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 Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5 minutes

1. Warm-Up5-10 minutes

   Project the prompt, which describes the back of a seed packet. Give students two minutes to answer it with a partner.

   Warm-Up Prompt

   The back of a packet of bean seeds has four short parts, each under its own heading: "About This Bean," "When to Plant," "How to Plant" and "What to Expect" (sprouts in 8-10 days, beans in about 55 days). Why do you think the company put the parts in this order? Which part would you miss most if it were torn off, and why?

   Take answers. Students usually notice that each part answers a question a gardener has, in the order the gardener needs it: what is it, when, how, and what happens next. Losing "How to Plant" would leave a reader unable to do the job; losing "What to Expect" would leave a reader unsure whether the seeds had failed. Tell students that this is what RST.6-8.5 asks them to do with science texts: analyze the structure an author uses, and explain how each major section helps the whole text work and helps the reader understand the topic.

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Part 1: Words for talking about structure. Keep this table up for the whole lesson.

   Words for analyzing how a text is organized

   Term	What it means	Example
   Structure	The way an author organizes a text: the order of its parts and how they connect	Question, then procedure, then results
   Major section	A large part of a text that does one job, often marked by a heading or a label	"Method" in a Handbook lesson
   Heading or label	A word or phrase that names a section and tells the reader what it is for	"Leading thought"
   Sequence	Parts in time order or step order	Steps 1, 2, 3 of a procedure
   Cause and effect	One part tells what happens and another tells why	"The soil stayed too wet, so the seeds rotted"
   Compare and contrast	Parts show how two things are alike or different	Bush beans and pole beans
   Problem and solution	One part names a problem and a later part gives a way to solve it	Birds dig up the seeds, so cover the rows with netting
   General to specific	A main idea first, then examples that show it	A rule about planting depth, then the depth for each kind of seed

   Part 2: Model with Passages 1 and 2. Anna Botsford Comstock taught nature study at Cornell University, and in 1911 she published the Handbook of Nature-Study for teachers and parents. Almost every topic in it has the same parts. Passage 1 is her own explanation of those parts. Passage 2 is one lesson from the book, on how a brook (a small stream) drops the soil and stones it carries. Words to know: indispensably (as something you cannot do without), boon companion (a friendly partner), embodies (holds), herein (in this book), slavishly (exactly, without thinking), load (the soil, sand and stones moving water carries), checked (slowed down), sediment (bits of rock and soil that settle in water), delta (a fan of sand and mud built up where a stream flows into still water), rills (very small streams), freshly graded (just leveled), roily (muddy and cloudy). Read both passages aloud once, then work the three examples. Diagram 1 shows the parts of the entry.

   1First and indispensably, the teacher should have at hand the subject of the lesson. She should make herself familiar with the points covered by the questions and read the story before giving the lesson. If she does not have the time to go over the observations suggested, before giving the lesson, she should take up the questions with the pupils as a joint investigation, and be boon companion in discovering the story.

   2The story should not be read to the pupils. It is given as an assistance to the teacher, and is not meant for direct information to the pupils. If the teacher knows a fact in nature’s realm, she is then in a position to lead her pupils to discover this fact for themselves.

   3Make the lesson an investigation and make the pupils feel that they are investigators. To tell the story to begin with, inevitably spoils this attitude and quenches interest.

   4The “leading thought” embodies some of the points which should be in the teacher’s mind while giving the lesson; it should not be read or declared to the pupils.

   5The outlines for observations herein given, by no means cover all of the observations possible; they are meant to suggest to the teacher observations of her own, rather than to be followed slavishly.

   1Leading thought--The brook carries its load only when it is flowing rapidly. As soon as the current is checked, it drops the larger stones and gravel first and then the finer sediment. It is thus that deltas are built up where streams empty into lakes and ponds.

   2Method--Study the rills made in freshly graded soil directly after a heavy rain. Ask the pupils individually to make observations on the flooded brook.

   3Experiment--Take a glass fruit jar nearly full of water from the brook, add gravel and small stones from the bed of the brook, sand from its borders and mud from its quiet pools. Have it brought into the schoolroom, and shake it thoroughly. Then place in a window and ask the pupils to observe the following things:

   4(a) Does the mud begin to settle while the water is in motion; that is, while it is being shaken?

   5(b) As soon as it is quiet, does the settling process begin?

   6(c) Which settles first--the pebbles, the sand or the mud? Which settles on top--that is, which settles last?

   7(d) Notice that as long as the water is in the least roily, it means that the soil in it has not all settled; if the water is disturbed even a little it becomes roily again, which means that as soon as the water is in motion it takes up its load.

