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

   "At the end-of-season dinner, a soccer coach talks about the season: the team lost its first three games, the players asked for extra practices on Saturdays, a player who was hurt came to every game to cheer, and the team won the final. In one sentence, what is the main point of her speech? Then pick one part of the speech and say what job it does for that point."

   Collect the main points and push for a full sentence ("the team got better by working together" rather than "teamwork"). Then take the jobs: the three losses show where the team started, the Saturday practices show how it improved, the injured player shows how much the team mattered to its members, and the final win shows the result. Tell students that grade 8 asks them to find a text's central idea, show how the text builds it, and explain the job each supporting idea does.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Teach five terms, and leave them on the board:

   • Central idea: the most important point a text makes about its topic, written as a complete sentence. "School" is a topic; "free school changed her life" is an idea.
   • Supporting idea: a smaller point that helps the central idea, usually a paragraph or a section of the text. It is bigger than a single detail (a fact, a name, an event).
   • Relationship: the job a supporting idea does for the central idea. Five common jobs: it explains why, it proves with an example, it shows how, it shows a result, or it shows how much it matters.
   • Development: how the central idea changes or grows over the text. In these passages it is introduced as a promise, proven by an event, deepened as students see how it works, and fulfilled by the end.
   • Objective summary: a short retelling of the central idea and main supporting ideas, in order and in your own words, without your opinions, judgments or outside information.

   Introduce the text. Mary Antin (1881-1949) grew up in Polotzk, a town in the Russian Empire (today Polotsk, in Belarus), where Jewish families lived under harsh laws that limited where they could live, work and study. Her father went to Boston first, and three years later he sent for the family. The Promised Land is her account of that journey and of her first years in America, written when she was about thirty. Passage 1 begins on the family's first evening in Boston, in May 1894. Words to know: conducted (led), public baths (city bathhouses for people whose homes had no bathtub), illumination (lighting), synagogue (a Jewish house of worship), serenaded (sung or played to), installation (here, moving in), essence (the most important part), machinations (secret schemes), concrete (real and definite) and Crescent Beach (a beach near Boston where her father ran a refreshment stand that summer). Read the passage aloud.

   1[...] So in the evening of the first day my father conducted us to the public baths. As we moved along in a little procession, I was delighted with the illumination of the streets. So many lamps, and they burned until morning, my father said, and so people did not need to carry lanterns. In America, then, everything was free, as we had heard in Russia. Light was free; the streets were as bright as a synagogue on a holy day. Music was free; we had been serenaded, to our gaping delight, by a brass band of many pieces, soon after our installation on Union Place.

   2Education was free. That subject my father had written about repeatedly, as comprising his chief hope for us children, the essence of American opportunity, the treasure that no thief could touch, not even misfortune or poverty. It was the one thing that he was able to promise us when he sent for us; surer, safer than bread or shelter. On our second day I was thrilled with the realization of what this freedom of education meant. A little girl from across the alley came and offered to conduct us to school. My father was out, but we five between us had a few words of English by this time. We knew the word school. We understood. This child, who had never seen us till yesterday, who could not pronounce our names, who was not much better dressed than we, was able to offer us the freedom of the schools of Boston! No application made, no questions asked, no examinations, rulings, exclusions; no machinations, no fees. The doors stood open for every one of us. The smallest child could show us the way.

   3This incident impressed me more than anything I had heard in advance of the freedom of education in America. It was a concrete proof--almost the thing itself. One had to experience it to understand it.

   4It was a great disappointment to be told by my father that we were not to enter upon our school career at once. It was too near the end of the term, he said, and we were going to move to Crescent Beach in a week or so. We had to wait until the opening of the schools in September. What a loss of precious time--from May till September!

   • Topic, detail or central idea?

     Three students answer "What is Passage 1 mostly about?" One writes "school." One writes "A girl offered to take them to school." One writes "For Antin, free school was the greatest freedom America offered." Which is a central idea?

     Result: Only the third. "School" is a topic: it names the subject but makes no point. The second is a detail: one event from paragraph 2. The third is a complete sentence that makes a point the whole passage supports. The key sentence is "Education was free" (paragraph 2), which Antin sets apart as a new paragraph after listing other free things.

   • A supporting idea that explains why

     Paragraph 2 says education was her father's "chief hope for us children" and "surer, safer than bread or shelter." What is the relationship between this supporting idea and the central idea?

