Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Here is a sentence a woman wrote in 1889 about a job she started at age eleven: 'So I went to my first day's work in the mill with a light heart.' What do you think 'with a light heart' means? What makes you think so? Then write one question you would want answered before reading the rest."

   Take several answers. Most students work out that "a light heart" means happily, without worry, from the word "light" and from how people talk about a "heavy heart." Point out what they just did: they used what they already knew and the words around the phrase, instead of stopping. Collect their questions (What mill? Why was an eleven-year-old working?). Tell students that good readers of true stories ask exactly these questions, and that today they will learn four moves for reading older nonfiction, watch them used, use them with a partner, and then use them alone.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   The four moves (hand out the bookmark and leave the moves on the board):

   • Preview. Before reading, read the title, the author, the date and any note. Ask: who is writing, when, about what real experience, and looking back from how far?
   • Pause and Paraphrase. After each paragraph, stop and say what it said in your own words, in one sentence. If you cannot, reread before going on.
   • Puzzle Out Words. For a hard word, look at the words around it first: an example, a contrast ("but"), or a description often gives the meaning. Use the word list or a dictionary only if the sentence still does not make sense.
   • Find the Point. Ask what the writer wants you to understand. In a memoir, separate what happened from what the writer, looking back, thinks about it.

   Context note (read it aloud as part of Preview): Lucy Larcom was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1824. After her father died, her mother moved the family to Lowell, a new factory town on the Merrimack River, and ran a boarding house for young women who worked in the cotton mills. The money was not enough. Just before this passage, Lucy heard someone say, "The children will have to leave school and go into the mill." She wrote this memoir as an adult and published it in 1889. Words to know: mill-agent (the manager of the mill); bobbins (spools that the spinning machines wind thread onto); spinning-frames (machines that twist cotton into thread). Read the passage aloud while students follow, and think aloud through the four moves.

   1There were many pros and cons between my mother and sisters before this was positively decided. The mill-agent did not want to take us two little girls, but consented on condition we should be sure to attend school the full number of months prescribed each year. I, the younger one, was then between eleven and twelve years old.

   [...]

   2But her difficulties were increasing, and I thought it would be a pleasure to feel that I was not a trouble or burden or expense to anybody. So I went to my first day's work in the mill with a light heart. The novelty of it made it seem easy, and it really was not hard, just to change the bobbins on the spinning-frames every three quarters of an hour or so, with half a dozen other little girls who were doing the same thing. When I came back at night, the family began to pity me for my long, tiresome day's work, but I laughed and said,--

   3"Why, it is nothing but fun. It is just like play."

   4And for a little while it was only a new amusement; I liked it better than going to school and "making believe" I was learning when I was not. And there was a great deal of play mixed with it. We were not occupied more than half the time.

   [...]

   5There were compensations for being shut in to daily toil so early. The mill itself had its lessons for us. But it was not, and could not be, the right sort of life for a child, and we were happy in the knowledge that, at the longest, our employment was only to be temporary.

   • Preview: who is looking back, and from how far?

     Before reading closely, what do the source line and the context note tell you?

     Result: A true story told by the person who lived it, in the first person. Larcom went into the mill at eleven, in the 1830s, and published this in 1889, so she is looking back more than fifty years. Expect two voices: the child who lived it and the adult who judges it.

   • Pause and Paraphrase: paragraph 2

     Say paragraph 2 in one sentence of your own.

     Result: Lucy wanted to help her mother, so she started work happily, and the job, changing bobbins "every three quarters of an hour or so" with other little girls, was easy. Check: the paraphrase keeps the reason ("not a trouble or burden"), the feeling ("a light heart") and the job, and leaves out nothing important.

   • Puzzle Out Words: "compensations"

     Paragraph 5 begins "There were compensations for being shut in to daily toil so early." What are compensations?

     Result: The next sentence gives an example of one: "The mill itself had its lessons for us." Then "But" turns to the bad side: it was not "the right sort of life for a child." So compensations are good things that make up for something hard. The context was enough; no dictionary needed.

   • Find the Point: the child and the adult

     Compare paragraph 3 with paragraph 5. What does Larcom want readers to understand?

     Result: The child says, "Why, it is nothing but fun. It is just like play." The adult writes that mill work "was not, and could not be, the right sort of life for a child." The point: the work felt like play to an eleven-year-old, but looking back, Larcom judges that children should not have been doing it, even though it taught her things.

