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Crossing Boundaries: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives

Grade 7 English Language Arts

Learning Module

Abstract

Students learn about ordinary people who meet challenges and overcome adversity to lead extraordinary lives, often crossing boundaries of race, borders, culture and education. They read and view a range of multimodal texts and learn about the structure and language features of informative/explanatory texts before writing a biography about someone who has "crossed a boundary".

Keywords

Informative, Explanatory, Writing, Research, Structure, Language Features.

1. Overview

For the Student

In this Scholar writing project, you are going to create an informative/explanatory text about an ordinary person who crosses a boundary, achieving something extraordinary in their lives.

Through online discussion and research, you will learn what crossing a boundary means, and what makes an ordinary person extraordinary. You will also learn about the structure and language features of informative text. You will then draft an informative text, give feedback to your peers, revise your own work based on that feedback, and publish.

Focus Questions

In this learning module, we will focus on the following questions:

What is crossing a boundary?

What are the qualities of ordinary people who lead extraordinary lives?

How do I draw inferences from a text?

How do I write an informative text about an ordinary person who has led an extraordinary life by crossing a boundary?

Let's get started

Comment: Drawing on your background knowledge, post the name of someone who you think is/was an ordinary person who has led an extraordinary life. It could be a famous person such as Civil Rights activist, Rosa Parks, or Michael Phelps, an Olympian swimmer, or  Fritz Scholder who was an American Indian artist. Or it could just be an ordinary person, even someone you know personally. Read through the list of names posted by your peers.

Fig. 1: The American Indian by Fritz Scholder

For the Teacher

Through an online writing project, students develop their reading skills, and build their knowledge of people who cross boundaries and the qualities of ordinary people who lead extraordinary lives. They learn about the structure and language features of informative texts, and then through the writing process, they draft, provide peer feedback, revise, and submit their own work for publication.

Main TEKS Focus (these are addressed throughout the learning module)

7.7: Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Literary Nonfiction (and media texts). Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the varied structural patterns and features of literary nonfiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. 

7.17: Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts. Students write expository and procedural or work-related texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes.

7.28: Listening and Speaking/Teamwork. Students work productively with others in teams. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to participate productively in discussions (online and face-to-face).

2. Ordinary and Extraordinary

For the Student

Learning Intention: To understand what is ordinary and what is extraordinary.

Here are some examples:

My Sister

My sister is an ordinary person. She never liked school and dropped out when she was 15. Now she is 20 and after going back to night school, she is training to be a nurse. That is a job where you help people every day. She is extraordinary!

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks grew up on a farm in Alabama. She was small as a child and had a lot of illness. Later, she became a civil rights activist by refusing to give up her seat in the "white" section of a bus.

 Fritz Scholder

Fritz Scholder was an ordinary child  who liked to draw. He is one quarter Indian and when he was growing up his family moved around a lot. He became a famous artist who tried to make people look at the Indian people in a different way, including images of Indians with flags, blue hair, beer cans and cats. His work is extraordinary and has been exhibited all over the world.

Comment: Now write 2-3 sentences where you explain what makes your person ordinary and what makes your person extraordinary. Read through other students' comments and comment on one, explaining why you think that person is interesting. Start with @Name so the person knows you ar ecommenting on them.

Fig. 2: Rosa Parks who protested against segregation on the buses of Alabama

 

For the Teacher

This activity builds on the first activity by:

  • Engaging students in the topic further through elaborating on their ideas in a paragraph, explaining the concepts of ordinary and extraordinary.
  • Developing their confidence to post to the Scholar learning community, interact with others, and express their thoughts in full sentences in blog-like interactions.
  • Establish working online in a learning community, building collaborative intelligence, as central to the learning in this module.

Teaching Tips

Where appropriate, encourage students to look online to find out more information on the person they listed in Update 1. 

TEKS

7.28: Listening and Speaking/Teamwork. Students work productively with others in teams. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to participate productively in discussions (online and face-to-face).

3. Becoming Extraordinary

For the Student

Learning Intention: To think, discuss and write about ordinary people who achieve something extraordinary.

Think about what could make an ordinary person extraordinary? Think about all the people who started off as normal people like you and made a difference in people’s lives or overcame a challenge or achieved something when the odds were against them. It could be a famous person in history, science, education, medicine, politics, etc. It could also be a friend, parent, grandparent, teacher, coach, leader, etc.