     Result: It explains why free school mattered so much. For a family that had lost almost everything, food and a home could be taken away, but learning could not; that is why he calls it "the treasure that no thief could touch, not even misfortune or poverty" (paragraph 2).

   • A supporting idea that proves with an example

     The girl from across the alley appears in paragraph 2. What job does she do for the central idea?

     Result: She proves it with an example. Antin says so herself: "This incident impressed me more than anything I had heard in advance of the freedom of education in America. It was a concrete proof" (paragraph 3). Until that morning, free school was only something her father had written about; now she has seen it.

   • Objective or not? A summary of Passage 1

     Compare two summaries. Summary A: "Antin's family was lucky to live in amazing Boston, where the streets were beautiful. A sweet neighbor girl showed them the school, which was the best part." Summary B is below.

     Result: Summary B is objective: "On the family's first evening in Boston, Antin's father led them through streets that stayed lit all night, and Antin decided that in America things like light and music were free. Education mattered most: her father had long called it his main hope for his children. The next day a girl from across the alley offered to take them to school, and Antin saw this as proof that school was open to everyone. The children had to wait several months to begin, and Antin was disappointed." Summary A uses judgments (lucky, amazing, sweet, the best part), leaves out the father's hope and the wait, and never states the central idea.

   Name it, map it, trace it. Show Diagram 1. Model the three moves: name the central idea in one sentence; map each supporting idea to it with an arrow labeled by its job; trace the idea from passage to passage on the development line (Diagram 2), which the class keeps all lesson. Leave the two open spokes on Diagram 1 for Activity 1. Sentence frames: "The central idea is that ___." "Paragraph __ supports it by showing ___; its job is to ___." "In Passage __, the idea grows when ___."

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Before reading, retell what comes between the passages: the family spent the summer at Crescent Beach, then moved to Chelsea, next to Boston, and in September 1894 Antin started school. Although she was about thirteen, she sat in the first-grade class to learn English, and within a week her teacher, Miss Nixon, moved her up to the second grade. Read Passage 2 aloud. Words to know: endeavors (tries), ravishing (thrilling), our own tongue (their home language, Yiddish), native classes (classes of children born in America), tots (small children), the definite article (the word "the"), lingual gymnastics (tongue exercises), perseverance (not giving up), becoming to her (a credit to her), declaration (announcement), inherit (receive from people who came before) and conviction of immortality (her belief in life after death).

   1There were about half a dozen of us beginners in English, in age from six to fifteen. Miss Nixon made a special class of us, and aided us so skilfully and earnestly in our endeavors to "see-a-cat," and "hear-a-dog-bark," and "look-at-the-hen," that we turned over page after page of the ravishing history, eager to find out how the common world looked, smelled, and tasted in the strange speech. The teacher knew just when to let us help each other out with a word in our own tongue,--it happened that we were all Jews,--and so, working all together, we actually covered more ground in a lesson than the native classes, composed entirely of the little tots.

   2But we stuck--stuck fast--at the definite article; and sometimes the lesson resolved itself into a species of lingual gymnastics, in which we all looked as if we meant to bite our tongues off. Miss Nixon was pretty, and she must have looked well with her white teeth showing in the act; but at the time I was too solemnly occupied to admire her looks. I did take great pleasure in her smile of approval, whenever I pronounced well; and her patience and perseverance in struggling with us over that thick little word are becoming to her even now, after fifteen years. It is not her fault if any of us to-day give a buzzing sound to the dreadful English th.

   3I shall never have a better opportunity to make public declaration of my love for the English language. I am glad that American history runs, chapter for chapter, the way it does; for thus America came to be the country I love so dearly. I am glad, most of all, that the Americans began by being Englishmen, for thus did I come to inherit this beautiful language in which I think. It seems to me that in any other language happiness is not so sweet, logic is not so clear. I am not sure that I could believe in my neighbors as I do if I thought about them in un-English words. I could almost say that my conviction of immortality is bound up with the English of its promise. And as I am attached to my prejudices, I must love the English language!

