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Lesson 5

We will compare elements of setting and plot from The Book of Unknown Americans to those in “The Wanderers” in order to deepen our understanding of the role of setting and plot in narrative text. We will also analyze a mentor sentence from the novel to build our writer’s toolbox.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize and interpret important relationships among key details and ideas (characters, setting, tone, point of view, structure, development, etc.) within texts?

  • Can I recognize points of connection among texts, textual elements, and perspectives to make logical, objective comparisons?

  • Can I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate an understanding of texts and topics, support claims, and develop ideas?

  • Can I explain why mentor sentences are powerful, and can I explain how I might emulate them in my own writing?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Book of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henríquez, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2015
  • Unit Reader
    • “The Wanderers,” Guadalupe Nettel, Granta Publications, 2018

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Discuss

We will discuss the homework with partners to review it and clarify our understanding.

With a partner, share two entries from your Literary Elements and Narrative Techniques Note-Taking Tool related to pages 48-66 in The Book of Unknown Americans. Use the discussion to revise or expand your entries on your tool.

Activity 2: Discuss – Write

We will make connections between two narratives in order to deepen our synthesizing skills.

Join your small group and discuss the following question:

  1. Based on evidence from The Book of Unknown Americans and "The Wanderers," what connections can you make about the role of plot, setting, and conflict in narrative text?

Create a Literary Elements and Narrative Techniques Note-Taking Tool for “The Wanderers.” Add four entries to the tool based on your discussion.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss – Write

We will analyze a mentor sentence from The Book of Unknown Americans.

Step 1

Reading like a writer involves studying how an author writes and determining why the author makes specific writing choices at the paragraph and sentence level. Understanding what those writing choices mean and deconstructing how the author made those choices can help you emulate those choices in your own writing practice and diversify your range of writing strategies.

In this activity, you will use the Working with Mentor Sentences Tool to analyze the following sentence from the novel:

After we carried everything up the rusted metal staircase to our apartment, after we found the key the landlord had left for us, taped to the threshold of the door, Aurturo went back down to pay the driver. (Chapter 1)

Read and unpack: Read the sentence aloud. Unpack any unfamiliar vocabulary using your vocabulary strategies. Paraphrase the sentence in your own words based on your initial understanding.

Step 2

Deconstruct: Split the sentence up into parts. Determine the parts of speech and function, and note other observations about this part, such as examples of effective diction or changes in verb tense or point of view.

Step 3

Study concept: Follow along as your teacher reviews the relevant grammatical terms and concepts. Write down your notes on the concepts.

Step 4

Analyze the sentence: Review, discuss, or revise your deconstruction notes in light of the mini-lesson. Then use the following questions to analyze the sentence:

  1. Which parts make up the main clause? The main clause is the main subject and predicate that expresses the central idea of the sentence. Write down the sentence, underlining the main clause.

  2. How do the other parts of the sentence (e.g., phrases, clauses, modifiers) enhance the main clause?

  3. How could you restructure this sentence so that it relays the same message to the reader? What is the impact of the different structures on your understanding?

  4. What revisions need to be made to your initial paraphrasing now that you have increased your understanding of the sentence?

Step 5

Analyze mood, tone, and meaning: Respond to the following questions:

  1. What mood does the author create in this sentence? How do they create it?

  2. What tone is conveyed by the author in this sentence? How is that tone conveyed?

  3. What does this sentence contribute to the ideas in the text?

  4. How does the sentence expand your understanding of the text or author?

Step 6

Practice Writing: Use your analysis of the mentor sentence to rewrite the following sentences from The Book of Unknown Americans as periodic sentences.

  • Thirty hours after crossing the border, we arrived, the three of us in the backseat of a red pickup truck that smelled of cigarette smoke and gasoline. (Chapter 1)

  • The last thing I saw before we turned onto the long gravel lane that led to the parking lot was an abandoned auto body shop, its hand-painted sign on the ground, propped up against the gray stucco facade. (Chapter 1)

  • What must we look like to people here? I wondered. Speaking Spanish, wearing the same rumpled clothes we’d been in for days. (Chapter 1)

Step 7

Share your rewrites with a partner, and highlight the main idea of each sentence. Does changing the sentences to periodic structure change the meaning? Does it change the impact? If so, how?

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will use a Mentor Sentence Journal to identify and write down sentences we find interesting or ones that are strong examples of language concepts.

As you read the texts in this unit, use your Mentor Sentence Journal to compile sentences that stand out to you. These sentences may be interesting, or they may represent a strong example of a particular language use concept you have learned. You can use these sentences, as well as those from other units, to build a writer’s toolbox, wherein you have a number of techniques at your disposal to use when writing.

For homework, review “The Wanderers” and pages 48-66 of The Book of Unknown Americans. Select one mentor sentence from each text and write them down in your Mentor Sentence Journal. You can use these curated sentences as models for your own writing on the Section 1 Diagnostic.