   8Observations--1. Where is the current swiftest, in the middle or at the side of the stream?

   92. What is the difference, in the bottom of the brook, between the place below the swift current and the edges? That is, if you were wading in the brook, where would it be more comfortable for your feet--at the sides or in the swiftest part of the current? Why?

   103. Does the brook have a more stony bed where it flows down a hillside than where flowing through a level place?

   [...]

   • Naming the major sections and their jobs

     Use Passages 1 and 2. What are the major sections of a Handbook entry, and what job does each one do?

     Result: Each entry has a Teacher's Story and then a numbered lesson. The story is background for the teacher: "It is given as an assistance to the teacher, and is not meant for direct information to the pupils" (Passage 1, paragraph 2). The lesson is split into labeled sections. The Leading thought holds the points "which should be in the teacher's mind while giving the lesson" (Passage 1, paragraph 4). The Method says when and where to study ("directly after a heavy rain," Passage 2, paragraph 2). The Experiment gives a test to do in the classroom (paragraph 3), and the Observations are questions for pupils to answer at the brook (paragraphs 8-10). The labels (Leading thought, Method, Experiment, Observations) tell the reader what each part is for.

   • How one section serves the whole

     The Leading thought of Passage 2 is only three sentences long. How does it contribute to the whole lesson?

     Result: It states the one idea that every other section works toward: the brook "carries its load only when it is flowing rapidly," drops "the larger stones and gravel first," and builds deltas (paragraph 1). The Method, Experiment and Observations are all ways of leading pupils to discover that idea for themselves. Without it, a teacher would have a list of activities but no clear point to steer the class toward, which is why Comstock says it belongs in "the teacher's mind" (Passage 1, paragraph 4).

   • How one section builds understanding of the topic

     How does the Experiment section (paragraphs 3-7 of Passage 2) help a reader understand how brooks drop their load?

     Result: A real brook drops its load over miles and months, which is hard to watch. The jar shrinks that into a few minutes: shaking the jar stands for moving water, and setting it still stands for a current that is checked. Question (c) asks "Which settles first--the pebbles, the sand or the mud?" and question (d) points out that "as soon as the water is in motion it takes up its load." The section turns the Leading thought into something pupils can see, so the idea is not just something they are told.

   Demonstration (3 minutes). Before class, fill a glass jar two-thirds with water and add a handful each of gravel, sand and garden soil; screw the lid on tight. Shake it in front of the class, set it on a windowsill and leave it there. Students check it at the end of Guided Practice and again in Closure, and compare what they see with the Experiment section of Passage 2.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Passage 3, the first half of the Teacher's Story that comes before Lesson CCX in the book. Words to know: discriminating (choosy), burdens (loads), depositing (setting down), erosion (the wearing away and carrying off of soil and rock by water, wind or ice), graded (leveled), mulch (a covering that protects soil), erosive impact (the force that knocks soil loose), contour plowing (plowing across a slope instead of up and down), furrow (the groove a plow makes), fertility (how well soil grows crops). Comstock writes as if the brook chooses what to carry ("with quite superhuman wisdom"). She is being playful: the speed of the water, not a choice, decides which grains it can carry.

   1The brook is most discriminating in the way it takes up its burdens, and also in the way it lays them down. It, with quite superhuman wisdom, selects the lightest material first, leaving the heaviest to the last; and when depositing the load, it promptly drops the heaviest part first. And thus the flowing waters of the earth are eternally lifting, selecting, and sifting the soils on its surface.

   2The action of rain upon the surface of the ground is in itself an excellent lesson in erosion. If there is on a hillside a bit of bare ground which has been recently cultivated or graded, we can plainly see, after a heavy rain, where the finer material has been sorted out and carried away, leaving the larger gravel and stones. And if we examine the pools in the brook, we shall find deltas as well as many examples of the way the soil is sifted as it is dropped. The water of a rill flowing through pasture and meadow is clear, even after a hard rain. This is owing, not so much to the fact that the roots hold the banks of the brook firmly, as that the grass on the surface of the ground acts as a mulch and protects the soil from the erosive impact of the raindrops. On the other hand, and for a reverse reason, a rill through plowed ground is muddy. On a hillside, therefore, contour plowing is practiced--that is, plowing crosswise the hillside instead of up and down. When the furrow is carried crosswise, the water after showers can not dash away, carrying off in it all the finer and more fertile portions of the soil. There are many instances in our Southern States where this difference in the direction of plowing has saved or destroyed the fertility of hillside farms.

