#30 - Taking Sides
Lesson Plan - Slides - 

Text-Based Questions

1. What two main choices were people arguing about in the colonies?
   (Use details from the first paragraph.)
   
   

2. Why did many people in the narrator’s community believe they should obey the King?
   (What influence shaped their belief?)
   
   

#3 The passage describes three sides. What are they?

• Some people wanted to ____________________.
  
  

• Some people wanted ____________________.
  
  

• Others felt ____________________.

#4 What were they called?

• People who supported independence were called __________.
  
  

• People who stayed loyal to the King were called __________.
  
  

• Hearing these arguments made the narrator feel __________.

In the passage, the narrator hears people arguing about whether the colonies should stay loyal to the King or become independent. Hearing so many different opinions made the narrator feel confused.

Think about your own life.
Write about a time when people around you disagreed about something important (at home, school, or in your community).

In your journal, answer:

• What were people arguing about?

• How did it make you feel?

• Did you decide what you believed, or are you still unsure?

✏️ Sentence Starters (Optional):

• One time people disagreed about __________.

• Some people thought __________.

• Other people thought __________.

• This made me feel __________.

• I decided __________ because __________.

📌 Write 5–7 sentences.

Prologue

Even before anyone asked her what she thought, Maya could feel a heavy pressure in her chest. 

Two of her friends were telling totally different versions of the same story, and everyone else was trying to pull her in different directions.

Just like the people she studied in history class, Maya didn't want to pick a side—but she could tell that, very soon, she wouldn’t have a choice.

🎭 Dialogue: Choose a Side

Characters:

• Maya – caught in the middle

• Lina – angry and hurt

• Jess – defensive and upset

Lina: (slams her tray down) I’m done pretending this is nothing. Jess told people my secret, and now everyone knows.

Jess: (stands up) That’s not true! You’re blaming me because you don’t want to admit it came from somewhere else.

Maya: (quietly) Can we slow down? I wasn’t even there when it happened.

Lina: You don’t need to be there. You just need to be my friend. Friends take sides.

Jess: And real friends don’t accuse people without proof. Maya, you know I wouldn’t do that.

Maya: Everyone keeps pulling me in different directions. One minute I hear Lina’s side, then Jess’s side. The more I listen, the more confused I feel.

Lina: Confused? I’m hurt. And if you don’t stand with me, it feels like you’re standing against me.

Jess: So what, Maya just stays neutral while I get blamed? That’s not fair either.

Maya: I care about both of you. I don’t think this is as simple as right and wrong.

Lina: (steps closer) It is simple. Either you’re with me—

Jess: (cuts in) —or you’re with me.

(Both girls stare at Maya.)

Lina: So choose.

Jess: Right now.

🎭 Maya’s Monologue

(Maya steps forward. Lina and Jess stay frozen behind her.)

Maya:
I never wanted to choose like this. I thought being a good friend meant listening, not picking sides. Every time I hear one of you talk, I feel like I understand. And then I hear the other side, and I don’t know what to believe anymore.

People think staying in the middle means I don’t care. But the truth is, I care too much. I care about losing one of you. I care about being wrong. I care about hurting someone I care about just because I was pushed to decide too fast.

The longer this goes on, the heavier it feels. Just like in history, people weren’t only Patriots or Loyalists. Some were just confused. Some were scared. Some didn’t know who was right—but they still had to live with the choice.

I wish listening counted as loyalty. I wish thinking meant strength. But right now, all I feel is sad… because no matter what I choose, someone I care about will be left behind.

(She lowers her head.)

🧠 Making Connections:

• Why can choosing a side be painful, even when people care?

• How does Maya’s monologue connect to neutral colonists?