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

   "A friend from another country has never seen a skateboard. In two or three sentences, explain what a skateboard is. Try to use one thing it is like, one way it is different from that thing, and one group it belongs to."

   Take three or four answers and write the useful phrases on the board, for example "it is like a small surfboard with wheels," "but you ride it on the sidewalk, not on water," "it is a kind of sports equipment." Point out that students used three tools without being told: a comparison, an analogy (explaining the new thing through a familiar one) and a category. Writers of nonfiction use the same tools to show readers how things are linked and how they differ. Today's question is not only what is alike or different, but how the text shows it.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Teach six terms and leave them on the board:

   • Connection: a link the text draws between two individuals (people or, in science writing, the animals being described), ideas or events: they are alike, related, or one explains the other.
   • Distinction: a difference the text points out that keeps two things apart.
   • Comparison: setting two things side by side and saying how they are alike or different. Signal words include both, neither, like, but, instead of, rather less than.
   • Analogy: explaining something unfamiliar by pointing to something familiar that is like it in an important way. An analogy always stops fitting somewhere, and a careful reader notices where.
   • Category: a named group, such as "reptiles" or "plant-eaters." Putting two things in one category connects them; splitting a category into two smaller groups distinguishes them.
   • Signal words: the words that show which tool is at work and whether it joins or separates.

   Introduce the text. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was a young English naturalist (a scientist who studies living things in nature) when he sailed around the world on the survey ship HMS Beagle. His journal of the voyage was first published in 1839; Passage 1 comes from the revised edition of 1845. Years later he became famous for his theory of evolution. Scientists sort living things into groups: a species is one kind of animal or plant, and a genus (plural genera) is a group of closely related species. Amblyrhynchus is the genus name Darwin uses for both lizards; A. cristatus is the sea-going species. Other words to know for Passage 1: archipelago (a group of islands), terrestrial (living on land), aquatic (living in water), characterized (described scientifically for the first time), Mr. Bell (Thomas Bell, the zoologist who described the reptiles Darwin brought home), peculiar (unusual), ally (here, a close relative), exclusively (only), sluggish (slow), Captain Collnett (Captain James Colnett, as the name is usually spelled, a British naval officer who visited the islands in the 1790s and wrote a book about his voyage), a-fishing (fishing), in miniature (in a small size), serpentine (snake-like), collapsed (folded in), fissured (cracked) and basking (lying in the warmth of the sun). Read the passage aloud once for meaning.

   1The Amblyrhynchus, a remarkable genus of lizards, is confined to this archipelago; there are two species, resembling each other in general form, one being terrestrial and the other aquatic. This latter species (A. cristatus) was first characterized by Mr. Bell, who well foresaw, from its short, broad head, and strong claws of equal length, that its habits of life would turn out very peculiar, and different from those of its nearest ally, the Iguana. It is extremely common on all the islands throughout the group, and lives exclusively on the rocky sea-beaches, being never found, at least I never saw one, even ten yards in-shore. It is a hideous-looking creature, of a dirty black colour, stupid, and sluggish in its movements. The usual length of a full-grown one is about a yard, but there are some even four feet long; a large one weighed twenty pounds: on the island of Albemarle they seem to grow to a greater size than elsewhere. Their tails are flattened sideways, and all four feet partially webbed. They are occasionally seen some hundred yards from the shore, swimming about; and Captain Collnett, in his Voyage says, "They go to sea in herds a-fishing, and sun themselves on the rocks; and may be called alligators in miniature." It must not, however, be supposed that they live on fish. When in the water this lizard swims with perfect ease and quickness, by a serpentine movement of its body and flattened tail--the legs being motionless and closely collapsed on its sides. A seaman on board sank one, with a heavy weight attached to it, thinking thus to kill it directly; but when, an hour afterwards, he drew up the line, it was quite active. Their limbs and strong claws are admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses of lava, which everywhere form the coast. In such situations, a group of six or seven of these hideous reptiles may oftentimes be seen on the black rocks, a few feet above the surf, basking in the sun with outstretched legs.

   • Categories: one group, then two

     Darwin's first sentence: "there are two species, resembling each other in general form, one being terrestrial and the other aquatic" (Passage 1). How does this sentence connect and distinguish the two lizards?

     Result: It does both at once. Putting both lizards in one genus and saying they resemble "each other in general form" connects them. The categories "terrestrial" and "aquatic" then split the group by where each one lives. The sentence sets up the rest of Darwin's account: every later detail is either something the two share or something that separates land from sea.

