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
| LS1.1 | Formulate judgments about the ideas under discussion and support those judgments with convincing evidence. |
| 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 |
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.
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.
| 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. |
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.
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.
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?
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:
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.
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:
Distribute the handout, Interpreting Sojourner Truth's Speech. Read through the handout with students and answer any questions.