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Lesson 2: Significance and Argument

Module by: Institute for Learning. E-mail the author

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Summary: How can teachers facilitate the rereading of the persuasive speech first read in Lesson 1? This lesson shows how rereading for significance and then explaining the moment’s significance can help students move from initial comprehension to drawing textual inferences. We suggest users go on to Lessons 3-4 to follow the progression to reading for interpretation and analysis of texts. Development supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Agenda for the Day

  • Reread for significance
  • Share significant sentences and phrases
    • Share in pairs or trios
    • Share in whole group
  • Reflect on Sojourner Truth's argument
  • Reflect on explanations of significant sentences/phrases
  • StepBack: Thinking about learning
  • Homework: Interpreting Sojourner Truth's speech

Standards Addressed in This Lesson

Table 1
LS1.1 Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence.

Instructional Materials for Lesson

Table 2
Unit text "Ain't I a Woman?" by Sojourner Truth
Student work tool Reader's/Writer's Notebooks
Amplified student work tool Amplified Reader's/Writer's Notebooks
Overhead projector with blank transparencies and markers
Chart paper and markers  
Teacher Resource (rubric) Significant Sentences in "Ain't I a Woman?"
Handout Interpreting Sojourner Truth's Speech
Amplified Handout Amplified Interpreting Sojourner Truth's Speech

Reread for Significance

Ask students to reread "Ain't I a Woman?" to individually select three sentences or phrases that appear to be most significant to Sojourner Truth's argument. Stress to students that there is not a right or wrong sentence or phrase; however, some moments will be better to select than others given what the reader can say about the moment's significance to the speaker's argument.

Rationale:

Note-taking such as this gives students a good reason to reread carefully and teaches key cognitive skills for critical reading.

Language Support:

Teachers may want to assist English learners through this second rereading by chunking the text and assigning them one particular portion to reread initially. The chunk to select might build upon prior language concepts that they have studied or be one that offers rich examples of potential significant moments, for example, paragraph two. As the English learner engages in rereading, the language in the speech will become more familiar and they can reread more chunks of the text.

Have students make a two-column note chart in their Reader's/Writer's Notebooks to record the sentences/ phrases they select. Ask them to write the sentences/ phrases in the left column of their chart, then, across from each, do a Quick Write to explain the significance of the sentence/phrase to the speaker's argument. Before students begin, model a sentence/ phrase of your own on a transparency. Consider how you will phrase your explanation so that the model assists students' performance of the task without revealing too much of the argument you want them to discover for themselves.

Pedagogical Support:

In order to give English learners more time to study the model, leave this example on the overhead during the entire activity.

Table 3
Significant sentence or phrase Explain the significance of each sentence or phrase to the speaker's argument
"If my cup won't hold but a pint and your holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half-measure full?" This sentence provides one of Truth's reasons for her argument that women should have the same rights as men. Truth is saying that even if one group isn't as smart as another (their cup only holds a pint), each group should be able to use their full potential.

Share Significant Sentences/Phrases

Share in Pairs or Trios

Ask students to take a few minutes to share their two-column note chart with a partner. As students are sharing, circulate around the room and identify two-three students whose work it would benefit the class to see. Ask those students if they would copy their two-column chart onto a transparency and share their work and thinking with the class.

Classroom Environment:

It will be important for at least one English learner to write on the transparency and share his or her work to ensure that EL students are included in the central, whole-group activities of the class. In order to make English learners feel more comfortable sharing their ideas with the whole class, be sure to ask them if they would like to do so before initiating the whole-group discussion.

Share in Whole Group

Invite students to share their sentences/phrases with the whole group before asking the students you identified in the previous activity to share their work at the overhead. Encourage students to notice the sentences/phrases that precede or follow the ones they identified as significant and consider the extent to which they support or call into question the explanation of the selected sentence/phrase.

Pedagogical & Language Support:

Calling attention to the text surrounding the selected sentence/phrase will help students see how ideas are linked or developed across sentences. This may be a particularly valuable scaffold for novice readers especially English learners.

Reflect on Sojourner Truth's Argument

Ask students:

Now that you have heard a range of sentences/phrases and explanations related to Sojourner Truth's speech, how do you understand her argument?

Reflect on Explanations of Significant Sentences/Phrases

Invite students to think back on the sentences/phrases and corresponding explanations they wrote and/or heard today. You may want to display the presenters' transparencies on the overhead to refresh students' memories. Ask students to respond to the following questions in their Reader's/Writer's Notebooks:

  • How did you decide which sentences or phrases to select and how to explain them? Which one or two of the sentences/phrases and explanations shared today (your own or someone else's) helped you the most to make sense of Sojourner Truth's argument?
  • Why? What specific characteristics of those examples made them effective?

Teacher Resource:

A rubric with corresponding examples for "Ain't I a Woman?" is provided with the Teacher Resources. Consider sharing the rubric and examples with students as you work through the Characteristics of Effective Explanations of Significant Sentences/ Phrases.

Pedagogical Support & Classroom Environment:

Students are more likely to internalize and use criteria for quality work if they generate the criteria themselves based on their collective sense-making experiences. Display the student-generated charts throughout the unit so students can refer and make connections to them.

While students are writing, label a sheet of chart paper "Characteristics of Effective Explanations of Significant Sentences/ Phrases." Then encourage students to articulate what made made the explanations that were shared effective. Chart their responses.

StepBack: Think about Learning

Invite students to step back and reflect on the tasks, texts, and talk they have engaged with today and consider the ways they have been working and thinking. Ask:

  • What are some things you noticed about the work you did today?
  • What are some things you learned and how did you learn them?
  • What supported your learning?

Rationale:

Having students notice the ways they were working with these texts and reflecting on their learning helps them to develop an awareness of their own cognitive processes, making them more likely to repeat these processes in other situations and with other texts. Because English learners are in the process of acquiring language proficiency and content knowledge, invite reflections on both.

Homework: Interpreting Truth's Speech

Distribute the handout, Interpreting Sojourner Truth's Speech. Read through the handout with students and answer any questions.

Rationale:

Having students interpret and then deliver an already constructed speech allows them to get practice speaking in front of their peers in a safer and more comfortable way.

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