   • Structure inside a section: general to specific

     Pairs decide how the two paragraphs of Passage 3 are organized and what paragraph 2 adds to paragraph 1.

     Result: Paragraph 1 states a general rule: moving water "selects the lightest material first" and "drops the heaviest part first," so the waters of the earth are "lifting, selecting, and sifting the soils." Paragraph 2 moves from that rule to specific places a teacher can look: bare ground after a heavy rain, where "the finer material has been sorted out and carried away," and the pools of a brook, where there are deltas. It also adds a practical use of the idea, contour plowing on farms. The structure is general to specific, and paragraph 2 contributes by turning a rule into things the teacher can point to outdoors.

   Debrief: Why would Comstock put the rule first and the examples second, in a section written for the teacher? (A teacher who knows the rule can recognize examples of it on a walk, even ones the book does not list.) Then hand out Passage 5, a lab report written for this page, for Activity 1. Diagram 2 shows the jobs of the sections of a lab report.

   1Question. When a model stream flows into still water, where do the coarse sand and the fine silt settle?

   2Background. A stream table is a long plastic tray that holds a sloping layer of wet sand and soil. Water poured in at the high end runs downhill, cuts a channel and carries grains with it. At the low end we kept a pool of still water, 25 cm long and 2 cm deep, to stand for a lake.

   3Hypothesis. If the stream slows down when it enters the pool, then the coarse sand will settle close to the mouth of the stream, and the fine silt will be carried farther out, because slow water can carry only light grains.

   4Materials. A stream table 75 cm long, filled with a mix of coarse sand and fine silt; a wooden block 5 cm high; a plastic cup with a small hole near the bottom; a bucket of water; a metric ruler; a hand lens; paper towels.

   5Procedure. (1) Set the high end of the table on the block and add water at the low end until the pool is 2 cm deep. (2) Hold the cup over the high end with a finger over the hole, fill it, then lift the finger and let the water run out. (3) Repeat step 2 until three cups of water have run through. (4) Wait 5 minutes, then measure how far into the pool, from the mouth of the stream, the coarse sand and the fine silt reach. (5) Smooth the sand and repeat steps 2-4 twice more.

   6Results. Trial 1: the coarse sand reached 6 cm into the pool and the silt reached 19 cm. Trial 2: sand 5 cm, silt 22 cm. Trial 3: sand 7 cm, silt 20 cm. The sand made a small fan shape at the mouth of the stream. The water over the silt stayed cloudy for about a minute after each pour.

   7Conclusion. In every trial the coarse sand stopped within 7 cm of the mouth, while the fine silt spread 19-22 cm into the pool. This supports our hypothesis: when the stream slowed in the pool, it dropped its heaviest grains first. The fan of sand looked like a small delta.

   8Sources of error. We could not pour at exactly the same speed each time, and the edge of the silt was hard to see, so our silt measurements may be off by 1-2 cm.

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students read Passage 4 on their own and answer quiz questions 1-20 with Passages 1-5 open. Passage 4 is the second half of the Teacher's Story; it follows Passage 3 directly in the book. Words to know: suspension (floating, mixed through the water), tendency (what usually happens), current (the flow of water in one direction), Introduction to Physical Geography (a geography textbook of the time, by Gilbert and Brigham), roily (muddy and cloudy).

   1The little experiment suggested at the beginning of the following lesson, should show the pupils clearly the following points: It is through motion that water takes up soil and holds it in suspension. The tendency of still water is to drop all the load which it is carrying and it drops the heaviest part first. We find the pebbles at the bottom of the jar, the sand and gravel next, and the fine mud on top. The water may become perfectly clear in the jar and yet, when stirred a little, it will become roily again because of the movement. Every child who wades in a brook, knows that the edges and the still pools are more comfortable for the feet than is the center of the stream under the swift current. This is because, where the water is less swift at the sides, it deposits its mud and makes a soft bottom; while under the swifter part of the current, mud is washed away leaving the larger stones bare. [...]

   2It should be noted that at points where the brook is narrowest the current is swiftest, and where the current is swiftest the bottom is more stony. Also, where there is a bend in the stream the brook digs deeper into the bank where it strikes the curve, and much of the soil thus washed out is removed to the other side of the stream where the current is very slow, and there is dropped. (See Introduction to Physical Geography, Gilbert and Brigham, pp. 51 and 52.) If possible, note that where a muddy stream empties into a pond or lake, the waters of the latter are made roily for some distance out, but beyond this the water remains clear. The pupils should be made to see that the swift current of the brook is checked when its waters empty into a pond or lake, and because of this they drop their load. This happens year after year, and a point extending out into the lake or pond is thus built up. In this manner the great river deltas are formed.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one major section of any text from today. In one sentence, say what the text would lose without it: what would a reader no longer be able to do or understand?" Sort the tickets into "names a job and a loss," "names the section but only retells it" and "confuses a section with the topic."

