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

   "Read these three sentences: (1) The soldier stood guard at the gate. (2) My little sister is a real soldier when she gets a shot at the doctor's office. (3) In an ant nest, the soldiers have the biggest jaws. What does 'soldier' mean in each sentence? How did you know?"

   Collect answers. Sentence 1 uses the everyday meaning, sentence 2 a figurative one (brave, not a real soldier) and sentence 3 a technical one from biology (a kind of ant with a special job). Point out that the word never changed; the other words around it did. That is what "as they are used in a text" means.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Teach five terms and leave them on the board with Diagram 1:

   • Context clue: words near an unknown word that help show its meaning, such as a definition, an example, a restatement or a contrast.
   • Figurative meaning: a meaning that is not literal; the writer compares one thing to another, often with a metaphor (a comparison without "like" or "as") or a simile (a comparison with "like" or "as").
   • Denotation: a word's dictionary meaning.
   • Connotation: the feelings or judgments a word suggests beyond its denotation. "Scent" and "stench" have close denotations, but one is pleasant and one is not.
   • Technical meaning: the special meaning a word has in one subject, such as science. Technical words often look like everyday words.

   Background: army ants live in groups of many thousands, hunt in long columns and are nearly blind, finding their way mostly by smell. Instead of digging a nest, they build a temporary one out of their own linked bodies. Words to know in Passage 1: rim (edge), sustaining (holding up), taut (pulled tight), inconspicuous (hard to notice), erect (straight up), impenetrable (impossible to get through) and wafted (carried gently through the air).

   1All along the upper rim the sustaining structure was more distinctly visible than elsewhere. Here was a maze of taut brown threads stretching in places across a span of six inches, with here and there a tiny knot. These were actually tie-strings of living ants, their legs stretched almost to the breaking-point, their bodies the inconspicuous knots or nodes. Even at rest and at home, the army ants are always prepared, for every quiescent individual in the swarm was standing as erect as possible, with jaws widespread and ready, whether the great curved mahogany scimitars of the soldiers, or the little black daggers of the smaller workers. And with no eyelids to close, and eyes which were themselves a mockery, the nerve shriveling and never reaching the brain, what could sleep mean to them? Wrapped ever in an impenetrable cloak of darkness and silence, life was yet one great activity, directed, ordered, commanded by scent and odor alone. Hour after hour, as I sat close to the nest, I was aware of this odor, sometimes subtle, again wafted in strong successive waves. It was musty, like something sweet which had begun to mold; not unpleasant, but very difficult to describe; and in vain I strove to realize the importance of this faint essence--taking the place of sound, of language, of color, of motion, of form.

   • Figurative: a metaphor

     What does Beebe mean by "the great curved mahogany scimitars of the soldiers"?

     Result: A scimitar is a sword with a curved blade, and mahogany is a reddish-brown wood. The ants carry no swords, so the phrase is figurative: it is a metaphor for the soldiers' jaws, which are large, curved, reddish-brown and dangerous. The sentence around it gives the clue, since the ants stand "with jaws widespread and ready."

   • Technical: an everyday word with a science meaning

     In "the soldiers, or the little black daggers of the smaller workers," what do "soldiers" and "workers" mean?

     Result: Here they are technical words from the science of ants. They name two groups of ants with different jobs: soldiers are the largest ants, with huge jaws, that guard the group, and workers are the smaller ants that do most of the labor. (Scientists today count soldiers as an extra-large kind of worker.) The clue is that Beebe compares their sizes and their jaws; he is not talking about people.

   • Technical: meaning from context

     What does "quiescent" mean in "Even at rest and at home, the army ants are always prepared, for every quiescent individual in the swarm was standing as erect as possible"?

     Result: Quiescent means resting or not active. The clue is a restatement earlier in the same sentence, "Even at rest and at home." "Individual" is also used in its science sense here: one single animal, not a person.

   • Connotative: a softened smell

     Beebe says the odor was "musty, like something sweet which had begun to mold; not unpleasant," and calls it a "faint essence." What do these word choices suggest?

