Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "List every piece of writing you did yesterday, in school and out. A math answer counts, and so does a text message. Next to each one, write who read it and how long it took you."

   Give students three minutes, then collect examples on the board in a chart with one column per subject (English, math, science, social studies, outside school). Ask: Which pieces took one sitting? Did anyone work on a piece for more than a week? Read W.7.10 aloud and point to its two time frames and its three kinds of range: tasks, purposes and audiences.

   Introduce Ari Castellanos, an invented seventh grader, and read Text 1, the assignment his English teacher gave on a Monday. Students underline the task, the audience and the purpose, and circle every checkpoint that gives Ari time for research, reflection or revision.

   1Neighborhood Voices: a three-week profile, Ms. Oduya's Grade 7 English class

   2Task: Interview one adult who has lived or worked in Fairmont for at least 20 years. Then write a profile of 500-700 words about one part of that person's life here.

   3Audience: readers of the local history shelf at the Fairmont Public Library, and the person you interview, who will receive a printed copy of the class booklet.

   4Purpose: to inform readers about our town's past through one person's experience, and to honor that person's story.

   5Week 1, Monday: choose your person and write 10 interview questions in class. Ask for an interview the same day.

   6Week 1, by Friday: hold the interview (30-45 minutes) and type your notes the same day, while you still remember the details.

   7Week 2, Tuesday: one research session in the library. Find two facts that give background for your profile, such as a date, a place or an event, and write down where each one came from.

   8Week 2, Thursday: Draft 1 is due. Then leave it alone for at least one day.

   9Week 3, Monday: writing group. Week 3, Wednesday: send the person you interviewed the exact quotations you plan to use and ask whether you got them right.

   10Week 3, Friday: final profile due.

   11Every Friday: write a 10-minute journal entry about what you learned that week and what you will do next.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   While the profile is under way, Ari keeps writing in his other classes. Text 2 shows four pieces from Week 1, each written in a single sitting. Diagram 2 shows the moves each kind of writing expects. A math explanation shows its steps; a science conclusion uses claim, evidence and reasoning (a one-sentence answer, the data that support it, and why the data fit); a social studies response answers the question with evidence from a source (a map, a document or a picture the teacher gives) and with context (what the class already knows about the time and place). Writing for a reader outside school starts with its purpose.

   1Email, Monday, Week 1 (5 minutes). Dear Mr. Jiménez, Thank you for agreeing to talk with me for my English project about people in Fairmont. Could we meet this Friday at 4:00 at the public library, or would another time be better for you? The interview will take about 40 minutes. I will bring my questions and a notebook. Sincerely, Ari Castellanos, Grade 7, Fairmont Middle School

   2Math, Tuesday, exit ticket (8 minutes). Prompt: A jacket costs $72. Is a coupon for 15% off or a coupon for $12 off the better deal? Explain your thinking to a classmate.

   3The $12 coupon is the better deal. 15% of $72 is 0.15 × 72 = $10.80, so with the percent coupon the jacket costs $72 - $10.80 = $61.20. With the $12 coupon it costs $72 - $12 = $60.00. Since $60.00 is less than $61.20, the $12 coupon saves $1.20 more. The percent coupon would only win on a jacket that costs more than $80, because 15% of $80 is exactly $12.

   4Science, Wednesday, lab conclusion (12 minutes). Question: Which brand of paper towel holds the most water?

   5Brand B holds the most water. In our three trials, one sheet of Brand B held an average of 27 mL of water, compared with 18 mL for Brand A and 22 mL for Brand C. Every sheet was the same size and soaked for the same 30 seconds, so the difference comes from the towel, not the test. One limit: we only tested one roll of each brand.

   6Social studies, Thursday, short response (15 minutes). Prompt: Why did Timbuktu become a center of trade in the 1300s? Use the map on page 184.

   7Timbuktu grew because of where it sat. The map shows it near the Niger River at the southern edge of the Sahara, so goods carried by camel across the desert met goods carried by boat on the river. The arrows on the map show salt coming from the north and gold coming from the south. Our class also learned that when Mansa Musa ruled Mali in the 1300s, the city became known for its mosques and scholars.

   • Math: explain the reasoning, not only the answer

     Ari's exit ticket on the $72 jacket (Text 2, paragraphs 2-3).

     Result: Ari states the answer in his first sentence, then shows each calculation with dollar signs: 0.15 × 72 = $10.80, and $72 - $10.80 = $61.20 against $72 - $12 = $60.00. His last sentence explains when the answer would change: 15% of $80 is exactly $12, so the percent coupon wins only above $80. A classmate can check every step, which is what a math reader expects.