Media embedded March 12, 2016

Watch  Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things YouTube clip.

Then, watch the videos about CNN Heroes and read about (and perhaps vote for) the next CNN Hero.

Here are some other links for you to exlore:

CNN 2014 Archive 

CNN 2013 Archive 

CNN 2007-2012 Archive 

Comment: Write a comment about which CNN Hero you would vote for and explain why. Comment on 1-3 comments by other students, building on their ideas by suggesting other things about the person that you observed in the clips, or asking questions for them to respond to.

For the Teacher

The activity aims to:

  • Engage students in the topic by valuing their interest in different kinds of people.
  • Develop their confidence to post to the Scholar learning community, interact with others, and express their thoughts in full sentences in blog-like interactions.
  • Establish working collaboratively, using their collective intelligence in an online learning community.

While students work collaboratively and independently on completing this Community Update, the teacher can support students who require extra help to think about the topic and compose their responses. Encourage students to read other students' posts so they don't repeat comments.

Posting comments is a form of accountability, promotes reflection, and develops students’ writing skills and confidence to work in Scholar.

Updates of the CNN Heroes videoclips are available each year, expanding the resource and giving studnets a wide range of subjects they can view and select from. Post a link and comment gives them the opportunity to be active knowledge makers in the discussion.

TEKS

7.17C:  Write responses to literary or expository texts that demonstrate the writing skills for multi-paragraph essays and provide sustained evidence from the text using quotations when appropriate.

7.28: Listening and Speaking/Teamwork. Students work productively with others in teams. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to participate productively in discussions (online and face-to-face).

4. Extraordinary Qualities

For the Student

Learning Intention: To read, view and share stories, and infer the qualities that make a person extraordinary.

Watch the TED Talk, A life lesson from a volunteer fire fighter

Working out what the TED Talk is about is important at both the literal level and inferential level. The literal level is what the speaker directly states. The inferential level is using evidence from the talk to work out its deeper meaning, and what is not stated directly by the speaker.

Work in a pair. Look through the literal (what the text says)  and inferential meanings (what I infer)  in the table about Mark Bezos' TED talk. Then decide on what quality Mark Bezos has that makes him an extraordinary person.

What the text says (evidence) What I infer
I am a volunteer firefighter. Mark believes it is important to help others.
Mark went inside a burning house to get a pair of shoes for the bare-footed home owner. Mark knows that in an emergency like a fire, you have to follow your leader's direction even if it doesn't seem an important thing to do.
The home owner mentioned the shoes in a letter of appreciation to the fire department.

Mark finds out that even the smallest things you do for people are important and are appreciated by them.

Mark realizes that heroic acts can be small acts that make a difference to another person.

   

 

Choose one of the TED talks below or find one yourself. Complete the inferring chart on the talk you have chosen. When you have completed it, save the file on your computer. Then, go to the pull down menu for your class community and select Submissions. Submit your completed inferring chart.

Inferring Chart

My invention that made peace with lions Richard Turere

How I built a windmill William Kamkwamba

Mother and daughter doctor-heroes Hawa Abdi and Deqo Mohamed

Mallika Sarabhai: Dance to change the world Mallika Sarabhai

A promising test for pancreatic cancer ... from a teenager Jack Andraka:

Comment: Find you own TED talk or CNN hero or another example of an ordinary person who has led an extraordinary life. Post a link to Community. Write a few sentences in which you describe the qualities of the person that makes them extraordinary. Comment on the posts of other students by adding more information or asking questions.

Fig. 3: Mark Bezos: TED Talk

For the Teacher

Use the TED talks to further develop students’ understanding of the concept of what makes a person extraordinary and how to practice the reading strategy of inferring. Encourage students to read/view and respond to the texts through comments in Community. If students are unable to find their own TED talks, they can refer to one in the list provided.

As students research a topic, they have the opportunity to develop their reading and research skills, focusing on reading strategies such as inferring. Inferring is difficult for many students as it may require knowledge not presented in the text.

It is important that students read and respond to the whole text so that they understand the text at the literal level. Provide an example of evidence and an inference from the text as a model for students as they complete the table.

Students may refer to their completed charts when they write their own texts. However, for accountability, students may also be required to submit them to the teacher through "Submissions" in Community.