     Result: "Musty" usually has a negative connotation (an old, damp basement), but Beebe softens it with "sweet" and "not unpleasant." Then he chooses "essence," a word that suggests something precious or important, like a perfume, instead of a word like "stink." The connotations show that he respects the smell, which he says takes "the place of sound, of language."

   Model the four steps. Show Diagram 2 and think aloud with one more phrase from Passage 1, "Wrapped ever in an impenetrable cloak of darkness and silence": read the whole sentence, find the clue (the sentence before says the ants have no working eyes), decide the kind of meaning (figurative: there is no real cloak) and test a plain replacement ("always blind and deaf"). Ask students what the plain version loses.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read Passage 2 aloud. A rain shower has just washed over the open clay where the ant columns cross. Words to know: invariable (always the same), downfall (here, a fall of rain), clod (a lump of earth), fan-wise (spreading out like an open fan), handicap (a disadvantage) and grades (slopes).

   1The columns were most excellent barometers, and their reaction to passing showers was invariable. The clay surface held water, and after each downfall the pools would be higher, and the contour of the little region altered. At the first few drops, all the ants would hasten, the throbbing corpuscles speeding up. Then, as the rain came down heavier, the column melted away, those near each end hurrying to shelter and those in the center crawling beneath fallen leaves and bits of clod and sticks. A moment before, hundreds of ants were trudging around a tiny pool, the water lined with ant handrails, and in shallow places, veritable formicine pontoons,--large ants which stood up to their bodies in water, with the booty-laden host passing over them. Now, all had vanished, leaving only a bare expanse of splashing drops and wet clay. The sun broke through and the residue rain tinkled from the bamboos.

   2As gradually as the growth of the rainbow above the jungle, the lines reformed themselves. Scouts crept from the jungle-edge at one side, and from the post at my end, and felt their way, fan-wise, over the rain-scoured surface; for the odor, which was both sight and sound to these ants, had been washed away--a more serious handicap than mere change in contour. Swiftly the wandering individuals found their bearings again. There was deep water where dry land had been, but, as if by long-planned study of the work of sappers and engineers, new pontoon bridges were thrown across, washouts filled in, new cliffs explored, and easy grades established; and by the time the bamboos ceased their own private after-shower, the columns were again running smoothly, battalions of eager light infantry hastening out to battle, and equal hosts of loot-laden warriors hurrying toward the home nest. Four minutes was the average time taken to reform a column across the ten feet of open clay, with all the road-making and engineering feats which I have mentioned, on the part of ants who had never been over this new route before.

   1. "most excellent barometers" (paragraph 1). Ask: what is a barometer, and are the ants really one? Teacher note: a barometer is a science instrument that measures air pressure to help forecast the weather, so the word is technical. Beebe uses it figuratively: the columns react to rain so reliably that watching them tells you what the weather is doing. The clue is the rest of the sentence, "their reaction to passing showers was invariable."
   2. "the throbbing corpuscles speeding up" (paragraph 1). Teacher note: corpuscles is a technical word from biology for blood cells. Used here, it is a metaphor that makes the column a blood vessel and each ant a cell moving through it. "Throbbing" adds the idea of a pulse.
   3. "veritable formicine pontoons" (paragraph 1). Teacher note: "formicine" is a technical word meaning "of ants" (from formica, the Latin word for ant), and a pontoon is a floating support for a temporary bridge. The clue follows at once: "large ants which stood up to their bodies in water" while others walked over them. "Veritable" (truly) tells the reader the comparison is meant seriously.
   4. "the work of sappers and engineers" and "battalions of eager light infantry" (paragraph 2). Teacher note: these are technical army words. Sappers are soldiers who dig and build roads for an army; battalions are large army units; light infantry are fast-moving foot soldiers. Together with "pontoon bridges" they build one long comparison of the ants to an army on the march. "Eager" adds a positive connotation: Beebe admires them.
   5. "the contour of the little region altered" (paragraph 1) and "washouts" (paragraph 2). Teacher note: both are technical words from geography. Contour is the shape of the land's surface, and a washout is a place where running water has carried the ground away. Here they are used literally, at ant size.
4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Passage 3 on their own. Beebe watches small beetles that live among the army ants. Words to know: rove-beetles (small, fast-running beetles with short wing covers), antennæ (feelers on an insect's head; "æ" is an older way to print "ae"), encumbering (weighing down), legionaries (soldiers of an ancient Roman army; Beebe's name for the army ants), futile (useless), mêlée (a confused fight), hedged (surrounded) and wont (in the habit of).

