A. Engage the Learner - RI.6.5 (5 minutes)

• Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as previous lessons to distribute and review Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2. Refer to the Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 2 (answers for teacher reference) as necessary.

• Repeated routine: Follow the same routine as the previous lessons to review learning targets and the purpose of the lesson, reminding students of any learning targets that are similar or the same as in previous lessons.

A. Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 – RI.6.2 (25 minutes)

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

“I can determine the central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through details.”

• Focus students on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart and remind them that digging into the text deeper can help them understand it better, so they are going to dig deeper into an excerpt of the text through close reading.

• Move students into predetermined triads.

• Direct students’ attention to the Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart and review what collaboration looks and sounds like.

• Use Close Reading Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 (for teacher reference) to set the purpose of the close read and to guide students through a close read of this excerpt. Refer to the guide for how to integrate the Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 note-catcher.

• Refer to Close Read: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Pages 196–201 note-catcher (example for teacher reference) as necessary.

• The Close Reading Guide lists the text excerpts, key questions to ask students, and instructional moves required. Continue to use discussion protocols (e.g., Think-Pair-Share, Conversation Cues, and total participation techniques) to engage all students in a collaborative discussion about the text.

• At the end of the close read, consider using a Goal 3 Conversation Cue to help improve students’ metacognition:

“How did our discussion of this excerpt add to your understanding of the central idea(s) of the chapter and the text? I’ll give you time to think and discuss with a partner.”

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

B. Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 - L.6.5 (10 minutes)

• Tell students they will now participate in a Language Dive to analyze text structure from chapter 11 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind. They will also practice interpreting words with slight differences in meaning and connotation. Distribute markers or colored pencils (blue, green, and yellow) to each student.

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

"I can determine meanings of words and phrases as they are used in the text."

• Reread aloud the excerpt from The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind on page 200, starting at "Just then a strong gust flung me backward" and ending with "My heart nearly exploded."

• Focus students on the sentence:

  • "Then it came: a flicker, a flash, then a burst of bright, magnificent light."

• Use the Language Dive Guide: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 (for teacher reference) to guide students through a Language Dive conversation about the sentence. Distribute and display the Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 note-catcher and the Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 sentence chunk strips. Refer to Language Dive: The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, Page 200 note-catcher (example for teacher reference) as necessary.

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

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

Continue to support students’ awareness of their own thinking, learning, and strategy use. After Work Time B, invite a group of ELLs who need lighter support to generate a list of reading and vocabulary strategies that they have practiced during Language Dives. This list can be copied and shared with students who need heavier support in future Language Dives.

Invite students who need lighter support to scan pages 188–189 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which they read during the close read of Work Time A, and underline or mark with sticky notes words and phrases that signal a chronological text structure. Model this exercise for students before they begin by underlining the phrases “The first thing I wanted to do was . . . ” and “ . . . took nearly three hours” on page 188. Point out that these phrases show the reader events in the order that they occur. This exercise will both help strengthen student attention to language that signals structure in a text and improve students’ word-recognition abilities.

For an added challenge during the Practice section of the Language Dive in Work Time B, scramble the order of the three sentences provided and have students refer back to the text to determine the order in which they occurred before they combine them into a single sentence.

The sentence selected for the Language Dive features a few examples of alliteration (flicker/flash; burst/bright). Invite students who need heavier support to practice saying these alliterative pairs aloud, noticing the sounds that are easier or more difficult for them to say. Encourage these students to begin keeping a “pronunciation journal” to track their progress with particularly challenging English language sounds.

Invite students who need heavier support to scan pages 188–189 of The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, which they read during the close read of Work Time A, and underline or mark with sticky notes words and phrases that signal a chronological text structure. Scanning exercises like this one help students improve their word-recognition abilities and become quicker decoders of text. To ease the cognitive load, provide students with a list of words and phrases from pages 188–189 to scan the text for the following:

“The first thing I wanted to do was . . . ”

“This process . . . took nearly three hours.”

“Next . . . ”

“That’s when I realized . . . ”

“Lastly . . . ”

“It was then that I noticed . . . ”

“The next thing was . . . ”

“Finally . . . ”

A. QuickWrite: Understand Connotation - L.6.5c (5 minutes)

• Distribute QuickWrite: Understand Connotation. Remind students that the goal of a QuickWrite is to get their ideas on the page without pausing to edit for conventions. Encourage students to write continuously for the allotted time. Refer to QuickWrite: Understand Connotation (example for teacher reference) as necessary.

• Refocus whole group after 4 minutes.

• Invite students to reflect on the habits of character focus in this lesson, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

• Collect the handout. Scan student responses and make a note of students who might need support. Check in with them moving forward.