Page 86 - ELA_CA_HighSchool_Sampler_Flipbook

Defining an American
ACTIVITY 1.6
Learning Targets
• Summarize a text using relevant details.
• Analyze the use of definition strategies in order to apply those strategies to new writing.
Beginning a Definition
What does it mean to be an American? What makes an American unique? What characteristics or traits do Americans share? With a partner, review the texts and images you have read in this unit to create a vocabulary tree. Use your tree to keep track of the multiple aspects of a definition of an American. As you continue through the first part of this unit, add details and examples to your tree.
American
My Notes
LEARNING STRATEGIES:
Webbing, Diffusing, Think- Pair-Share, Summarizing
Unit 1 • The American Dream 27
ACTIVITY 1.6
PLAN
Materials: 11 × 17’ or larger paper for each student or access to digital drawing software
Suggested Pacing: 2 50-minute class periods
TEACH
1 Instruct students to reflect on the questions with a partner. Ask them to build a vocabulary word tree with details and images that they associate with the word American. Then have students share their thinking with the class and add to the word tree.
TO TEACHER
Make sure to have students use a large enough piece of paper for this initial brainstorm. They will be asked to review and to add to their thinking throughout the rest of the unit. To help students begin brainstorming, you might construct a list of the texts read so far and how these texts presented what is it is to be
an American.
2 Read the Preview and the Setting a Purpose for Reading sections with your students. Help them understand the definition strategies they will encounter.
Preview
In this activity, you will read a letter that explores what it meant to be American when the country was newly formed.
Setting a Purpose for Reading
• Underline words and phrases you could add to your vocabulary tree.
• Make note of which aspects of the author’s definition are still applicable today and which are archaic.
• Circle unknown words and phrases. Try to determine the meaning of the words by using context clues, word parts, or a dictionary.
COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
Focus Standards:
9781457304675_TCB_SE_G11_U1_B1.indd 27
RL.11–12.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
W.11–12.2b: Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic.
W.11–12.9: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis,
reflection, and research.
10/3/15 12:38 AM
W.11–12.9a: Apply grades 11–12 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and early- twentieth-century foundational works of American literature, including how two or more texts from the same period treat similar themes or topics”).
Additional Standards Addressed:
RL.11–12.2; RL.11–12.4; W.11–12.2a; W.11–12.9b; W.11–12.10; L.11–12.4a; L.11–12.4c; L.11–12.4d; L.11–12.5a; RL.11–12.1
Unit 1 • The American Dream 27
TEACHER
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.