   • Science: claim, evidence and reasoning in one sitting

     A new prompt, 10 minutes: "Explain to a classmate who was absent why the ice cube on the metal tray melted first." The class data: the cube on the metal tray melted in 7 minutes and the cube on the plastic tray in 24 minutes (invented data; same size cubes, same room).

     Result: Claim: the cube on the metal tray melted faster. Evidence: it melted in 7 minutes, compared with 24 minutes on plastic, 17 minutes sooner. Reasoning: both trays started at room temperature, and metal conducts heat into the ice much faster than plastic, so the metal tray keeps feeding the cube heat from the room. Three sentences, one sitting, and a science reader gets every part.

   • Social studies: answer first, then evidence from the source

     Ari's response on Timbuktu (Text 2, paragraphs 6-7).

     Result: His first sentence, "Timbuktu grew because of where it sat," answers the question directly. His second sentence does what the prompt asked, using the map: it names the Niger River and the edge of the Sahara and explains why camels and boats met there. A history reader wants the answer and the source together, not a list of facts about the city.

   • Choosing the time frame

     Three tasks arrive on one Monday: a text to a project partner about where to meet at lunch; a 150-word summary of a science article, due Wednesday; and a science fair report on how far paper airplanes of different designs fly, due in four weeks.

     Result: The text is a single sitting of a minute or two. The summary is a day or two: read Monday, write Tuesday. The science fair report is extended: it needs trials and research, a break from the draft and revision, so its sessions go on the calendar first.

   Show Diagram 2 and ask students which of the four moves they skip most often in their own quick writing. Then point out that Ari's email is writing too: its reader, Mr. Jiménez, is an adult outside school who is giving up his time.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Now follow the extended piece. Read Ari's interview notes (Text 3) and his Friday journal (Text 4). Then show the table of everything Ari wrote in the three weeks, and Diagram 1, which places each session on a calendar. Pairs mark each profile session in the table with Research, Reflection or Revision, and put a star next to the one session that did the most for the final profile. Quiz Question 3 asks for one week's minutes, so leave the totals for the quiz.

   1Interview with Walter Jiménez, Friday, Week 1, 4:00-4:40 p.m., Fairmont Public Library. Notes typed at home the same evening.

   2Background: born in 1947; grew up on Alder Street; Fairmont High School, class of 1965. Drove the city's Route 4 bus from 1968 to 1999. Route 4 ran about 9 miles from the train depot to the hospital, with 26 stops.

   3First week on the job, age 21: "I missed the turn onto Canal Street three times. The riders told me where to go."

   4Regular riders: knew many by name. Mrs. Okada rode every weekday for 17 years to the laundry where she worked.

   5Hardest part: winter mornings, first run at 5:15 a.m. "But I never once wanted another job."

   6The flood (from my extra question, "What night do you remember most?"): 1983, started around 9 at night. Water over Canal Street. The city opened the high school gym as a shelter, and he drove riders there from the Canal Street stops. "I made that trip eleven times that night."

   7Best part: "Kids who rode my bus to school later rode it to work, and then their kids rode it."

   8To check: When did Route 4 start? What month was the flood? Spelling of Mrs. Okada's name.

   9Question I forgot to ask: What happened to the bus he drove?

   1Friday, Week 1 (10 minutes). The interview ran the full 40 minutes, and I only got through seven of my ten questions. The best answer came from a question I had not written down. I asked, "What night do you remember most?" and he told me about the flood. I think my profile should be about the flood night, not his whole career. Next step: find out the exact date of the flood and how many people went to the shelter.

   2Friday, Week 2 (10 minutes). At the library, Ms. Brandt, the librarian, showed me the Fairmont Historical Society's timeline. The flood was in April 1983, and about 140 people stayed in the high school gym that night. The timeline also says Route 4 began in 1952. I finished Draft 1 yesterday. It starts with the year he was born and goes in order, and it reads like a list. I am not going to touch it until Monday.

   3Friday, Week 3 (10 minutes). On Monday I reread the draft after three days away, and the problem jumped out: the flood, the best part, was buried in paragraph 2 after a lot of dates. My writing group said the same thing, so I moved the flood to the opening. On Wednesday I emailed Mr. Jiménez the quotations I planned to use, and he caught a mistake. I had written that he made the trip "a dozen times," but he made it eleven times, which is also what my notes say. This week I also wrote a lab conclusion and a history response in class, so I did my profile revising at home on Tuesday and Thursday.

