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Lesson 5

We will examine how Rebecca Skloot uses primary sources and details to represent a key person in the text. We will then analyze how she presents multiple perspectives about an important issue in Chapter 20. We will finish the lesson with a vocabulary review.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize and interpret important relationships among the key details and ideas between chapters within a text?

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about an author’s perspective, purpose, and meaning in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?

Texts

Core

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

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write – Discuss

We will examine how an author uses primary sources in a text by using guiding questions.

Step 1

Reread the form and letter that begins on page 147.

In your Learning Log, individually respond to the following questions:

  1. What are the benefits of using primary sources in a text? What are some possible limitations to using primary sources?

  2. What other ways could an author include the same information? How might that change the credibility of the author’s perspective?

  3. Overall, how does this use of primary sources affect you as a reader?

Step 2

Discuss your answers with your group, and choose one answer to discuss with the class. Add to or modify your answers during the discussion as you deepen your understanding of using primary sources in a text.

Once you have completed the discussion, write a summary statement in your Learning Log about Rebecca Skloot’s use of primary sources.

Activity 2: Read – Write – Discuss

We will use guiding questions to examine how an author represents a key person in a text.

Individually, analyze how Zakariyya is represented in Chapter 19 in your Learning Log. Use the questions from the Representation of Key Persons section of your Author CraftNote-Taking Tool. Make sure you provide an explanation. Add evidence from the text to support your answers.

Use the terms on the Author CraftNote-Taking Tool to label any of the evidence you found. Discuss your answers with your group.

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

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

When you have completed your sentence, share it 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. We will return to these notes in an upcoming activity.

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will analyze how Rebecca Skloot presents multiple perspectives in chapter 20 by completing a copy of the Attending to Details Tool.

Step 1

In Chapter 20, "The HeLa Bomb," Rebecca Skloot relates the bombshell Stanley Gartler drops at a tissue conference: HeLa cells have contaminated most other cell cultures.

Assign one of the following scientists from Chapter 20 to each group member to analyze: Stanley Gartler, Robert Stevenson, T.C. Hsu, Robert Chang, or Leonard Hayflick. Make sure each group member is analyzing a different scientist.

Write the following question down on your Attending to Details Tool:

  1. How does Rebecca Skloot present _____’s perspective on the issue?

Review Chapter 20, and complete the tool.

Step 2

Share your answers with your group members. Pick one tool to share with the class. During the class discussion, add to or modify your notes as you deepen your understanding.

Step 3

As a class, discuss the following question:

  1. Does Rebecca Skloot create a balanced discussion of both sides of the issue? If so, how?

When you are finished, write a short summary about how this chapter relates to one or more of the central issues—race, ethics, class, science—in the text.

Activity 4: Read – Write – Discuss

We will review some key vocabulary from chapters 15–20 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

With your group, assign each member a set of words from the Vocabulary List for Chapters 15-20. 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?

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 5: Read – Write

For homework, we will read chapters 21–22 in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

For homework, read and annotate Chapters 21-22 in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Respond to the following questions in your Learning Log. Be sure to include evidence from the text to support your answers:

Chapter 21

  1. What do we learn about the relationship between Johns Hopkins and the Black community in this chapter?

Chapter 22

  1. What do we learn about the legacy of Henrietta Lacks in Chapter 22?

Write down new or interesting words in your Vocabulary Journal.