Lesson 3

Lesson Goals

Texts

Core

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

Materials

Tools

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Author Craft Note-Taking Tool

• Vocabulary Journal

Question Sets

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Section 2 Question Set

Editable Google Docs

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Author Craft Note-Taking Tool

• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Section 2 Question Set

• Vocabulary Journal

Activity 1: Read – Write – Discuss

We will examine how key persons are represented in the text by using guiding questions.

Individually, pick one of the key persons represented in Chapter 15: Lawrence, Ethel, Galen, Joe, Day, Bobette, or Deborah. Make sure you have a different person than the rest of your group members. Respond to the questions in the Representation of Key Persons section of the Author CraftNote-Taking Tool. Make sure you explain your answer by adding evidence from the text.

Once you have completed the question, create a summary statement with an example from the text about your key person using the sentence frame below:

Overall, _____ is represented as _____. For example, _____.

When you have completed your sentence, share them with your group and pick one to share with the class. During the class discussion, add to or modify your notes as you deepen your understanding.

Activity 2: Read – Write – Discuss

We will engage in a close analysis of several sentences in chapter 16.

Step 1

Copy the sentence below into your Learning Log and individually answer the associated guiding questions:

“We didn’t say words like cancer,” he told me, “and we don’t tell stories on dead folks” (p. 118).

1. What do you notice about the word choice in this sentence? How would you label the diction?

2. What do you learn about the speaker in this sentence? What do you learn about the subject of the sentence?

3. What is the overall effect of the sentence?

4. What is the tone of the sentence? Explain your answer.

Discuss your answers with your group and be prepared to discuss them with the class.

Step 2

Pick two sentences from Chapter 16 that you believe are important and insightful. Copy the sentences down and answer the guiding questions above.

When finished, share your answers with your group. Pick one sentence and response to share with the class. Take notes during the discussion on what helped deepen your understanding of the text.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will synthesize our notes on central issues and the author craft into our Author Craft Note-Taking Tool to deepen our understanding.

Review your notes in your Learning Log from this section on imagery, diction, figurative language, syntax, tone, and representation. Highlight your notes that provide the most insight into the writer’s craft and copy the evidence into the cell for Chapters 12-16. Make sure you label each piece of evidence using the terms on the tool. Answer the Framing Questions for each piece of evidence.

Review your notes on the central issues of the text from Lesson 2. Summarize your notes and answer the Framing Questions above the cell to deepen your understanding.

Review your Author CraftNote-Taking Tool with your group members, and add to or modify your answers as you share.

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will read chapters 17–18 in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks for homework.

For homework, read and annotate Chapters 17-18 in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Respond to the following text-specific questions in your Learning Log, providing evidence from the text to support your answers:

Chapter 17

1. What do you learn about one or more of the central issues in the text in this chapter?

Chapter 18

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

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