   • Analogy from another observer, then a correction

     Darwin quotes Captain Collnett: "They go to sea in herds a-fishing, and sun themselves on the rocks; and may be called alligators in miniature." The next sentence is Darwin's: "It must not, however, be supposed that they live on fish." What connection and what distinction does the text make?

     Result: Collnett's analogy connects a strange animal to a familiar one: a dark, scaly reptile that swims and lies on the shore, like a small alligator. Darwin keeps the picture but marks where the analogy stops, with the signal word "however": alligators hunt, but these lizards do not live on fish. The text also distinguishes two individuals, the captain who guessed and the naturalist who checks.

   • Comparison with a close relative

     Mr. Bell "well foresaw, from its short, broad head, and strong claws of equal length, that its habits of life would turn out very peculiar, and different from those of its nearest ally, the Iguana." What does this comparison connect, and what does it distinguish?

     Result: "Nearest ally" connects the marine lizard to the iguana: they are close relatives. "Different from" distinguishes their ways of life. The sentence also connects an individual to an idea: Bell predicted how the animal lives from the shape of its body, before anyone had watched it.

   • Connecting body to way of life

     Darwin writes that "Their tails are flattened sideways, and all four feet partially webbed," that the lizard swims "by a serpentine movement of its body and flattened tail," and that "Their limbs and strong claws are admirably adapted for crawling over the rugged and fissured masses of lava." How do these details connect?

     Result: Darwin links each body part to a job: the flattened tail to swimming, the claws to gripping sharp lava. "Admirably adapted" names the connection directly. "Serpentine" is a small comparison hidden in one word: the lizard swims the way a snake moves, so the reader can picture the side-to-side motion.

   Tool, words, link or split, so what. Show Diagram 1 and model four moves with the second example: name the tool (analogy); quote the words that do the work ("may be called alligators in miniature"); say whether they connect, distinguish or both; then say what the reader understands because of it. Give students a sentence frame: "The text uses a ___ (comparison, analogy or category) when it says ___. This connects / distinguishes ___ and ___, which helps the reader see that ___."

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Read Passage 2 aloud. Darwin now turns to the second species, and he keeps the first one in mind the whole time. Words to know: A. Demarlii (Darwin's name for the land species), Albemarle, James, Barrington, Indefatigable and the other names (the English names of the islands in Darwin's time), dispersed (spread out), sterile (here, dry and bare, with few plants), forcible (strong, convincing), the sea-kind (the marine species), facial angle (the slope of the face), singularly (unusually), torpid (sleepy and slow, as if half asleep), parched (very dry), succulent (thick and full of juice), deliberately (slowly and carefully) and indifference (not caring at all).

   1We will now turn to the terrestrial species (A. Demarlii), with a round tail, and toes without webs. This lizard, instead of being found like the other on all the islands, is confined to the central part of the archipelago, namely to Albemarle, James, Barrington, and Indefatigable islands. To the southward, in Charles, Hood, and Chatham islands, and to the northward, in Towers, Bindloes, and Abingdon, I neither saw nor heard of any. It would appear as if it had been created in the centre of the archipelago, and thence had been dispersed only to a certain distance. Some of these lizards inhabit the high and damp parts of the islands, but they are much more numerous in the lower and sterile districts near the coast. I cannot give a more forcible proof of their numbers, than by stating that when we were left at James Island, we could not for some time find a spot free from their burrows on which to pitch our single tent. Like their brothers the sea-kind, they are ugly animals, of a yellowish orange beneath, and of a brownish red colour above: from their low facial angle they have a singularly stupid appearance. They are, perhaps, of a rather less size than the marine species; but several of them weighed between ten and fifteen pounds. In their movements they are lazy and half torpid. When not frightened, they slowly crawl along with their tails and bellies dragging on the ground. They often stop, and doze for a minute or two, with closed eyes and hind legs spread out on the parched soil.

   [...]

   2The individuals, and they are the greater number, which inhabit the lower country, can scarcely taste a drop of water throughout the year; but they consume much of the succulent cactus, the branches of which are occasionally broken off by the wind. I several times threw a piece to two or three of them when together; and it was amusing enough to see them trying to seize and carry it away in their mouths, like so many hungry dogs with a bone. They eat very deliberately, but do not chew their food. The little birds are aware how harmless these creatures are: I have seen one of the thick-billed finches picking at one end of a piece of cactus (which is much relished by all the animals of the lower region), whilst a lizard was eating at the other end; and afterwards the little bird with the utmost indifference hopped on the back of the reptile.