   1Very rarely an ant stopped and attempted to clean another which had become partly disabled through an accumulation of gummy sap or other encumbering substance. But when a leg or other organ was broken or missing, the odor of the ant-blood seemed to arouse only suspicion and to banish sympathy, and after a few casual wavings of antennæ, all passed by on the other side. Not only this, but the unfortunates were actually in danger of attack within the very lines of traffic of the legionaries. Several times I noticed small rove-beetles accompanying the ants, who paid little attention to them. Whenever an ant became suspicious and approached with a raised-eyebrow gesture of antennæ, the beetles turned their backs quickly and raised threatening tails. But I did not suspect the vampire or thug-like character of these guests--tolerated where any other insect would have been torn to pieces at once. A large crippled worker, hobbling along, had slipped a little away from the main line, when I was astonished to see two rove-beetles rush at him and bite him viciously, a third coming up at once and joining in. The poor worker had no possible chance against this combination, and he went down after a short, futile struggle. Two small army ants now happened to pass, and after a preliminary whiffing with waving antennæ, rushed joyously into the mêlée. The beetles had a cowardly weapon, and raising their tails, ejected a drop or two of liquid, utterly confusing the ants, which turned and hastened back to the column. For the next few minutes, until the scent wore off, they aroused suspicion wherever they went. Meanwhile, the hyena-like rove-beetles, having hedged themselves within a barricade of their malodor, proceeded to feast, quarreling with one another as such cowards are wont to do.

   2Thus I thought, having identified myself with the army ants. From a broader, less biased point of view, I realized that credit should be given to the rove-beetles for having established themselves in a zone of such constant danger, and for being able to live and thrive in it.

   On the handout, students (1) list four words or phrases in paragraph 1 that give the rove-beetles a negative connotation and write the feeling each one suggests; (2) find two words that make the army ants seem sympathetic; (3) rewrite the last sentence of paragraph 1 in neutral, scientific words; (4) explain what paragraph 2 admits about the words in paragraph 1, and what "biased" means there.

   Teacher answer notes: (1) "vampire or thug-like" (a blood-drinking monster, a violent criminal), "cowardly weapon" (weak, unfair), "hyena-like" (a scavenger that feeds on others' kills), "malodor" (a bad smell) and "as such cowards are wont to do" (a judgment of their character). (2) "The poor worker" and "the unfortunates" invite pity; "rushed joyously" makes the ants cheerful and brave. (3) For example: "The rove-beetles, protected by the smell of the liquid they released, ate the worker and pushed one another while feeding." (4) Paragraph 2 admits that Beebe chose those words because he had "identified myself with the army ants." Biased means leaning toward one side; seen fairly, the beetles deserve "credit" for surviving in such danger.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Write one word from today's passages that has a technical meaning and one that is used figuratively, and explain each in a sentence. (2) Give two words with similar denotations but different connotations, and say which one is more positive.

   Teacher note on language and science: William Beebe (1877-1962) was a naturalist who worked for the New York Zoological Society, and Edge of the Jungle (1921) describes his research in South America. The passages keep his words exactly. He describes insects as heroes, cowards and criminals, which is a good way to discuss connotation, but scientists today avoid judging animals by human morals. Words such as "crippled" and "cripples," used in the chapter for injured ants, are dated and considered hurtful when used about people today. Other paragraphs of the chapter, not used here, compare the ants to armies and politics of Beebe's own time. Beebe says the ants' eyes are useless; scientists today describe army ant workers as nearly blind, with very small eyes.

   For the quiz: students read Passage 4, printed below. Beebe is sitting on a chair right under the nest of living ants, which hangs in the corner of a small shed (the outhouse). Words to know: rend (tear), free sides (the sides not touching a wall), egg-cases and pupa-skins (empty coverings left behind when young insects grow), residue (what is left over), inedible (not fit to eat), comprehend (understand), inconceivable (impossible to imagine), presuming (supposing) and débris (scattered bits of waste).

