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 'The Second Window' below. Name one individual, one event and one idea in it. Then draw one arrow that shows something influencing something else, and write the words from the text that prove the arrow."

   1At Lincoln Middle School, the lunch line used to stretch out the cafeteria door. By the time the last students got their trays, they had about eight minutes left to eat. That fall, Ms. Ortega's social studies class read about petitions, and one idea stuck with a seventh grader named Dev Patel: if enough people sign, the people in charge have to listen.

   2Dev timed the line for a week and found that the last students in line waited about 17 minutes. He wrote a petition asking for a second serving window and collected 212 signatures in three days. The principal, Mr. Hale, had not known how long the wait was. He met with the kitchen staff, and in January a second window opened.

   3Now the wait is about 7 minutes. Other students have started writing petitions too. This spring the seventh grade asked for water-bottle filling stations, and the school board has agreed to discuss them at its next meeting.

   Collect answers and sort them on the board into three columns: Individuals (Dev, Ms. Ortega, Mr. Hale, the kitchen staff), Events (the long line, the petition, the new window) and Ideas (that leaders have to listen when enough people sign). Then take one student's arrow and ask: which way does it point, and how do you know? Point out that the most interesting arrows are the ones that keep going: an idea from a class moves one student, the student changes an event, and the event spreads the idea to other students. Tell the class that this is what RI.7.3 asks for: not just who and what, but how they interact.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Teach five terms and leave them on the board:

   • Individual: a person, or a group acting together, such as a police board or a club.
   • Event: something that happens, such as a storm, a theft, a meeting or a law.
   • Idea: something a person believes, plans, wants or argues, such as an opinion about poor people or a goal of revenge.
   • Influence: to change what someone thinks or does, or how something turns out.
   • Interaction: two or more of these working on each other. An interaction can run one way (the storm changes the plan) or both ways (the plan changes the person, and the person then changes the plan).

   Introduce the text. Jacob Riis (1849-1914) was born in Denmark and arrived in New York in 1870, at 21, with little money. By October he was out of work and homeless. Later he became a police reporter for the New York Tribune and a writer and photographer who worked to improve the city's worst housing. The Making of an American (1901) is his autobiography, written about thirty years after this night. At the time, New York police stations let homeless people sleep in a "lodging-room" on bare planks. Passage 1 begins at midnight on a rainy night, when Riis and a small stray dog that had been following him walk into the Church Street station. Words to know: lodging (a place to sleep), sergeant (the police officer in charge of the station desk), stoop (the front steps), perish (die), tramps (an old word for homeless wanderers), locket (a small case on a string or chain that holds a keepsake; Riis's held part of a curl of hair from Elizabeth, the young woman he loved in Denmark), blotter (the station's record book), outrage (a terribly unjust act), providence (God's care or plan) and abuses (wrong or cruel practices). The passage leaves out the violent details of how the doorman killed the dog; the omission is marked [...].

   1In the midnight hour we walked into the Church Street police station and asked for lodging. The rain was still pouring in torrents. The sergeant spied the dog under my tattered coat and gruffly told me to put it out, if I wanted to sleep there. I pleaded for it in vain. There was no choice. To stay in the street was to perish. So I left my dog out on the stoop, where it curled up to wait for me. Poor little friend! It was its last watch. The lodging-room was jammed with a foul and stewing crowd of tramps. [...] I smothered my disgust at the place as well as I could, and slept, wearied nearly to death.

   2In the middle of the night I awoke with a feeling that something was wrong. Instinctively I felt for the little gold locket I wore under my shirt, with a part of the precious curl in it that was my last link with home. It was gone. I had felt it there the last thing before I fell asleep. One of the tramp lodgers had cut the string and stolen it. With angry tears I went up and complained to the sergeant that I had been robbed. He scowled at me over the blotter, called me a thief, and said that he had a good mind to lock me up. How should I, a tramp boy, have come by a gold locket? [...] All my sufferings rose up before me, all the bitterness of my soul poured itself out upon him. I do not know what I said. I remember that he told the doorman to put me out. And he seized me and threw me out of the door, coming after to kick me down the stoop.

   3My dog had been waiting, never taking its eyes off the door, until I should come out. When it saw me in the grasp of the doorman, it fell upon him at once, fastening its teeth in his leg. [...]

   [...]

