Overview

Lesson Procedure

60-60 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

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

1. Warm-Up5 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Look at a page of your science or history textbook. Find one chart, photo or map on it. What does it help you understand, and how does the page show you what to look at first?"

   Take four or five answers. Students usually mention captions, arrows, bold labels, a color that stands out or one large number. Write two headings on the board: Clarify (it helps me understand the idea or the evidence) and Emphasize (it tells me what matters most). Tell students that SL.7.5 asks presenters to use media for both jobs, and to cut anything that does neither.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: The words of the standard. Give students the table below to keep.

   The words of SL.7.5

   Term	What it means	Example
   Claim	The position a speaker wants listeners to accept	"The city should put a speed sign on Quarry Road."
   Finding	Something the speaker found out by counting, measuring, surveying or reading	"39 of the 60 cars we timed were over the limit."
   Clarify	Make a claim or a finding easier to understand	A map shows exactly which stretch of road was studied
   Salient point	The point that matters most, the one listeners should remember	The number of cars over the limit
   Emphasize	Make a point stand out from everything else	Coloring the key bars red and labeling them
   Multimedia component	Something besides the speaker's voice that listeners see or hear: a chart, map, photo, video or sound	A short video clip of a car being timed
   Visual display	Something listeners look at: a poster, a slide, a chart on the board, a model or an object	A slide with one number in large type

   Part 2: A model presentation. Read Model Presentation A aloud while a student holds up copies of Diagram 1 at the right moment. Act out the bracketed notes: point to a sketch of the map, count "one, two, three, four" for the stopwatch, and make a zooming sound for the cartoon in paragraph 4. Ask students to raise one finger when a component clarifies something and two fingers when it emphasizes something.

   1[Slide 1: the title "Slow Down on Quarry Road" above a map Noor drew on grid paper. It shows Ridgeview Middle School, Quarry Road, the crosswalk at the front gate, and two chalk marks on the sidewalk 200 feet apart. A star on the school lawn shows where she stood.] Good evening, members of the commission. My name is Noor Haddad, and I am in seventh grade at Ridgeview Middle School. My claim is that cars drive too fast on Quarry Road in front of our school, and that the city should put up a speed feedback sign, the kind that shows drivers their own speed. On the map, you can see the stretch of road I studied. It ends at the crosswalk that students use every morning.

   2[Video: an eight-second clip Noor recorded from the star on the map. A car passes the first chalk mark, and a stopwatch in the corner of the screen starts. The stopwatch stops as the car passes the second mark, at 4.1 seconds.] Here is how I measured speed. My science teacher, Mr. Delgado, and my dad stood with me behind the school fence, and we timed each car between the two chalk marks. The car in this clip took 4.1 seconds to go 200 feet. That works out to about 33 miles per hour. The speed limit here is 25.

   3[Slide 2: a bar chart, Diagram 1 on this page. The two bars for cars at or under 25 miles per hour are light blue. The three bars for cars over the limit are red, and a label above them says "39 of 60 cars over the limit."] We timed 60 cars on two school mornings. Please look at the red bars. They are the cars that went faster than the limit: 39 of the 60, almost two out of every three.

   4[Slide 3: a cartoon of a race car with flames coming out of it. It spins onto the screen with a loud zooming sound.] Some drivers are really in a hurry.

   5[Slide 4: a table with two rows in large type: "Hit at 23 mph: 1 in 4 people badly hurt" and "Hit at 31 mph: 1 in 2 people badly hurt." Under it, in smaller type: "Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety."] Why do a few miles per hour matter so much? A study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that when a car hits a person at 23 miles per hour, the average risk of severe injury is 25 percent. At 31 miles per hour, the risk is 50 percent. In our count, 18 cars were going 31 or faster.

   6[Slide 5: one sentence in large type, "39 of 60 cars were over the limit," next to a photo Noor took of a speed feedback sign on Hill Street that reads "YOUR SPEED 24."] Hill Street already has a sign like this one. When drivers see their own speed, some of them slow down. So here is my claim one more time: 39 of the 60 cars we timed broke the limit in front of our school. Please put a speed feedback sign on Quarry Road. Thank you.

   Part 3: What does each component do? Work through the five examples below. For each one, ask: Does it clarify the claim, clarify a finding, emphasize the salient point, or none of these?

   • A map that clarifies the claim (paragraph 1)

     What does Noor's hand-drawn map add to her opening?

     Result: Her claim is about one stretch of one road. The map shows exactly where it is: the school, the crosswalk and the two chalk marks 200 feet apart, with a star for where she stood. Listeners on the commission may never have stood in front of Ridgeview, so the map makes the claim concrete, and it sets up the method she explains next.