   1The mass of ants composing the nest appeared so loosely connected that it seemed as if a touch would tear a hole, a light wind rend the supports. It was suspended in the upper corner of the doorway, rounded on the free sides, and measured roughly two feet in diameter--an unnumbered host of ants. Those on the surface were in very slow but constant motion, with legs shifting and antennæ waving continually. This quivering on the surface of the swarm gave it the appearance of the fur of some terrible animal--fur blowing in the wind from some unknown, deadly desert. Yet so cohesive was the entire mass, that I sat close beneath it for the best part of two days and not more than a dozen ants fell upon me. There was, however, a constant rain of egg-cases and pupa-skins and the remains of scorpions and grasshoppers, the residue of the booty which was being poured in. These wrappings and inedible casing were all brought to the surface and dropped. This was reasonable, but what I could not comprehend was a constant falling of small living larvæ. How anything except army ants could emerge alive from such a sinister swarm was inconceivable. It took some resolution to stand up under the nest, with my face only a foot away from this slowly seething mass of widespread jaws. But I had to discover where the falling larvæ came from, and after a time I found that they were immature army ants. Here and there a small worker would appear, carrying in its mandibles a young larva; and while most made their way through the maze of mural legs and bodies and ultimately disappeared again, once in a while the burden was dropped and fell to the floor of the outhouse. I can account for this only by presuming that a certain percentage of the nurses were very young and inexperienced workers and dropped their burdens inadvertently. There was certainly no intentional casting out of these offspring, as was so obviously the case with the débris from the food of the colony. The eleven or twelve ants which fell upon me during my watch were all smaller workers, no larger ones losing their grip.

   For homework: students read Passage 5, printed below. It follows Passage 4 in the chapter: Beebe drops his pencil and looks closely at the floor under the nest. Words to know: secure (here, pick up), looked seeingly (really paid attention), jack-knife pose (bent sharply at the waist, like a folding knife), anatomy (body), aimlessly (without a plan) and stimulated (stirred to action).

   1While recording some of these facts, I dropped my pencil, and it was fully ten minutes before the black mass of enraged insects cleared away, and I could pick it up. Leaning far over to secure it, I was surprised by the cleanliness of the floor around my chair. My clothes and note-paper had been covered with loose wings, dry skeletons of insects and the other débris, while hundreds of other fragments had sifted down past me. Yet now that I looked seeingly, the whole area was perfectly clean. I had to assume a perfect jack-knife pose to get my face near enough to the floor; but, achieving it, I found about five hundred ants serving as a street-cleaning squad. They roamed aimlessly about over the whole floor, ready at once to attack anything of mine, or any part of my anatomy which might come close enough, but otherwise stimulated to activity only when they came across a bit of rubbish from the nest high overhead. This was at once seized and carried off to one of two neat piles in far corners. Before night these kitchen middens were an inch or two deep and nearly a foot in length, composed, literally, of thousands of skins, wings, and insect armor. There was not a scrap of dirt of any kind which had not been gathered into one of the two piles. The nest was nine feet above the floor, a distance (magnifying ant height to our own) of nearly a mile, and yet the care lavished on the cleanliness of the earth so far below was as thorough and well done as the actual provisioning of the colony.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In which sentence is the word "flood" used figuratively?

   AAfter the storm, a flood covered the whole road by the river. BA flood of letters arrived after the article was printed. CThe town built stone walls to hold back the next flood. DHouses close to the river need flood insurance each year.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Four people describe a friend who never gives up on a hard problem. Which word has the most positive connotation?

   Astubborn Bpigheaded Cdetermined Dobstinate

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A weather report says, "A cold front will reach the city tonight." What does "front" mean in this sentence?

   Athe side of a building that faces out toward the street and the sidewalk Bthe place where two armies meet and fight during a war Ca false show of feelings that hides what someone really feels Dthe edge of a moving mass of cold air where it meets warmer air

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "The trail was so steep that hikers used switchbacks, paths that zigzag back and forth up a slope." What kind of context clue explains "switchbacks"?