   Pairs copy Diagram 2, the connection and distinction chart. The marine side is already filled in from Passage 1. They fill in the land side and the middle from Passage 2 and underline the words Darwin uses to signal each link or difference. Then they answer the three questions below. Take answers, then share the teacher notes:

   1. Fill in the chart. Teacher note: tail, "a round tail"; toes, "toes without webs"; color, "yellowish orange beneath, and of a brownish red colour above"; size, "of a rather less size than the marine species," with some weighing "between ten and fifteen pounds"; home, burrows (so many that the crew could hardly find room "to pitch our single tent"). In the middle: both are slow ("sluggish" in Passage 1, "lazy and half torpid" in Passage 2), and both look dull to Darwin.
   2. Find a connection. Which phrase in Passage 2 links the land lizards to the marine ones? Teacher note: "Like their brothers the sea-kind, they are ugly animals." "Like" is the signal word for a comparison, and "brothers" is a small analogy: the two species are related the way brothers in one family are.
   3. Find a distinction. Which phrases in the first sentence point back to Passage 1 to show a difference? Teacher note: "with a round tail, and toes without webs." Darwin does not repeat "unlike the marine species," but a reader who remembers "flattened sideways" and "partially webbed" sees the contrast at once. The comparison works across two passages.
4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Passage 3 on their own. Here Darwin puts the two species side by side and then steps back to compare the islands with the rest of the world. Words to know: genera Lacerta and Iguana (two other groups of lizards), herbivorous (plant-eating), snout (nose and mouth), adaptation (a body feature that suits the way an animal lives), well-characterized (clearly described), marine vegetable productions (plants that grow in the sea, such as seaweed), warrens (crowded groups of burrows), Order (a large group in the sorting of living things; here, the reptiles), mammalia (mammals), the Secondary epochs (an old name for the long age of the dinosaurs, millions of years ago), humid (damp), rank vegetation (thick, overgrown plant life), arid (very dry), equatorial (near the equator) and temperate (mild, neither very hot nor very cold).

   1These two species of Amblyrhynchus agree, as I have already stated, in their general structure, and in many of their habits. Neither have that rapid movement, so characteristic of the genera Lacerta and Iguana. They are both herbivorous, although the kind of vegetation on which they feed is so very different. Mr. Bell has given the name to the genus from the shortness of the snout: indeed, the form of the mouth may almost be compared to that of the tortoise: one is led to suppose that this is an adaptation to their herbivorous appetites. It is very interesting thus to find a well-characterized genus, having its marine and terrestrial species, belonging to so confined a portion of the world. The aquatic species is by far the most remarkable, because it is the only existing lizard which lives on marine vegetable productions. As I at first observed, these islands are not so remarkable for the number of the species of reptiles, as for that of the individuals, when we remember the well-beaten paths made by the thousands of huge tortoises--the many turtles--the great warrens of the terrestrial Amblyrhynchus--and the groups of the marine species basking on the coast-rocks of every island--we must admit that there is no other quarter of the world where this Order replaces the herbivorous mammalia in so extraordinary a manner. The geologist on hearing this will probably refer back in his mind to the Secondary epochs, when lizards, some herbivorous, some carnivorous, and of dimensions comparable only with our existing whales, swarmed on the land and in the sea. It is, therefore, worthy of his observation, that this archipelago, instead of possessing a humid climate and rank vegetation, cannot be considered otherwise than extremely arid, and, for an equatorial region, remarkably temperate.

   On the handout, students (1) make a two-column list of what Passage 3 says the two species share and where they differ, and circle the signal word in each sentence; (2) choose one comparison in Passage 3 that reaches beyond the two lizards, to another animal, group or time, and explain in two sentences what it helps the reader understand; (3) write one sentence in the frame from Direct Instruction about a category Darwin uses. The quiz uses Passages 1-3.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) In one sentence each, explain the difference between a comparison and an analogy. (2) Choose one sentence from Passages 1-3 that makes a connection and a distinction at the same time. Copy it, underline the words that connect, and circle the words that distinguish.