TEKS

7.13: Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts. Students are expected to:

(A)  interpret both explicit and implicit messages in various forms of media;

(B)  interpret how visual and sound techniques (e.g., special effects, camera angles, lighting, music) influence the message;

(C)  evaluate various ways media influences and informs audiences; and

(D)  assess the correct level of formality and tone for successful participation in various digital media.

5. Crossing Boundaries

For the Student

Learning Intention: To understand "crossing boundaries".

Look at the range of people who are nominated as CNN heroes over the years. With a partner, discuss:

  • Are they all men or all women?
  • Are they all the same age?
  • Do they all come from the same country?
  • Are they all the same race or ethnicity?
  • Do they have all share the same culture?
  • Are there any who had to overcome an adversity or challenge themselves as well as achieving significant things for others?

Watch the TED talk, My invention that made peace with lions by Richard Turere. 

Let's look at some of the boundaries that Richard crossed.

Before Now Boundary
Richard is poor He has now flown in a plane and has a scholarship to a school Poverty
Richard is uneducated The lion lights solved the problem of attacks by lions on cow herds and it saved the lives of the cows and the lions Education
Richard is just a boy He addressed a community problem that is now used in many African countries Age

Comment: Use one example from your discussion to explain a boundary that a person crossed. Are there other boundaries that you can think of besides poverty, education and age? Read through other comments and comment on one that you like. Add some information and/or ask a question.

Fig. 5: Saving the lions was as important as saving the cattle for Richard Turere

 

For the Teacher

This Update focuses on developing conceptual understanding of "crossing boundaries", using the videoclips they have watched in earlier updates.

The discussion focus should enable students to see the diverse ways that people cross boundaries, including:

  • education
  • poverty
  • age
  • gender
  • race/ethnicity
  • culture

TEKS

7.17C:  Write responses to literary or expository texts that demonstrate the writing skills for multi-paragraph essays and provide sustained evidence from the text using quotations when appropriate.

7.28: Listening and Speaking/Teamwork. Students work productively with others in teams. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater complexity. Students are expected to participate productively in discussions (online and face-to-face).

6. Book Prediction

For the Student

Learning Intention: To increase by understanding of "Bordfer Crossing" by making a book prediction.

Look at the front cover of the novel, "Border Crossing" by Maria Colleeen Cruz. 

Think about what you see. What does the word "Caution" suggest to you? Who could the people be? Where are they running from? Why? How do you know? Where are they running to? Why? What do you think will happen to them? 

Comment: After thinking about these questions, write a comment, predicting what you think the novel, "Border Crossing", will be about.

Read other students' predictions. Choose one or two and comment on them, explaining why you agree or disagree with the predictions. Remember to give reasons for your point of view.

Fig. 6: What do you predict will happen in the novel?

 

For the Teacher

In this Update, a book prediction based on the front cover is used to engage students in reading the novel, "Border Crossing " by Maria Collen Cruz. 

Once students start reading the novel, they can revisit their predictions and comment on how they would change them, based on where they are up to at that stage of their reading. 

TEKS

7.13: Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students will continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts. 

7. Border Crossing: Patterned Partner Reading

For the Student

Learning Intention: To read and understand the story and themes of "Border Crossing" by Maria Colleen Cruz.

Using a Patterned Partner Reading strategy, read "Border Crossing" by Maria Colleen Cruz. 

In Patterned Partner Reading, you read individually, but you stop at different parts of the novel, called "Stopping Points", to discuss what you have read with your partner. At each "Stopping Point", you have to use one of the "Patterns" below.

You must cover each of the 9 "Patterns". After No 1, you can choose from any "Pattern" or follow the order provided below.  The 10th "Pattern" is your choice from "Patterns" 1-9.

1. Read-Pause-Predict: Cover, Summary and Chapters 1-2.

Look at the front cover. Then read the summary of the novel:

Twelve-year old Cesi knows all about her mother's Cherokee and Irish family but little about her father's Mexican heritage, and when she finds no answers at home in California, she sets out alone for Tijuana.

Predict what you think will happen to Cesi on her journey. Also predict what she will find out about her family background. Discuss your predictions with your partner. Listen to their predictions. Do you think they will happen? Why/why not?

Now  read a chapter silently. After reading each chapter (Chapters 1-2), pause to confirm or revise predictions, and make new predictions about the next chapter.

