Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "A friend walks into class soaking wet, holding an umbrella that has turned inside out, and says, 'Lovely weather.' Write one thing you know for certain and one thing you guess. For the guess, name the clue that made you guess it."

   Take three or four answers and sort them on the board under two headings: Stated or seen (she is wet, the umbrella is broken, she said "Lovely weather") and Inferred (she is being sarcastic, it is raining hard). Point out that every good guess on the board came with a clue. Tell students that reading literature works the same way, and that today they will learn to show their clues from the text in quotation marks.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Define four terms before reading:

   • Explicit: stated directly in the words of the text. You can put your finger on it.
   • Inference: a conclusion the text supports but does not state. It joins details from the text to what a reader knows about people and the world.
   • Strong evidence: exact words that bear directly on the claim. A quotation that is only on the same topic is weak.
   • Thorough evidence: enough evidence to carry the claim, usually two or more details from different places, each followed by an explanation of how it supports the claim.

   Read the opening of the story aloud. Stop after paragraph 15 and ask students not to read ahead.

   1“My aunt will be down presently, Mr. Nuttel,” said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen; “in the meantime you must try and put up with me.”

   2Framton Nuttel endeavoured to say the correct something which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly discounting the aunt that was to come. Privately he doubted more than ever whether these formal visits on a succession of total strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure which he was supposed to be undergoing.

   3“I know how it will be,” his sister had said when he was preparing to migrate to this rural retreat; “you will bury yourself down there and not speak to a living soul, and your nerves will be worse than ever from moping. I shall just give you letters of introduction to all the people I know there. Some of them, as far as I can remember, were quite nice.”

   4Framton wondered whether Mrs. Sappleton, the lady to whom he was presenting one of the letters of introduction, came into the nice division.

   5“Do you know many of the people round here?” asked the niece, when she judged that they had had sufficient silent communion.

   6“Hardly a soul,” said Framton. “My sister was staying here, at the rectory, you know, some four years ago, and she gave me letters of introduction to some of the people here.”

   7He made the last statement in a tone of distinct regret.

   8“Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?” pursued the self-possessed young lady.

   9“Only her name and address,” admitted the caller. He was wondering whether Mrs. Sappleton was in the married or widowed state. An undefinable something about the room seemed to suggest masculine habitation.

   10“Her great tragedy happened just three years ago,” said the child; “that would be since your sister’s time.”

   11“Her tragedy?” asked Framton; somehow in this restful country spot tragedies seemed out of place.

   12“You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon,” said the niece, indicating a large French window that opened on to a lawn.

   13“It is quite warm for the time of the year,” said Framton; “but has that window got anything to do with the tragedy?”

   14“Out through that window, three years ago to a day, her husband and her two young brothers went off for their day’s shooting. They never came back. In crossing the moor to their favourite snipe-shooting ground they were all three engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog. It had been that dreadful wet summer, you know, and places that were safe in other years gave way suddenly without warning. Their bodies were never recovered. That was the dreadful part of it.” Here the child’s voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human. “Poor aunt always thinks that they will come back some day, they and the little brown spaniel that was lost with them, and walk in at that window just as they used to do. That is why the window is kept open every evening till it is quite dusk. Poor dear aunt, she has often told me how they went out, her husband with his white waterproof coat over his arm, and Ronnie, her youngest brother, singing ‘Bertie, why do you bound?’ as he always did to tease her, because she said it got on her nerves. Do you know, sometimes on still, quiet evenings like this, I almost get a creepy feeling that they will all walk in through that window—”

   15She broke off with a little shudder.

   • Explicit: point to the words

     What does paragraph 1 state directly about the niece?

     Result: She is "a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen," and she is keeping the guest company because her aunt "will be down presently." Each fact is in the words of the text, so a quotation settles it.

   • Inference: join details

     Framton's sister says of her old acquaintances, "Some of them, as far as I can remember, were quite nice" (paragraph 3). What can a reader infer about the people she is sending him to?

     Result: She does not know them well, and she is not sure they are all pleasant. "Some" and "as far as I can remember" suggest it; paragraph 4 backs it up, since Framton has to wonder whether Mrs. Sappleton "came into the nice division."

   • Weak vs. strong evidence

     Claim: Framton expects little from these visits. Which is stronger evidence, "'Hardly a soul,' said Framton" (paragraph 6) or "Privately he doubted more than ever whether these formal visits on a succession of total strangers would do much towards helping the nerve cure" (paragraph 2)?

