Page 259 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade8_Flipbook

aCTIvITy 3.17
From vision to action
LearNING STraTeGIeS:
Metacognitive Markers, Diffusing, Rereading, Summarizing, Discussion Groups, Graphic Organizer, Drafting
Informational Text
curtail: to cut short devastating: highly destructive erosion: the process of wearing away
WorD CoNNeCTIoNS
Content Connections
Deforestation and desertification are terms learned in both social studies and science. Deforestation is the large scale removal of trees and forest. Desertification is the transformation of habitable land to desert. Desertification sometimes happens after an area has been deforested.
My Notes
learning Targets
• Analyze informational texts about efforts that have made a difference on a global scale.
• Create a Web page to represent a campaign to make a difference.
Preview
In this activity, you will read about two ways that people can make a difference in the world. Then you will think about how you can make a difference for an issue you care about.
Setting a Purpose for Reading
• As you read the informational texts, underline verbs that describe what the activists are doing, or trying to do, to solve a problem.
• Circle unknown words and phrases. Try to determine the meaning of the words by using context clues, word parts, or a dictionary.
Wangari Maathai
Wangari Maathai rose to prominence fighting for those most easily marginalized in Africa— poor women.
1 The first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize (2004) was praised by the awarding committee as “a source of inspiration
for everyone in Africa fighting for sustainable development, democracy and peace.”
2 A pioneering academic, her role as an environmental campaigner began after she planted some trees in her back garden.
3 This inspired her in 1977 to form an organization—primarily
of women—known as the Green Belt Movement aiming to curtail the devastating effects of deforestation and desertification.
4 Her desire was to produce sustainable wood for fuel use as well as combating soil erosion.
5 Her campaign to mobilize poor women to plant some 30 million trees has been copied by other countries.
6 Speaking as recently as Wednesday on the BBC’s Africa Live program, she said her tree planting campaign was not at all popular when it first began.
7 “It took me a lot of days and nights to convince people that women could improve their environment without much technology or without much financial resources.”
8 The Green Belt Movement went on to campaign on education, nutrition, and other issues important to women.
232 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 8
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