   Teacher note on the science, the safety and the language. Comstock's science holds up. Faster water carries larger grains; when water slows, the heaviest grains settle first; streams cut into the outside of a bend and drop soil where the water is slow; and deltas grow where streams enter still water. Two refinements: today's scientists would say that plant roots also do a great deal to hold soil in place, especially along stream banks, while the plant cover she describes shields the ground from raindrops (both matter, not mainly one); and packed clay is an exception to "lightest first," because its tiny particles stick together, so it can take faster water to lift than loose sand. Her picture of the brook "selecting" its load is a figure of speech. Her lessons send pupils to brooks after heavy rain: in class, use only the jar test or a stream table, and tell students never to wade in or reach into fast or flooded water. The Handbook speaks of every teacher as "she" and uses words of its time ("pupils," "roily"); they are kept as published.

   Homework passage. Passage 6 is the lesson just before Lesson CCX in the book, on studying a brook through the year. Words to know: source (where a stream begins), drainage (water running off the land), course (the path a stream takes), excursions (short trips), townships (small units of local government).

   1Leading thought--The water from the little brook near our schoolhouse is flowing toward the ocean, and is meanwhile digging out and carrying along with it the soil through which it flows.

   2Method--The best time to study a brook is after a rain, and October or May is an interesting time for beginning this lesson. The work should be continued during the entire year. It may be done at noon or recess, if the brook is near at hand; or there may be excursions after school, if the brook is at some distance. The observations should be made by the class as a whole.

   3Observations--1. Does the brook have its source in a spring or a swamp, or does it receive its water as drainage from surrounding hills? Follow it back to its very beginning. Do you find this in open fields or woods? Is the land about it level or hilly?

   42. Are its banks deeper at the beginning, or is the brook at first almost on a level with the surrounding fields? Do the banks become deeper farther from the source? Are the banks higher where the brook flows down hill, or where it is on a level?

   53. Is the course of the brook more crooked on a hillside or when flowing through a level area? Are the banks more worn away and steep where the brook flows through woods or bushes than through the open fields?

   64. Can you find the places where the water is cutting the banks most, when the brook is flooded? Why does it cut the banks at these particular points?

   75. Into what stream, pond or lake does the brook flow? If you should launch a toy boat upon the waters of this brook, and it should keep afloat, through what streams would it pass to reach the ocean? Through what townships, counties, states or countries would it pass?

   86. When is the brook working and when is it playing? What is the difference between the color of the water ordinarily and when the brook is flooded? What causes this difference?

   [...]

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Passage 4 begins, "The little experiment suggested at the beginning of the following lesson, should show the pupils clearly the following points." What job does this sentence do in the Teacher's Story?

   AIt gives the teacher the steps for setting up the jar of water, gravel and soil in the classroom BIt links the Teacher's Story to the lesson by announcing what the jar experiment should teach CIt reports the results that Comstock's own pupils got when they tried the jar experiment DIt warns the teacher that the jar experiment is too hard for pupils to carry out alone

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 1 of Passage 4, which point does the sentence "We find the pebbles at the bottom of the jar, the sand and gravel next, and the fine mud on top" support?

   A"It is through motion that water takes up soil and holds it in suspension." B"when stirred a little, it will become roily again because of the movement" C"The tendency of still water is to drop all the load which it is carrying and it drops the heaviest part first." D"Every child who wades in a brook, knows that the edges and the still pools are more comfortable for the feet than is the center of the stream under the swift current."

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which best describes how Passage 4 as a whole is organized?

   AFrom small to large: a jar in class, then the bed of a brook, then where a brook meets a lake BIn time order: from the first brook Comstock studied as a young child to the last one she studied as a teacher CCompare and contrast: one brook in a field set beside a very different brook in the woods DProblem and solution: a school that floods every spring, then a way to keep the water out

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does paragraph 2 of Passage 4 end with the sentence "In this manner the great river deltas are formed"?

   AIt starts a new topic, the great rivers of the world, that has nothing to do with the brook near the school BIt proves that every delta in the world was built by one small brook flowing into a pond CIt repeats the jar results for any teacher who did not read paragraph 1 of the passage DIt links what pupils can watch at a small brook to a large landform, widening their view of the topic

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 2 of Passage 4 includes "(See Introduction to Physical Geography, Gilbert and Brigham, pp. 51 and 52.)" What does this part contribute?