     Result: Paragraph 2 is strong: it states his doubt about the visits in so many words. "Hardly a soul" only answers whether he knows people; it is on the topic but does not show what he expects.

   • From thin to thorough

     Thin answer: "Vera's story about the tragedy is believable because she tells it well." Make it thorough, using paragraph 14.

     Result: "Vera makes the tragedy believable with exact facts: it happened 'three years ago to a day,' and 'Their bodies were never recovered.' She adds small personal details, such as the husband's 'white waterproof coat' and the song Ronnie sang 'to tease her.' A precise date and ordinary details are what a true memory sounds like."

   How to cite. Model the three moves on the board: say it (the claim in your own words), cite it (the exact words in quotation marks, with the paragraph or line number in parentheses), explain it (one sentence on how those words support the claim). Show that a quotation dropped into a paragraph with no lead-in and no explanation leaves the reader to do the work.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs use two highlighter colors: one for what the opening states, one for details that invite an inference. Work through these three sentences together. For each, ask pairs what is stated, what can be inferred, and which words support the inference, before you confirm:

   1. "Framton Nuttel endeavoured to say the correct something which should duly flatter the niece of the moment without unduly discounting the aunt that was to come" (paragraph 2). Teacher note: stated, he tries to say something polite. Inferred, he worries about social rules and about offending anyone; the fussy wording ("duly," "unduly") mirrors his fussiness.
   2. "'You may wonder why we keep that window wide open on an October afternoon,' said the niece" (paragraph 12). Teacher note: stated, the window is open and it is October. Not stated, why it is open. Ask students to notice who raises the subject of the window first, and to keep that detail in mind as they read on.
   3. "'It is quite warm for the time of the year,' said Framton" (paragraph 13). Teacher note: stated, Framton offers a simple reason for the open window. Inferred, he is looking for an ordinary explanation, yet his next question ("has that window got anything to do with the tragedy?") shows he is already drawn into her story.

   Then each pair writes one inference about Vera on a sticky note, with two quotations from different paragraphs that support it. Collect the notes and keep them: students will test them against the ending in the next phase.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read the ending of the story on their own and complete two tasks on the handout: (1) find one detail in the ending that is stated explicitly and one that the reader must infer, each with a quotation; (2) return to their sticky note and decide whether the inference about Vera still holds, needs revising or is overturned, citing the paragraph that decides it. The quiz questions on both excerpts work as a check once students finish.

   1“I hope you don’t mind the open window,” said Mrs. Sappleton briskly; “my husband and brothers will be home directly from shooting, and they always come in this way. They’ve been out for snipe in the marshes to-day, so they’ll make a fine mess over my poor carpets. So like you men-folk, isn’t it?”

   2She rattled on cheerfully about the shooting and the scarcity of birds, and the prospects for duck in the winter. To Framton it was all purely horrible. He made a desperate but only partially successful effort to turn the talk on to a less ghastly topic; he was conscious that his hostess was giving him only a fragment of her attention, and her eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and the lawn beyond. It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have paid his visit on this tragic anniversary.

   3“The doctors agree in ordering me complete rest, an absence of mental excitement, and avoidance of anything in the nature of violent physical exercise,” announced Framton, who laboured under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one’s ailments and infirmities, their cause and cure. “On the matter of diet they are not so much in agreement,” he continued.

   4“No?” said Mrs. Sappleton, in a voice which only replaced a yawn at the last moment. Then she suddenly brightened into alert attention—but not to what Framton was saying.

   5“Here they are at last!” she cried. “Just in time for tea, and don’t they look as if they were muddy up to the eyes!”

   6Framton shivered slightly and turned towards the niece with a look intended to convey sympathetic comprehension. The child was staring out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes. In a chill shock of nameless fear Framton swung round in his seat and looked in the same direction.

   7In the deepening twilight three figures were walking across the lawn towards the window; they all carried guns under their arms, and one of them was additionally burdened with a white coat hung over his shoulders. A tired brown spaniel kept close at their heels. Noiselessly they neared the house, and then a hoarse young voice chanted out of the dusk: “I said, Bertie, why do you bound?”

   8Framton grabbed wildly at his stick and hat; the hall-door, the gravel-drive, and the front gate were dimly-noted stages in his headlong retreat. A cyclist coming along the road had to run into the hedge to avoid an imminent collision.

   9“Here we are, my dear,” said the bearer of the white mackintosh, coming in through the window; “fairly muddy, but most of it’s dry. Who was that who bolted out as we came up?”