Next, create your own Update by going to our class Community. In the Pulldown menu above the name of our class Community, select "Updates" and follow the Update wizard to create an Update. Each member of the class creates their own Update which will be like a blog where you share the main ideas you discussed with your partner at each "Stopping Point".

"Add a Comment" for each "Stopping Point". You must also read other people's Updates and add comments too.

Comment: After creating your own Update, write down some of the predictions you discussed with your partner, based on the front cover, the summary, and as you read Chapters 1-3. Read what other students' predicted. Comment on 1-2 predictions, explaining why you think they are good or bad predictions. Start with @Name so they know you are commenting on their comment.

2: Read-Pause-Discuss: Chapters 3-5

Pause after reading each chapter and ask each other a question about the chapter you have just read. The other partner responds. In total there should be at least 6 questions - 3 each that you ask and respond to. Think about questions about the point of view of the novel (who is telling the story), the motivations of the main character, and the setting of the story. Remember that open-ended questions that start with "why" generally generate better discussion than closed questions that have short right/wrong answers.

Comment: Describe the discussion that followed one of you questions. What made this an effective question? What did you learn about the characters in the novel? Read other students' comments and comment on 1-2, explaining why you found their comment interesting.

3. Read-Pause-Make Connections: Chapters 6-8

Pause after reading each chapter and share connections that are Text-Self (similar things that have to you), Text-Text (similar books or movies), or Text-World (similar things that have happened in the world). Use "Connections Stems" such as:

  • This reminds me of.....
  • I remember an experience I had like that.
  • I remember another book I read about this.
  • In other parts of the world.......

Comment: Describe 1-2 connections that you made. Why is it important to make connections as you read? Read other students' comments and comment on 1-2, explaining why you found their comment interesting.

4. Read-Pause-Sketch: Chapters 9-11

Pause after reading the three chapters and discuss what happened. Also think about any big ideas that the author is presenting. Then sketch some of the ideas. Discuss your sketches and what they mean. Take a photograph of your sketch. 

Comment: Upload your sketch to your "Update". Then describe the ideas you present. Look at other students' sketches and comment on 1-2, explaining why you found their sketch interesting.

5. Read-Pause-Bookmark: Chapters 12-14

Pause after reading each chapter and discuss any interesting information such as something that confused you, an interesting vocabulary - a word or a well written sentence, or interesting facts that you learned.

Comment: Describe the discussion that followed your bookmarking. Read other students' comments and comment on 1-2, explaining why you found their comment interesting.

6. Read-Pause-Retell/Paraphrase: Chapters 15-18

Pause after reading the first two chapters and one partner retells what has happened. Then read the next two chapters and the other partner retells what has happened. It is important to use your own words as you retell the chapter. Retelling involves paraphrasing which is a restatement of the meaning of a text or passage using other words. 

Comment: After paraphrasing these chapters, what more did you learn about the characters in the novel? Read other students' comments and comment on 1-2, explaining why you found their comment interesting.

7. Read-Pause-Summarize: Chapters 19-22

Pause after reading the first two chapters and one partner summarizes what has happened. Then read the next two chapters and the other partner summarizes what has happened. Summarizing is different to paraphrasing - you ​express the most ​important ​facts or ​ideas about the chapter in a ​short and ​clear ​form.

Comment: After summarizing these chapters, what more did you learn about the setting, the character or the themes/big ideas in the novel? Read other students' comments and comment on 1-2, explaining why you found their comment interesting.

8. Read-Pause-Ask Questions: Chapters 23-25

Pause after reading each chapter and ask each other a question about the chapter you just read. The other partner responds. In total there should be at least 6 questions - 3 each that you ask and respond to. 

Comment: Describe the discussion that followed one of you questions. What made this an effective question? What did you learn in these chapters? Read other students' comments and comment on 1-2, explaining why you found their comment interesting.

9. Read-Pause-Infer: Chapters 26-29

Pause after reading each chapter and make any inferences about the story, the characters, or the themes/big ideas. When you infer, you are thinking about the deeper meaning of the text and what is not directly stated by the author.

Comment: Describe the discussion that followed one of your inferences about the story, characters or the themes/big ideas of the novel? Read other students' comments and comment on 1-2, explaining why you found their comment interesting.

