A. Engage the Learner - RI.7.1 (5 minutes)

• Repeated routine: students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 7. Explain that students will review their responses to the entrance ticket prompts at the end of the lesson.

• Repeated routine: follow the same routine as with 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.

• With students, use the vocabulary strategies on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart to deconstruct the words model (a standard that is suitable for imitation or comparison), purpose (the reason guiding an action), structure (something made up by a number of parts), and analyze (separate into parts for close study; examine and explain) in the learning targets. Record on the academic word wall with translations in home languages, where appropriate, and invite students to record words in their vocabulary logs.

A. Determine Central Ideas in the Model Essay – RI.7.2 (20 minutes)

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

“I can determine the central ideas of a model essay.”

• Inform students that they will now read and discuss a model essay to determine the central idea and the reason it was written. Inform students of the prompt for the end of unit essay: “How has the author of A Long Walk to Water used or altered history in the novel?” To support all students, write the prompt on the board.

• Ask students what they expect the essay to be about, based on the prompt.

• Distribute and display the Compare and Contrast Model Essay to students. Ask students to read the essay independently straight through without pausing so that they can understand the text as a whole. Focus students on the Work to Become Effective Learners anchor chart, especially persevere, reminding students that they may have to persevere to read a new informative text.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS

During Work Time A, have students read the model essay in a digital format that links any potentially unfamiliar vocabulary, so that students can click on words they do not know while reading to get an immediate definition. Linked definitions of words on digital documents supports ELLs by giving them immediate access to definitions for unknown vocabulary, and can also be helpful for pronunciation if an audio link is included as well.

• Invite students to note any questions or initial ideas they have about the essay in their notebooks after reading it for the first time.

• Inform students that the class will review the essay together to find the main ideas of the paragraphs and the central ideas of the essay overall. Ask for student volunteers to describe what it will mean, based on their work in this module so far, to find the main idea of a paragraph or an essay overall. (We are going to identify what each paragraph and the essay is mostly about.)

• Reread aloud the first paragraph while students follow along silently.

• Ask students to Turn and Talk:

“What is the main idea of this paragraph?” (It describes the Sudanese civil war and explains how the author uses history in the novel A Long Walk to Water.)

• Cold call students to share out using equity sticks. As students share, capture their responses next to the first paragraph on the displayed model. Refer to Compare and Contrast Model Essay (example for teacher reference) as necessary. If students need support in identifying the main idea, model doing so for this first paragraph. ▲

• Invite students to work in pairs to do this for each of the remaining paragraphs.

• After 5 minutes, refocus whole group and use total participation techniques to select students to share the main idea of each paragraph with the whole group. Divide the room into four groups, and assign each group a paragraph from the essay. Inform students that they will work together as a class from their groups to determine the central ideas of the essay.

• Ask for volunteers from the group that believes it has the paragraph where a central idea of the whole essay is first introduced. Guide the discussion so that the first (introduction) paragraph group claims the first statement of the central ideas of the essay. Ask other students if they agree with this, and what their evidence is. (Volunteers should cite the focus statement sentences: “Comparing the two texts shows how Park used historical events in the novel. Many of the same major events are described in both texts. However, the authors focus their attention differently in the two accounts.”) Inform students that these sentences make up the focus statement. Note that often the focus statement is just one sentence, but in this essay, the focus statement is several sentences. Explain to students that the focus statement is a good place to look for determining the central ideas of an essay.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS

During Work Time A, have students who are not very familiar with reading in English listen to the model essay read aloud with headphones, while the other students read it silently, allowing students to replay the whole recording or sections of it as much as they need to. Alternatively, read the model essay aloud to the entire class before students read it independently if the majority of the class is new to reading in English. Reading aloud text before silently reading it supports reading in a new language by familiarizing students with the pronunciation of new words and by providing them with more than one modality with which to access unfamiliar language.

• Reread the focus statement sentences for students, and ask:

“What are the key words in the focus statement sentences that give clues about what the author is doing in the essay?” (“comparing,” “used,” “same,” “differently”)

“What is being compared and contrasted?” (A Long Walk to Water and “One Day I Had to Run”)

“Why are these texts being compared?” Remind students to look at the essay’s prompt for clues about the purpose. (The author is comparing the two texts in order to see how Linda Sue Park used or altered history.)

• Have students Turn and Talk about the central ideas of the whole essay. (A Long Walk to Water didn’t alter history too much, but the author used it differently from the author of the article.)

• Display the Criteria of an Effective Informative Essay anchor chart. Tell students that they will use their analysis to generate criteria as they did for summaries and discussion norms in Unit 1. Ask students for any suggestions they have about what should be on the chart following their discussion of the model essay. Add these suggestions to the anchor chart.

• Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

A. Explore the Painted Essay® – W.7.2 (20 minutes)

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

“I can use the Painted Essay® structure to analyze a model.”

• Ask students to Turn and Talk to share their responses on the entrance ticket activity. Have several volunteers share with the class their thoughts about the Painted Essay®.

• Distribute colored pencils, and guide students through using these and their Painted Essay® template to color-code the Compare and Contrast Model Essay. Refer to Paint an Essay Lesson plan (for teacher reference) and Annotated Model “Using History in A Long Walk to Water” (for teacher reference) for further detail.

• Once students have painted (or colored) their copies of the model, ask them to Turn and Talk:

“Which paragraph compares the two texts and which paragraph contrasts the two texts?” (The yellow paragraph is how the texts are the same; the blue paragraph is how the texts are different.)

• Focus students on the Criteria of an Effective Informative Essay anchor chart. Ask students to Think-Pair-Share to add any other criteria to the chart.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS

Expand on the initial prompt by having students talk to partners more specifically about how they use the Painted Essay® structure to analyze a model. Provide some example comments to get partners started discussing this prompt. Focusing on how makes the directions more specific and easier to understand, and also supports ELLs by providing more background knowledge and comprehensible language about the process of using the Painted Essay® structure.

Provide sentence frames for engaging in the prompt.

I use (color) to show . . .

The Painted Essay® structure helps me understand . . .

The part of the Painted Essay® structure I do not understand is . . .

• Repeated routine: invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

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