   Pairs work on paragraph 1 of Passage 2 with the development line (Diagram 2) open. Ask for the exact words first, then share the teacher notes:

   1. Name the supporting idea. In one sentence, what point does paragraph 1 make? Teacher note: a skilled teacher found a way to help beginners of every age learn fast. The key words are "Miss Nixon made a special class of us" and "working all together, we actually covered more ground in a lesson than the native classes."
   2. Name its job. Which relationship does paragraph 1 have to the central idea? Teacher note: it shows how free school worked for Antin: through a teacher's method, including knowing "just when to let us help each other out with a word in our own tongue." Accept "proves with an example" if students explain it.
   3. Key detail or minor detail? Pairs sort three details: the reading-book sentences "see-a-cat" and "hear-a-dog-bark"; the ages "from six to fifteen"; and "we actually covered more ground in a lesson than the native classes." Teacher note: the last is key, because it shows the method worked; the ages are useful context; the reading-book sentences are colorful but minor, and a short summary can leave them out.
   4. Add it to the line. Pairs write paragraph 1's supporting idea in the Passage 2 box of Diagram 2. They finish the Passage 2 box, with paragraphs 2 and 3, as part of the quiz.
4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Passage 3 on their own. It follows Passage 2 directly, and three paragraphs are left out where the [...] appears; in them, Antin moves up again and meets Miss Dillingham, her teacher in the next grade. Antin tells the scene with Miss Carrol in the present tense, as if it were happening now, and spells out her accent. Words to know: private difficulties (problems only she had), needs must (had to), beckons (signals someone to come), efficiency (getting a job done without waste), alternation (taking turns, one after the other), initials (first letters), posy (a small bunch of flowers), chamber (room), nasturtiums, pansies, honeysuckle (garden flowers), carnival (here, a bright crowd), tumbler (a drinking glass) and initiation (a beginning in a new group or way of life).

   1Whenever the teachers did anything special to help me over my private difficulties, my gratitude went out to them, silently. It meant so much to me that they halted the lesson to give me a lift, that I needs must love them for it. Dear Miss Carrol, of the second grade, would be amazed to hear what small things I remember, all because I was so impressed at the time with her readiness and sweetness in taking notice of my difficulties.

   2Says Miss Carrol, looking straight at me:--

   3"If Johnnie has three marbles, and Charlie has twice as many, how many marbles has Charlie?"

   4I raise my hand for permission to speak.

   5"Teacher, I don't know vhat is tvice."

   6Teacher beckons me to her, and whispers to me the meaning of the strange word, and I am able to write the sum correctly. It's all in the day's work with her; with me, it is a special act of kindness and efficiency.

   [...]

   7I remember to this day what a struggle we had over the word "water," Miss Dillingham and I. It seemed as if I could not give the sound of w; I said "vater" every time. Patiently my teacher worked with me, inventing mouth exercises for me, to get my stubborn lips to produce that w; and when at last I could say "village" and "water" in rapid alternation, without misplacing the two initials, that memorable word was sweet on my lips. For we had conquered, and Teacher was pleased.

   8Getting a language in this way, word by word, has a charm that may be set against the disadvantages. It is like gathering a posy blossom by blossom. Bring the bouquet into your chamber, and these nasturtiums stand for the whole flaming carnival of them tumbling over the fence out there; these yellow pansies recall the velvet crescent of color glowing under the bay window; this spray of honeysuckle smells like the wind-tossed masses of it on the porch, ripe and bee-laden; the whole garden in a glass tumbler. So it is with one who gathers words, loving them. Particular words remain associated with important occasions in the learner's mind. I could thus write a history of my English vocabulary that should be at the same time an account of my comings and goings, my mistakes and my triumphs, during the years of my initiation.

   On the handout, students (1) state, in one sentence, the supporting idea that Passage 3 adds; (2) explain how paragraphs 1-6 change the idea of teachers' help from Passage 2, citing one detail from each passage; (3) name the job of paragraph 8 and explain it in two sentences; (4) write an objective summary of Passage 3 in three or four sentences and check it for opinion words. The quiz uses Passages 2 and 3, and Question 16 also reaches back to Passage 1.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Write the central idea of Passages 1-3 in one sentence without looking at the board. (2) Choose one supporting idea from any passage, name its job (explains why, proves with an example, shows how, shows a result, shows how much it matters) and give one quotation.