10. Read-Pause-Your Choice: Chapters 30-33

Look over the Patterns in 1-9. With your partner, decide which one you will use to discuss the final 4 chapters.

Comment: Describe the discussion that followed your "Pattern". Was the ending a good ending? Why/why not? Read other students' comments and comment on 1-2, explaining why you agree or disagree with them. 

Fig. 7: Mexican children were regularly hit on the knuckes if they spoke English

 

 

For the Teacher

This Update focuses on reading the text, "Border Crossing", by Maria Colleen Cruz.

The "Patterned Partner Reading" strategy was developed by Maureen McLaughlin and Glenn L. De Voogd. See McLaughlin, M. & De Voggd, G.L. (2004). Critical Literacy: Enhancing Students' Comprehension of Text. New York: Scholastic. It is still available, including as a Kindle version.

The "Stopping Points" are suggested here to guide students' reading and discussion. For differentiation, students could decide on their own "Stopping Points" and which strategy to use. However, if this is the students' first experience of the strategy, it is best to follow the suggested sequence. The "Patterns" represent the reading strategies of:

  • Predicting
  • Questioning (2)
  • Connecting
  • Visualizing
  • Paraphrasing
  • Summarizing
  • Inferring

The Bookmarking Pattern focuses on vocabulary, visualizing, and responding.

Discussion with a partner, enables students to think through their responses to their reading before commenting. The "Comments" ensure accountability and are similar to a journal. However, the audience is the whole class, not just the teacher. The Comments are also a form of a "Thinkaloud", enabling students to synthesize the main points of their discussion.

A handout of the Update is provided as a supplementary resource, so students can refer to it online or as a hard copy. 

Border Crossing Patterned Partner Reading

TEKS

7.6: Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction.

Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:

(A)  explain the influence of the setting on plot development;

(B)  analyze the development of the plot through the internal and external responses of the characters, including their motivations and conflicts; and

(C)  analyze different forms of point of view, including first-person, third-person omniscient, and third-person limited.

8.The Boundaries that Cesi's Father Crossed

For the Student

Learning Intention: To understand the symbolic meaning of "crossing a boundary"

Read chapter 27 again. As you read the chapter, work with a partner to complete the table by finding other examples of Mexican culture and racism. You can draw up the table in your books.

  Description Evidence from the novel
Mexican Culture The ofrenda or little altar to remember family members who had died. "But just like Nana's altar, there were candles, and photographs, and little objects next to the picture."
Mexican Culture    
Mexican Culture    
Racism Children were not allowed to speak Spanish at school. "You mean they hit you if you said a word in Spanish."
Racism    
Racism    
Racism    

Look at the image below of Dr Susan LaFlesche Picotte (1865 – 1915). She was an Omaha Indian doctor and reformer in the late nineteenth century. She was extraordinary as she crossed the boundaries of gender and race by becoming the first female Native American physician. Not many Native American Indians became doctors and those who did were mostly men. She campaigned for public health and for the formal, legal allotment of land to members of the Omaha tribe.

Now think about the actions of Cesi's father when he is accused of stealing the colored pencils. With your partner discuss:

1. Why did Cesi's father take the humiliating punishment, even though he was innocent?

2. Choose three of the following boundaries that you think Cesi's father crossed through his actions. Discuss them with your partner. Did you agree? Which do you think was the most important boundary he crossed.

  • Generational (Child to adult ) - by bravely enduring the humiliating punishment.
  • Race - disproving untrue racial beliefs such as Mexicans "would always be lying, dirty and lazy".
  • Gender - showing boys can be brave.
  • Poverty - people from poor backgrounds are intelligent and can succeed at school.
  • Ethnicity - people from different ethnic backgrounds can overcome challenges such as learning a new language.

Comment: Do you think that Cesi's father was extraordinary? Give reasons for your point of view, using evidence from the novel. Read other students' comments and then comment on 1-2, explaining why you agree or disagree with them. Start with @Name so they know you are commenting on their comment.

 

Fig. 8: Dr Susan LaFlesche Picotte

 

For the Teacher

This Update connects the metaphor of "crossing boundaries" with the novel.

The inital activity of completing the table is designed to make students re-read the chapter carefully and to draw their attention to the examples of racism in it. It is not a formal task. 

The gender boundary is included as a discussion point even though it is not relevant here. Students should be able to eliminate it and look at the others more closely. 

