Stage 1-Desired Results
Established Goals:
LA 7.1.6.j Apply knowledge of organizational patterns to comprehend informational text (e.g.,
sequence/chronological, description, spatial, cause and effect, compare/contrast, fact/opinion,
proposition/support)
LA 7.1.6.n Make and confirm/modify inferences with text evidence while previewing and reading
literary, informational, digital text, and/or media.
LA 8.1.6.a Analyze the meaning, reliability, and validity of the text considering author's purpose,
perspective, and information from additional sources.
LA 8.1.6.n Make complex or abstract inferences or predictions by synthesizing information while
previewing and reading text.
Understandings:
TU Students will understand that authors use cause and effect relationships between textual events to
shape a story’s plot.
TU Students will understand that the ability to infer enables them to be a successful reader that is in
control of his or her interpretations.
TU Students will understand that context clues teach them about a character and his or her motivations.
OU Students will understand that inferences enable them to make meaning out of daily life.
OU Students will understand that, just as authors cannot control how their works are interpreted, they
also cannot totally control how their messages are interpreted.
Essential Questions:
TQ How can your reading skills enable you to gain meaning from a text?
TQ How can the interpreter affect the meaning of a message?
TQ How much say should an author have about the meaning of his text?
OQ Which is more important, the interpreter or the message?
Students will know:
Interpretation/Interpreter
Context clues
Cause and effect
Motivation
Characterization
Objective/Subjective narrator
Students will be able to:
Infer a character’s motivation.
Use a chosen medium to demonstrate their inferences about a character’s motivation.
Analyze a plot for cause and effect relationships.
Create a visual representation of a story plot’s cause and effect relationships.
Identify whether a text narrator is objective or subjective.
Describe a text’s character using traits that the author implies throughout the story.
Collaborate with a group to create a multi- media presentation.
Stage 2- Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks:
Learning Center Tasks
Given a basic plot, students will be able to identify the major plot events and arrange them into cause
and effect relationships.
Given a textual excerpt about a character, students will be able to identify and articulate information
about that character’s personality and identity.
Given excerpts of a text, students will be able to infer a character’s motivation and justify their
inferences with context clues.
Given a text, students will be able to identify the type of narrator and infer a possible agenda or
message the narrator wishes to convey.
Primary Assessment
Given a story, students will collaborate with their group to create an analysis project that presents the
audience with an analysis of the plot that is supplemented with text references. See the page below
for the rubric. The following elements will be included in the presentation:
o Plot summary
o Cause-and-effect relationships of major plot elements
o Character motivation
o Characterization
o Narrator’s message and type of narrator (objective or subjective)
*A reflection will follow in which students will reflect upon how their group’s inferences
helped to shape the meaning of the text.
Other Evidence:
Student expression of questions, inferences, and additional discussion in the read aloud and social media
lesson.
Student discussion in the learning centers.
Student discussion within group work time.
Google Form reflection at the end of the unit.
Stage 3- Learning Plan
Learning Activities:
1. Use Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton Tweets to pre-assess students’ knowledge about
inferences and context clues.
2. Use the poem Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage out! to further explore the
idea of inferences and introduce the concepts of characterization and cause-and-effect
relationships.
3. Have students cycle between four different learning centers.
(As students are working through the learning centers, the instructor will distribute half-sheets of
paper that each feature three short descriptions of short stories that will be used in class the next
day. As they are able, students should rank the three stories from one to three, with one being the
highest preference and three being the lowest preference.)
