Lesson 2

We will begin planning and drafting the Culminating Task essay.

Lesson Goals

Can I recognize and interpret important relationships among ideas and structure within The Warmth of Other Suns?
Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of The Warmth of Other Suns and the Great Migration, to support claims, and to develop ideas?

Texts

Core

- The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson, Vintage Books, 2010

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

We will 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 debrief.

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

Activity 2: Write – Discuss

We will determine the focus for our essays.

Individually, take notes about the following questions, focusing on your chosen thread:

How and why does Wilkerson use threads to compose her overall structure?
What is your chosen thread’s significance in the larger structure?
What is the specific structure and placement of your chosen thread?
How is your chosen thread integrated among the other threads? What is its relationship with the other threads?
What would be lost in this examination of the Great Migration if your chosen thread were removed?

Working with a partner, share and discuss your notes, revising them as needed to guide your thinking.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss

We will consider what a controlling idea is. We will analyze the model essay, deconstructing the support paragraphs to help us build our own support paragraphs.

Step 1

Write notes on what a controlling idea is.

A controlling idea does the following:

controls the development of and ties a piece of writing together
is flexible and evolves with the writer’s thinking during the writing process
reflects the way writers actually work

For a writer beginning to draft, a controlling idea is a rough idea that guides the writing, while also allowing for discovery—the uncovering, unpacking, and interrogating of what the writer thinks, knows, and understands.

Step 2

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

Identify and highlight the controlling idea of the model essay.

Number each of the sentences in the support paragraphs as directed.

Step 3

Every sentence in a piece of writing has a purpose and fulfills a function. For example, sentences can do the following:

present an idea or point
provide evidence
elaborate on the evidence
provide reasoning, connecting the evidence to the idea or point
transition from one idea to another
summarize points that have already been made

Create a two-column table for use during the activity. Label the first column “Sentence #” and the second column “Function.”

Working as a whole class, follow along as your teacher models deconstructing the first support paragraph by determining the function of each sentence.

Step 4

Working with a partner, deconstruct the second support paragraph by determining the function of each sentence. Be ready to share your ideas in a debrief discussion.

During a whole-class discussion, share your ideas to help build your knowledge about supporting your ideas in your own essay.

Activity 4: Write

We will begin drafting our support paragraphs.

Individually, begin planning and drafting your controlling idea and support paragraphs. Do not yet worry about your conclusion and introduction as those should come last. Use your Note-Taking Tools and all preparatory notes. Consult with a partner as needed to work through and discuss your ideas and approaches.

Activity 5: Write

For homework, finish drafting the support paragraphs of your essay.

For homework, finish drafting the support paragraphs of your essay; be ready to share and receive feedback during peer review in the next lesson.