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

   "Think of a movie or book set in the past. How would you find out which parts really happened and which parts the author made up?"

   Take four answers and list the ways students suggest (checking a history book, an encyclopedia, a letter from the time). Read W.7.9 aloud. Explain that drawing evidence means taking exact words or facts from a text and using them to support your own writing: an analysis (explaining how a text works), a reflection (what the text makes you think or feel, and why) or research (answering a question from sources). Part (a) applies to literature, and its official example asks students to compare a fictional portrayal (how a story or poem shows a time, place or person) with a historical account of the same period. Part (b) applies to literary nonfiction, true writing with a point of view, and asks students to trace and judge an argument.

   Give the background. In 1755, during the war between Britain and France for North America, British officials in Nova Scotia ordered the removal of the Acadians, French-speaking farmers who had refused to swear an oath of full loyalty to the British king. At the village of Grand-Pré, Lieutenant-Colonel John Winslow of Massachusetts called the men to the church and read them the order. Thousands of Acadians were sent away on ships. In 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow told the story in a long poem, Evangeline, about two invented young people, Evangeline and Gabriel, whose engagement feast is interrupted by the order. Show Diagram 1.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Read Text 1 aloud while students follow. Pause to define hard words: sonorous (deep and loud), portal (a large doorway), dissonant clangor (a harsh, clashing noise), casement (a window), ponderous (very heavy), convened (called together), clement (merciful), make (nature, character), grievous (causing great sorrow) and forfeited (taken away as a penalty). Then read Text 2, Parkman's history, written in 1884 from Winslow's own journal and letters. Define subalterns (junior officers), homespun (rough cloth woven at home), orthography (spelling), syntax (the order of words in a sentence), indulgence (freedom and gentle treatment), animadvert (to criticize), tenements (buildings and land) and the Crown (the king's government). Work through the examples, then read the model paragraph, Text 3, and label its claim, its evidence from each text and its explanation.

   1So passed the morning away. And lo! with a summons sonorous
   Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a drum beat.
   Thronged erelong was the church with men. Without, in the churchyard,
   Waited the women. They stood by the graves, and hung on the headstones
   5Garlands of autumn-leaves and evergreens fresh from the forest.
   Then came the guard from the ships, and marching proudly among them
   Entered the sacred portal. With loud and dissonant clangor
   Echoed the sound of their brazen drums from ceiling and casement,--
   Echoed a moment only, and slowly the ponderous portal
   10Closed, and in silence the crowd awaited the will of the soldiers.
   Then uprose their commander, and spoke from the steps of the altar,
   Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal commission.
   "You are convened this day," he said, "by his Majesty's orders.
   Clement and kind has he been; but how you have answered his kindness,
   15Let your own hearts reply! To my natural make and my temper
   Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must be grievous.
   Yet must I bow and obey, and deliver the will of our monarch;
   Namely, that all your lands, and dwellings, and cattle of all kinds
   Forfeited be to the crown; and that you yourselves from this province
   20Be transported to other lands. God grant you may dwell there
   Ever as faithful subjects, a happy and peaceable people!
   Prisoners now I declare you; for such is his Majesty's pleasure!"
   As, when the air is serene in the sultry solstice of summer,
   Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly sling of the hailstones
   25Beats down the farmer's corn in the field and shatters his windows,
   Hiding the sun, and strewing the ground with thatch from the house-roofs,
   Bellowing fly the herds, and seek to break their enclosures;
   So on the hearts of the people descended the words of the speaker.
   Silent a moment they stood in speechless wonder, and then rose
   30Louder and ever louder a wail of sorrow and anger,
   And, by one impulse moved, they madly rushed to the door-way.

