Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Project a short notice written for this page and ask students to sort its content into three columns.

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Notice to families: 'At 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday the power went out in the science wing. Students were moved to the library within ten minutes. The cause is still being investigated; a crew was seen working on the line behind the gym earlier that day.' What does the notice state? What can you infer? What does it leave uncertain?"

   Students will usually list the time and the move as stated, infer that the work behind the gym may be related, and note that the cause is uncertain. Push on the middle column: the notice places two facts side by side without connecting them. Is that an inference the notice invites or one it avoids? Tell students that RI.11-12.1 asks them to make this three-way distinction and to cite the words for each.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: Four ways a text leaves matters uncertain. Present Diagram 1, then the table. Stress that "uncertain" is a claim about the text and needs evidence like any other claim.

   Where a text leaves matters uncertain

   Signal	What to look for	What to cite
   The author hedges	think, perhaps, seems, I suppose, I don't know	The hedging word and the claim it qualifies
   The claim outruns the evidence	certainly, no doubt, no one could have, every detail	The strong claim and the evidence given (or missing) for it
   The record stops or skips	a gap in dates, an event reported only by its result	The last words before the gap and the first after it
   The author has a stake	a defense no one has asked for, praise of oneself or one's group	The sentence that defends and the event it answers

   Part 2: Model with Scott's journal. On the return from the Pole, Edgar Evans died on February 17, 1912. Captain Lawrence Oates, whose feet were badly frostbitten, was slowing the party; Scott and the others also call him "Titus." This entry was written in the tent some days later and was found with Scott's body eight months after it was written. Read it aloud, then think aloud through the worked examples.

   1Friday, March 16 or Saturday 17.—Lost track of dates, but think the last correct. Tragedy all along the line. At lunch, the day before yesterday, poor Titus Oates said he couldn't go on; he proposed we should leave him in his sleeping-bag. That we could not do, and induced him to come on, on the afternoon march. In spite of its awful nature for him he struggled on and we made a few miles. At night he was worse and we knew the end had come.

   2Should this be found I want these facts recorded. Oates' last thoughts were of his Mother, but immediately before he took pride in thinking that his regiment would be pleased with the bold way in which he met his death. We can testify to his bravery. He has borne intense suffering for weeks without complaint, and to the very last was able and willing to discuss outside subjects. He did not—would not—give up hope to the very end. He was a brave soul. This was the end. He slept through the night before last, hoping not to wake; but he woke in the morning—yesterday. It was blowing a blizzard. He said, 'I am just going outside and may be some time.' He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since.

   3I take this opportunity of saying that we have stuck to our sick companions to the last. In case of Edgar Evans, when absolutely out of food and he lay insensible, the safety of the remainder seemed to demand his abandonment, but Providence mercifully removed him at this critical moment. He died a natural death, and we did not leave him till two hours after his death. We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman. We all hope to meet the end with a similar spirit, and assuredly the end is not far.

   4I can only write at lunch and then only occasionally. The cold is intense, -40° at midday. My companions are unendingly cheerful, but we are all on the verge of serious frostbites, and though we constantly talk of fetching through I don't think anyone of us believes it in his heart.

   5We are cold on the march now, and at all times except meals. Yesterday we had to lay up for a blizzard and to-day we move dreadfully slowly. We are at No. 14 pony camp, only two pony marches from One Ton Depôt. We leave here our theodolite, a camera, and Oates' sleeping-bags. Diaries, &c., and geological specimens carried at Wilson's special request, will be found with us or on our sledge.

   • Explicit: what Scott reports

     What does the entry state about Oates's last actions?

     Result: Paragraph 2 reports his words and his departure: "He said, 'I am just going outside and may be some time.' He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since." Stated precisely, the text says Oates left; it never reports that anyone saw him die.

   • Inference: supported with thorough evidence

     Claim: Oates chose to leave so that he would no longer slow the others.