   10“A most extraordinary man, a Mr. Nuttel,” said Mrs. Sappleton; “could only talk about his illnesses, and dashed off without a word of good-bye or apology when you arrived. One would think he had seen a ghost.”

   11“I expect it was the spaniel,” said the niece calmly; “he told me he had a horror of dogs. He was once hunted into a cemetery somewhere on the banks of the Ganges by a pack of pariah dogs, and had to spend the night in a newly dug grave with the creatures snarling and grinning and foaming just above him. Enough to make anyone lose their nerve.”

   12Romance at short notice was her speciality.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) In one sentence, explain the difference between citing evidence for an explicit claim and citing evidence for an inference. (2) Write down the sentence from the ending that most changed your reading of the opening, with its paragraph number.

   Teacher note on language: in the ending, paragraph 11, Vera's invented tale places Framton "on the banks of the Ganges" among "pariah dogs." This is a British colonial-era image of India as an exotic backdrop, and "pariah" comes from the Tamil name of the Paraiyar, a community long treated as outcaste under the caste system. Keep the words as Saki wrote them, and point out that the story uses them as part of a made-up adventure, not as a description anyone should repeat. The spellings "endeavoured" and "favourite" are British, kept as published.

   For homework: students read the sonnet below, which the homework uses.

   1Because he was a butcher and thereby
   Did earn an honest living (and did right),
   I would not have you think that Reuben Bright
   Was any more a brute than you or I;
   5For when they told him that his wife must die,
   He stared at them, and shook with grief and fright,
   And cried like a great baby half that night,
   And made the women cry to see him cry.

   And after she was dead, and he had paid
   10The singers and the sexton and the rest,
   He packed a lot of things that she had made
   Most mournfully away in an old chest
   Of hers, and put some chopped-up cedar boughs
   In with them, and tore down the slaughter-house.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which statement best describes an inference?

   AA fact the text states directly in its own words BA conclusion a reader draws from details that the text never states outright CA reader's personal opinion about whether the story is good DA summary of the main events of the story in order

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In the opening, what reason does Vera give for the moor being dangerous in the year the men were lost?

   AHeavy snow had hidden the paths across the moor. BThe men had strayed from the path in a thick fog. CA very wet summer had made ground that was usually safe give way. DDogs had chased the men off the path and into the bog.

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Before she tells her story, Vera asks, "Then you know practically nothing about my aunt?" (paragraph 8), and later adds that the tragedy "would be since your sister's time" (paragraph 10). Which inference do these details best support?

   AShe makes sure the guest has no way to check what she is about to tell him. BShe is worried that her aunt will be angry with the guest for arriving early. CShe wants to find out whether the guest's sister is still living in the rectory. DShe is shy and asks polite questions because she cannot think of anything else.

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Vera in the opening, why is the window kept open?

   AMrs. Sappleton likes fresh air, and October has been warm. BThe room grows too smoky from the fire in the evenings. CThe aunt hopes to hear the spaniel barking out on the moor. DThe aunt believes the lost men will one day walk back in through it.

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In the ending, Mrs. Sappleton's "eyes were constantly straying past him to the open window and the lawn beyond" (paragraph 2). Framton takes this as a sign of grief. What does the rest of the ending show the reader?

   AShe is watching for her husband and brothers, whom she expects home for tea. BShe is so upset by the anniversary that she cannot look at her guest's face. CShe is bored by the weather and hopes a storm will come across the lawn. DShe has seen the cyclist on the road and is afraid he will crash into the hedge.

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does Mrs. Sappleton state explicitly about the open window at the start of the ending?

   AIt is kept open because the house is too warm in October. BHer husband and brothers always come in that way after shooting. CIt reminds her of the day she lost her family on the moor. DHer niece opened it so that the guest could see the lawn.

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which quotation from the ending is the strongest evidence that the three men walking across the lawn are alive and not ghosts?

   A"In the deepening twilight three figures were walking across the lawn towards the window" (paragraph 7) B"Noiselessly they neared the house, and then a hoarse young voice chanted out of the dusk" (paragraph 7) C"'Here we are, my dear,' said the bearer of the white mackintosh ... 'Who was that who bolted out as we came up?'" (paragraph 9) D"A tired brown spaniel kept close at their heels" (paragraph 7)

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   As the men approach, "The child was staring out through the open window with dazed horror in her eyes" (paragraph 6). In light of the whole story, what is the best explanation of her expression?