   • A video that clarifies a finding (paragraph 2)

     Why does Noor show one car being timed instead of only saying "we timed cars"?

     Result: The clip shows the method in eight seconds: the car passes one mark, the stopwatch starts, and it stops at the second mark at 4.1 seconds. Listeners see where her numbers come from, so the finding is easier to trust. She then does the math aloud: 200 feet in 4.1 seconds is about 33 miles per hour, over the limit of 25.

   • A chart that clarifies a finding and emphasizes the salient point (paragraph 3 and Diagram 1)

     How does the bar chart on Slide 2 do both jobs at once?

     Result: The five bars clarify the finding: listeners can see how the 60 speeds are spread out. The color emphasizes the salient point: only the bars over the limit are red, and the label above them states the key number. Noor also tells listeners where to look ("Please look at the red bars"), so no one studies the wrong part of the chart.

   • A slide that does neither (paragraph 4)

     What is wrong with the race car cartoon, and what should Noor do with it?

     Result: It clarifies no claim or finding: none of the cars she timed was a race car, and the loud zooming sound pulls attention away from her numbers. It also makes her talk sound like a joke in front of a city commission. Fix: cut Slide 3. If she wants a picture there, a still frame from her own video of a real car passing the crosswalk would at least show the real scene.

   • Repetition that emphasizes the salient point (paragraph 6)

     Slide 5 repeats a number listeners have already seen. Why is that a good choice?

     Result: The number 39 of 60 is her most important finding, so she puts it on screen again, alone and in large type, while she restates her claim. Listeners leave with one number and one request. The photo of the Hill Street sign clarifies what a speed feedback sign looks like, so the commission knows exactly what she is asking for.

   Wrap up. Point out that Noor uses the table on Slide 4 to clarify her reasoning, why a few miles per hour matter, and she names the source on the slide. Ask: "Which slide would you keep if Noor had time for only one?" Many students choose Slide 2, because it clarifies the finding and emphasizes the salient point at once.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Pairs read Draft Talk C, a class's findings about compost with no media at all. Each pair (1) writes the claim in one sentence, (2) picks the salient point, (3) plans two components that clarify the claim or a finding, and (4) plans one way to emphasize the salient point. Each pair sketches its most important component on grid paper.

   1Good morning. For three weeks, our class ran a test. We wanted to know whether food scraps from the cafeteria could become compost, which is rotted plant material that gardeners mix into soil. Our claim is that the school should compost its fruit and vegetable scraps instead of throwing them away.

   2On one Monday, we collected the fruit and vegetable scraps from one lunch period. They weighed 18 pounds. We mixed them with dry leaves in a plastic bin behind the garden shed.

   3Every school day, we pushed a long compost thermometer into the middle of the pile. On day 1, it read 68 degrees Fahrenheit. By day 5, the middle of the pile was 128 degrees, and on day 9 it reached its highest reading, 149 degrees, even though the air outside was about 60 degrees. The pile stayed above 131 degrees from day 6 to day 12. Many composting guides say a pile that stays that hot for a few days kills most weed seeds. After day 12, it cooled down slowly, and by day 21 it was 97 degrees.

   4At the start, you could still see banana peels, apple cores and lettuce. After three weeks, most of the pile was dark and crumbly, and it smelled like soil, not garbage. Mrs. Park's garden club says it can use all the compost we can make.

   One possible media plan for Draft Talk C (share after pairs finish)

   Part of the talk	Component	Its job
   The claim (paragraph 1)	Two photos side by side: a trash can full of lunch scraps and a bucket of finished compost	Clarifies the claim: scraps can become something useful instead of trash
   The method (paragraph 2)	A short video of the class mixing scraps and leaves in the bin	Clarifies how the test was set up
   The temperatures (paragraph 3)	A line graph of the pile's temperature by day, with a shaded band above 131 degrees	Clarifies the finding, and the shaded band emphasizes the salient point: the pile stayed hot enough for seven days
   The change (paragraph 4)	A photo of the pile on day 1 next to a photo on day 21	Clarifies what "dark and crumbly" means

   Debrief. Ask two pairs to share. Then ask: "What is the salient point, and did everyone pick the same one?" Accept different answers with reasons, for example the 18 pounds of scraps from one lunch or the week above 131 degrees. Point out that the salient point decides which component gets the emphasis. A talk can have several components that clarify, but it should emphasize only one or two points.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Model Presentation B on their own, a seventh grader's proposal to open a second staircase. They label each component in the margin with C (clarifies), E (emphasizes) or X (decorates or distracts), then work alone on the quiz. Questions 1-10, 12, 15, 16 and 20 are about Model Presentation B and Diagram 2, question 11 uses Diagram 1, and the rest ask students to use the standard in new situations.