     Result: Three quotations cover the claim: he "proposed we should leave him in his sleeping-bag" (paragraph 1), he "slept through the night before last, hoping not to wake" (paragraph 2), and Scott writes, "We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death" (paragraph 3). Each one adds a step: a wish to be left, a hope to die, and his companions' reading of his choice.

   • Uncertain: the author says so

     How certain is the date of the entry?

     Result: Scott flags the doubt himself: "Lost track of dates, but think the last correct." The heading gives two dates ("March 16 or Saturday 17"), so the day of Oates's death cannot be fixed from this text alone.

   • Uncertain: the text stops short

     "The safety of the remainder seemed to demand his abandonment, but Providence mercifully removed him at this critical moment." (paragraph 3)

     Result: Scott raises the question of leaving Evans behind and then closes it: Evans died before the party had to decide. What the party would have done if he had lived is left open, and "seemed to demand" shows that Scott himself treats it as a serious possibility.

   • Strong evidence: choosing between quotations

     Claim: Scott wrote with future readers' judgment of the party in mind.

     Result: Strong: "Should this be found I want these facts recorded" and "I take this opportunity of saying that we have stuck to our sick companions to the last." Both address readers who are not yet there. Weak: "The cold is intense, -40° at midday." It is accurate and vivid, but it says nothing about readers or judgment.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read the last entries of the journal. They make a three-column chart, Stated, Inferred and Uncertain, and place at least two quotations in each column with paragraph numbers. The omission mark [...] shows where three short entries (March 21-23) are left out. Use Diagram 2 with question 3.

   1Sunday, March 18.—To-day, lunch, we are 21 miles from the depot. Ill fortune presses, but better may come. We have had more wind and drift from ahead yesterday; had to stop marching; wind N.W., force 4, temp. -35°. No human being could face it, and we are worn out nearly.

   2My right foot has gone, nearly all the toes—two days ago I was proud possessor of best feet. These are the steps of my downfall. Like an ass I mixed a small spoonful of curry powder with my melted pemmican—it gave me violent indigestion. I lay awake and in pain all night; woke and felt done on the march; foot went and I didn't know it. A very small measure of neglect and have a foot which is not pleasant to contemplate. Bowers takes first place in condition, but there is not much to choose after all. The others are still confident of getting through—or pretend to be—I don't know! We have the last half fill of oil in our primus and a very small quantity of spirit—this alone between us and thirst. The wind is fair for the moment, and that is perhaps a fact to help. The mileage would have seemed ridiculously small on our outward journey.

   3Monday, March 19.—Lunch. We camped with difficulty last night, and were dreadfully cold till after our supper of cold pemmican and biscuit and a half a pannikin of cocoa cooked over the spirit. Then, contrary to expectation, we got warm and all slept well. To-day we started in the usual dragging manner. Sledge dreadfully heavy. We are 15 1/2 miles from the depot and ought to get there in three days. What progress! We have two days' food but barely a day's fuel. All our feet are getting bad—Wilson's best, my right foot worst, left all right. There is no chance to nurse one's feet till we can get hot food into us. Amputation is the least I can hope for now, but will the trouble spread? That is the serious question. The weather doesn't give us a chance—the wind from N. to N.W. and -40° temp, to-day.

   [...]

   4Thursday, March 29.—Since the 21st we have had a continuous gale from W.S.W. and S.W. We had fuel to make two cups of tea apiece and bare food for two days on the 20th. Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far.

   5It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.

   6R. SCOTT.

   7For God's sake look after our people.

   1. What does Scott state about the party's food and fuel on March 19? (explicit)
   2. In paragraph 2, Scott writes that the others are "still confident of getting through." What do the words that follow suggest about how well he can know that? (uncertain)
   3. Scott gives three distances to the depot in these entries. What can you infer from them about the last ten days, and what do these entries leave uncertain about how the end came? (inference and uncertainty)

   Debrief: the strongest pairs will notice that the journal cannot report its own ending. Ask: which of your "uncertain" quotations shows that Scott knew he could not tell the whole story? Students often choose "It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more."