   Teacher tip. Let students watch you pause at the [...] marks and explain them: they show that words have been left out of the passage. A reader keeps going and checks that the next paragraph still connects.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Passage 2 with the bookmark and the prompts below. Context note: Charles Eastman (1858-1939), a Santee Dakota whose Dakota name was Ohiyesa, was born in Minnesota. As a young child he was called Hakadah. After a war between the Dakota and the United States in 1862, his family fled to Canada, where his grandmother and his uncle raised him in the traditional Dakota way until he was fifteen. He later became a doctor and a writer, and published this memoir of his childhood in 1902. Words to know: teepee (a cone-shaped tent of poles and hides); disciplinarian (a person who insists that rules be followed); yonder (over there). There is no teacher think-aloud this time: pairs work out other words from context and ask you only after they have tried. Circulate and hear from each pair at least once.

   1My uncle, who educated me up to the age of fifteen years, was a strict disciplinarian and a good teacher. When I left the teepee in the morning, he would say: “Hakadah, look closely to everything you see”; and at evening, on my return, he used often to catechize me for an hour or so.

   2“On which side of the trees is the lighter-colored bark? On which side do they have most regular branches?”

   3It was his custom to let me name all the new birds that I had seen during the day. I would name them according to the color or the shape of the bill or their song or the appearance and locality of the nest--in fact, anything about the bird that impressed me as characteristic. I made many ridiculous errors, I must admit. He then usually informed me of the correct name. Occasionally I made a hit and this he would warmly commend.

   4He went much deeper into this science when I was a little older, that is, about the age of eight or nine years. He would say, for instance:

   5“How do you know that there are fish in yonder lake?”

   6“Because they jump out of the water for flies at mid-day.”

   7He would smile at my prompt but superficial reply.

   8“What do you think of the little pebbles grouped together under the shallow water? and what made the pretty curved marks in the sandy bottom and the little sand-banks? Where do you find the fish-eating birds? Have the inlet and the outlet of a lake anything to do with the question?”

   9He did not expect a correct reply at once to all the voluminous questions that he put to me on these occasions, but he meant to make me observant and a good student of nature.

   1. Preview. Teacher note: pairs should notice that Eastman, like Larcom, is an adult looking back on his childhood, and that the passage is about how he was taught, not about one single day. Ask what "he would say" and "he used often to" tell them (these things happened again and again).
   2. Pause and Paraphrase (paragraph 3). Teacher note: a good paraphrase is that the uncle had the boy name each new bird he saw by its color, beak, song or nest, then told him the real name and praised him when he was right.
   3. Puzzle Out Words. Teacher note: "catechize" (paragraph 1) is explained by paragraph 2, a string of questions, so it means to quiz someone closely. "Superficial" (paragraph 7) is explained by paragraph 8: the uncle asks about pebbles, marks in the sand, fish-eating birds and the inlet, all the deeper signs the boy missed, so a superficial answer stays on the surface.
   4. Find the Point. Teacher note: the last paragraph states it: the uncle "meant to make me observant and a good student of nature." Ask pairs which earlier sentence the point connects to ("Hakadah, look closely to everything you see").

   Close with one question: which move did your pair need most? Pairs often choose Puzzle Out Words, because Eastman uses a few long words among short, clear sentences. Tell students that next they will read another passage by Eastman alone, with a context note and nothing else.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Each student reads alone, with the bookmark but no prompts and no word list. Context note: Another part of Eastman's Indian Boyhood. When his people, the Dakota, lived in Minnesota, many families spent late summer at lakes where wild rice grows: a tall grass that grows in shallow water, whose seeds are eaten as grain. Students write a one-sentence paraphrase on a sticky note after each paragraph and mark each word they worked out from context. Collect the sticky notes; they show who is ready to read without support. The quiz uses this passage.

   1The wild rice harvesters came in groups of fifteen to twenty families to a lake, depending upon the size of the harvest. Some of the Indians hunted buffalo upon the prairie at this season, but there were more who preferred to go to the lakes to gather wild rice, fish, gather berries and hunt the deer. There was an abundance of water-fowls among the grain; and really no season of the year was happier than this.

   [...]

   2On the appointed day all the canoes were carried to the shore and placed upon the water with prayer and propitiatory offerings. Each family took possession of the allotted field, and tied all the grain in bundles of convenient size, allowing it to stand for a few days. Then they again entered the lake, assigning two persons to each canoe. One manipulated the paddle, while the foremost one gently drew the heads of each bundle toward him and gave it a few strokes with a light rod. This caused the rice to fall into the bottom of the craft. The field was traversed in this manner back and forth until finished.