   1On the next day the inhabitants appeared at the hour appointed, to the number of four hundred and eighteen men. Winslow ordered a table to be set in the middle of the church, and placed on it his instructions and the address he had prepared. Here he took his stand in his laced uniform, with one or two subalterns from the regulars at Fort Edward, and such of the Massachusetts officers as were not on guard duty; [...] The congregation of peasants, clad in rough homespun, turned their sunburned faces upon him, anxious and intent; and Winslow "delivered them by interpreters the King's orders in the following words," which, retouched in orthography and syntax, ran thus:--

   2Gentlemen,--I have received from His Excellency, Governor Lawrence, the King's instructions, which I have in my hand. By his orders you are called together to hear His Majesty's final resolution concerning the French inhabitants of this his province of Nova Scotia, who for almost half a century have had more indulgence granted them than any of his subjects in any part of his dominions. What use you have made of it you yourselves best know.

   3The duty I am now upon, though necessary, is very disagreeable to my natural make and temper, as I know it must be grievous to you, who are of the same species. But it is not my business to animadvert on the orders I have received, but to obey them; and therefore without hesitation I shall deliver to you His Majesty's instructions and commands, which are that your lands and tenements and cattle and live-stock of all kinds are forfeited to the Crown, with all your other effects, except money and household goods, and that you yourselves are to be removed from this his province.

   • Summary or analysis?

     Two sentences about Text 1, lines 3-5: (1) "The women waited outside in the churchyard." (2) "The women hang 'Garlands of autumn-leaves' on the headstones (line 5) while the men are inside, so the poem surrounds the meeting with signs of death before the order is even read."

     Result: Sentence 1 only retells. Sentence 2 is analysis: it quotes, cites the line and explains what the detail does, which is how evidence supports analysis.

   • Choosing a source for research

     Research question: On what date were the men of Grand-Pré told of the order? Text 1 never gives a date. Parkman's chapter prints Winslow's summons, which calls the men to the church on "Friday, the fifth instant," and Winslow's diary calls it "the memorable fifth of September."

     Result: Use the history, and cite it: Friday, September 5, 1755 (Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe, chapter VIII). A poem can show how an event felt, but a fact for research should come from a historical account and, if possible, the records it quotes.

   • Citing lines and paragraphs

     Quoting two lines of the poem and one sentence of the history in the same paragraph.

     Result: Poem: mark the line break with a slash and give the line numbers: "Then came the guard from the ships, and marching proudly among them / Entered the sacred portal" (lines 6-7). History: give the paragraph: Winslow "placed on it his instructions and the address he had prepared" (Text 2, paragraph 1).

   • Tracing an argument

     Diagram 2, an invented editorial: "The school gym should open on Saturday mornings."

     Result: Trace it in three steps: find the claim (what the writer wants readers to believe or do), list each reason, then list the evidence under each reason. Reason 3, "Grades will go up for everyone," has no evidence at all, so that part of the argument is unsupported.

   • Relevant and sufficient evidence

     Diagram 2, Reasons 1 and 2.

     Result: Evidence is relevant when it is about the reason it supports, and sufficient when there is enough of it to be convincing. One student's promise to come is relevant but not sufficient. The office calendar is relevant and sufficient for its small reason: it is a record, not a guess. Sound reasoning means each reason really leads to the claim.

   1Longfellow's Commander and Parkman's Winslow

   2In Evangeline, Longfellow keeps the words of the real order but changes the scene around them to make it more frightening. His commander tells the Acadians, "To my natural make and my temper / Painful the task is I do, which to you I know must be grievous" (lines 15-16). These words come almost straight from Winslow's address as Parkman prints it: the duty is "very disagreeable to my natural make and temper, as I know it must be grievous to you" (Text 2, paragraph 3). Because the poem borrows the real words, readers can trust that the order itself is history. The setting, however, is changed. In Parkman's account, Winslow "ordered a table to be set in the middle of the church, and placed on it his instructions" (paragraph 1). In the poem, the commander speaks "from the steps of the altar, / Holding aloft in his hands, with its seals, the royal commission" (lines 11-12). A paper lying on a table becomes a paper raised high above the crowd. Longfellow uses history for the words and alters it for the picture, so that readers see the order as one crushing blow from above.

