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Grade 7: Unit 6 – Brown Girl Dreaming: Connected Text Seminars

Seminar 1: Connected Texts

What Does Success Look Like?

Scholars will discuss prejudice via the ways our society views certain accents. Scholars will also discuss the importance of poetry and the way in which language is a fundamental part of political agency.

Seminar 1: “Why Does a Southern Drawl Sound Uneducated to Some?” by R. Douglas Fields, from Scientific American (Nonfiction)

Do Now — 10 minutes

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

Launch — 2 minutes

  • Tell scholars that today they will be reading “Why Does a Southern Drawl Sound Uneducated to Some.” Build excitement by telling scholars that this text will develop their background knowledge about concepts important in Brown Girl Dreaming.

Read and Discuss — 30 minutes

Display “Why Does a Southern Drawl Sound Uneducated to Some.”

Preview the Text (2 minutes):

    • Have scholars read the title and scan the article to frame their thinking.
    • Call on scholars to share what they noticed about the text and what they will think about as they are reading.

Read (3 minutes):

    • Say: As you are reading, think, What is this text mostly about?
    • Read the article aloud while scholars follow along on their digital copies.

Discuss (3 minutes):

    • Scholars discuss the following question in pairs: What is this text mostly about? Call on pairs to share out. Insist that scholars back up their claims with evidence from the text.

Read (10 minutes):

    • Say: As you are rereading, think, Why did the author write this article?
    • Read the article aloud as scholars follow along on their digital copies. While reading aloud, pause to ask the questions below:
      • Stop after line 8, “ … there is no ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ accent.”
        • Partner Talk: What is the impact of stereotypes based on accents?
      • Stop after line 63, “… subtle indoctrination and experience.”
        • Partner Talk: How did the study involving children impact the author’s
          thinking about accents?
      • Stop after line 81, “… Thanks Adele for the music and the insight!”
        • Partner Talk: How does this line affect the tone of the article?

Main Idea Jot (2 minutes):

    • Scholars jot a main idea in a comment next to the title of the text.
    • While scholars are working, circulate to determine which scholars have a bull’s-eye main idea jot and which do not.

Discuss (8 minutes):

    • Scholars discuss the following questions as a whole class: Why does the author include details about the singer Adele in lines 9 through 24? What is the author’s point of view on language stereotypes?

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

Exit Ticket — 8 minutes

Write an essay of no more than 200 words:

    • How do the studies discussed in lines 40 through 75 support a central idea of the article? Justify your argument with at least two concrete pieces of evidence from the text.

Wrap-up — 5 minutes

  • Show an exemplar essay to scholars. Have scholars discuss what makes the claim clear and compelling. Have scholars articulate the transferable takeaway from the work study that they need to apply to their own work moving forward.

Homework

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

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