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Lesson 7

We will examine the author’s use of figurative language and structure in the text. We will also analyze the use of the phrase benevolent deception in the text and review vocabulary from Chapters 6–8.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize and interpret important relationships among key details and structure within a text?

  • Can I evaluate the effects of figurative language and tone to analyze a text?

  • Can I use a variety of strategies (e.g., context clues, word study, and vocabulary resources) to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, phrases, and figurative expressions?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot, Crown Publishing Group, 2010

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write – Discuss

We will further our examination on how Rebecca Skloot presents her voice in the text by examining her use of figurative language.

Step 1

With your group, examine the terms in the Author CraftNote-Taking Tool under Figurative Language, discuss the definitions, and come up with examples.

Step 2

Examine two examples from Chapter 6: stumbled in the first sentence on page 49 and grilled on the top of page 50. Read the sentence and label each example using the Author Craft Note-Taking Tool.

Use the guiding questions to deepen your understanding of Skloot’s representation:

  1. What type of figurative language is it?

  2. What is the connotation of the words? What emotion is associated with the words?

  3. What is the effect of this figurative language? What purpose does it serve?

  4. What do you notice about the writer’s attitude toward the subject? Toward the reader?

Share your answers with your group, and add or refine your answers to deepen your understanding.

Step 3

With your group, look through Chapters 6-8 to find additional examples of figurative language. Add these examples to your Learning Log, noting what type of figurative language it is. If you find an example you think is particularly impactful, highlight it. You will return to it later. Be prepared to share some of your examples with the class.

Activity 2: Listen – Read – Write

We will analyze the structure of chapter 7 to understand how the author presents an important topic in the text.

Listen as your teacher or one of your peers reads the last paragraph in Chapter 7:

"Either way, by 1951, when Henrietta Lacks’s cells began growing in the Gey Lab—just five years after the widely publicized ‘death’ of Carrel’s chicken heart—the public image of immortal cells was tarnished. Tissue culture was the stuff of racism, creepy science fiction, Nazis, and snake oil. It wasn’t something to be celebrated. In fact, no one paid much attention at all." (p. 62)

Review the terms related to structure in the Author CraftNote-Taking Tool. Answer the guiding questions below to analyze structure and a central issue from the text:

  1. How would you break this paragraph down into its parts?

  2. What type of structure best describes the paragraph? Explain.

  3. What is the effect of this paragraph? What purpose does it serve?

  4. What do you notice about the writer’s attitude toward the subject? Toward the reader?

  5. What important details about the topics or important persons are included?

Add to or modify your answers during the discussion as you deepen your understanding of the topic.

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will examine the word choice by doctors in the 1950s to analyze their tone.

Step 1

Review the definition of tone from the Author Craft Note-Taking Tool. Tone requires understanding all other aspects of voice you have been studying so far in this unit: diction, figurative language, imagery, and syntax, the study of sentence structure used in mentor sentence activities.

We will practice understanding tone by examining a single phrase and determining the speaker’s attitude.

On page 64, the author explains benevolent deception. Read through pages 64-65 to refresh your memory. Then, answer these guiding questions about the phrase:

  1. What do you notice about the speaker’s choice of words? What stands out?

  2. What do you notice about the writer’s attitude toward the subject?

  3. What effect does the tone have on the reader’s understanding?

Step 2

In one sentence, summarize the doctor’s attitude, or tone, toward patients during this period.

You might use the following sentence frame:

In the 1950s, doctors often _____, because _____.

Share your sentences with your group. Refine and revise your sentence as necessary.

Activity 4: Read – Discuss – Write

We will review some key vocabulary from chapters 6–8 that is content-specific or challenging. We will pay attention to word use and meaning in the text’s context. We will also write down important terms in our Learning Logs, so that we can refer back to them later in the unit.

Step 1

Review the Vocabulary List for Chapters 6-8. Assign each member of your group a set of words from the list to define. Individually, locate the words as they are used in the text, using the provided page number, and consider the following questions for each:

  1. What is the meaning of the word?

  2. What strategy did you use to determine the meaning (context, morphology, reference resource)?

  3. How is its meaning important to the text?

You might use the Vocabulary in ContextTool to assist you.

Step 2

Discuss your assigned words with your group.

Write down the group’s words and definitions in your Vocabulary Journal.

Activity 5: Read – Write

For homework, we will read chapters 9–11 in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

For homework, read and annotate Chapters 9-11 in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Respond to the following text-specific questions in your Learning Log, using evidence from the text to support your answer:

Chapter 9

  1. What do we learn about Rebecca Skloot in this chapter?

Chapter 10

  1. What do we learn about Cootie in this chapter?

Chapter 11

  1. What do we learn about Henrietta Lacks’s death in this chapter?

Be sure to write down new or interesting words in your Vocabulary Journal.