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Grade 6: Unit 7 – Anne Frank – The Diary of a Young Girl: Mastery Text Seminars

Seminar 9: Mastery Texts

What Does Success Look Like?

Scholars articulate a bull’s-eye main idea, dissect each author’s argument, and explain how each author goes about making his or her argument.

Seminar 9: “The Bed of Procrustes,” adapted from “Procrustes and His Bed” by Charles Kingsley (Fiction), and “A Surprise From the Supervolcano Under Yellowstone” by Shannon Hall, from The New York Times (Nonfiction)

Do Now — 10 minutes

  • Play classical or jazz music to establish a calm work environment.
  • Scholars revise their Exit Tickets from the previous seminar based on the feedback you gave them.

Launch — 2 minutes

  • Explain to scholars that today they will have the opportunity to independently apply their close reading and analytical skills to two texts they have never seen.

Read and Discuss 1 — 20 minutes

Read:

    • Scholars independently read and annotate the first text on their Chromebooks. They jot a main idea in a comment next to the title of the text.
    • While scholars are working, circulate to determine the major trend in scholars’ work and conference with two or three scholars.

Discuss:

    • Engage scholars in a discussion about the main idea. Make sure that scholars can explain why the author wrote the text.
    • If scholars are not able to articulate the central idea of this text by the end of the discussion, do not move on to the questions. Spend time dissecting the text with scholars to lead them to the big idea.

Give scholars 2 minutes to revise their main idea jots based on the discussion.

Respond — 12 minutes

Write an essay of no more than 200 words:

    • How does the setting contribute to the mood of the story? Justify your argument with at least two concrete pieces of evidence from the text.

Wrap-up — 8 minutes

  • Debrief the essay question with scholars. Demand focus and active learning. Set your expectations for what scholars must do differently when approaching the next text.

Read and Discuss 2 — 20 minutes

Read:

    • Scholars independently read and annotate the second text on their Chromebooks. They jot a main idea in a comment next to the title of the text.
    • While scholars are working, circulate to determine the major trend in scholars’ work and conference with two or three scholars.

Discuss:

    • Engage scholars in a discussion about the main idea. Make sure that scholars can explain why the author wrote the text.
    • If scholars are not able to articulate the central idea of this text by the end of the discussion, do not move on to the questions. Spend time dissecting the text with scholars to lead them to the big idea.

Give scholars 2 minutes to revise their main idea jots based on the discussion.

Exit Ticket — 12 minutes

Write an essay of no more than 200 words:

    • What is the author’s central argument? Justify your argument with at least two
      concrete pieces of evidence from the text.

Wrap-up — 6 minutes

  • Debrief the essay question with scholars. Demand focus and active learning.

Homework

  • Based on the Wrap-up, revise the essay questions.

Seminar 10: Mastery Texts

What Does Success Look Like?

Scholars articulate a bull’s-eye main idea, dissect each author’s argument, and explain how each author goes about making his or her argument.

Seminar 10: “Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien” by Carl Zimmer, from The New York Times (Nonfiction), and “The Secret Heart” by Robert Peter Tristram Coffin (Poem)

Do Now — 10 minutes

  • Play classical or jazz music to establish a calm work environment.
  • Scholars revise their Exit Tickets from the previous seminar based on the feedback you gave them.

Launch — 2 minutes

  • Explain to scholars that today they will have the opportunity to independently apply their close reading and analytical skills to two texts they have never seen.

Read and Discuss 1 — 20 minutes

Read:

    • Scholars independently read and annotate the first text on their Chromebooks. They jot a main idea in a comment next to the title of the text.
    • While scholars are working, circulate to determine the major trend in scholars’ work and conference with two or three scholars.

Discuss:

    • Engage scholars in a discussion about the main idea. Make sure that scholars can explain why the author wrote the text.
    • If scholars are not able to articulate the central idea of this text by the end of the discussion, do not move on to the questions. Spend time dissecting the text with scholars to lead them to the big idea.

