Skip to Main Content

Lesson 1

We will analyze how artists use literary elements as narrative techniques to develop theme.

Lesson Goals

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

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

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Book of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henríquez, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2015

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss – Write

We will reread a selected excerpt from one of the texts we have read to analyze the author’s use of language.

Step 1

Follow your teacher’s direction regarding grouping, materials, and which mentor sentences you will analyze. Use the Working with Mentor Sentences Tool to work through the following steps for each mentor sentence:

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 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 craft a new sentence, revise one of your sentences in your Learning Log, or draft a sentence you plan to use on the Section Diagnostic, mimicking what the author does in terms of their structure, style, grammar, or punctuation.

Activity 2: Read – Write

We will read pages 218–238 of The Book of Unknown Americans, write down new entries in our literary elements and narrative techniques Note-Taking Tools, and interact with new vocabulary.

Read and annotate pages 218-238 of The Book of Unknown Americans.

Write down four entries in your Literary Elements and Narrative Techniques Note-Taking Tool. When logging them, think of recurring ideas or themes that are emerging.

Write down new or interesting words in your Vocabulary Journal. Complete a Vocabulary in Context Tool for one of the words.