   3This was the pleasantest and easiest part of the harvest toil. The real work was when they prepared the rice for use. First of all, it must be made perfectly dry. They would spread it upon buffalo robes and mats, and sometimes upon layers of coarse swamp grass, and dry it in the sun. If the time was short, they would make a scaffold and spread upon it a certain thickness of the green grass and afterward the rice. Under this a fire was made, taking care that the grass did not catch fire.

   4When all the rice is gathered and dried, the hulling begins. A round hole is dug about two feet deep and the same in diameter. Then the rice is heated over a fire-place, and emptied into the hole while it is hot. A young man, having washed his feet and put on a new pair of moccasins, treads upon it until all is hulled. The women then pour it upon a robe and begin to shake it so that the chaff will be separated by the wind. Some of the rice is browned before being hulled.

   5During the hulling time there were prizes offered to the young men who can hull quickest and best. There were sometimes from twenty to fifty youths dancing with their feet in these holes.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Which of the four moves did you use most on the wild rice passage, and where? (2) Copy one word you worked out from context and the clue that helped.

   Teacher note on the texts. The passages are quoted exactly as published. Larcom describes child labor calmly because she is remembering her own childhood; in the 1830s children her age often worked in the textile mills, and her own adult judgment appears in paragraph 5. Eastman writes "Indians" and "Sioux," the usual English words of his time; Eastman's people were the Santee, or eastern, Dakota, one of the peoples often called the Sioux, and many prefer their own names today. His word "maidens" means young women. Burroughs writes in an older, more formal style, which is why his essay comes last and with the most support.

   For homework: students read the opening of John Burroughs's nature essay "The Return of the Birds," from Wake-Robin (1871), his first book of nature essays, with the word list below and the homework questions as guides. This is the hardest passage on the page. Context note: John Burroughs (1837-1921) was an American nature writer who spent his life watching birds and writing about them for general readers. A wake-robin is a white woodland flower that blooms in spring. Words to know: vernal (of spring); summer solstice (the longest day of the year, around June 21); succulency (juiciness); inaugurated (officially begun); rehabilitation (bringing back to health); vireo (a small songbird); compass degrees and zones (travel across large parts of the globe); leagues (an old unit of distance, about three miles each). The Adirondacks are mountains in northern New York; the Potomac is the river that flows past Washington, D.C.

   1Spring in our northern climate may fairly be said to extend from the middle of March to the middle of June. At least, the vernal tide continues to rise until the latter date, and it is not till after the summer solstice that the shoots and twigs begin to harden and turn to wood, or the grass to lose any of its freshness and succulency.

   2It is this period that marks the return of the birds,--one or two of the more hardy or half-domesticated species, like the song-sparrow and the bluebird, usually arriving in March, while the rarer and more brilliant wood-birds bring up the procession in June. But each stage of the advancing season gives prominence to certain species, as to certain flowers. The dandelion tells me when to look for the swallow, the dog-toothed violet when to expect the wood-thrush, and when I have found the wake-robin in bloom I know the season is fairly inaugurated. With me this flower is associated, not merely with the awakening of Robin, for he has been awake some weeks, but with the universal awakening and rehabilitation of nature.

   3Yet the coming and going of the birds is more or less a mystery and a surprise. We go out in the morning, and no thrush or vireo is to be heard; we go out again, and every tree and grove is musical; yet again, and all is silent. Who saw them come? Who saw them depart?

   4This pert little winter-wren, for instance, darting in and out the fence, diving under the rubbish here and coming up yards away,--how does he manage with those little circular wings to compass degrees and zones, and arrive always in the nick of time? Last August I saw him in the remotest wilds of the Adirondacs, impatient and inquisitive as usual; a few weeks later, on the Potomac, I was greeted by the same hardy little busybody. Does he travel by easy stages from bush to bush and from wood to wood? or has that compact little body force and courage to brave the night and the upper air, and so achieve leagues at one pull?

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to paragraph 1, why did many families go to the lakes at this time of year?

   ATo trade furs with settlers who came up the rivers in canoes each summer and fall BTo gather wild rice, fish, pick berries and hunt deer, instead of hunting buffalo CTo build new canoes, because the birch trees grew only beside the lakes DTo escape the summer heat on the prairie until the buffalo came back

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 1 ends, "really no season of the year was happier than this." What kind of statement is this?