   Teacher note on science, names and language: Darwin wrote this in the 1830s and revised it in 1845, before he published his theory of evolution in 1859. When he writes in Passage 2 that the land lizard seems to have been "created in the centre of the archipelago," he is thinking aloud in the language of his time; today scientists explain the differences between islands through evolution. His words "hideous," "stupid" and "ugly" are his personal reactions, not scientific findings, and students can discuss how they color the description. The land lizard is now placed in a different genus, Conolophus, and called the Galapagos land iguana (Conolophus subcristatus); the marine iguana keeps the name Amblyrhynchus cristatus. Most islands now have Spanish names: Albemarle is Isabela, James is Santiago, Chatham is San Cristobal, Charles is Floreana and Indefatigable is Santa Cruz. The islands are a national park today, and visitors may not touch, chase or feed the animals, so the sailors' tests on the lizards would not be allowed. Darwin spells "colour" the British way; the passages keep his spelling.

   For homework: students read Passage 4, printed below. After the lizards, Darwin compares the islands with each other and finds something that puzzles him. Cuts are marked [...]. Words to know: distribution (where different living things are found), tenants (here, the animals and plants that live on the islands; the word usually means people who rent a home), mocking-thrush (a mockingbird), representative species (closely related species that take each other's place on different islands), circumstance (fact), analogous situations (similar places or roles), the natural economy (the way the living things of a place share its food and space), well-marked races (varieties of one species that are easy to tell apart), philosophical naturalist (a scientist who looks for the laws of nature), associated beings (the other living things around them), sensible (here, noticeable), Windward and leeward (the side the wind blows from and the side it blows toward), productions (living things), creative force (the power that produced so many kinds of living things), diverse (varied), satellite (a smaller body that travels with a larger one, as the Moon does with Earth), organically (in their living things) and intimately (closely).

   1The distribution of the tenants of this archipelago would not be nearly so wonderful, if, for instance, one island had a mocking-thrush, and a second island some other quite distinct genus,--if one island had its genus of lizard, and a second island another distinct genus, or none whatever;--or if the different islands were inhabited, not by representative species of the same genera of plants, but by totally different genera, as does to a certain extent hold good: for, to give one instance, a large berry-bearing tree at James Island has no representative species in Charles Island. But it is the circumstance, that several of the islands possess their own species of the tortoise, mocking-thrush, finches, and numerous plants, these species having the same general habits, occupying analogous situations, and obviously filling the same place in the natural economy of this archipelago, that strikes me with wonder. It may be suspected that some of these representative species, at least in the case of the tortoise and of some of the birds, may hereafter prove to be only well-marked races; but this would be of equally great interest to the philosophical naturalist. [...] I must repeat, that neither the nature of the soil, nor height of the land, nor the climate, nor the general character of the associated beings, and therefore their action one on another, can differ much in the different islands. If there be any sensible difference in their climates, it must be between the Windward group (namely, Charles and Chatham Islands), and that to leeward; but there seems to be no corresponding difference in the productions of these two halves of the archipelago.

   2[...] Reviewing the facts here given, one is astonished at the amount of creative force, if such an expression may be used, displayed on these small, barren, and rocky islands; and still more so, at its diverse yet analogous action on points so near each other. I have said that the Galapagos Archipelago might be called a satellite attached to America, but it should rather be called a group of satellites, physically similar, organically distinct, yet intimately related to each other, and all related in a marked, though much lesser degree, to the great American continent.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence explains something by means of an analogy?

   ABoth of the teams wear blue, but only one has white stripes. BA plant's leaf is a tiny kitchen where the plant makes its food. CReptiles, birds and mammals are three groups of animals with backbones. DThe storm reached the coast two days after the first warning.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence draws a distinction between two things?

   AFrogs and toads are both amphibians, and both lay their eggs in water. BA toad is a frog wearing a warty winter coat. CMany amphibians begin their lives in ponds. DToads have dry, bumpy skin, whereas frogs have smooth, moist skin.

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   An article sorts storms into "tropical storms" and "hurricanes" by how fast their winds blow. What does sorting them into these two categories do?

   AIt connects the storms and explains what causes them BIt makes an analogy between the storms and something more familiar to readers CIt shows the storms are related and draws a line between them DIt tells the order in which the storms usually happen

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Passage 1, how do the marine lizards on Albemarle Island differ from those on the other islands?

