer the questions.

Tell students that they would normally be given 50 minutes to read the passage and to answer the questions,

but that you believe that they can read and answer the questions in 40 minutes.

Ask students to scan the questions to see if they can tell what the passage will be about. Draw attention to the

headings. Ask students to share what they think the passage will be about but keep these initial steps to 4-5

minutes.

Tell students to read the passage independently. Tell the students that they can mark the text if that will help

them. Tell the students that they are to start answering the questions when they finish reading the passage.

Tell students that it will probably take at about 10-15 minutes to read the text and 20-25 minutes to answer the

questions. Explain that you will announce when 10 minutes is up, so that students can complete their reading.

52


Tell students that you will announce when a period of 15 minutes has passed because that will be a signal to

start answering the questions. Tell students that you will tell then when a period of 15 more minutes has

passed so that they know that they have only 10 minutes remaining to finish answering the questions and to

check their work.

Tell students to read carefully and to reread if they need to do so. Remind students that they need to look

back at the passage to locate the clues when they start to answer the questions.

Remind students that you will tell them when:

a period of 10 minutes has passed and they need to be finishing up the passage.

a period of 15 minutes has passed and they need to be answering questions.

a period of 30 minutes has passed and they need to be finishing up the questions and checking their

work.

a period of 40 minutes has passed and it is time to stop.

Tell students to begin reading.

Tell students when a period of 10 minutes has passed.

Tell students when a period of 15 minutes and a period of 30 minutes have passed.

Ask students to put their names on the papers and collect their work.

Review the student work to determine which items will be most important to review on the following day.

Do not be alarmed if students do not do so well. The review tomorrow and on the final two passages next

week will increase their understanding of how to do their best work and how to pace their work.

Remember…if students are not accurate and independent readers, they need to be in daily, accelerated,

intervention that is designed to make them accurate and fluent readers of grade-level material.

Students will be able to explain which clues in the text supported their answers by providing evidence of where they

were found.

Day

5

“1920:

Women

Get the

Vote”

Copies of

text and

questions

Distribute completed questions and answers to students.

Again, students may work in pairs to review their own answers if this has been an effective strategy for

staying on task.

Take the multiple choice questions first, since all five of these questions have clear clues in the passage and

require minimal inferences. Model how you want students to provide the evidence for the correct response.

Say something like, “Question 1 asks for the main purpose. (Read the question.) I knew the answer was ‘A’

because I looked at all the statements, and ‘B’ is too narrow (it is only mentioned briefly). ‘C’ does talk about

the leaders but the article talks about more than that. ‘D’ is incorrect because it says on page 1 that the

Constitution gave women the right to vote and on page 4 that in 1980 women surpassed men in the turnout, so

that tells me they now can vote.”

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for

students Ask students to take the next 3-4 minutes to write the page number and the paragraph number for where they

found the clue to answer questions 3, 4, 5, 7, and 8.

Allow 3-4 minutes for students to share their answers. Students should provide the following evidence:

Question 3 – page 1, paragraph 5


Question 5 – page 2, clues for “icon” they were crusaders, an icon is a type of symbol

Question 8 – page 3, paragraph 8, looking at what they know, they might talk about the word case


Spend the final 20 minutes reviewing as many of the written response questions as possible. Share examples

from the annotated responses. Share examples from students in the class that you identified during your

preparation for the lesson.

Be sure to share responses to prompts that may have caused difficulty for your students.

Examples might include the following:

Question 2

Turn the question into a rubric similar to the one below. 1. Does the response explain if the statements are effective or not? 2. Does the response include information from the text to support claim?

Question 7

Turn the question into a rubric similar to the one below.

1. Does the response tell why the words are effective?

2. Does the response give two references that support the claim of effectiveness?

Tell students that they must make claims and support their statements.

Share a few examples that students gave in support of their statements.

If time permits, allow students to come up with rubrics for the other written responses.

54


WEEK 12 Passages

“A Capital Capitol” http://actaspire.pearson.com/_documents/exemplars/3951%20Aspire%20Exemplar%20Reading%20Grade%208-Web.pdf is used on Day 1.

“Not Just for Kids Anymore” and “Twins” NAEP texts and questions from NAEP Question Tool http://nces.ed.gov/NationsReportCard/nqt/ and annotation pages for the written response questions are used on Day 2.


RI.8.18. Analyze a case in which two or more texts provide conflicting information on the same topic and identify where the texts disagree on matters of fact or interpretation.

W.8.20. Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

W.8.23. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are

appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

RI.8.19. By the end of the year, read and comprehend…in grade 8 text complexity independently and

proficiently.

Outcomes Emphasized

Students will use two texts to support inferences.

Students will practice taking a timed test and checking their answers.


This week provides the opportunity for students to read excerpts from two texts and use both to construct

responses.

http://actaspire.pearson.com/_documents/exemplars/3951%20Aspire%20Exemplar%20Reading%20Grade%208-Web.pdf

http://actaspire.pearson.com/_documents/exemplars/3951%20Aspire%20Exemplar%20Reading%20Grade%208-Web.pdf


55


Experience a real time testing situation o develop stamina and to build confidence in the testing

environment.

Encourage and motivate students to exert their best efforts.

After the administration, review and discuss with your students the correct answers to the questions and the

varied correct responses to the written response questions.

Celebrate your students’ progress, endurance, and determination in becoming skillful readers!


Materials

Day

1

Students will learn to use two texts to support inferences.

“A Capital

Capitol”

Copies of

the text

and

questions

for the

students

Distribute copies of the text to students.

Explain that they are going to read the text and answer three questions.

Also explain that one of the questions will require them to read an excerpt from another passage and write a response to a question using both the passage “A Capital Capitol” and the excerpt to justify their responses.

Students will practice the strategies that they have learned over the past 11 weeks.

.Give students 15 minutes to read the passage and answer the questions. Remember that you are trying to build their reading speed and stamina.

When they have finished, use the same procedures you used in Week Eleven to check answers.

Begin with the multiple choice questions and ask them to justify their responses. (Note: the more often you ask them to justify their answers, the more likely they are to internalize the process and mentally ask themselves “why” when they are actually taking an exam.)

When they get to question 3, ask them to individually develop a rubric to determine what they need in their responses. It might look like this: Does the response explain what new information is provided by the excerpt? Does the response provide three pieces of evidence to support the answer?

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Ask them to check their answers using their rubrics.

If time permits, allow them to rewrite their responses on other sheets of paper if they had any “no” answers to their rubric questions.

Take the tests up to see what you might need to reteach.


Materials

Day

2

Students will practice taking a timed test and checking their answers.

“Not Just for

Kids

Anymore”

and “Twins”

passages

Copies of

the text

and

questions

for the

students

Distribute copies of the test and questions.

Allow students 50 minutes to take the test.

Take up the tests at the end of 50 minutes.

Days

3-5

Tell students that they are going to look over their tests.

Begin with the multiple choice questions and ask them to justify their responses. (Note: the more often you ask them to justify their answers, the more likely they are to internalize the process and mentally ask themselves “why” when they are actually taking an exam.)

Reteach any concepts that you feel need strengthening.

When they get to the open-ended response questions, ask them to work with a partner to develop a rubric to determine what they need in their responses.

Exchange papers with their partners and ask them to peer edit responses.

Have students rewrite their responses on other sheets of paper if they received any no answers to their rubric questions, or if their partner felt that the answer needed strengthening.

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