   Everything Ari wrote in three weeks (invented)

   When	Writing	Class	Time frame	Reader	Minutes
   Week 1 Mon	Ten interview questions	English (profile)	Part of the extended piece	Ari himself	20
   Week 1 Mon	Email asking for an interview	English (profile)	Single sitting	Mr. Jiménez	5
   Week 1 Tue	Exit ticket on a coupon problem	Math	Single sitting	A classmate	8
   Week 1 Wed	Paper towel lab conclusion	Science	Single sitting	Science teacher	12
   Week 1 Thu	Short response on Timbuktu	Social studies	Single sitting	History teacher	15
   Week 1 Fri	Interview and typed notes	English (profile)	Part of the extended piece	Ari himself	65
   Week 1 Fri	Journal entry	English (profile)	Single sitting	Ari and Ms. Oduya	10
   Week 2 Mon	Explanation of a percent problem	Math	Single sitting	Math teacher	10
   Week 2 Tue	Library research notes	English (profile)	Part of the extended piece	Ari himself	45
   Week 2 Wed	Draft 1, paragraphs 1-3	English (profile)	Part of the extended piece	Ari himself	35
   Week 2 Thu	Draft 1, paragraphs 4-5	English (profile)	Part of the extended piece	Ms. Oduya	30
   Week 2 Fri	Journal entry (no work on the draft)	English (profile)	Single sitting	Ari and Ms. Oduya	10
   Week 3 Mon	Writing group notes	English (profile)	Part of the extended piece	Ari and his group	30
   Week 3 Tue	Lab conclusion, in class	Science	Single sitting	Science teacher	15
   Week 3 Tue	Revision at home	English (profile)	Part of the extended piece	Ari himself	40
   Week 3 Wed	Email with quotations to check	English (profile)	Single sitting	Mr. Jiménez	10
   Week 3 Thu	History response, in class	Social studies	Single sitting	History teacher	20
   Week 3 Thu	Revision and editing at home	English (profile)	Part of the extended piece	Ari himself	35
   Week 3 Fri	Final copy	English (profile)	Part of the extended piece	Library readers and Mr. Jiménez	20
   Week 3 Fri	Journal entry	English (profile)	Single sitting	Ari and Ms. Oduya	10

   Discuss: The Week 1 interview answered a question Ari had not planned. Where in Text 4 does he decide what the profile will be about? What would have happened to the flood story if the whole profile had been due on the Monday after the interview?

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Read the opening of Ari's Draft 1 (Text 5) and the final profile (Text 6). Each student finds three differences and writes, for each one, which part of the extended time made it possible: the interview notes, the library research, the day away, the writing group or the quotation check. Then students write a five-minute reflection in their own journals: "What could Ari do in three weeks that he could not do in the 15-minute Timbuktu response?"

   The quiz uses Texts 1-6 and the table in Guided Practice. Paragraph numbers match the numbers beside each text.

   1Walter Jiménez was born in 1947. He grew up in Fairmont and went to Fairmont High School. In 1968 he got a job driving the Route 4 bus for the city. He drove it for 31 years until he retired in 1999.

   2Mr. Jiménez said driving a bus was a good job. He knew a lot of the riders. He liked his job. One thing that happened was a big flood in 1983. He drove people to the high school "a dozen times that night."

   1At about nine o'clock on an April night in 1983, water was pouring over Canal Street, and Walter Jiménez was driving the Route 4 bus straight toward it. Riders were waiting at the Canal Street stops with bags and blankets. He picked them up and drove them up the hill to the Fairmont High School gym, which the city had opened as a shelter. "I made that trip eleven times that night," he said. About 140 people spent that night in the gym, according to the Fairmont Historical Society's timeline.

   2Mr. Jiménez drove Route 4 for 31 years, from 1968 until he retired in 1999. He was 21 when he started, and his first week did not go smoothly. "I missed the turn onto Canal Street three times," he said, laughing. "The riders told me where to go."

   3What he remembers most fondly is not the bus itself but the people on it. "Kids who rode my bus to school later rode it to work," he said, "and then their kids rode it." For 31 years, many Fairmont mornings started on his route.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Name one piece of writing you will do this week in a single sitting, its class and its reader. (2) Name one piece that deserves an extended time frame, and write the day of your first research session for it.

   Teacher notes: (1) Everyone and everything in Texts 1-6 is invented, including Fairmont, Route 4, the 1983 flood and the paper towel data; the Timbuktu facts in Text 2 are real. (2) Before an interview assignment like Text 1, send families a short note and let students choose a family member, a neighbor or a school staff member, so that no student has to approach a stranger. (3) Routine writing does not all need a grade. Many teachers read journals and quick-writes for completion and give full feedback on the extended piece.

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which checkpoint in Text 1 is built for reflection?

   AHold the interview and type your notes the same day BMeet with your writing group on Monday of Week 3 CWrite a 10-minute journal entry every Friday DHand in the final profile on Friday of Week 3

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Text 1, who will read the finished profiles?

