Skip to Main Content

Lesson 2

We begin planning and drafting the rough draft for the Culminating Task.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of texts and topics, support claims, and develop ideas for an expository essay?

  • Can I develop and clearly communicate meaningful and defensible claims that represent valid, evidence-based analysis about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and another text?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot, Crown Publishing Group, 2010
  • Unit Reader
    • “HeLa,” L. Lamar Wilson, Carolina Wren Press, 2008
  • Digital Access
    • Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine, Kadir Nelson, Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and National Museum of African American History and Culture, 2018
  • Multimedia
    • The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, George C. Wolfe, HBO, 2017

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

We share and discuss our initial thinking regarding how we will respond to the Culminating Task.

In small groups, share, discuss, and expand your responses to the homework questions. Be prepared to share with the whole class during a debriefing.

In a whole-class discussion, share your ideas to help make decisions about your essay’s focus.

At the end of this activity, decide which comparison text you will use to write the Culminating Task.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will take notes on our companion texts by answering guiding questions.

Individually, take notes about the points of comparison between your companion text and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Pick two or three of the techniques below to center your comparison. Review your Learning Log, other tools, and your Author CraftNote-Taking Tool to find comparisons to examine in your essay. Pay particular attention to the analytical statements that you completed during several of the activities.

  • Diction and Tone

  • Imagery and Figurative Language

  • Representation of Key Persons

  • Structure

  • Syntax

  • Art and Design Elements (for artwork only)

  • Cinematic Techniques (for film only)

Add or highlight notes that discuss how each of the texts addresses one or more of the anchor text’s central issues—race, class, ethics, and science.

Working with a partner, share and discuss your notes, revising as needed as you focus your thinking.

Activity 3: Write

We will begin drafting the opening paragraph of the expository essay.

Draft an opening paragraph. You will revisit this writing later as you revise and focus your thinking. The working thesis will help organize your writing, but be prepared to adjust and revise it as you write.

Opening Paragraph

  • Make sure you include the title, author, and medium of the text you identified as the most compelling.

  • Provide context by including what the reader needs to know about the topic and text to understand the thesis.

  • Come up with a working thesis of one to two sentences that express your response to the essay topic and include the techniques the author, director, or artist uses.

Compare your opening paragraph with your group. Based on feedback, revise or add to your writing.