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Lesson 5

We will read the beginning of Chapter 6: “Minerva, 1949” and study the biographical literary criticism lens. Then, we will take details from our reading and analyze them using the biographical lens.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension?

  • Can I analyze how an author’s perspective influences the position, purpose, and ideas of a text?

  • Can I use connections among details, elements, and effects to make logical deductions about an author’s perspective, purpose, and meaning in texts?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • In the Time of the Butterflies, Julia Alvarez, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2010

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss – Write

We will interact with the words we wrote down for homework in our Vocabulary Journal to cement our understanding of their meaning.

Join your small group and compare the words you wrote down in your Vocabulary Journal. Select one word from each group’s Vocabulary Journal and respond to the vocabulary exercises as directed by your teacher.

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will review what we learned about Julia Alvarez.

As a class, we will create a mind map to share and connect everything we know about the author of the novel. As you share answers during the discussion, consider the following question:

  1. What do you know about Julia Alvarez’s history, family, and life?

Meet with a partner to share your mind maps.

Activity 3: Write

We will be introduced to key features of the biographical literary criticism lens.

The next literary criticism lens we’ll work with is the biographical lens.

Listen as your teacher introduces the biographical lens, and take notes on your Biographical Lens Note-Taking Tool.

  • This lens focuses specifically on the author and her life.

  • This lens studies how critical experiences in the author’s life have impacted her work.

  • These events might have inspired a specific plot twist or character development.

  • It is important to consider where and when real life stops and imagination takes over.

  • The focus is meant to help readers determine the author’s intention and the meaning behind characters, events, and conflicts.

Activity 4: Write – Listen

We will examine an excerpt of the novel through the biographical lens.

Step 1

In the first row of your Biographical Lens Note-Taking Tool, write the following quote from the text:

He grins a naughty grin. “A woman with a mind of her own. So you want to study in the capital, eh?” (p. 99).

Listen as your teacher models how to analyze the text through the biographical lens.

Step 2

With a partner or in a small group, choose another quote or section of the text to analyze through the biographical lens.

Step 3

Share your analysis with the class.