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Lesson 2

We will examine the multiple perspectives presented in Chapter 14 and use the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool to deepen our understanding of some of the central issues in the text. We will also complete a vocabulary review.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about an author’s perspective, purpose, and meaning within the text?

  • Can I use language and strategies to accomplish my intended purpose in communicating?

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 – Discuss

We use text-specific questions to determine the perspective of key persons in chapter 14 of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Step 1

Review the definition of the term perspective: the way someone understands, views, and presents an issue based on their relationship to, and analysis of, the issue. Sometimes, perspectives may be explicitly stated, and sometimes they may be implied.

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Skloot uses techniques to convey multiple perspectives (other key persons and her own) on the book’s central issues.

Step 2

Chapter 14 is about the release of Henrietta Lacks’ name to the public now that interest in her has started to increase as her HeLa cell gains stardom in fields of science and medicine.

Answer the following text-specific questions about perspective in your group, rereading the text as needed to find evidence to support your answer:

  1. What is George Gey’s perspective regarding the release of Henrietta’s name to the public? What can you infer were his reasons? What evidence from the text supports your conclusion?

  2. What is Roland Berg’s perspective? What were his reasons?

  3. What do you think Rebecca Skloot’s perspective is on releasing her name? What can you infer are her reasons? What evidence from the text supports your conclusion?

  4. What were the consequences of her correct name being withheld until the 1970s?

Activity 2: Read – Write – Discuss

We will examine some of the central issues in the text using the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool.

Step 1

For this activity, you will use a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool.

The Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool supports and guides a process for developing a claim from textual evidence; it can also help you explain how an existing claim is derived from, and supported by, evidence. Using the tool begins with a guiding question that calls for you to reach a conclusion and communicate a claim, which might be factual, analytical, comparative, or evaluative in nature. It helps you select the key details related to the question, explain how the details connect to your question and to other details, and through that analysis, move to a conclusion. The conclusion that you draw is the basis for your claim, which you try to communicate as clearly and directly as you can.

Add the following guiding question to the top of the Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool:

  1. What writing techniques does Skloot use to present ________’s perspective on the central issue of ____ Chapter 14?

Choose Gey, Berg, or Skloot to focus your analysis on. Review the various techniques on your Author Craft Note-Taking Tool. Find relevant evidence from the text, analyze the evidence, and explain the connections between the evidence and analysis in order to form a claim about your selected topic.

Step 2

Discuss your claims and connections with your group and pick one to share with the class. Add to or modify your answers as you deepen your understanding during the class discussion.

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will review some key vocabulary from chapters 12–14 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 to them later in the unit.

Step 1

With your group, assign each member a set of words from the Vocabulary List for Chapters 12-14. 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 this word?

  2. What strategy did you use to determine its meaning?

  3. How is its meaning important to the text?

You might use the Vocabulary in Context Tool to assist you.

Write down these words, their meaning, and the strategy you used to determine their meaning (context clues, morphology, reference source) in your Vocabulary Journal.

Step 2

Share your words, their definitions, and their importance to understanding the text with your group.

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will read chapters 15–16 in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for homework.

Read and annotate Chapters 15-16. Respond to the following questions in your Learning Log, providing evidence from the text to support your answers.

Chapter 15

  1. What do you learn about the Lackses in this chapter?

Chapter 16

  1. What do you learn about Henrietta’s past in this chapter?

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