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Introduce Jacob Riis, a New York newspaper reporter who wrote about crowded city neighborhoods. In Text 4, from his 1902 book, he tells how a city committee decided where children needed places to play. Define precinct (a police district), slum (a crowded, run-down neighborhood) and daub (a smear of paint). Read Text 4 together, then trace it on a blank copy of the Diagram 2 organizer: the class finds the claim, and pairs sort the evidence under it and rate each piece as relevant or not, and sufficient or not.

   Next, pairs read the weak draft, Text 5. Ask them to rewrite sentences [1], [5] and [6] so that each says only what Text 4 supports. For [1], "proves" and "crime" go further than the text; for [5], a writer's fame is not evidence; for [6], Text 4 is about one city. Share two rewrites and ask which quotation from Text 4 each one could use.

   1"Everything takes ten years," said Abram S. Hewitt, when, exactly ten years after he had as mayor championed the Small Parks Act, he took his seat as chairman of the Advisory Committee on Small Parks. The ten years had wrought a great change. It was no longer the slum of to-day, but that of to-morrow, that challenged attention. The committee took the point of view of the children from the first. It had a large map prepared, showing where in the city there was room to play and where there was none. Then it called in the police and asked them to point out where there was trouble with the boys; and in every instance the policeman put his finger upon a treeless slum.

   2"They have no other playground than the street," was the explanation given in each case. "They smash lamps and break windows. The storekeepers kick and there is trouble. That is how it begins." "Many complaints are received daily of boys annoying pedestrians, storekeepers, and tenants by their continually playing base-ball in some parts of almost every street. The damage is not slight. Arrests are frequent, much more frequent than when they had open lots to play in." This last was the report of an up-town captain. He remembered the days when there were open lots there. "But those lots are now built upon," he said, "and for every new house there are more boys and less chance for them to play."

   3The committee put a red daub on the map to indicate trouble. Then it asked those police captains who had not spoken to show them where their precincts were, and why they had no trouble. Every one of them put his finger on a green spot that marked a park.

   4"My people are quiet and orderly," said the captain of the Tompkins Square precinct.

   5The police took the square from a mob by storm twice in my recollection, and the commander of the precinct was hit on the head with a hammer by "his people" and laid out for dead.

   6"The Hook Gang is gone," said he of Corlear's Hook. The professional pursuit of that gang was to rob and murder inoffensive citizens by night and throw them into the river, and it achieved a bad eminence at its calling.

   7"The whole neighborhood has taken a change, and decidedly for the better," said the captain of Mulberry Street; and the committee rose and said that it had heard enough.

   1What Riis Proves About Parks

   2[1] Jacob Riis proves that parks stop crime. [2] In Text 4 he says that "in every instance the policeman put his finger upon a treeless slum." [3] He also gives numbers showing that arrests fell by half after the parks opened. [4] The captain of the Tompkins Square precinct said, "My people are quiet and orderly," which proves that the park there worked. [5] Riis is a famous writer, so his argument must be right. [6] In conclusion, every city in the world should build more parks.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students read Text 6, the end of Winslow's address and what happened next, in Parkman's words. Define peremptory (allowing no argument), molested (bothered or harmed) and answerable (responsible). Each student writes one analytical paragraph that answers this question: What does Longfellow keep from Winslow's whole address (Texts 2 and 6), and what does he leave out? The paragraph needs a claim, one quotation from the poem with its line number, one from the history with its paragraph number, and an explanation. The quiz also uses Text 6.

   1The peremptory orders of His Majesty are that all the French inhabitants of these districts be removed; and through His Majesty's goodness I am directed to allow you the liberty of carrying with you your money and as many of your household goods as you can take without overloading the vessels you go in. I shall do everything in my power that all these goods be secured to you, and that you be not molested in carrying them away, and also that whole families shall go in the same vessel; so that this removal, which I am sensible must give you a great deal of trouble, may be made as easy as His Majesty's service will admit; and I hope that in whatever part of the world your lot may fall, you may be faithful subjects, and a peaceable and happy people.

   2I must also inform you that it is His Majesty's pleasure that you remain in security under the inspection and direction of the troops that I have the honor to command.

