Skip to Main Content

Lesson 1

We will deconstruct the Culminating Task.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I identify the claims, reasoning, and evidence used to develop an explanation about Wilkerson’s use of structure in The Warmth of Other Suns?

  • Can I develop and use an effective and efficient process to maintain workflow?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson, Vintage Books, 2010
  • Digital Access
    • The Migration Series, Jacob Lawrence, The Phillips Collection, 2019

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will prepare for the Culminating Task by reviewing the unit’s Central Question and framing questions.

Step 1

Review the Central Question and Framing Questions:

How do we construct the story of a complicated history?

Framing Questions:

  1. What were the push-and-pull factors that impacted people’s decisions to migrate from the South?

  2. What is the relationship between the ‘end’ of slavery and the Great Migration?

  3. How can a single decision change the trajectory of someone’s life?

  4. What were the long-term impacts of the single decision to leave the South?

  5. How do Wilkerson’s choices in terms of sources, organization, and structure convey her perspective and purpose?

  6. How does Lawrence’s The Migration Series represent and connect to the history Wilkerson constructs in her text?

  7. How and why do authors and artists help us to construct the truth of this history?

  8. How do Wilkerson’s structural choices impact our understanding of the Great Migration?

In your Learning Log, locate the Notice and Wonder table that you created in Section 1. Write down additional responses and revise existing responses in your Notice and Wonder table to track your observations and questions about the Central Question and Framing Questions, the Culminating Task, and your increased level of knowledge compared to the previous section.

Step 2

Discuss with a partner your revisions and additions to your Notice and Wonder table and your ideas about how the previous sections have prepared you for and will support your success on the Culminating Task.

Share your responses with the whole class.

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will prepare for the Culminating Task by reviewing and unpacking the task.

Working with a partner, reread the Culminating Task Checklist. What knowledge and skills do you will need in order to succeed on the Culminating Task? How prepared are you?

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

We will prepare for the Culminating Task by reviewing and unpacking a model essay.

Listen and read along silently as your teacher reads aloud the displayed Culminating Task model essay.

Working with your partner, reread the Culminating Task model essay and take notes about where you see evidence in the model of the knowledge and skills included in the group list. Make note of any additional knowledge or skills that should be added to the group list. Be prepared to share your notes and ideas during a discussion.

In a discussion, share your notes to help identify what quality work looks like for this task.

Activity 4: Write – Discuss

We will prepare for the Culminating Task by synthesizing the knowledge we have built throughout the unit and considering possible focuses for our own essays.

Individually, write notes in your Learning Log in response to the following questions:

  1. What are the various threads Wilkerson uses to weave together the complex history of the Great Migration?

  2. How do these threads allow Wilkerson to convey her purpose, perspective, and meaning in the text?

  3. What are the threads that most stand out to you in The Warmth of Other Suns? Why?

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

Activity 5: Write

To prepare for the Culminating Task, we will review the applicable reference guides.

With your teacher, review applicable sections of reference guides in preparation for the Culminating Task.

Activity 6: Write

For homework, review your completed Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool and Structure Note-Taking Tool.

For homework, review your completed Jigsaw Note-Taking Tool,Structure Note-Taking Tool, your Vocabulary Journal, and your Mentor Sentence Journal. Highlight any content that might help you make a decision about the focus for your essay or that might support your ideas regarding the threads you are considering for the Culminating Task. Identify significant words and sentence styles that you would like to use in your response to the Culminating Task.

Jot down some notes in response to the following questions:

  1. How do the threads of Wilkerson’s text enhance our understanding of the impact of the single decision to leave the South and of the Great Migration as a period in our collective history?

  2. Choose one to three threads used by Wilkerson that seem significant to you, and explain what they convey about the Great Migration and how they contribute to her construction of this complex time in our history.

  3. Which thread stands out to you as most interesting or important to write about?

  4. What significant words have you learned in this unit that you would like to use in response to the Culminating Task?

  5. What sentence style or styles have you learned in this unit that you would like to use in response to the Culminating Task?