   AIt gives the title of the lesson that comes next in the Handbook of Nature-Study BIt sends the teacher to another book for more about how a stream cuts and fills at bends CIt quotes two scientists whose findings about deltas disagree with the findings that Comstock reports DIt lists the books that pupils must bring with them when they go to study the brook

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which words in paragraph 2 of Passage 4 signal a cause-and-effect relationship?

   A"Also," B"If possible," C"because of this" D"for some distance out"

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Observation 3 of Passage 2 (paragraph 10) asks, "Does the brook have a more stony bed where it flows down a hillside than where flowing through a level place?" Which idea from the Leading thought does it help pupils test at a real brook?

   AThat how fast the water flows decides what it carries away and what it leaves behind BThat deltas are built up at the places where streams empty into still lakes and ponds CThat mud begins to settle while the water in a jar is still being shaken DThat the current of a stream is always swiftest in the middle of the stream

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In the Experiment section of Passage 2, why do questions (a) and (b) come before question (c)?

   ABecause question (a) is the hardest one, and the hardest question should always come first BBecause the mud is the very first thing to settle in the jar, so pupils must watch the mud before anything else CBecause the jar has to be shaken again after every question before the next one is asked DBecause pupils must first see that settling starts only in still water, then ask what settles first

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Observation 2 of Passage 2 (paragraph 9) asks, "if you were wading in the brook, where would it be more comfortable for your feet--at the sides or in the swiftest part of the current?" Why does Comstock put the question this way?

   ATo tell pupils to wade into the swiftest part of a flooded brook so they can feel the stones BTo test whether pupils know the names of the kinds of rock found in a stream bed CTo connect a difference in the stream bottom to something pupils may have felt themselves DTo show that the edges of every brook are too dangerous for pupils to visit at all

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Passage 1, why should the teacher not tell the story at the start of the lesson?

    ATelling it first would spoil the pupils' feeling that they are investigators BThe story is far too long for a teacher to read aloud to the class in one period CThe story contains many mistakes that the teacher must correct before class DThe pupils already know everything that the story says about the topic

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Paragraph 2 of Passage 3 ends, "There are many instances in our Southern States where this difference in the direction of plowing has saved or destroyed the fertility of hillside farms." What does this sentence contribute to the paragraph?

    AIt gives the steps for plowing a hillside field, in the order a farmer would follow them BIt tells the full story of one Southern farm where plowing across the hill saved the soil CIt lists the books and pages where a teacher can read more about farms in the South DIt backs up the advice about plowing by pointing to real farms where it mattered

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    The last three sentences of paragraph 2 of Passage 3 begin, "On a hillside, therefore, contour plowing is practiced." How are these three sentences mainly organized?

    ASequence: the steps a farmer follows, in order, to plow a field on a hill BProblem and solution: rain washes good soil down plowed hills, and plowing across the slope stops it CCompare and contrast: a clear stream in a pasture set beside a muddy stream running through a plowed field DDefinition only: what the words "contour plowing" mean, with no reason given

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In paragraph 2 of Passage 3, which words signal that Comstock is contrasting a rill in a pasture with a rill in plowed ground?

    A"On the other hand" B"therefore" C"that is" D"even after a hard rain"

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    According to Passage 1, how should a teacher use the Observations section of a lesson?

    AAs a test that pupils must finish in order, answering one question after another BAs a complete list of everything there is to observe about the topic CAs suggestions that lead to her own observations, not a list to follow exactly DAs a reading to share aloud with the pupils before the lesson begins

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Suppose the Handbook printed Lesson CCX (Passage 2) without its Teacher's Story (Passages 3 and 4). What would a teacher lose? Give two specific losses, and quote one sentence from Passage 3 or 4 to support one of them.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Explain how paragraph 1 of Passage 4 connects to the Experiment section of Passage 2 (paragraphs 3-7). Quote one phrase from each passage.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    The Leading thought (Passage 2, paragraph 1) and paragraph 1 of Passage 3 state almost the same idea. Why does the idea appear in both sections? Explain the job it does in each.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In Passage 5, which sentence in the Conclusion refers back to the Hypothesis, and which facts from the Results does the Conclusion use? Explain why the Conclusion needs both of those sections.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Compare the structure of Lesson CCX (Passage 2) with the lab report in Passage 5. Name one section in each that does a similar job, and explain one difference in what the whole text is for.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    In two or three sentences, explain how the Observations section of Passage 2 (paragraphs 8-10) contributes to a reader's understanding of how brooks drop their load. Quote one observation.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RST.6-8.5: 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.