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Scott wrote his "Message to the Public" in the tent in the last days of March 1912, addressed to readers in Britain. It was printed with his journal in 1913. The Barrier is the Great Ice Barrier (today the Ross Ice Shelf); the Beardmore Glacier is the route between the Barrier and the polar plateau; One Ton Camp was a supply depot on the Barrier. The final paragraph of the Message is not included. Students answer quiz questions 1-20 on their own with the passage open, citing paragraph numbers.

   1The causes of the disaster are not due to faulty organisation, but to misfortune in all risks which had to be undertaken.

   21. The loss of pony transport in March 1911 obliged me to start later than I had intended, and obliged the limits of stuff transported to be narrowed.

   32. The weather throughout the outward journey, and especially the long gale in 83° S., stopped us.

   43. The soft snow in lower reaches of glacier again reduced pace.

   5We fought these untoward events with a will and conquered, but it cut into our provision reserve.

   6Every detail of our food supplies, clothing and depôts made on the interior ice-sheet and over that long stretch of 700 miles to the Pole and back, worked out to perfection. The advance party would have returned to the glacier in fine form and with surplus of food, but for the astonishing failure of the man whom we had least expected to fail. Edgar Evans was thought the strongest man of the party.

   7The Beardmore Glacier is not difficult in fine weather, but on our return we did not get a single completely fine day; this with a sick companion enormously increased our anxieties.

   8As I have said elsewhere we got into frightfully rough ice and Edgar Evans received a concussion of the brain—he died a natural death, but left us a shaken party with the season unduly advanced.

   9But all the facts above enumerated were as nothing to the surprise which awaited us on the Barrier. I maintain that our arrangements for returning were quite adequate, and that no one in the world would have expected the temperatures and surfaces which we encountered at this time of the year. On the summit in lat. 85° 86° we had -20°, -30°. On the Barrier in lat. 82°, 10,000 feet lower, we had -30° in the day, -47° at night pretty regularly, with continuous head wind during our day marches. It is clear that these circumstances come on very suddenly, and our wreck is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe weather, which does not seem to have any satisfactory cause. I do not think human beings ever came through such a month as we have come through, and we should have got through in spite of the weather but for the sickening of a second companion, Captain Oates, and a shortage of fuel in our depôts for which I cannot account, and finally, but for the storm which has fallen on us within 11 miles of the depôt at which we hoped to secure our final supplies. Surely misfortune could scarcely have exceeded this last blow. We arrived within 11 miles of our old One Ton Camp with fuel for one last meal and food for two days. For four days we have been unable to leave the tent—the gale howling about us. We are weak, writing is difficult, but for my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past. We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last. But if we have been willing to give our lives to this enterprise, which is for the honour of our country, I appeal to our countrymen to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Choose one sentence from Scott's journal. Write one sentence about what it states, one about what it suggests, and one about what it leaves uncertain. Quote the words that support each." Sort the tickets by which column is weakest to plan the next lesson.

   Teacher note on content and language. These texts describe men dying of cold and hunger, and the journal records that Oates walked out to his death. Prepare students before reading and allow a pass on reading aloud. The words are quoted exactly from 1912-1922: Scott speaks of "an English gentleman" and of what "Englishmen" can endure, and he frames the deaths as the will of "Providence." These are the values of the author and his time, and students can analyze them as evidence of his purpose.

   Homework passage. Apsley Cherry-Garrard helped lay the depot at One Ton Camp in 1911, took food there for the Polar Party in March 1912, and was with the search party that found Scott's tent in November 1912. Paragraphs 1-2 come from his diary on that search journey, written in November 1912; "the First Return Party" was the first of the three man-hauling teams to turn back on the way to the Pole (from the top of the Beardmore Glacier, December 1911), taking its share of each depot, and "Birdie" is Henry Bowers, who died with Scott. Paragraphs 3-6 are a separate text, written ten years later for his book, published in 1922; the omission mark [...] separates the two.