   AShe is truly terrified because she believes the men are ghosts. BShe has just remembered that her aunt dislikes muddy carpets. CShe is afraid that the guest will be angry and tell her aunt. DShe is acting, so that the guest will believe the men are ghosts.

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   The last sentence says, "Romance at short notice was her speciality" (paragraph 12). What kind of evidence is this sentence, and what does it show?

   AIt is a character's opinion, so it cannot be used as evidence about Vera. BIt is the narrator stating directly that Vera invents dramatic stories on the spot. CIt is an inference by Framton, who has worked out that Vera fooled him. DIt is explicit evidence that Vera writes romance novels for a living.

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Vera tells the family that Framton "told me he had a horror of dogs" (ending, paragraph 11). Which evidence shows most thoroughly that she has made this up too?

    AFramton says the doctors disagree about his diet, so he must be lying about his health. BThe spaniel is described as "tired," so it could not have frightened anyone. CIn the conversation shown in the opening, Framton never mentions dogs to Vera, and she has already invented one tragedy for him. DMrs. Sappleton says, "One would think he had seen a ghost," which proves he feared dogs.

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In the ending, paragraph 2 says, "It was certainly an unfortunate coincidence that he should have paid his visit on this tragic anniversary." Is this sentence explicit evidence that the day really is the anniversary of a tragedy?

    ANo. It gives Framton's view of the day, which the ending shows is mistaken. BYes. The narrator uses the word "certainly," so the statement must be true. CYes. Mrs. Sappleton says the same thing about the anniversary in paragraph 1. DNo. The sentence is a question, so it cannot state anything explicitly.

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student is asked, "Is Vera calm under pressure?" Which answer uses the most thorough evidence?

    AYes. She is a very calm person and she always stays cool in every situation, even when things go wrong for her. BYes. She says, "I expect it was the spaniel" (ending, paragraph 11). That is why she is calm under pressure. CYes. When the men walk in and her story could fall apart, she answers "calmly" with a new tale (ending, paragraph 11), and with a stranger she stays "self-possessed" (opening, paragraph 1). DYes. She stares at the ghosts of her uncles "with dazed horror" (ending, paragraph 6) and then calmly tells her aunt the truth (ending, paragraph 11).

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which sentence cites evidence from the opening correctly?

    AVera says the men were engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog, which shows her story is dramatic. BVera claims the men were "engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog" (paragraph 14), a detail that makes the loss sound sudden and final. C"Engulfed in a treacherous piece of bog." (paragraph 14) DVera claims the men "sank into the mud and disappeared" (paragraph 14), which makes the loss sound final.

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Mrs. Sappleton says of Framton, "One would think he had seen a ghost" (ending, paragraph 10). What does the reader understand that she does not?

    AThat Framton has a real medical condition that causes sudden fainting BThat the men were in fact lost in the bog three years ago CThat Framton was frightened of the spaniel, just as Vera explains DThat Framton really did believe he was seeing ghosts, because of Vera's story

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    In the ending, the narrator says Framton "laboured under the tolerably widespread delusion that total strangers and chance acquaintances are hungry for the least detail of one's ailments and infirmities" (paragraph 3). What can you infer about how the narrator views Framton? Support your answer with this quotation and one more detail from either excerpt.

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16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    In the opening, as Vera tells the tragedy, "the child's voice lost its self-possessed note and became falteringly human" (paragraph 14). Explain what a first-time reader would infer from this detail, and how the ending changes that inference. Cite the ending.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Name one thing the story states explicitly about what Framton sees just before he runs away, and one thing the reader must infer about why Vera tells her stories. Cite evidence for each.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a claim about why Framton believes Vera's story so easily, and support it with two pieces of evidence from different excerpts.

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    A student claims, "Mrs. Sappleton is cruel to her guest," and cites her answer to his talk about his health, "'No?' said Mrs. Sappleton, in a voice which only replaced a yawn at the last moment" (ending, paragraph 4). Is this strong evidence for the claim? Explain, and say what the quotation does support.

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    In the opening, Vera describes the husband "with his white waterproof coat over his arm" and Ronnie "singing 'Bertie, why do you bound?'" (paragraph 14). In the ending, the men return carrying "a white coat" and a voice sings "I said, Bertie, why do you bound?" (paragraph 7). What can you infer from this match about how Vera builds her story? Cite both excerpts.

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These standards connect to RL.9-10.1: 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.