   [...]

   3He then declared them prisoners of the King. "They were greatly struck," he says, "at this determination, though I believe they did not imagine that they were actually to be removed." After delivering the address, he returned to his quarters at the priest's house, whither he was followed by some of the elder prisoners, who begged leave to tell their families what had happened, "since they were fearful that the surprise of their detention would quite overcome them." Winslow consulted with his officers, and it was arranged that the Acadians should choose twenty of their number each day to revisit their homes, the rest being held answerable for their return.

5. Closure5 minutes

   Exit ticket: (1) Write one sentence that uses a quotation from Text 1 or Text 2 to support analysis, with its line or paragraph number. (2) Name one question you would ask before trusting a piece of evidence in an argument. Hand out Text 7 for the homework; it continues Text 4.

   Teacher note: Parkman wrote in the 1880s from the British and New England records, and his words, such as "peasants," and some of his judgments reflect that time. Remind students that the removal brought great suffering to Acadian families, which Parkman also describes later in the chapter, and that Acadian descendants tell the story from their own side as well. Riis's book also reflects its era; this excerpt was chosen because it describes the committee's method and contains no slurs.

   1The map was hung on the wall, and in it were stuck pins to mark the site of present and projected schools as showing where the census had found the children crowding. The moment that was done the committee sent the map and a copy of chapter 338 of the laws of 1895 to the mayor, and reported that its task was finished. This is the law and all there is of it:--

   2"The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:--

   3"Section 1. Hereafter no schoolhouse shall be constructed in the city of New York without an open-air playground attached to or used in connection with the same.

   4"Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately."

   5Where the map was daubed with red the school pins crowded one another. On the lower East Side, where child crime was growing fast, and no less than three storm centres were marked down by the police, nine new schools were going up or planned, and in the up-town precinct whence came the wail about the ball players there were seven. It was common sense, then, to hitch the school playground and the children together. [...]

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A student is writing about Evangeline (Text 1). Which sentence uses evidence to support analysis?

   AEvangeline is a long poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that tells a love story set in old Acadia. BThe poem says, "Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a drum beat." CThe drum beating "over the meadows" (line 2) calls the men like soldiers, a first hint of danger. DI think the poem is very sad, and I felt sorry for the Acadian families when I read it.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What do lines 9-10 of Text 1 suggest about the meeting in the church?

   AThe men are being shut in, so the meeting is a trap. BThe soldiers are leaving the church before the order is read. CThe women are coming inside to join the men for the service. DThe church is so full that some men have to wait outside.

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which detail in Parkman's account (Text 2) has no match in Longfellow's scene (Text 1)?

   AThe commander says the task is painful to his own nature. BSoldiers are present in the church when the order is read. CThe order takes away the Acadians' lands and their cattle. DWinslow's words reached the Acadians through interpreters.

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Parkman says Winslow's words, "retouched in orthography and syntax, ran thus" (Text 2, paragraph 1). What should a student who wants to quote Winslow understand from this?

   AParkman made up the speech himself, because Winslow's own journal and letters had been lost. BParkman copied the speech from Longfellow's poem, which came first. CParkman corrected the spelling and grammar, so the words are not exactly Winslow's. DWinslow gave the speech in French, and Parkman translated it.

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Longfellow's commander says, "Clement and kind has he been; but how you have answered his kindness, / Let your own hearts reply!" (lines 14-15). Which part of Winslow's address (Text 2) does this line rework?

   A"But it is not my business to animadvert on the orders I have received, but to obey them" B"By his orders you are called together to hear His Majesty's final resolution" C"that your lands and tenements and cattle and live-stock of all kinds are forfeited to the Crown" D"who for almost half a century have had more indulgence granted them than any of his subjects"

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Compare Text 1 with Text 6. How does the moment the men become prisoners differ?

   AIn both texts, the men are declared prisoners before the king's order is read aloud to them. BThe poem's speech ends with the declaration; in Parkman it comes after the address. CParkman's account never says that the men were made prisoners at all. DIn the poem the men are made prisoners only on the following day.

