A. Engage the Learner – RI.7.3 (5 minutes)

• Repeated routine: Students respond to questions on Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 4 and Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 4 ▲, as necessary. The differentiated entrance ticket supports students with comprehension and writing with sentence frames. ▲

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

For the entrance ticket, challenge students to orally rehearse their responses before recording them. Doing so will provide them with the opportunity to refine their language and their thoughts.

• Once students have completed their entrance tickets, use a total participation technique to review their responses to item 1.

• Then allow time for podcast triads to join together and share their responses to the entrance tickets (as well as their responses to Homework: Synthesize Research and Refine Questions). Then triads can make a plan for their research time in this lesson, dividing the new tasks and setting new goals for questions they must answer in order to tell the story of the events, individuals, and ideas in the epidemic they are researching. Invite students to retrieve their Epidemic Research planner and record their new questions, plans, and tasks for research in Research Jobs and Due Dates chart.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

Invite students to use the Entrance Ticket: Unit 3, Lesson 4 ▲. This resource supports students’ language use and comprehension with sentence frames.

• 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.

A. Research – W.7.7, W.7.8 (30 minutes)

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

“I can research to answer questions about epidemics.”

• Inform students that they will continue their research to answer their questions about epidemics, especially about the key events, individuals, and ideas involved in the epidemic. Focus students on the Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart, Questions about Epidemics anchor chart, and Researchers Do These Things anchor chart, and ask them to retrieve their Researcher’s Toolbox and Epidemic research note-catcher or Epidemic research note-catcher ▲.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

During Work Time A, encourage students to use a self-assessment technique (such as Thumb-O-Meter) to determine which mini lessons they need to attend.

• Remind students that doing online research requires integrity and responsibility. As necessary, review these habits of character on the Work to Become Ethical People and Work to Become Effective Learners anchor charts. Ask students to Think-Pair-Share:

“Why does online research require integrity and responsibility? How do you plan to show these traits today?” (Answers will vary, but may include: When doing online research, we must stay focused on our topic because it’s tempting to look at other things online. This focus takes integrity, being honest with ourselves about what we’re doing, and responsibility, using the freedom and trust we’re given to do our best work and grow as students.)

• Allow students several minutes to review their notes, then have them Turn and Talk to share their plan for researching. Use a Thumb-O-Meter to assess who needs help researching. Depending on needs, pair students or draw them into a small group to assist them, using the suggestions in Research Mini-Lessons (for teacher reference). If many students need support, group them by steps in the research process (e.g., groups of students working together to refine their questions, take notes, and find and evaluate new sources). ▲

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

During Work Time A, encourage students to attend all the mini lessons to ensure they understand all the steps of the research process. Also, encourage students to use the Epidemic Research note-catcher ▲ from Lesson 2. This resource supports students by listing the discrete steps of the research process and supporting students’ processing of information in those steps.

• Repeated routine: three minutes before the end of the time, refocus the group and invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning target.

A. Research Synthesis - RI.7.3 (10 minutes)

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

"I can analyze how individuals, ideas, and events influence one another."

• Remind students that one of their focuses while researching is how the individuals, events, and ideas interact in the sources they are finding. Ask students to retrieve their copies of Homework: Synthesize Epidemic Research and Refine Questions and spend a few minutes adding any details they discovered in their research about the key events, individuals, and ideas in their epidemic.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

Challenge students to first write a synthesis of their research before sharing with their triad. Writing allows students to generate ideas and check their language use.

• Then ask students to join with their triad to share the new details they each found in their research. Encourage students to listen to their triad members and then make connections between and across all three members' research. Then they can orally tell the story of the epidemic and identify any further research needs they have, recording those needs on the Epidemic Research planner in the Research Jobs and Due Dates chart.

• Invite students to reflect on their progress toward the relevant learning targets and the habits of character focus in this lesson, especially integrity and responsibility, discussing what went well and what could be improved next time.

MEETING STUDENTS' NEEDS 

Encourage students to first create an illustrated synthesis of the key individuals, ideas, and events before sharing with their triad. This pre-thinking allows students to generate ideas and gives them confidence when sharing orally.