   1[Slide 1: the title "Traffic Jam on the Main Stairs" in rainbow letters that spin onto the screen one at a time. Owen waits eleven seconds for the animation to finish.] Good afternoon, Dr. Reyes and members of the safety team. I'm Owen Kaplan, and I'm in seventh grade. My claim is that Brook Hollow should open the east stairs during passing periods, so that the main stairs are less crowded.

   2[Slide 2: a floor plan Owen drew of the first floor. Thick arrows show students from the gym and the cafeteria walking down the long hall to the main stairs. The east stairs, right next to the gym, have no arrow and are labeled "fire drills only."] Here is the problem. The students coming from the gym and the cafeteria are right next to the east stairs. But those stairs are closed during the day, so everyone walks the whole length of the hall to the main stairs.

   3[Slide 3: a bar chart, Diagram 2 on this page. All eight bars are the same color, and the chart has no title.] My friend Lucas and I stood at the top of the main stairs after fourth period on three different days. We counted how many students reached the top in each 30 seconds of the four-minute passing period, then averaged the three days and rounded to whole numbers. Here are the numbers. In the first 30 seconds, 22 students. Then 41, then 58, then 55, then 37, then 24, then 12, and in the last 30 seconds, 5. So that's a lot of numbers.

   4[Sound: a 30-second recording Owen made on the landing at the busiest moment. It is very loud, and Owen keeps talking while it plays.] This is what it sounds like on the stairs. People get pushed, and last month a sixth grader fell on the bottom step. [Dr. Reyes asks Owen to repeat what happened last month.]

   5[Slide 4: nine bullet points in small type. The seventh bullet reads: "Between minute 1 and minute 2 of the passing period, 113 students climb the main stairs, almost half of all the students we counted."] There's more information on this slide. You can read it later.

   6[Slide 5: a photo Owen took of the east stairs during the same passing period, with Dr. Reyes's permission. The stairs are empty, and the hall clock above them reads 11:32.] This is the east stairs during the busiest minute of the passing period. Nobody is on them, and they are as wide as the main stairs.

   7[Slide 6: every word in red capital letters: "OPEN THE EAST STAIRS!!! SAFETY FIRST!!! NO MORE PUSHING!!! FASTER PASSING!!! HAPPIER STUDENTS!!!"] So that's why I think we should open the east stairs. Thank you.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Write one claim you could make about our school. Name one component that would clarify it and one way you would emphasize its salient point."

   Teacher note. The students, adults, schools, streets, commission and all counts and measurements in the three talks are invented. The figures on Noor's Slide 4 are real: a 2011 AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety report found that the average pedestrian's risk of severe injury is 25 percent when hit at 23 miles per hour and 50 percent at 31 miles per hour (older pedestrians face higher risks at lower speeds). The conversion in paragraph 2 is also real: 200 feet in 4.1 seconds is about 33 miles per hour. Safety matters when students collect data like this: Noor measured from behind the school fence with two adults, and no student should stand in or next to traffic. Ask students to make their own photos, charts and recordings, to ask permission before photographing people, and to name the source of any fact they put on a slide.

   Homework. Students collect a small finding of their own, then build and present media for it. Show them the directions and the rubric before they leave.

   Data cards for Activity 2. Print and cut apart the three cards below.

   1Invented data for Activity 2. Each pair takes one card, finds its salient point and draws the chart twice.

   2Card A: Library books checked out by the seventh grade each week. Weeks 1-3, before a new display of graphic novels: 64, 58 and 61. Weeks 4-6, after the display went up: 97, 104 and 99.

   3Card B: How 90 seventh graders say they usually get news: video apps 41, family members 22, TV 12, news websites 9, printed newspapers 6.

   4Card C: Minutes of outdoor recess lost to rain each month: September 0, October 30, November 75, December 90, January 60.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 2 of Model Presentation B, what does Owen's floor plan clarify?

   AThat the east stairs are wider than the main stairs, so they could move students faster BThat students near the gym must walk past the closed east stairs CHow many students climb the main stairs in each 30 seconds of the passing period DThat a sixth grader fell on the bottom step of the main stairs last month

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What is the main problem with Slide 1?

   AIts animation takes eleven seconds and adds nothing to the claim BIt states Owen's claim before he has shown any of his findings CIt uses a title, and titles belong only on printed reports DIt has too few colors to hold the safety team's attention for long

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 3, Owen reads all eight numbers and says, "So that's a lot of numbers." What is missing from his use of the chart?

   AMore bars, so that the chart shows every minute of the whole school day BA sound effect that plays each time a new bar appears on the screen CA title, labels and a sentence telling listeners what to look at DA second chart that shows the same numbers as a pie chart

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which finding is the salient point Owen's chart should emphasize?