Work with students who will need further support to understand the concept of "crossing boundaries" before recording their comments. This understanding will enrich their work in the writing project where they write an information report on someone who has crossed a boundary.

TEKS

7.6: Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Fiction.

Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:

(A)  explain the influence of the setting on plot development;

(B)  analyze the development of the plot through the internal and external responses of the characters, including their motivations and conflicts; and

(C)  analyze different forms of point of view, including first-person, third-person omniscient, and third-person limited.

9. Survey: Comprehension of Harriet Tubman Biography

For the Student

Learning Intention: To show your understanding of a text about an ordinary person who led an extraordinary life.

Read about Harriet Tubman. Then complete the following survey. Check any vocabulary that you are unsure about in an online dictionary.

After completing the survey, respond to the comment below

Comment: What boundaries did Hrriet Tubman cross to achieve what she did. Read other students' comments and try to build on their ideas so that you really extend your thinking.

Fig. 6: Harriet Tubman

For the Teacher

This survey will provide baseline data on students’ reading comprehension. It also introduces a model of an informative text and vocabulary to describe the extraordinary qualities of ordinary people. Students could consult a dictionary as they complete the survey as a way of extending rather than just testing vocabulary knowledge.

Survey Results: Go to the Survey Tool in Publisher. Then go to Find a Survey => Already Distributed Surveys => Results.

"Crossing Boundaries" is the focus of the comment. As a woman and as an African-American person, Tubman crossed gender and race boundaries.

To provide extra support to students, post the following Overt Instruction Update from the Writer’s Toolkit: Strategies for Writing Informative /Explanatory Texts in the New Media to Community if they need to focus on this aspect of writing at this time. Alternatively, individualized or small group support may be provided through structured mini-lessons.

  • Vocabulary and Spelling

TEKS

 7.2: Reading/Vocabulary Development. Students understand new vocabulary and use it when reading and writing. Students are expected to:

(B)  use context (within a sentence and in larger sections of text) to determine or clarify the meaning of unfamiliar or ambiguous words;

(E)  use a dictionary, a glossary, or a thesaurus (printed or electronic) to determine the meanings, syllabication, pronunciations, alternate word choices, and parts of speech of words.

7.7: Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Literary Nonfiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the varied structural patterns and features of literary nonfiction and provide evidence fro text to support their understanding. 

10. Researching and Inferring

For the Student

Learning Intention: To read, research and infer the qualities that make a person extraordinary.

Look back at the Harriet Tubman text. Many of Harriet’s extraordinary qualities can be inferred from what the text says. Inferring is a reading strategy in which you use evidence from the text to work out its deeper meaning, and what is not stated directly by the author/illustrator. With a partner, discuss other qualities you can infer about Harriet Tubman that made her an extraordinary person. Complete the chart about your focus person, using evidence from the text to justify your ideas.

Inferring Chart
What the text says (evidence) What I infer from the evidence
“Seeing her brothers safely home, she soon sets off alone for Pennsylvania.” Tubman is independent, brave, a leader and caring
   
   

Research the person who is the focus of your informative/explanatory text. You could interview the person or interview people who know the person. Conduct a web search. Look for books in the library. First, scan each text. Scanning involves reading over the text quickly and identifying key words to make sure it is relevant. Then read/view it closely or listen to it, and identify and infer the person’s qualities that have made their life extraordinary. Next, summarize the main points. Summarizing is a reading strategy in which you identify the main ideas or say what is important in a text in your own words. Record your notes in Creator in the appropriate element of your informative/explanatory text.

Comment: Share your progress on your research by writing a comment on one of the extraordinary qualities of your focus person, and the evidence that you used to infer this quality. Comment on other students’ posts, noting similarities and differences.

Fig. 7: Harriet Tubman with family and rescued slaves

For the Teacher

As students research their focus person, they continue to practice and develop their reading and research skills, focusing on inferring and summarizing. Some students may need to revise summarizing. To provide extra support to students, post the following Overt Instruction Update from the Writer’s Toolkit: Reading Strategies for Writing in the New Media to Community if you believe they need to focus on this aspect of writing at this time. Alternatively, individualized or small group support may be provided through structured mini-lessons.

  • Reading and Summarizing

The Comment in Community is an example of collaborative knowledge building as students will generate suggestions and vocabulary to describe extraordinary qualities that other students might find useful.