   AA fact that Eastman measured by counting the harvest BA rule the families had to follow at the lakes CEastman's own feeling as he looks back on the harvest DA quotation from an older person in the camp

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 2, what did each family do right after the canoes were placed on the water?

   AThey cut the rice stalks and carried them back to camp to dry on robes BThey held races across the lake to decide which family would harvest its field first CThey knocked the grain into the canoes as soon as they reached their fields DThey took their own field, tied the grain in bundles and let it stand a few days

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How did the harvesters get the rice into the canoe?

   AOne person paddled while the other bent each bundle over and struck it with a light rod BBoth people pulled the whole plants out of the water and shook them over the canoe COne person held a net under the bundles while the other shook the canoe back and forth DThey waited for the ripe grain to fall into the water and scooped it up with baskets

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 2 says the canoes were placed on the water "with prayer and propitiatory offerings." Using context, what are propitiatory offerings most likely to be?

   APrizes given to the fastest paddlers BGifts made to win favor and protection CPayments to the owners of the lake DExtra canoes for families without one

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Eastman call "the real work" of the harvest?

   APaddling the canoes back and forth across the fields BTying the grain into bundles of a convenient size CPreparing the rice for use after it was gathered DChoosing which family would harvest each field

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to paragraph 3, when did the harvesters dry the rice over a fire?

   AWhen the rice was still green and not yet ripe BWhen the time for drying was short CWhen rain made the buffalo robes too wet to use DWhen the rice was going to be browned

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 4 describes the "hulling." Which clue best shows what hulling does to the rice?

   A"A round hole is dug about two feet deep" B"the rice is heated over a fire-place" C"having washed his feet and put on a new pair of moccasins" D"so that the chaff will be separated by the wind"

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Who treads on the rice in the hole?

   AA young man who has washed his feet and put on new moccasins BThe women of each family, who take turns in the hole CThe oldest man in the camp, who knows the right way to do it DTwo people from each canoe, one on each side of the hole

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Paragraphs 2 and 3 are told in the past tense ("were carried," "would spread"), but paragraph 4 changes to the present tense ("is gathered," "begins"). What does the change most likely show?

    AEastman is describing a harvest that is happening while he writes BEastman is explaining the steps as a general method, like instructions CEastman is quoting another writer who described the harvest DEastman made a mistake and meant to write the whole passage in the future tense

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which sentence best states the point of the whole passage?

    AWild rice grew only in a few small lakes, so families fought over the best fields BHulling rice was so hard that only the strongest young men could do it CDrying rice in the sun was the most important step of the whole harvest DThe harvest was organized, careful work that the families also enjoyed together

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Before reading a new passage of literary nonfiction, which question belongs to the Preview move?

    AWho wrote this, when, and about what real experience? BHow many paragraphs will I have to read? CWhich words have more than three syllables? DHow long will the quiz on this passage take?

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In paragraph 2, "The field was traversed in this manner back and forth until finished." What is the best first step for working out "traversed"?

    ASkip the whole sentence, because it only repeats what the sentence before it says BLook it up at once in the dictionary before reading any further CReread the sentence and use "back and forth until finished" as a clue DGuess from the first letters that it means the same as "traded"

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Paragraph 3 says that when rice was dried over a fire, the harvesters were "taking care that the grass did not catch fire." What does this detail suggest?

    AThe fire was lit only after the rice on the scaffold was completely dry BThe grass was meant to burn slowly so that its smoke would flavor the rice CThe fire had to be watched, because the grass under the rice could burn DThe families dried rice over a fire only when there was no grass to use

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Paraphrase paragraph 2 in one or two sentences of your own.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    List the steps that turned wild rice in the lake into rice ready to eat, in order, using paragraphs 2-4. Give at least five steps.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Eastman says that one part of the harvest was pleasanter and easier than another (paragraph 3). Which part was it? Using details from paragraphs 1-3, explain why that part might have felt pleasant compared with the other.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Find a sentence in the passage that tells what happened and a sentence that tells what Eastman thinks or feels about it. Copy both and explain how you told them apart.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Larcom (Passage 1) and Eastman (Passage 3) both describe work done by young people. How are the two writers' attitudes toward that work alike, and how are they different? Use one quotation from each passage.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Which of the four reading moves helped you most with the wild rice passage? Name the paragraph where you used it, copy the words that were hard, and explain what you did.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RI.6.10: 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.