   4And now, right here, begins the part of my story that is my only excuse for writing down these facts, though it will not appear for a while yet. The outrage of that night became, in the providence of God, the means of putting an end to one of the foulest abuses that ever disgraced a Christian city, and a mainspring in the battle with the slum as far as my share in it is concerned. My dog did not die unavenged.

   • An individual influences an event

     Paragraph 1: the sergeant spots the dog under Riis's coat. What does his decision cause?

     Result: The sergeant "gruffly told me to put it out, if I wanted to sleep there" (paragraph 1). Because of that order, Riis "left my dog out on the stoop" (paragraph 1). One person's rule decides where the dog is, and the stoop is exactly where the trouble happens in paragraph 3. Link: individual (the sergeant) to event (the dog is left outside).

   • An idea influences an individual (the standard's first example)

     Paragraph 2: Riis reports that his locket was stolen. Why does the sergeant call him a thief instead of helping him?

     Result: The sergeant holds an idea about poor people, which Riis puts as a question: "How should I, a tramp boy, have come by a gold locket?" (paragraph 2). The belief that a homeless boy could not own anything valuable shapes what the sergeant does: he "called me a thief, and said that he had a good mind to lock me up." The idea, not the facts, drives his choice. Link: idea (a belief about tramps) to individual (the sergeant's actions).

   • An event influences an individual, who causes a new event

     Paragraph 2: how does the sergeant's accusation change Riis, and what happens next?

     Result: The accusation is the last straw: "All my sufferings rose up before me, all the bitterness of my soul poured itself out upon him" (paragraph 2). The unfair event turns months of hardship into an outburst, and the outburst leads to the next event: "he told the doorman to put me out." The influence runs both ways: the event changes Riis, and Riis's reaction brings on another event.

   • The author points to a future interaction

     Paragraph 4 steps out of the night's action. What does Riis tell readers about how this event will shape later events?

     Result: He writes that "The outrage of that night became, in the providence of God, the means of putting an end to one of the foulest abuses" (paragraph 4). He is saying that one night in 1870 will later lead to a public change far bigger than himself. The link will not be finished until later passages, so readers should watch for it: event (the outrage) to individual (Riis) to a later event (the end of an abuse).

   Name it, prove it, explain it. Show Diagram 1 and model the three moves with the second example: name the link ("an idea influences an individual"), prove it with a quotation and paragraph number, then explain how the influence works in your own words. Give two sentence frames: "The idea that ___ influences ___, because ___ (paragraph __)." and "When ___ happens, ___ responds by ___ (paragraph __), which leads to ___." Use Diagram 2 to show that an arrow can point in any direction between individuals, events and ideas.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read Passage 2 aloud. It comes from much later in the book. By then Riis worked at the police office on Mulberry Street, where the city's Police Headquarters stood, as a reporter for the Tribune. Words to know: battlesome (full of fights), Headquarters (the main police office), temptation (a strong wish to do something you should not), hound (chase and harass), out of place and pay (out of his job and his wages), vengeful (wanting revenge), wretched (miserable), anticipation (looking forward to something), grievous (causing great pain), abuse (a wrong or cruel practice), instrument (a tool), parody (a bad, mocking imitation), abomination (something hateful), municipality (the city government) and of the same stamp (of the same kind).

   1In all of this battlesome account I have said nothing about the biggest fight of all. I had that with myself. In the years that had passed I had never forgotten the sergeant in the Church Street police station, and my dog. It is the kind of thing you do not get over. Way back in my mind there was the secret thought, the day I went up to Mulberry Street, that my time was coming at last. And now it had come. I had a recognized place at Headquarters, and place in the police world means power, more or less. [...] Enough for revenge! At the thought I flushed with anger. It has power yet to make my blood boil, the thought of that night in the station-house.

   2It was then my great temptation came. No doubt the sergeant was still there. If not, I could find him. I knew the day and hour when it happened. They were burned into my brain. [...] There were a hundred ways in which I could hound him then, out of place and pay, even as he had driven me forth from the last poor shelter and caused my only friend to be killed.