   AThe last 30 seconds of the passing period, when only 5 students climbed BThe first 30 seconds, when 22 students reached the top of the stairs CThe four minutes of passing period between fourth and fifth period DThe busiest minute, when 113 students climbed, almost half of the total

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which change to Slide 3 would best emphasize that salient point?

   AGive every one of the eight bars a different bright color so the whole chart looks lively BColor only the two peak bars, label them with their total, and point to them CAdd a 3D shadow to each of the eight bars and make all of the axis numbers a little smaller DAdd the counts from the other passing periods of the day to the same chart

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does the recording in paragraph 4 fail to do its job?

   AA recording of a crowded stairwell can never clarify a finding about crowding BIt is shorter than the safety team needs to hear what the stairs sound like CIt should have been played at the very end of the talk, after Slide 6 DIt plays loudly while Owen speaks, so the safety team misses what he says

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which plan would make the recording clarify the crowding?

   APlay five seconds of it in silence, stop it, then explain what listeners heard BPlay all 30 seconds louder so that everyone in the room can hear it clearly CPlay it quietly in the background during all six slides of the talk DReplace it with a song about school that plays while Owen explains the chart

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What is the main problem with Slide 4?

   AIt gives a number, and the safety team may not understand percents at all BIt is the only slide in the talk that has any words on it at all CHis most important finding is hidden in bullet 7 of 9, in small type DIt uses bullet points, which should never appear on a slide

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What does the photo on Slide 5 clarify?

   AThat the east stairs are empty when the main stairs are busiest BThat the hall clock above the east stairs runs a few minutes ahead of the others CHow the students in the main stairwell push each other on the steps DThat Owen asked Dr. Reyes for permission before taking a photo

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why does Slide 6 fail to emphasize a salient point?

    AIt is the last slide, and the end of a talk is too late to emphasize anything BIt uses the word "stairs," which listeners have already heard many times CIt should have been shown at the start of the talk instead of Slide 1 DEvery word is red capitals, so no single point stands out

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Noor wants Diagram 1 to also emphasize the point of her Slide 4, that the cars going 31 mph or faster are the most dangerous. Which change would do that and still keep her main salient point clear?

    AColor all five bars in different shades of red so that the whole chart looks more serious BOutline the 31-35 and 36-or-more bars and label them "18 cars at 31 mph or faster" CRemove the dashed limit line so that there is more room on the chart for a new label DReplace the bars with 60 small car icons, one for each car that she timed

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Using Diagram 2, how many students reached the top of the main stairs in the first two minutes of the passing period?

    A113 students B254 students C176 students D78 students

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student's finding is that bean plants grown by a sunny window grew twice as tall in three weeks as plants grown in a dark closet. Which visual display would clarify this finding best?

    AA photo of both plants side by side, next to a ruler BA drawing of a smiling sun wearing a pair of sunglasses CA slide that lists every day she watered them DA photo of the bag of bean seeds she planted at the start

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student's talk has one salient point: "Our class read 1,240 more pages this month than last month." Which choice emphasizes it best?

    ABold every sentence on all of the slides so the whole talk looks equally important BPlay a drumroll sound effect before every slide, including the title slide CShow "+1,240 pages" in large type, alone on a slide, while saying it DPut the number in the middle of a paragraph that tells the class's reading history

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Rewrite Owen's Slide 3 so that it clarifies his finding and emphasizes his salient point. Describe the new slide, then write the two or three sentences Owen should say while it is on screen.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Design a new Slide 6 for Owen that emphasizes his most salient point. Describe the slide and write his last two sentences.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    A student's finding (invented): "We asked 80 seventh graders how they get to school. 34 ride the bus, 26 are driven, 14 walk and 6 bike. The bus riders wait an average of 12 minutes in the rain because the bus stop has no cover." Her claim is that the school should add a shelter at the bus stop. Plan one component that clarifies the finding and one way to emphasize the salient point, and explain each choice.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Explain the difference between using a component to clarify a finding and using one to emphasize a salient point. Give one example of each for a talk claiming that the school should add more trash cans to the lunch patio.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    A classmate's talk claims that the school's front crosswalk needs a crossing guard. She plans (1) a short video she took, from the sidewalk, of cars not stopping for students, (2) a table of her count of cars that did not stop, (3) a slide of clip-art stop signs that spin, and (4) a slide with her claim and one key number in large type. For each, say whether it clarifies the claim, clarifies a finding, emphasizes the salient point or does none of these, and whether she should keep it.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Rewrite Owen's Slide 4 so that it clarifies his finding and emphasizes his salient point. Describe what the new slide shows, and write the sentence Owen should say instead of "You can read it later."

    Show model answer

These standards connect to SL.7.5: 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.