   Aa definition placed right after the word Ba contrast that shows the word's opposite Ca list of examples that follow the word Da cause and its effect in the sentence

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Beebe writes that the nest "appeared so loosely connected that it seemed as if a touch would tear a hole," and then: "Yet so cohesive was the entire mass, that I sat close beneath it for the best part of two days and not more than a dozen ants fell upon me." What does "cohesive" mean?

   Aloosely connected and easy to tear Bdangerous and ready to attack Cfirmly stuck together as one whole Dslowly moving around in every direction

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The nest "measured roughly two feet in diameter." What does "diameter" mean?

   Athe distance all the way around the outside edge of a round shape Bthe distance straight across a round shape, through its middle Cthe height of an object measured from the floor up to its top Dthe total weight of all the ants packed together in the nest

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The moving surface of the swarm "gave it the appearance of the fur of some terrible animal--fur blowing in the wind from some unknown, deadly desert." What does this figurative description mean?

   AThe nest was lined with real animal fur that the ants had carried in from outside. BThe ants had grown long hairs that moved each time the wind blew into the shed. CThe nest gave off a strong smell, like a wild animal that had come from the desert. DThe quivering ants made the nest look like the coat of a live, dangerous beast.

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Beebe writes, "There was, however, a constant rain of egg-cases and pupa-skins and the remains of scorpions and grasshoppers." What does "rain" mean here?

   Aa steady fall of small bits of waste from the nest Bwater leaking in through the old roof of the outhouse Cdrops of liquid the ants sprayed at Beebe Da sudden storm outside the shed that day

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "How anything except army ants could emerge alive from such a sinister swarm was inconceivable." What connotation does "sinister" give the swarm?

   AIt makes the swarm seem large but harmless. BIt makes the swarm seem quiet and sleepy. CIt makes the swarm seem threatening, almost evil. DIt makes the swarm seem strange but very lovely to look at.

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Beebe stood "with my face only a foot away from this slowly seething mass of widespread jaws." What does "seething" suggest?

    Aconstant stirring, like boiling water, with a hint of anger Bheat, because the ants had been warmed all day by the hot sun Cescape, because the ants were leaving the nest Dsleep, because the ants were resting in the nest

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "But I had to discover where the falling larvæ came from, and after a time I found that they were immature army ants." What are larvæ?

    Athe large soldiers that guard the nest Bthe eggs of scorpions and grasshoppers Cworker ants that have already died in the nest Dyoung ants that are not yet fully grown

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "Here and there a small worker would appear, carrying in its mandibles a young larva." What are mandibles?

    Aan ant's front legs Ban ant's jaws Can ant's antennæ Dan ant's back

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "It took some resolution to stand up under the nest." What does "resolution" mean in this sentence?

    Acourage and determination Ba promise made at the new year Cthe sharpness of a photograph Dthe answer to a math problem

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Beebe says the nest was "an unnumbered host of ants." What does "host" mean here?

    Aa person who invites guests Ba plant or animal a parasite lives on Ca very large crowd Da person who presents a show

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Beebe writes that most workers "made their way through the maze of mural legs and bodies." What does "mural" mean here? Use the clues in the passage and what you know about the word "mural" (a painting on a wall) to explain.

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16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Beebe suggests that some "nurses were very young and inexperienced workers and dropped their burdens inadvertently." What does "nurses" mean here, and how is it different from the everyday meaning of the word?

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Beebe calls the food brought into the nest "the booty which was being poured in." What is the connotation of "booty," and why might Beebe choose it instead of a neutral word like "food"?

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Passage 4 uses both science words and figurative words. Explain the technical word "colony" (in "the débris from the food of the colony") and the figurative phrase "being poured in" (in "the booty which was being poured in"). What does each kind of word give the reader?

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    "There was certainly no intentional casting out of these offspring." Use this sentence to explain what "inadvertently" means in "dropped their burdens inadvertently." Name the clue you used.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Early in Passage 4, Beebe uses vivid words such as "terrible animal" and "deadly desert." Near the end he writes, "I can account for this only by presuming that a certain percentage of the nurses were very young." What connotation do words like "presuming" and "a certain percentage" have, and why might Beebe switch to them here?

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These standards connect to RI.6.4: 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.