   3Speak not to me of the sweetness of revenge! Of all unhappy mortals the vengeful man must be the most wretched. I suffered more in the anticipation of mine than ever I had when smarting under the injury, grievous as the memory of it is to me even now. Day after day I went across the street to begin the search. For hours I lingered about the record clerk's room where they kept the old station-house blotters, unable to tear myself away. Once I even had the one from Church Street of October, 1870, in my hands; but I did not open it. Even as I held it I saw another and a better way. I would kill the abuse, not the man who was but the instrument and the victim of it. For never was parody upon Christian charity more corrupting to human mind and soul than the frightful abomination of the police lodging-house, sole provision made by the municipality for its homeless wanderers. [...] My sergeant was of the same stamp. Those dens, daily association with them, had stamped him. Then and there I resolved to wipe them out, bodily, if God gave me health and strength. And I put the book away quick and never saw it again. I do not know till this day who the sergeant was, and I am glad I do not. It is better so.

   Pairs fill in the interaction chart (Diagram 1) one link at a time. For each link, ask them to name its type, find the exact words and then explain it. Share the teacher note after pairs have tried:

   1. An old event still working on a person. Teacher note: "I had never forgotten the sergeant in the Church Street police station, and my dog" and "It is the kind of thing you do not get over" (paragraph 1). The event of 1870 keeps influencing Riis years later.
   2. A new event wakes up an old idea. Teacher note: "now it had come. I had a recognized place at Headquarters" (paragraph 1). His new position gives him the means to act on an idea he had kept "Way back in my mind," that "my time was coming at last."
   3. The individual changes the idea. Teacher note: "Even as I held it I saw another and a better way. I would kill the abuse, not the man" (paragraph 3). Riis replaces the idea of revenge on one man with the idea of ending the abuse itself. This is the standard's second example: an individual influencing an idea.
   4. The new idea sets a goal. Teacher note: "Then and there I resolved to wipe them out, bodily" (paragraph 3). The new idea gives Riis a purpose that points toward future events. Ask pairs: what would you expect the next passage to show? (Riis working to close the lodging rooms.)
4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Passage 3 on their own. It comes from the next chapter, set in 1892 and the years after. Before it begins, Riis had written a formal warning about the danger of disease in the lodging rooms, had it signed by several charities, and taken it to the city's Health Board. Words to know: typhus (a dangerous disease spread by body lice, common in crowded, dirty places), prophecy (a prediction), flashlight (here, a bright flash of burning powder used to take photographs indoors), negatives and lantern-slides (glass photographs that could be projected on a screen), the Academy of Medicine (an organization of New York doctors), peril (danger), no respecter of persons (it strikes rich and poor alike), statute-books (the written laws), grand jury (a group of citizens that looks into crimes and public problems), Tammany (the political organization that ran much of the city government at the time), insolently (rudely), Charity Organization Society (a group that coordinated the city's charities), Wayfarer's Lodge (a charity lodging house for travelers without a home, modeled on one in Boston) and colaborers (co-workers, spelled as published).

   1I warned them that there would be trouble with the lodging-rooms, and within eleven months the prophecy came true. The typhus broke out there. The night after the news had come I took my camera and flashlight and made the round of the dens, photographing them all with their crowds. Of the negatives I had lantern-slides made, and with these under my arm knocked at the doors of the Academy of Medicine, demanding to be let in. That was the place for that discussion, it seemed to me, for the doctors knew the real extent of the peril we were then facing. Typhus is no respecter of persons, and it is impossible to guard against it as against the smallpox. They let me in, and that night's doings gave the cause of decency a big push. I think that was the first time I told the real story of my dog. I had always got around it somehow; it choked me even then, twenty years after and more, anger boiled up in me so at the recollection.

   2We pleaded merely for the execution of a law that had been on the statute-books six years and over, permitting the city authorities to establish a decent lodging-house; but though the police, the health officials, the grand jury, the charitable societies, and about everybody of any influence in the community fell in behind the medical profession in denouncing the evils that were, we pleaded in vain. The Tammany officials at the City Hall told us insolently to go ahead and build lodging-houses ourselves; they had other things to use the city's money for than to care for the homeless poor; which, indeed, was true. The Charity Organization Society that stood for all the rest gave up in discouragement and announced its intention to start a Wayfarer's Lodge itself, on the Boston plan, and did so. "You see," was the good-by with which my colaborers left me, "we will never succeed." My campaign had collapsed.

   3But even then we were winning. Never was defeat in all that time that did not in the end turn out a step toward victory. [...] In another year reform came, and with it came Roosevelt. [...]