   Teacher note on history and language: The Promised Land was published in 1912, about eighteen years after these events, so it is Antin's memory of them. She writes as someone deeply grateful to her new country, and her book was very popular in its time. Some readers today point out what the process cost her family: in the same chapter where Antin finds free school, the family's friends replace their Hebrew names with American ones. Antin tells this herself, in wry words: her mother "was punished with the undignified nickname of Annie." Antin also went on to speak out against new limits on immigration, in They Who Knock at Our Gates (1914). Invite students to notice that a writer's central idea is her view, and that other immigrants have told the story differently; this is a good discussion, and it is separate from an objective summary, which reports Antin's view without judging it. Antin spells out her own accent ("vhat is tvice," "vater") to show how hard some English sounds were for her and how patiently her teachers helped; she presents the struggle with pride in overcoming it, not as something to laugh at. Read those lines as she wrote them, do not have students imitate the accent for fun, and remember that some students in the class may be learning English themselves. The passages print dashes as double hyphens, as the 1912 edition does.

   For homework: students read Passage 4, printed below. Before it begins, Antin copies into her book the composition "Snow" that she wrote four months after starting to learn English. Miss Dillingham had sent it to a magazine for teachers, which printed it with Antin's name. Words to know: flippant (joking, not serious), vanity (too much pride in yourself), conquest (winning or mastering), association (connection), composition (a piece of school writing), consciousness (awareness of yourself and the world), accommodate (make room for) and coaxed (gently urged).

   1And now that it stands there, with her name over it, I am ashamed of my flippant talk about vanity. More to me than all the praise I could hope to win by the conquest of fifty languages is the association of this dear friend with my earliest efforts at writing; and it pleases me to remember that to her I owe my very first appearance in print. Vanity is the least part of it, when I remember how she called me to her desk, one day after school was out, and showed me my composition--my own words, that I had written out of my own head--printed out, clear black and white, with my name at the end! Nothing so wonderful had ever happened to me before. My whole consciousness was suddenly transformed. I suppose that was the moment when I became a writer. I always loved to write,--I wrote letters whenever I had an excuse,--yet it had never occurred to me to sit down and write my thoughts for no person in particular, merely to put the word on paper. But now, as I read my own words, in a delicious confusion, the idea was born. I stared at my name: MARY ANTIN. Was that really I? The printed characters composing it seemed strange to me all of a sudden. If that was my name, and those were the words out of my own head, what relation did it all have to me, who was alone there with Miss Dillingham, and the printed page between us? Why, it meant that I could write again, and see my writing printed for people to read! I could write many, many, many things: I could write a book! The idea was so huge, so bewildering, that my mind scarcely could accommodate it.

   [...]

   2I ought to go back and strike out all that talk about vanity. What reason have I to be vain, when I reflect how at every step I was petted, nursed, and encouraged? I did not even discover my own talent. It was discovered first by my father in Russia, and next by my friend in America. What did I ever do but write when they told me to write? [...]

   3I never heard of any one who was so watched and coaxed, so passed along from hand to helping hand, as was I. I always had friends. They sprang up everywhere, as if they had stood waiting for me to come. [...]

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A magazine article describes a town that built a public library: volunteers raised the money, a retired carpenter built the shelves for free, and the library now lends a thousand books a month. Which sentence states a central idea of the article?

   ALibraries, books and carpenters. BA retired carpenter built the shelves. CThe town's people worked together to give it a library. DIt is great that some towns still care so much about reading.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does it mean to analyze a central idea's relationship to its supporting ideas?

   ATo list every supporting idea in the exact order it appears in the text BTo explain what job each supporting idea does for the central idea CTo decide which supporting ideas you agree with DTo find the longest paragraph in the text

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence belongs in an objective summary of a news story about a school garden?

   AThe students deserve a great deal of praise for all their hard work. BSadly, a storm ruined the first crop of beans. CIt was the best project the school ever had. DStudents planted beans, and a storm destroyed the first crop.

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Passage 2, paragraph 2, what did the beginners get "stuck fast" on?

   AThe word "the" and its sound BThe names of the days of the week CSentences like "see-a-cat" DReading page after page of history

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What is the relationship between paragraph 2 of Passage 2 and the central idea?

   AIt explains why the family came to America in the first place BIt shows a result: by the end, every student spoke perfect English CIt shows how: even one small word took a teacher's patience DIt sets up a contrast between Miss Nixon and the other teachers

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Antin writes, "I did take great pleasure in her smile of approval, whenever I pronounced well" (Passage 2, paragraph 2). What does this supporting detail add to the central idea?