   ALibrary readers and the people interviewed BMs. Oduya and the members of each writing group CThe historical society and the town librarian DNext year's seventh graders, as model profiles

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Use the table in Guided Practice. How many minutes did Ari spend on the profile project in Week 2, counting his journal entry?

   A110 minutes B130 minutes C145 minutes D120 minutes

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which sentence in Ari's paper towel conclusion (Text 2, paragraph 5) is the reasoning?

   A"Brand B holds the most water." B"Every sheet was the same size and soaked for the same 30 seconds, so the difference comes from the towel, not the test." C"In our three trials, one sheet of Brand B held an average of 27 mL of water, compared with 18 mL for Brand A and 22 mL for Brand C." D"One limit: we only tested one roll of each brand."

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Ari's Timbuktu response (Text 2, paragraph 7), which sentence uses context from beyond the map?

   A"Timbuktu grew because of where it sat." B"The map shows it near the Niger River at the southern edge of the Sahara, so goods carried by camel across the desert met goods carried by boat on the river." C"The arrows on the map show salt coming from the north and gold coming from the south." D"Our class also learned that when Mansa Musa ruled Mali in the 1300s, the city became known for its mosques and scholars."

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Ari's email to Mr. Jiménez (Text 2, paragraph 1) says, "The interview will take about 40 minutes." Why does this sentence fit its reader?

   AMs. Oduya grades every email by how many details it has BMr. Jiménez is giving up his own time and needs to know how much CEvery email must give a time, whatever its purpose is DIt proves to Mr. Jiménez that the interview is really for a school project

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of these is on the "To check" list in Ari's interview notes (Text 3)?

   AHow many miles long Route 4 was BThe spelling of a rider's name CHow many trips he made during the flood DThe year Mr. Jiménez was born

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   According to Ari's Week 1 journal entry (Text 4, paragraph 1), what made him decide to write about the flood?

   AA question he had not planned, which led to the flood story BMs. Oduya's assignment, which required a local disaster CThe historical society timeline that the librarian showed him DRunning out of questions before the interview was over

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why did Ari do no work on his draft on Friday of Week 2 (Text 4, paragraph 2)?

   AHe was waiting for Mr. Jiménez to answer an email from him BHis draft was finished and needed no more changes CHe planned a break so he could reread the draft with fresh eyes DThe library was closed that day, so he could not do any research

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which facts in the final profile (Text 6) came from Ari's library research rather than from the interview?

    AThat he made the trip from Canal Street to the gym eleven times that night BThat he missed the turn onto Canal Street three times CThat he drove Route 4 from 1968 until 1999 DThat the flood was in April and about 140 people stayed in the gym

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Draft 1 (Text 5) quotes Mr. Jiménez as saying "a dozen times that night." Which step in Text 1 caught the error?

    ASending the person the exact quotations to check BThe research session in the library in Week 2 CThe writing group meeting on Monday of Week 3 DThe journal entry on Friday of Week 1

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Why does the final profile open with the flood instead of the year Mr. Jiménez was born?

    AThe research showed that the flood happened early in his career BThe assignment sheet requires every profile to open with an event CRereading after a break, and his writing group, showed the flood was best DLibrary readers only want to read about floods and disasters in the town's past

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Mr. Jiménez started driving Route 4 in 1968 (Text 3). The timeline says Route 4 began in 1952 (Text 4). How many years had the route been running when he started?

    A21 years B16 years C31 years D47 years

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which task most needs an extended time frame?

    AA two-sentence science answer: what does a thermometer measure? BA text message to your project group about where to meet after school today CA report to the school board on a new crosswalk, with a student survey DAn exit ticket that uses today's vocabulary word in one sentence

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Write a two- or three-sentence math explanation for a classmate: Which is the better buy, 3 notebooks for $4.50 or 5 notebooks for $7.00? Show your steps.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Draft 1 says, "He liked his job" (Text 5, paragraph 2). Rewrite the sentence so that it shows instead of tells, using a quotation from Ari's notes (Text 3) that the final profile does not use.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    W.7.10 names three things an extended time frame leaves room for. Name all three and give one example of each from Ari's three weeks, with a text citation.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    In one sitting, write a science conclusion with a claim, evidence and reasoning from these invented data: a sugar cube stirred in warm water (40 °C) dissolved in 45 seconds, and one stirred in cold water (5 °C) took 3 minutes 10 seconds.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Plan a two-week schedule for a new extended task: a 400-word profile of a local business for your school newspaper. Give at least one dated session each for research, reflection and revision, and say what you will do in each.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Reflection: In two or three sentences, compare what Ari could do in his 15-minute Timbuktu response with what he could do in the three-week profile. Quote one phrase from Text 2 or Text 4.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to W.7.10: 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.