   On the handout, students (1) find one event in Passage 3 that influenced Riis and explain what he did because of it, with the paragraph number; (2) find one individual or group who tried to influence an event in paragraph 2 and say whether they helped or blocked the campaign; (3) choose one sentence in paragraph 3 and explain what it adds to the story of the campaign. The quiz uses Passages 1, 2 and 3.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) In one sentence, explain the difference between listing the people and events in a text and analyzing how they interact. (2) Write one sentence about Passage 2 using the frame "The idea that ___ influences ___, because ___ (paragraph __)."

   Teacher note on history and language: The Making of an American was published in 1901, about thirty years after the night in Passage 1, so it is Riis's memory of events and his own view of them. Words such as "tramps" and "vagrants" were common then for people without homes; today we would say people experiencing homelessness. The passages leave out, each time with a marked [...], a quarrel in the lodging room over the Franco-Prussian War then being fought in Europe, the violent details of the dog's death, and a paragraph in which Riis throws paving-stones at the station in his rage and then leaves New York. Riis's best-known book, How the Other Half Lives (1890), made his photographs of the city's poor famous, but parts of it describe immigrant groups with stereotypes that are offensive today; none of that appears in these passages. Preview the dog's death before reading if you have students for whom it may be upsetting.

   For homework: students read Passage 4, printed below. It happens a few years after Passage 3. In 1894 reformers won control of the city government from Tammany, and in 1895 Theodore Roosevelt, later President of the United States, became president of the board that ran the New York police. He and Riis often walked the city at night to see how the police were working. Words to know: inspected (looked over carefully), involuntarily (without meaning to), linen duster (a light, long coat), lads (boys or young men), alternately (first one, then the other), barge (a flat-bottomed boat), sifting (separating), the unfortunate (people down on their luck), unbarred (unlocked) and avenged (paid back for a wrong).

   1We had been looking the police over by night, Roosevelt and I. We had inspected the lodging-rooms while I went over the long fight with him, and had come at last, at 2 A.M., to the Church Street Station. It was raining outside. The light flickered, cold and cheerless, in the green lamps as we went up the stone steps. Involuntarily I looked in the corner for my little dog; but it was not there, or any one who remembered it. The sergeant glanced over his blotter grimly, I had almost to pinch myself to make sure I was not shivering in a linen duster, wet to the skin. Down the cellar steps to the men's lodging-room I led the President of the Police Board. It was unchanged--just as it was the day I slept there. Three men lay stretched at full length on the dirty planks, two of them young lads from the country. Standing there, I told Mr. Roosevelt my own story. He turned alternately red and white with anger as he heard it.

   2"Did they do that to you?" he asked when I had ended. For an answer I pointed to the young lads then asleep before him.

   3"I was like this one," I said.

   4He struck his clenched fists together. "I will smash them to-morrow."

   5He was as good as his word. The very next day the Police Board took the matter up. Provision was made for the homeless on a barge in the East River until plans could be perfected for sifting the tramps from the unfortunate; and within a week, on recommendation of the Chief of Police, orders were issued to close the doors of the police lodging-rooms on February 15, 1896, never again to be unbarred.

   6The battle was won. The murder of my dog was avenged, and forgiven, after twenty-five years. [...]

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence analyzes an interaction, rather than only naming people and events?

   AThe article tells about a spring flood, a town mayor and a new bridge plan. BThe spring flood came in May, and the new mayor took office later in June. CThe spring flood wrecked three bridges, so the mayor demanded higher ones. DThe mayor was a strong leader, and the spring flood was the worst in years.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In which example does an idea influence an individual?

   AA storm knocks out the power, so a family eats dinner by candlelight. BAfter reading that plastic harms sea turtles, Leo stops using plastic straws. CA coach moves practice indoors because the field is flooded after the rain. DA student's speech convinces the town council to paint a new crosswalk.

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Passage 1, paragraph 2, what does Riis do right after he finds that his locket is gone?

   AHe searches all of the sleeping lodgers until he finds the thief. BHe leaves the station at once to go and find his dog on the stoop. CHe asks the doorman to lock the lodging room until the morning. DHe goes to the sergeant with angry tears and says he was robbed.

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail in Passage 1, paragraph 3, explains why the dog was right there to attack the doorman when Riis was thrown out?

   A"When it saw me in the grasp of the doorman, it fell upon him at once" B"fastening its teeth in his leg" C"never taking its eyes off the door, until I should come out" D"So I left my dog out on the stoop, where it curled up to wait for me"

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Passage 1, paragraph 4, Riis calls that night "a mainspring in the battle with the slum." A mainspring is the main spring that drives a watch. What does he mean?