Give scholars 2 minutes to revise their main idea jots based on the discussion.

Respond — 12 minutes

Write an essay of no more than 200 words:

    • How do lines 21 and 22 contribute to the poem’s central message? Justify your
      argument with at least two concrete pieces of evidence from the text.

Wrap-up — 8 minutes

  • Debrief the essay question with scholars. Demand focus and active learning. Set your expectations for what scholars must do differently when approaching the next text.

Read and Discuss 2 — 20 minutes

Read:

    • Scholars independently read and annotate the second text on their Chromebooks. They jot a main idea in a comment next to the title of the text.
    • While scholars are working, circulate to determine the major trend in scholars’ work and conference with two or three scholars.

Discuss:

    • Engage scholars in a discussion about the main idea. Make sure that scholars can explain why the author wrote the text.
    • If scholars are not able to articulate the central idea of this text by the end of the discussion, do not move on to the questions. Spend time dissecting the text with scholars to lead them to the big idea.

Give scholars 2 minutes to revise their main idea jots based on the discussion.

Exit Ticket — 12 minutes

Write an essay of no more than 200 words:

    • How do lines 21 and 22 contribute to the poem’s central message? Justify your argument with at least two concrete pieces of evidence from the text.

Wrap-up — 6 minutes

  • Debrief the essay question with scholars. Demand focus and active learning.

Homework

  • Based on the Wrap-up, revise the essay questions.

You Did It!

Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of Literature Unit 7: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl!

As a result of teaching this unit, you as the teacher have:

  • Introduced your scholars to the powerful messages in Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and guided them through a study of a young girl’s personal narrative.
  • Built your scholars’ ability to articulate their understanding of texts both orally and in writing.
  • Used Mastery Texts to assess your scholars’ mastery of the Top 5 Reading and Top 5 Writing Tactics.

Your scholars can:

  • Read and closely analyze a collection of writing in the form of a diary.
  • Identify how a character changes by paying attention to evolving ideas, beliefs, and actions.
  • Articulate a bull’s-eye main idea, dissect an author’s argument, and explain how an author goes about making an argument.
  • Write and revise arguments of 200 words to demonstrate their understanding of texts.

Celebrate your scholars’ successes by acknowledging what they can now do as readers as a result of their work during this unit. Invite scholars to share how much fun they had reading Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and making connections to other texts.

Reflect on your successes and stretches, as well as those of your scholars. Look at your Fountas & Pinnell results. Have your scholars grown as readers over the last month? Between now and the end of the school year, your scholars should move from Level Y to Z. This is always a tricky jump for scholars, and they can easily get stuck, making little to no growth. Enlist parents to help get scholars over this hump!

Use the Mastery Texts from the end of the unit to identify scholars’ next steps. After each Mastery Text, sort scholars’ work by effort, intellectual struggles, the need to think more precisely, and the lack of parental support. Use your diagnosis to plan and carry out next steps. Mastery Texts are key to scholars doing well on midterms and finals! You must use each Mastery Text to assess and hold scholars accountable for growing.

Scholars must read at home, as well as in school. Do you have 100% of your scholars reading nightly at home? Make sure at-home reading is happening, and meet with families who are falling short to recommit them to this team effort.

Do you have 100% of your scholars reading fluently? Using all of the tools at their disposal to figure out the meaning of what they are reading?

Do you have 100% of your scholars doing their literacy homework? You must insist that 100% of scholars complete their homework nightly.

As you end this final unit, your role is to set up your scholars for summer reading. All scholars should have a reading goal before they leave for the summer. Set a goal for moving any scholars stuck

below Level Z. Why are they stuck? Do they read fluently? Do they understand what they’re reading? Do they understand the big idea? How will you partner with parents to support consistent at-home reading?

If you are having trouble meeting your goals, do not wait until you have not succeeded. Consult your colleagues. Consult your leaders. Ask for help so you can meet your goals!

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