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Lesson 7

We will revise our expository response, and we will practice integrating setting, plot, and conflict into our own narrative writing.

Lesson Goals

Reading and Knowledge

  • Analyze Relationships: How well do I recognize and interpret important relationships among key details and ideas (characters, setting, tone, point of view, structure, development, etc.) within texts?
  • Compare and Connect: How well do I recognize points of connection among texts, textual elements, and perspectives to make logical, objective comparisons?
  • Gather and Organize Evidence: How well do I gather and organize relevant and sufficient evidence to demonstrate understanding of texts and topics, support claims, and develop ideas?

Writing

  • Form Claims: How well do I develop and clearly communicate meaningful and defensible claims that represent valid, evidence-based analysis.
  • Refine and Revise: How well do I revisit, refine, and revise my understanding, knowledge, and work based on discussions with others and feedback and review by myself and others?
  • Develop Ideas: How well do I use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, evidence, and visual elements to support and elaborate on coherent and logical narratives, explanations, and arguments?
  • Use Conventions to Produce Clear Writing: How well do I apply correct and effective syntax, usage, mechanics, and spelling to communicate ideas and achieve intended purposes?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • The Catch, Norman Rockwell, Norman Rockwell Museum, 1919
  • Tradebook
    • The Book of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henríquez, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2015
  • Unit Reader
    • “The Wanderers,” Guadalupe Nettel, Granta Publications, 2018

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Write

We will revise our responses using focus questions as a guide.

Revision is the process of re-seeing your work with fresh eyes. Revision is a challenge for all writers. The art of making writing better is hard work that can feel very messy at times. Revise your draft using the following questions to guide you:

  1. Did I introduce my topic clearly?

  2. Did I develop my topic with relevant and sufficient evidence from both texts?

  3. Did I use transitions to move between ideas?

  4. Did I use purposeful, precise language to compare the texts?

  5. Did I include an effective conclusion?

Activity 2: Write

We will edit our response to include a periodic sentence.

Step 1

A periodic sentence is a sentence in which an author waits until the last part to make the main point. The last word is often the most important word in the sentence.

Examine your conclusion. Revise your concluding or one of your concluding statements to be a periodic sentence for stylistic effect.

Step 2

Review your draft for grammar and punctuation. Make edits as needed.

Submit your final draft.

Activity 3: Write

We will apply our knowledge of plot, setting, and conflict to previously written narrative paragraphs.

Step 1

Independently, look back at the narrative paragraph you wrote with your group in Lesson 1. Ask yourself the following questions:

  • How might I make the setting more vivid for the reader?

  • How might I make the conflict more prominent for the reader?

  • How might I make the plot more engaging for the reader?

Step 2

Use what you have learned about setting, plot, and conflict in narrative text to revise your narrative paragraph.

Activity 4: Present

We will share our revised narratives.

Share your new narrative with your original group. Compare the changes that each person made.

Activity 5: Write – Discuss

We will reflect on our work on the Section Diagnostic and assess our progress toward the Culminating Task.

Step 1

Choose at least three of the questions below regarding the Section Diagnostic and respond to them in your Learning Log:

  1. How well did you take necessary action to prepare for the task?

  2. What went well for you during the completion of this task?

  3. What did you struggle with during the completion of this task? How did you push through these struggles?

  4. How well did you actively focus your attention during this independent task?

  5. How well did you develop and use an effective and efficient process to maintain workflow during this task?

  6. What would you do differently during the next Section Diagnostic?

Now find your Culminating Task Progress Tracker. Think about the knowledge you have gained and the skills you have practiced thus far in the unit. Use the Culminating Task Progress Tracker to do the following:

  1. Add or refine any skills and content knowledge required for the Culminating Task.

  2. Evaluate how well you are mastering the skills and knowledge required for the Culminating Task.

Step 2

Review the Central Question of the unit:

How does perspective shape our understanding of events?

Use the following questions to guide a discussion with a partner or small group:

  1. What new knowledge do you have in relation to the Central Question?

  2. What are you still curious about in relation to the Central Question?

  3. What is the relationship between the question and the texts you have read so far? How do the texts shed light on the question? How does the question help you understand the texts?

  4. How has your response to the question evolved, deepened, or changed?

In your Learning Log, write your response to Question 3. You will return to this response in later lessons to examine how your understanding of the Central Question has evolved.