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Lesson 3

We will return to our Culminating Task Planning Guide and use the responses we wrote for our diagnostics from Sections 2 and 3 to prepare for our literary analysis essay.

Lesson Goals

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

Texts

Core

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

Materials

Tools

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Write

We will review and prepare for the Culminating Task.

Step 1

You have been tracking your preparation for the Culminating Task since the beginning of the unit using the Culminating Task Progress Tracker.

Listen as your teacher details the structure of the Culminating Task Planning Guide and how it will also be used in the next few lessons to support you in completing the task.

Step 2

Reread the Culminating Task Prompt on the Culminating Task Planning Guide and complete the questions in Part 1, referring to your Culminating Task Progress Tracker to assist you in responding.

Share your ideas with a partner and help each other clarify any misunderstandings.

Activity 2: Write

We will think about the big ideas and questions relevant to the Culminating Task.

Good writing requires a topic to write about. In this activity, you will spend time thinking about the Culminating Task and generating ideas.

To get started, review the notes and your thinking from the unit. Use your copy of In the Time of the Butterflies, along with your Literary Lens Note-Taking Tools and completed copies of the Analyzing Relationships Tool and Character Note-Taking Tool to generate initial ideas.

Using the provided space in the Develop Your Thinking section of the Culminating Task Planning Guide, write down your initial ideas, look for connections among them, categorize them, and create extensions of them. You might create a mind map to help get your ideas and connections on paper.

Share your ideas with a partner and help each other clarify any misunderstandings.

Write your response to the following question in the Develop Your Thinking section of your Culminating Task Planning Guide:

  1. How did your thinking about the text change as you analyzed it through different lenses?

Activity 3: Write

We will determine the focus of our individual Culminating Task.

Step 1

Respond to the questions in the Determine Your Focus section of the Culminating Task Planning Guide. Again, use the notes and your thinking from the unit, your copy of In the Time of the Butterflies, along with your Literary Lens Note-Taking Tools and completed copies of the Analyzing Relationships Tool and Character Note-Taking Tool to generate initial ideas.

  1. How does Julia Alvarez depict the Mirabal sisters as revolutionary leaders in In the Time of the Butterflies?

For each of the four lenses (biographical, historical, feminist, Marxist), analyze Alvarez’s depiction of all four sisters as revolutionary leaders in In the Time of the Butterflies.

For example, if you choose the biographical lens, you would analyze how Alvarez’s life is evidenced through the creation of the sisters; if you choose the historical lens, you would analyze how actual events in the Dominican Republic shaped how Alvarez creates and writes about the sisters; if you choose the feminist lens, you would analyze how Alvarez portrays, adheres to, and challenges traditional female gender roles in the novel; if you choose the Marxist lens, you would analyze how the sisters’ social and economic standing impacts their ability to be revolutionaries.

Step 2

Finally, answer this question on your Culminating Task Planning Guide:

  1. How did your thinking about the text change as you analyzed it from different lenses?

Activity 4: Write

For homework, we will develop our concept of one lens for homework on our Culminating Task Planning Guide.

For homework, choose one lens to develop. Write one to four claims in response to the Culminating Task Planning Guide. Write down possible supporting evidence, such as direct quotes, summaries, and paraphrases, with accompanying page numbers.

It might be helpful to focus on the Note-Taking Tool and the Analyzing Relationships Tool that pertain to your chosen prompt. For example, if you choose the Marxist lens, start searching for evidence on your Marxist Lens Note-Taking Tool and the Analyzing Relationships Tool for that section.