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Winslow wrote that the men "were greatly struck," though he believed "they did not imagine that they were actually to be removed" (Text 6, paragraph 3). How does Longfellow change their reaction?

   AHe shows them silent and calm, exactly as Winslow described them. BHe leaves their reaction out and ends the scene with the order. CHe turns their shock into a loud wail and a rush for the door. DHe shows them cheering because they will move to better lands.

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Which of these points from Winslow's address (Texts 2 and 6) does Longfellow's commander never make?

   AThat the Acadians' lands and cattle will go to the crown BThat whole families will travel together on the same ship CThat the Acadians will be removed from the province DThat the king wishes them to be faithful subjects

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does Longfellow compare the commander's words to a hailstorm in lines 23-28 of Text 1?

   ATo show that the order hit the people as suddenly and destructively as a summer storm BTo tell readers that a real summer hailstorm struck Grand-Pré on the very day of the meeting CTo explain that the harvest had failed, which is the reason the order was given DTo show that the commander was angry and was shouting like thunder at the people

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which claim does the evidence in Text 4 support?

    APolice captains should be put in charge of building the new city parks BStorekeepers cause most of the trouble with boys in crowded neighborhoods CThe Small Parks Act failed, so the city should stop building parks DBoys with nowhere to play but the street get into trouble; parks help

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Almost all of Riis's evidence in Text 4 comes from one kind of source. What is it?

    AStatements by police officers about their own precincts BLetters from parents whose children played in the new parks CInterviews with the boys who played ball in the streets DWritten complaints from storekeepers and from tenants

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Sentence [4] of the weak draft (Text 5) uses the Tompkins Square captain's words, "My people are quiet and orderly," as proof. Why is that a weak use of evidence?

    AThe captain was not a real person, so his words cannot be used as evidence at all. BRiis follows it with a mob and a hammer attack, which casts doubt on it. CThe captain was talking about Corlear's Hook, not about Tompkins Square. DThe quotation is too short to count as evidence in a piece of writing.

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Which statement best evaluates whether the evidence in Text 4 is relevant and sufficient?

    AIt proves beyond doubt that building parks makes crime fall in a neighborhood. BIt is not relevant, because it is about adults and not about the children. CIt is sufficient, because Riis names several police precincts in the city. DIt is relevant, but thin: a few quoted opinions from one group of speakers.

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Sentence [3] of the weak draft (Text 5) says Riis "gives numbers showing that arrests fell by half after the parks opened." What is wrong with this sentence?

    AIt is false: Text 4 gives no numbers about arrests after any park opened. BIt is correct, but the writer should add the paragraph number right after it. CIt is an opinion, so it belongs in the conclusion of the draft instead. DIt is correct, but it repeats the same point that sentence [2] makes.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    Compare how Longfellow (Text 1, lines 3-10) and Parkman (Text 2, paragraph 1) show the Acadian men waiting in the church. Write three or four sentences with one quotation from each text.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Parkman reports that the Acadians were allowed to "choose twenty of their number each day to revisit their homes" (Text 6, paragraph 3). Longfellow's scene has nothing like this. Explain how leaving out details like this shapes the reader's view of the commander. Cite both texts.

    Show model answer

17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Trace how the committee in Text 4 tested its idea. Describe its two tests with the map, say what each one showed, and explain why using both tests makes the reasoning stronger than using only the first.

    Show model answer

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    The captain of Corlear's Hook says, "The Hook Gang is gone" (Text 4, paragraph 6). Is this evidence relevant and sufficient to show that a park made the difference? Explain in three or four sentences.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    You are researching this question: What were the Acadians allowed to take with them? Write a note card from Text 6 with a short quotation, a paraphrase in your own words and the source. Then explain in one sentence why you would not use Text 1 as the source for this fact.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Reflection: Which text helped you understand the men in the church better, the poem (Text 1) or the history (Texts 2 and 6)? Explain why in three or four sentences, citing one line or paragraph.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to W.7.9: 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.