   1I am very very sorry that this question of the shortage of oil has arisen. We in the First Return Party were most careful with our measurement—having a ruler of Wright's and a piece of bamboo with which we did it: measuring the total height of oil in each case, and then dividing up the stick accordingly with the ruler: and we were always careful to take a little less than we were entitled to, which was stated to me, and stated by Birdie in his depôt notes, to be one-third of everything in the depôt.

   2How the shortage arose is a mystery. And they eleven miles from One Ton and plenty!

   [...]

   3Scott complains of a shortage of oil at several of his last depôts. There is no doubt that this shortage was due to the perishing of the leather washers of the tins which contained the paraffin oil. All these tins had been subjected to the warmth of the sun in summer and the autumn temperatures, which were unexpectedly cold. In his Voyage of the Discovery Scott wrote as follows of the tins in which they drew their oil when sledging: "Each tin had a small cork bung, which was a decided weakness; paraffin creeps in the most annoying manner, and a good deal of oil was wasted in this way, especially when the sledges were travelling over rough ground and were shaken or, as frequently happened, capsized. It was impossible to make these bungs quite tight, however closely they were jammed down, so that in spite of a trifling extra weight a much better fitting would have been a metallic screwed bung. To find on opening a fresh tin of oil that it was only three-parts full was very distressing, and of course meant that the cooker had to be used with still greater care."

   [...]

   4Our own tins were furnished with the metallic screwed stoppers which Scott recommended. There was no trouble reported until we came up to One Ton Camp when on the Search Journey. Here was the depôt of food and oil which I had laid in the previous autumn for the Polar Party, stowed in a canvas 'tank' which was buried beneath seven feet of snow; the oil was placed on the top of the snow, in order that the red tins might prove an additional mark for the depôt. When we dug out the tank the food inside was almost uneatable owing to the quantity of paraffin which had found its way down through seven feet of snow during the winter and spring.

   5We then found the Polar Party and learned of the shortage of oil. After our return to Cape Evans some one was digging about the camp and came across a wooden case containing eight one-gallon tins of paraffin. These had been placed there in September 1911, to be landed at Cape Crozier by the Terra Nova when she came down. The ship could not take them: they were snowed up during the winter, lost and forgotten, until dug up fifteen months afterwards. Three tins were full, three empty, one a third full and one two-thirds full.

   6There can be no doubt that the oil, which was specially volatile, tended to vaporize and escape through the stoppers, and that this process was accelerated by the perishing, and I suggest also the hardening and shrinking, of the leather washers. Another expedition will have to be very careful on this point: they might reduce the risk by burying the oil.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to paragraph 1, what does Scott say the causes of the disaster were not due to?

   AFaulty organisation of the expedition BMisfortune in the risks the party took CThe weather on the outward journey DThe failure of one of the companions

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to paragraph 2, what made the party start later than Scott intended?

   AThe long gale in 83° S. BThe loss of pony transport in March 1911 CThe soft snow in the lower reaches of the glacier DA shortage of fuel at the depots

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to paragraph 9, what temperatures did the party meet on the Barrier?

   A-20° and -30° on the summit B-40° at midday and at night C-30° in the day and -47° at night D-47° in the day and -30° at night

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 6 Scott writes of "the astonishing failure of the man whom we had least expected to fail" and then adds, "Edgar Evans was thought the strongest man of the party." Why does he add the second sentence?

   ATo show that Evans had been chosen for the polar party by mistake BTo present Evans's collapse as something no planner could have foreseen CTo prove that the party had carried too little food for the return DTo suggest that Evans's death was caused by the weather alone

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint" (paragraph 9). What can the reader infer from this sentence?