   AThey seem to grow larger there than elsewhere BThey are smaller there than on the other islands CThey have round tails there instead of flat ones DThey are never seen swimming near that island

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does Darwin include the event in which a seaman sank a marine lizard with a heavy weight?

   ATo show that sailors were unkind to the animals BTo show how much a large lizard weighs CTo show the lizard could live on fish at sea DTo show how well the lizard survives underwater

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail from Darwin's own observation in Passage 1 agrees with part of Captain Collnett's description?

   AThe lizards go to sea to catch fish BGroups of lizards lie in the sun on the rocks CThe lizards move in herds like cattle on land DThe lizards are the size of small alligators

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Passage 2, Darwin says the lizards tried to carry off the cactus "like so many hungry dogs with a bone." What does this analogy help the reader see?

   AThe lizards were grabbing eagerly for food BThe lizards were fierce and dangerous to people CThe lizards ate meat as well as plants DThe lizards were tame pets of the islanders

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What connection does the event with the thick-billed finch show in Passage 2?

   AThe finch and the lizard were rivals for the cactus BThe finch was hunting the insects on the lizard CThe finch knew the lizard would not harm it DThe finch was trying to drive the lizard away

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Passage 2 draws a distinction among the land lizards themselves. Where are they "much more numerous"?

   AIn the high and damp parts of the islands BOn the rocky sea-beaches of every island CIn the lower and dry districts near the coast DIn the trees and bushes of the central islands

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "Neither have that rapid movement, so characteristic of the genera Lacerta and Iguana" (Passage 3). What does this sentence do?

    AIt separates the marine lizard from the land lizard BIt links the two species and sets both apart from other lizards CIt explains why the two species eat different plants DIt shows that the iguanas and the two species all belong to one genus

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "They are both herbivorous, although the kind of vegetation on which they feed is so very different" (Passage 3). Which words signal the connection and which signal the distinction?

    A"herbivorous" signals the distinction; "feed" signals the connection B"They are" signals the connection; "vegetation" signals the distinction C"so very" signals the connection; "both" signals the distinction D"both" signals the connection; "although" signals the distinction

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why does Darwin compare the lizards' mouths to a tortoise's mouth in Passage 3?

    ATo show that the lizards are a kind of tortoise BTo support the idea that the short snout suits a plant diet CTo show that the lizards and tortoises fight over food DTo explain how Mr. Bell came to choose the name of the tortoise

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Passage 3, what makes the aquatic species "by far the most remarkable"?

    AIt is the largest lizard living anywhere in the world BIt is the only lizard found on every island of the group CIt is the only living lizard that feeds on sea plants DIt is the only lizard that swims out to catch fish

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Darwin writes that "there is no other quarter of the world where this Order replaces the herbivorous mammalia in so extraordinary a manner" (Passage 3). What does he mean?

    AReptiles do the job that plant-eating mammals do in other places BMammals on the islands have started to act like reptiles CThe reptiles are hunting the plant-eating mammals on the islands to extinction DThe islands have more kinds of mammals than any other place

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Darwin says a geologist "will probably refer back in his mind to the Secondary epochs" (Passage 3). What connection does he draw between the Galapagos and that ancient time, and what distinction does he draw in the last sentence? Quote the words for each.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    "It is very interesting thus to find a well-characterized genus, having its marine and terrestrial species, belonging to so confined a portion of the world" (Passage 3). Explain the connection and the distinction in this sentence, and why Darwin finds it interesting.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Darwin writes that the land lizard "would appear as if it had been created in the centre of the archipelago, and thence had been dispersed only to a certain distance" (Passage 2). What distinction between the two species is he trying to explain? Quote the words that make the distinction.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Passage 2, paragraph 2, Darwin writes that the lowland lizards "can scarcely taste a drop of water throughout the year; but they consume much of the succulent cactus." What connection between these two ideas does the sentence suggest? Explain what "but" and "succulent" add.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Passage 3, Darwin lists "the thousands of huge tortoises--the many turtles--the great warrens of the terrestrial Amblyrhynchus--and the groups of the marine species." What distinction is the list meant to prove?

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Which tool does Darwin rely on most in Passages 1-3 to connect and distinguish the two lizards: comparison, analogy or categories? Choose one and support it with two quotations from two different passages. At least one quotation must be one that is not analyzed in the worked examples, Diagrams 1 and 2 or the Guided Practice teacher notes. Explain why your tool does more work than the other two.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RI.8.3: 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.