TEKS

7.10: Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Expository Text. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about expository text and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.

7.25: Research/Organizing and Presenting Ideas. Students organize and present their ideas and information according to the purpose of the research and their audience. Students are expected to synthesize the research into a written or an oral presentation that:

(A)  draws conclusions and summarizes or paraphrases the findings in a systematic way;

(B)  marshals evidence to explain the topic and gives relevant reasons for conclusions.

11. Survey: Structure and Language Features of Harriet Tubman Biography

For the Student

Learning Intention: To demonstrate your knowledge of the structure and language features of an informative/explanatory text.

Complete the survey: Structure and Language Features of Harriet Tubman Biography

Refer to the Harriet Tubman Biography again as you complete the survey.

Fig. 12: A woodcut of Tubman in her Civil War clothing.

For the Teacher

Survey Tip: This survey will provide baseline data on students’ knowledge of the structural and language features of an informative /explanatory text. It will also provide definitions of terms which students can refer to as they complete the activities that follow.

Survey Results: Go to the Survey Tool in Publisher. Then go to Find a Survey => Already Distributed Surveys => Results.

Based on the Survey results, post the following Overt Instruction Updates from the Writer’s Toolkit: Strategies for Writing Informative/Explanatory Texts to Community if you believe students need to focus on this aspect of writing at this time. Alternatively, individualized or small group support may be provided through structured mini-lessons.

  • Transition Words
  • Structure of Informative/Explanatory Texts

Alternatively, individualized or small group support may be provided through structured mini-lessons.

TEKS

7.7: Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Literary Nonfiction.

Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the varied structural patterns and features of literary nonfiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. 

12. What Makes an Effective Informative/Explanatory Text?

For the Student

Learning Intention: To analyze the Harriet Tubman Biography in order to find out if it is an effective informative/explanatory text.

Look back at the Harriet Tubman Biography. Also look at the survey you just completed on structure and language features, and refer to the Rubric for this Scholar project – Go to Feedback => Reviews. These are all useful to help you learn more about how to write an effective informative/ explanatory text. Then complete the table, identifying its structure.

Analyzing Informative/Explanatory Text Structure Chart

Transition words help you to create cohesion in your writing. Cohesion means that the text is unified, has a logical sequence and there are links between and within paragraphs. Try inserting some of the examples of transition words in the online biography of Harriet Tubman. With a peer, read the paragraphs again with your insertions, and discuss if they are effective. Are they subtle or obvious transitions? Try adding some subtle transitions to your own writing to create cohesion.

Transition Words

Comment: Do you think that the author of the online biography of Harriet Tubman has written an effective informative/explanatory text? Why or why not? Post one idea you have and comment on the posts of other students, stating whether you agree or disagree with them and why.

For the Teacher

In this activity, students reflect on what they have learned about definitions of grammatical features from the surveys about Harriet Tubman. They also refer to the Rubric and an information sheet on transition words in order to learn about choices they can make when they write their text in Creator.

Information about Transition Words, is posted in the Community Update so students can refer to it as they annotate the online text of Harriet Tubman’s biography. This activity supports students to revise transition words in order to create cohesion in texts. Students can insert transition words in the Tubman text, writing in their suggestions, or with a partner, rereading paragraphs with their suggested transition words.

The structure of an informative/explanatory text helps to achieve its purpose by:

  • Clearly stating an idea through the topic sentence.
  • Including elaboration supported by evidence in the form of relevant facts, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples.
  • Ensuring the writer does not go off on tangents which are not relevant to the topic.

To provide extra support to students, post the following Overt Instruction Updates from the Writer’s Toolkit to Community if they need to focus on this aspect of writing at this time. Alternatively, individualized or small group support may be provided through structured mini-lessons.

  • Paragraphs in Informative/Explanatory Texts
  • Writing Different Kinds of Informative/Explanatory Text Sentences

TEKS

7.7: Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Literary Nonfiction. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the varied structural patterns and features of literary nonfiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. 

13. Project Information and Draft

For the Student

Learning Intention: To start my writing project and to use the Rubric to identify what is important to include.

Project Name: Crossing Boundaries

Description: Write an informative/ explanatory text on an ordinary person who has lived an extraordinary life because he/she has crossed a boundary/boundaries. Describe how their lives were ordinary and the challenges they faced in crossing a boundary/boundaries.

