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Lesson 5

We will create an analytical statement about the reading with two examples of textual support. We will do a close study of several key persons in the text and update our Author Craft Note-Taking Tool.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I establish and explain an accurate understanding of the central ideas of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks?

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

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 write an analytical statement about the author’s craft from chapters 31–32 and add two examples of textual support.

Step 1

In your group, pick one chapter from the homework to analyze and one of the following categories from the Author CraftNote-Taking Tool to focus your study: diction and tone, imagery and figurative language, representation, structure, or syntax.

Access the Analyzing Relationships Tool and write down this guiding question at the top:

What effect does Skloot’s use of _____ have on the reader’s understanding of the text?

Put your chosen category in the blank space.

Review the chapter and take notes as you find details that relate to your category. Choose three key details from the text and use the Analyzing Relationships Tool to examine the details and come to an analytical statement about Rebecca Skloot’s craft in the chapter.

When writing an analytical statement, identify the technique and its effect on the reader. Then, provide an example to support your statement.

In your Learning Log, write the following:

  • the technique that Rebecca Skloot devises by using the terms on the Author CraftNote-Taking Tool

  • an example of this technique from your reading

  • the purpose of the technique and its intended effect

Step 2

Next, create three sentences for your analytical statement. Use the sentence frame below:

In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot uses _____(stylistic device) to _____ (purpose). For example, _____. (Transitional Phrase) _____(Example 2).

Step 3

Share your sentences with your group and then share one sentence with the class. When you are looking at the sentences, consider the following questions:

  1. Is this a style or structure that makes Skloot stand out from other authors that you have read?

  2. How is Skloot’s specific purpose in this text different from the purpose of other texts you have read?

Add to or modify your notes in your Learning Log based on the discussion. You will update your Author CraftNote-Taking Tool in an upcoming activity.

Activity 2: Read – Write – Discuss

We will examine the text through the perspective of four important persons in chapter 32.

Step 1

Individually, pick one of the four key persons—Deborah, Zakayyara, Rebecca, or Christoph—to study. For your person, respond to the following questions in your Learning Log:

  1. How is your person portrayed in this chapter? Find examples from the text to support your claims.

  2. How does your person interact with others?

  3. What does your person learn in this chapter?

  4. Does your person change in this chapter? If yes, how so? Find evidence from the text to support your claim.

  5. What quote or sentence in the chapter best describes this person? Explain.

  6. How does the author structure this chapter around your person?

Step 2

When you have finished, share your answers with a different group assigned by your teacher, and then return to your original group. Report to your original group the representation of your key person. Take notes as the other members of your group present on their key persons.

As a class, discuss some of the important ideas you have for each of the four persons.

Activity 3: Read – Write

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

Review your notes in your Learning Log for Chapters 29-32 on author craft. Highlight notes that provide the most insight into the writer’s craft, and copy the evidence into the cell for Chapters 29-32. 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 Chapters 29-32. Summarize your notes and answer the Framing Questions above the cell to deepen your understanding.

Activity 4: Read – Write – Discuss

We will review some key vocabulary from chapters 26–32 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

Review the Vocabulary List for Chapters 26-32 of the text. Assign each member 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 this 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 Context Tool to assist you.

Step 2

Discuss your assigned words with your group.

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

Activity 5: Read – Write

For homework, we will read chapters 33–34 in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

For homework, read and annotate Chapters 33-34 of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Respond to the following questions in your Learning Log, providing evidence from the text to support your answers:

Chapter 33

  1. What do you learn about Elsie in this chapter?

Chapter 34

  1. What do you learn about the relationship between Deborah and Rebecca in this chapter?