Katie's Trunk: A Loyalist Perspective
Lesson 2 of 13
Objective: SWBAT analyze how the narrator's perspective influences the way in which an event is described.
During the Cue Set, scholars do a quick STAND UP, PAIR UP, SHARE to discuss the ways that Patriots and Loyalists are the same and different. This helps scholars to review what we learned yesterday and accesses their prior knowledge to help them with today's lesson.
I like to have scholars do a stand up, pair up, share because it gets them up and moving about the room. Also, it gives them an opportunity to work with their friends in a low stakes environment (because they all should know the answers since we did this yesterday). When I say, "Stand up," scholars stand up and push in their chairs. When I say, "Pair up," they pair with a person in the room. They can pick ANY person, but I remind them that if they are having a tough time with someone, that I will pick for them. They also walk to a special place in the room where they can share. Finally, when I say, "Share," scholars begin to share and discuss. They can sit wherever they decided to share. Here is a picture of two scholars sharing.
Here's an example of how scholars were able to review & teach one another today:
I give scholars 20 seconds to move with their partners, and then I give them exactly 2 minutes to share. They have 20 seconds to move back to their spots and I then take 2 friends from my cup to share. Timing the transitions helps to keep the pace of the lesson fast and it helps eliminate any opportunity for misbehavior. Once everyone is back in their seats, I take 2 volunteers to help answer how the Loyalists and Patriots were alike & different.
During the Teaching Strategy today, we actually delve into a text to begin practicing the skill of analyzing how a narrator's perspective influences the way in which an event is described. We do a cloze reading of Katie's Trunk on pages 294-295 in our Houghton Mifflin text. This is a story about a Loyalist family who is forced to leave their home while Patriots (some of whom are neighbors) raid it for money and other valuable goods.
As we read, we think about the following question:
*What is Mama's point of view regarding the Boston Tea Party? How does her point of view influence the way in which she describes the Boston Tea Party?
I pause and think aloud about how she might describe the Tea Party (using evidence from the text). Then we record her description on our graphic organizer. Here is an example of graphic organizer.
Finally, we ask ourselves, "How might a Patriot describe the Boston Tea Party?" Then, we write our description on our graphic organizer. The idea here is that Mama would describe the tea party as wasteful and shameful. However, a Patriot might describe the Tea Party as exciting and a victorious event. We use evidence from the text to support our response.
Going into the Guided Practice, scholars have an example of how to use their graphic organizer to help them answer the remaining questions.
During the Guided Practice, partnerships read pages 296-297 of Katie's Trunk. Then, they use their graphic organizers to answer the following questions:
1. How does Katie describe her relationship with her Patriot friends? How might they describe their relationship with Katie?
2. What is Katie's point of view regarding the Patriots approaching her home? How does this influence the way in which she describes them coming to her home?
During the Guided Practice, I pair lower scholars with medium low scholars and high scholars with medium high scholars. The reason for this is to ensure that no one becomes frustrated with their partner, and also so that my ELL co-teacher and I can strategically support certain groups. Here are some scholars working and more scholars continuing to work hard.
Scholars love partner reading time because it helps them to hear a model of fluent reading other than the teacher. Also, they get to move around the room and find a comfy place to read. This increases oxygen to their brains and it gives them a change of scenery.
During this time scholars rotate through 3 stations. I start the time by reviewing our weekly checklist items for the week and explicitly state what should be completed by the end of the day. This holds scholars accountable to their work thereby making them more productive. Then, I give scholars 20 seconds to get to the place in the room where they will be for the first rotation. The first scholars who are there with all materials they need receive additions on their paychecks or positive PAWS.
During the rotations for this lesson, my small group objective today is to develop strong characterizations of individuals or groups of individuals using books that are on each group's highest instructional level. My focus is this objective because it is a pre-requisite objective to RI & RL 6 (the focus standard of this week). Scholars read a portion of the same book (different for each group depending on reading level, but the same text is read in each group). We practice recording our thinking on dry erase boards to use a different mode of recording and to keep things a little fresh. My ELL co-teacher pulls small groups that focus on RI or RL 6 - how narrator's point of view influences the way in which an event is described- since this is the focus standard of the week.
The pink group will continue student-led text talk groups. Their focus question will depend upon the text they selected and the part that they read. They are always expected to use quotes to support their answer.
After the first rotation, I do a rhythmic clap to get everyone's attention. Scholars place hands on head and eyes on me so I know they are listening. Then they point to where they go next. I give them 20 seconds to get there. Again, scholars who are at the next station in under 20 seconds with everything they need receive a positive PAW or a paycheck addition. We practice rotations at the beginning of the year so scholars know if they are back at my table, they walk on the right side of the room, if they are with the ELL teacher, they walk on the left side of the room and if they are at their desks, they walk in the middle of the room. This way we avoid any collisions.
At the end of our rotation time I give scholars 20 seconds to get back to their desks and take out materials needed for the closing part of our lesson. Timing transitions helps to make us more productive and communicates the importance of our learning time.