Learning Centers:
a. Students will conduct a plot analysis of There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly,
organizing the major elements according to their cause-and-effect relationships. They may
demonstrate these relationships via written text, a drawn graph, or through a graphic
organizer such as the bubl.us app.
b. Students will conduct a character analysis of a character featured in excerpts of One
Ordinary Day, with Peanuts, identifying what they believe are the three most important
traits to that character’s identity.
i. Students may demonstrate what these three traits are via written text or by creating
a bubble graph with the app bubl.us
c. Students will read an excerpt from One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts and identify whether
the narrator is objective or subjective. This station will be tiered, so if students work
through the basic analysis and the story preference sheet, they can begin a more advanced
analysis of the narrator. The advanced analysis includes brainstorming traits about the
narrator and the message they believe the narrator wishes to convey. Students will be
allowed to create a picture of the narrator, write about the narrator, use bubl.us to organize
information about the narrator, or any combination of the above.
d. Using different excerpts of One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts, students will analyze and
predict the character’s motivations. They must include three textual details in their
prediction. After writing down their predictions, they will move on to the end of the story
and read about the true reason for character’s motivation. Students will then compare and
contrast their predicted motivations with the narrator’s stated motivation.
4. Place students into three groups, so approximately six students for each group. Each group will
be assigned a story, and asked to analyze the story via the concepts we have learned in our unit.
The three stories shall be as follows:
a. An American Childhood by Annie Dillard
b. The Night the Bed Fell, by James Thurber
c. Knots in my Yo-Yo String by Jerry Spinelli
5. The student groups will present their findings to the class.
6. Have students reflect upon how their group’s inferences helped to shape the meaning of the text,
with particular focus on comparing/contrasting the author’s intended meaning to the meaning
their group inferred. This will be generated through a Google Form.
The primary focus of this unit’s development has been on the stages above. However, the below
materials have been included to help clarify the form and content of the learning activities:
1. Hook Materials
2. Analysis Project Instructions
3. Analysis Project Rubric
Hook Materials
Donald Trump Tweet:
Bernie should pull his endorsement of Crooked Hillary after she decieved [sic] him and then
attacked him and his supporters.
Hillary Clinton Tweet:
According to @NYTimes, Trump may contribute less to our military and college students than
the undocumented immigrants he wants to deport.
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout by Shel Silverstein
Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout
Would not take the garbage out!
She'd scour the pots and scrape the pans,
Candy the yams and spice the hams,
And though her daddy would scream and
shout,
She simply would not take the garbage out.
And so it piled up to the ceilings:
Coffee grounds, potato peelings,
Brown bananas, rotten peas,
Chunks of sour cottage cheese.
It filled the can, it covered the floor,
It cracked the window and blocked the door
With bacon rinds and chicken bones,
Drippy ends of ice cream cones,
Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,
Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,
Pizza crusts and withered greens,
Soggy beans and tangerines,
Crusts of black burned buttered toast,
Gristly bits of beefy roasts. . .
The garbage rolled on down the hall,
It raised the roof, it broke the wall. . .
Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,
Globs of gooey bubble gum,
Cellophane from green baloney,
Rubbery blubbery macaroni,
Peanut butter, caked and dry,
Curdled milk and crusts of pie,
Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,
Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,
Cold french fried and rancid meat,
Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.
At last the garbage reached so high
That it finally touched the sky.
And all the neighbors moved away,
And none of her friends would come to play.
And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,
"OK, I'll take the garbage out!"
But then, of course, it was too late. . .
The garbage reached across the state,
From New York to the Golden Gate.
And there, in the garbage she did hate,
Poor Sarah met an awful fate,
That I cannot now relate
Because the hour is much too late.
But children, remember Sarah Stout
And always take the garbage out!
Analysis Project Instructions
Welcome! You have just been placed in a team that will now work together to tackle your next
literary challenge: a text analysis! It’s up to you to determine each member’s strengths and
appoint different people to different roles. Below is a description of each role, along with ideas
for how to accomplish each of your goals. On Monday, November 21 you will have time in class
to present your findings to the class, and will turn in your overall products at the end of class.
Steps:
1. Assign a group member to each task.
2. You will have Friday’s class period and half of Monday’s to work through these tasks.
Make sure your whole team is working successfully through their tasks and meeting the
rubric requirements.
3. Midway through Monday’s class, each group will be given 5 minutes to present their
findings to the class. These presentations will be short summaries of your tasks, and will
not cover all the information you came up with in your group.
