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Lesson 5

We will begin preparing our responses for the Section Diagnostic. We will review our Character Note-Taking Tools, our Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tools, and the paragraphs we have written in previous lessons. In response to the task questions on the Section Diagnostic, we will draft our claims and find supporting evidence that we can use to develop those claims into well-developed paragraphs.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of Chapter 1, respond to the task questions, support my claims, and develop my ideas?

  • Can I develop and clearly communicate meaningful and defensible claims that represent a valid, evidence-based analysis of Chapter 1?

  • Can I sequence and group sentences and use explanations, reasoning, and evidence to establish coherent, logical, and well-developed claim-based paragraphs?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Scribner, 1925

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read

We will review the Section Diagnostic and Section 1 Diagnostic Checklist.

Your teacher will go over the Section 1 Diagnostic Checklist so that you understand how you will be assessed.

Activity 2: Read – Write – Discuss

We will analyze the specific questions that we will be asked to answer in the Section Diagnostic and begin thinking about our responses.

Consider the following question:

  1. How does Fitzgerald choose to tell the story and develop characters in The Great Gatsby?

Now, closely read and annotate the following two questions from the Section Diagnostic. What are they asking you to think about and do?

  1. What seems to be the narrator’s view of the characters and of himself in Chapter 1, and how does this influence the reader’s experience? Analyze Nick Carraway’s perceptions and descriptions and the effects they have on your understanding of the story.

  2. What do the characters’ actions and reactions, words, and interactions reveal about them and their desires, dreams, or goals? Select one character introduced in Chapter 1 and analyze that character’s presentation and development.

Compare your analysis of the questions with that of a partner.

Activity 3: Read – Write

We will use a Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool and an Organizing Evidence Tool to help us set up and organize our responses.

Set up Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tools for the Section Diagnostic task questions by recording each question at the top of a tool. Review your materials and notes from previous lessons to find key details that you see as closely related to the questions and to each other. Using these details, draft claims that will organize your responses to the task questions.

For each claim, consider additional evidence that you might want to discuss in your answer, and set up an Organizing Evidence Tool to list and sequence that evidence. You will use this tool and your Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool to help you draft your answers during the Section Diagnostic’s in-class writing assessment.

Activity 4: Read – Write

For homework, we will review the claim-based paragraphs we have written in previous lessons and any constructive feedback we have received from other students or the teacher.

Prepare for the in-class writing assessment you will be doing in the next lesson, for which you can bring planning materials. Review the task, questions, and “be sure to” reminders one more time.

Finish any planning work you need to do on your Forming Evidence-Based Claims Tool and Organizing Evidence Tool.

Review your Vocabulary Journal. Identify a significant word that you would like to use in your written response.

Review your Mentor Sentence Journal. Select at least one technique that you plan to use when writing your response.

Reread the two claim-based paragraphs you wrote in previous lessons, noting strengths, areas you might improve, and things you want to focus on during the Section Diagnostic's in-class writing assessment.