Check the Work Request in your Notifications. Click on this link to open the “Untitled Work” in Creator. Then, change the title, and begin a first draft. Go to About This Work => Project => Description for further project information.

For what you need to do in order to write a good informative/explanatory text, go to Feedback => Reviews => Rubric. Keep the Rubric open and refer to it as you write.

When you are ready to submit, click “Submit Draft” below the work. This is the version of your work that will be sent to others for review.

Comment: Do you have any questions about how Scholar works? Make a comment in this update. If you think you have an answer to another student's question, please answer it - be sure to name the student you are replying to in your comment by starting with @Name.

Fig. 10: Abraham Lincoln in 1863

For the Teacher

Assigning the project to the students at this stage is important to set clear expectations, and also so students understand how the activities that follow will support them.

Students may begin their writing task on the person in their Community Update, and after researching further, continue to develop it for their final informative/explanatory text. Alternatively, they may select someone else as the focus for their project. Encourage each student to choose a different person. That way, they will be reading something interesting and new when they do their peer reviews, then finally read published works.

As students will be sharing the focus of their research in Community, they will not be completely anonymous in the review process. However, in setting up the project, reviewers can still be anonymous.

As students begin to draft their work, encourage them to use the Structure tool to organize some of the key ideas they have gathered from the reading and inferring activities. The Structure tool supports students to develop an initial structure for their text, including notes based on their background knowledge. As they continue to research their focus person and collaboratively come up with the qualities that make an ordinary person extraordinary through the following activities, they add more notes, refine the elements of their text, and draft new versions, transforming their notes into well written text.

Students should also refer to the rubric as a guide as they write in Creator. If necessary, look through the rubric with students.

For first time users of Scholar, the following Overt Instruction Updates from the Writer's Toolkit: Strategies for Writing in the New Media may be useful to add to Community:

  • How to Write in Scholar
  • Using the Rubric and Checker
  • Planning Using the Structure Tool

Project Rubric

Refer to the Analytics to monitor how students are progressing with writing and their reviews.

TEKS

7.14: Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) to compose text. Students are expected to:

(A)  plan a first draft by selecting a genre appropriate for conveying the intended meaning to an audience, determining appropriate topics through a range of strategies (e.g., discussion, background reading, personal interests, interviews), and developing a thesis or controlling idea;

(B)  develop drafts by choosing an appropriate organizational strategy (e.g., sequence of events, cause-effect, compare-contrast) and building on ideas to create a focused, organized, and coherent piece of writing;

(C)  revise drafts to ensure precise word choice and vivid images; consistent point of view; use of simple, compound, and complex sentences; internal and external coherence; and the use of effective transitions after rethinking how well questions of purpose, audience, and genre have been addressed;

(D)  edit drafts for grammar, mechanics, and spelling; and

(E)  revise final draft in response to feedback from peers and teacher and publish written work for appropriate audiences.

7.17: Writing/Expository and Procedural Texts. Students write expository and procedural or work-related texts to communicate ideas and information to specific audiences for specific purposes. Students are expected to:

(A)  write a multi-paragraph essay to convey information about a topic that:

(i)  presents effective introductions and concluding paragraphs;

(ii)  contains a clearly stated purpose or controlling idea;

(iii)  is logically organized with appropriate facts and details and includes no extraneous information or inconsistencies;

(iv)  accurately synthesizes ideas from several sources; and

(v)  uses a variety of sentence structures, rhetorical devices, and transitions to link paragraphs;

(D)  produce a multimedia presentation involving text and graphics using available technology.

14. Acknowledgements

Title: (Source);Fig.1: The American Indian Fritz Scholder - [1], CC BY-SA 2.0 (Source); Fig. 2: Rosa Parks by http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/083_afr.html#ParksR (Source); Fig. 3: Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things (Source); Fig. 4: Mark Bezos (Source); Fig. 5: Lion by HamishPaget-Brown - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Source);  Fig. 6: Crossing Boundaries (Source); Fig. 7: Photograph by Clare Henry. Fig. 8:  Susan La Flesche Picotte (Source); Fig 9: Harriet Tubman (Source): Fig 10: Harriet Tubman (Source);   Fig. 11: Abraham Lincoln (Source);  Fig. 12: Harriet Tubman (Source).; Fig. 13: (Source).