   AA teacher's approval gave Antin a reason to keep working BAntin cared more about Miss Nixon's looks than the lesson CMiss Nixon smiled only at the students she liked best DAntin found learning English easy from the very first day

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 3 of Passage 2 turns from the classroom to Antin's "love for the English language." What is the best description of its relationship to the central idea?

   AIt changes the subject to language, so it does not really belong in the passage BIt proves with an example that English is easier than other languages CIt explains why Miss Nixon made a special class for beginners DIt shows a result: learning English made the language and country her own

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail from Passage 2 is too minor to include in a short objective summary?

   AThe class covered more ground than the native classes BMiss Nixon was pretty, with white teeth that showed CThe beginners struggled for a long time with "the" DAntin came to love the English language deeply

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   How does Passage 2 develop the central idea beyond Passage 1?

   AIt moves from the promise of free school to a classroom where the promise works BIt drops the idea of school and starts a new central idea about Antin's family CIt repeats the proof from Passage 1, using the same girl from across the alley DIt shows that the promise of free school turned out to be false for Antin’s family

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Passage 3, why did Antin raise her hand during Miss Carrol's marble problem?

    AShe knew the answer before anyone else BShe wanted to help a classmate who was stuck CShe could not see the problem on the board DShe did not know the meaning of one word

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    What is the relationship between the scene with Miss Carrol (paragraphs 1-6 of Passage 3) and the central idea?

    AIt shows how the teachers' help reached one student and one problem at a time BIt shows a result: Antin became the best student in arithmetic in her whole class CIt explains why Antin was moved up to the second grade DIt contrasts a kind teacher with an unkind one

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Antin writes, "It's all in the day's work with her; with me, it is a special act of kindness and efficiency" (Passage 3, paragraph 6). Why does she set these two views side by side?

    ATo complain that Miss Carrol did not really care about her BTo show that the teacher's help took up too much class time CTo show that help that was ordinary for the teacher was huge for her DTo explain that Miss Carrol was paid extra for helping the new students

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Passage 3, paragraph 7, what did Miss Dillingham help Antin do?

    ASpell the word "village" correctly on a test BRead the word "water" aloud from her book CPronounce the sound of w instead of v DStop whispering during the morning lessons

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Antin compares learning English "word by word" to "gathering a posy blossom by blossom" (Passage 3, paragraph 8). What does this comparison add to the central idea?

    AThat English is a language full of words about flowers BThat each word she learned stayed tied to a memory of her new life CThat she wished she had learned English faster, all at once DThat she planned to grow flowers for a living instead of becoming a writer

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which sentence would NOT belong in an objective summary of Passage 3?

    AA teacher stopped a lesson to help Antin with a problem only she had. BAnother teacher worked with Antin until she could make a hard sound. CAntin compares learning words one at a time to gathering flowers. DAntin's teachers were much kinder than teachers are today.

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Learning English is one of the ways school opened a new life for Antin. Trace how her English, and her feelings about it, develop from Passage 1 to Passage 3. Quote one detail from each passage, and say how things change each time.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write an objective summary of Passage 3 in three or four sentences. Include the central idea and the main supporting ideas in order, and leave out opinions and judgments.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    A student summarizes Passage 3: "Antin was really lucky to have such amazing teachers. Miss Carrol asked a question about marbles. I think Antin's accent is funny. The last paragraph is about flowers and gardens." Name three problems with this summary, then rewrite its second sentence so that it states a supporting idea objectively.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Antin writes that her "gratitude went out to them, silently" (Passage 3, paragraph 1). What is the job of this supporting idea: explains why, proves with an example, shows how, shows a result, or shows how much it matters? Explain your choice with one more quotation from Passage 3.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Read this short paragraph, written for this quiz: "When Lena's family moved to a new city, she did not know anyone at her new school. On her first day, a classmate saved her a seat at lunch and walked her to every class. The school librarian showed her how to find books in both of her languages, and she checked out three that afternoon. By spring, Lena was running a reading club for students who had just arrived." State the central idea of the paragraph in one sentence of your own. Then name two supporting ideas and the job each one does (explains why, proves with an example, shows how, shows a result, or shows how much it matters).

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RI.8.2: 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.