   AScott presents the deaths as the price of risks taken, not of mistakes BScott regrets having agreed to lead the expedition to the Pole CScott blames the members who planned and laid the depots DScott still believes the party will reach the depot in time

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 9 ends: "I appeal to our countrymen to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for." What does this sentence suggest about one purpose of the Message?

   ATo ask the government to send a rescue party to the tent at once BTo argue that another expedition should try again soon CTo secure support for the families the men would leave behind DTo explain to scientists what the party had discovered

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 8 begins, "As I have said elsewhere." What does this phrase tell the reader about the Message as a source?

   AScott is repeating a story he once told in a public speech BScott wrote a fuller account in another document not included here CThe readers of the Message have already read about Evans in the newspapers DScott is not sure whether he has already mentioned Evans in the Message

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Scott writes that the sudden severe weather "does not seem to have any satisfactory cause" (paragraph 9). What does this sentence leave uncertain?

   AWhether the weather was severe on the Barrier BWhether the weather slowed the party down CWhether the party kept a record of the temperatures DWhy such weather came at that time of year

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Scott claims that "no one in the world would have expected the temperatures and surfaces which we encountered" (paragraph 9). Which evidence in the Message does he offer for this claim?

   AThe Barrier, 10,000 feet lower than the summit, was colder than the summit BThe soft snow in the lower reaches of the glacier reduced their pace CEdgar Evans received a concussion in frightfully rough ice DThe loss of the ponies narrowed the loads the party could carry

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which statement does Scott make with a certainty that the rest of paragraph 9 does not fully support?

    A"We arrived within 11 miles of our old One Ton Camp" B"We are weak, writing is difficult" C"our wreck is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe weather" D"For four days we have been unable to leave the tent"

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "We fought these untoward events with a will and conquered, but it cut into our provision reserve" (paragraph 5). What can the reader infer?

    AThe early delays did no lasting harm to the party or its supplies BThe delays were overcome but left the party with less margin later CThe party had already run out of food before it reached the Pole DScott regrets the decision to rely on ponies for transport

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to paragraph 9, what supplies did the party have when it arrived within 11 miles of One Ton Camp?

    AFood for two days and fuel for one last meal BFood for one day and no fuel at all CFuel for two days and food for one last meal DFood and fuel for four days

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "For my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past." What does this sentence suggest about how Scott wants the expedition judged?

    AAs a scientific success measured by its discoveries BAs a failure that no one should ever try to repeat CAs a race to the Pole that the party lost to Amundsen DAs a proof of courage and character, even though the men die

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which quotation is the strongest evidence that Scott expects readers to question his planning?

    A"Every detail of our food supplies, clothing and depôts" B"The Beardmore Glacier is not difficult in fine weather" C"I maintain that our arrangements for returning were quite adequate" D"We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us"

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Scott lists "the sickening of a second companion, Captain Oates" among the causes in paragraph 9. Using only the Message, explain what it leaves uncertain about Oates, and why a reader of the Message alone could not settle it.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Paragraph 6 says every detail of the depots "worked out to perfection." Find a statement later in the Message that sits uneasily with this claim, quote it, and explain what the Message leaves uncertain as a result.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Paragraph 7 begins, "The Beardmore Glacier is not difficult in fine weather." What does the paragraph state about the weather on the glacier during the return, and what can you infer about why Scott opens with what the glacier is like "in fine weather"?

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Paragraphs 2-4 give three numbered causes. List them with short quotations, then state one thing the three have in common and one thing the Message leaves uncertain about how much each one mattered.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In paragraph 8 Scott writes that Evans "received a concussion of the brain" and "died a natural death." What does this paragraph state, what does it leave uncertain, and why might Scott include the words "a natural death"?

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a paragraph (150-200 words) that evaluates Scott's opening claim that the disaster was due to "misfortune," not "faulty organisation." Cite strong and thorough evidence from at least three paragraphs, and identify at least one place where the Message leaves the matter uncertain.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RI.11-12.1: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.