   AThe night was the moment when he gave up his fight against the slum. BThe night was a small, unimportant part of his long life in the city. CThe night taught him to stay away from the police for the rest of his life. DThe night was the main force behind his later fight against the slum.

6. Question 6 of 20 · Short Answer

   In Passage 1, paragraph 1, Riis "pleaded for" his dog but still left it outside. Explain how the conditions that night influenced his choice. Use two quotations from paragraph 1.

   Show model answer

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Passage 2, paragraph 2, Riis imagines driving the sergeant "out of place and pay, even as he had driven me forth from the last poor shelter." Which idea shapes this plan?

   AForgiving the sergeant so that both men could move on with their lives BPaying the sergeant back with the same kind of harm he had caused CAsking a court to decide whether the sergeant had broken the law DProtecting the other lodgers from the sergeant's cruel treatment of them

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Riis conclude about revenge in Passage 2, paragraph 3?

   ARevenge is sweet, and a wronged person has every right to it. BRevenge should be left to the police, not to private citizens. CRevenge makes the person who seeks it miserable. DRevenge works only if the other person never finds out.

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which quotation from Passage 2 shows the idea of revenge influencing what Riis did?

   A"Day after day I went across the street to begin the search." B"I do not know till this day who the sergeant was." C"I had never forgotten the sergeant in the Church Street police station." D"Speak not to me of the sweetness of revenge!"

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Riis writes that the police lodging-houses had shaped the sergeant: "Those dens, daily association with them, had stamped him" (Passage 2, paragraph 3). Which interaction does this sentence describe?

    AAn individual changing the outcome of an event BAn idea changing what a whole city believes COne individual changing another individual's idea DA place and its daily work changing an individual

11. Question 11 of 20 · Short Answer

    At the end of Passage 2, Riis writes, "I do not know till this day who the sergeant was, and I am glad I do not." Why might he be glad? Support your answer with one more quotation from paragraph 3.

    Show model answer

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In Passage 3, paragraph 1, what event made Riis's "prophecy" come true?

    AThe city built a new lodging house within a year. BTyphus broke out in the police lodging rooms. CThe Academy of Medicine refused to let him in. DSmallpox spread from the lodging rooms to the rich.

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why did Riis take his lantern-slides to the Academy of Medicine (Passage 3, paragraph 1)?

    AHe needed the doctors to treat him for typhus after his night in the dens. BHe wanted to sell his photographs to doctors for a medical textbook. CThe Health Board had ordered him to show the photographs to the doctors. DHe hoped the doctors, who knew the danger, would support his cause.

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Passage 3, paragraph 2, how did the Tammany officials at City Hall respond to the campaign?

    AThey agreed at once and opened a decent lodging house that winter. BThey blamed the doctors for spreading typhus in the police stations. CThey told the reformers rudely to build lodging-houses themselves. DThey asked Riis to stop publishing photographs of the lodging rooms.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    After the city refused, the Charity Organization Society "gave up in discouragement" and started a Wayfarer's Lodge (Passage 3, paragraph 2). What does this show?

    AThe group's discouragement led it to act on its own in a new way. BThe group had never believed that the lodging rooms were a problem. CThe group's lodge forced the city to close the police lodging rooms. DThe group decided to join Tammany and stop working with Riis.

16. Question 16 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Riis writes, "Never was defeat in all that time that did not in the end turn out a step toward victory" (Passage 3, paragraph 3). How does this idea connect to the rest of the passage?

    AIt explains why the Academy of Medicine refused to see his slides. BIt shows he saw setbacks as steps forward, so he kept going. CIt proves that the Tammany officials secretly supported his campaign. DIt means he decided the campaign was finished and he had lost for good.

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Choose one event in Passage 3 that influenced a person or an idea, and one person who influenced an event. Explain each link with a quotation and paragraph number.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which detail in Passage 3 shows that the night of 1870 was still influencing Riis more than twenty years later?

    A"it choked me even then, twenty years after and more" B"We pleaded merely for the execution of a law" C"Typhus is no respecter of persons" D"In another year reform came, and with it came Roosevelt"

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Trace the chain of interactions from Passage 1 through Passage 3. Name at least three links in order (for example, an event that changed Riis, an idea he formed, and something he did about it), with a quotation and passage number for each.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    The standard asks how ideas influence individuals and how individuals influence ideas. Give one example of each from Passages 2 and 3, and label which is which.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RI.7.3: 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.