4. At the end of class on Monday, you will turn in your group materials. The majority of
your grades will be based on these materials.
5. Have fun!
The 6 Tasks (See rubric for more information)
1. The Play-by-Play: Your task is to put together a thorough summary of your story’s plot.
This summary needs to include all the important events from your story. If there are
characters that are involved with these events, you should also introduce those characters.
This summary should be represented in writing, but you only need a couple of sentences
if you include a visual element such as a graphic organizer or a plot line. Your main
partner is the The Consequences agent. You should work together and check each other’s
work as needed.
2. The Consequences: Your task is to put together an analysis of the plots various events.
This can be represented all in writing, or you can use pen and paper or a map to create a
visual Cause-and-Effect piece for your plot. Your main partner is the Play-by-Play agent.
You should work together and check each other’s work as needed.
3. The Psychologist: Your task is to pick at least two characters from your story to analyze.
You will have more success with this if you pick characters that are frequently discussed
in your text. Next, you should identify three main personality traits about the character.
These can be directly stated by the narrator, or they can be inferred based upon what the
character says or does. Each of these traits should include an example from the text that
demonstrates it. This information should be communicated in writing, but you only need
a couple sentences if you include a visual element. For instance, you could draw a web or
create one in an app, or you can pick out pictures that illustrate some of the traits. Your
main partner is the Pep Talk agent. You should work together and check each other’s
work as needed.
4. The Pep Talk: Your task is to identify the character’s motivation behind two actions.
These actions can be from the same character, or two different characters. For each action
you need to include three parts: the action itself, why you believe the character did this
action, and examples from the text to support your theory. This information should be
represented in writing, but you can organize it into a graphic organizer instead of just
writing it all out. Your main partner is the Psychologist agent. You should work together
and check each other’s work as needed.
5. Narration Expert: Your task is to analyze the narrator for three traits. This can include
such elements as objective/subjective, trustworthy/untrustworthy, or first person/second
person. Deeper inferences, such as the gender or personality of the narrator, are
encouraged. Each of these traits should include an example from the text that
demonstrates it. This information should be communicated in writing, but you only need
a couple of sentences if you include a visual element. For instance, you could draw a web
or create one in an app, or you can pick out pictures that illustrate some of the traits. Your
main partner is the Hidden Message agent. You should work together and check each
other’s work as needed.
6. The Hidden Message: Your task is to discover one message you believe the author is
trying to convey throughout the story. One message could be about a character, does the
author want us to like the character or not, and why? Another agenda could be about the
plot of the story. Why did the narrator show that a certain event, particularly a character’s
decision, would be the cause of another event? This information should be represented in
writing, which you can organize into paragraphs or put into a graphic organizer. Your
main partner is the Narration Expert agent. You should work together and check each
other’s work as needed.
Rubric for Group Analysis Project
These rubric standards apply to the students’ products, not presentations, unless specifically
specified as presentation points.
Plot Summary
Cause-and-Effect
Characterization
10
A thorough and concise
summary that teaches observers
about the major plot events,
introducing characters as
necessary.
A clear representation of the
Cause-and-Effect relationships
between each of the plot
events. Each event should be
briefly described, and should
include a brief explanation of
why that event is the cause of
the next event.
Should feature at least two
characters. Each character
should have at least 3 specific
traits identified, and each trait
needs to be strongly supported
with a textual details.
Character
Motivation
Should feature at least two
character actions, an inference
as to why the character did that
action, and then a justification
of those inferences.
Traits of
Narrator
Should feature at least three of
the narrator’s traits. Can
include such elements as
objective/subjective,
trustworthy/untrustworthy, or
first person/second person.
Deeper inferences, such as the
gender or personality of the
7
A fair summary that
excludes one-two
major components
of the story, which
limited the
audience’s
understanding of the
plot.
A Cause-and-Effect
representation that
did not clearly
identify two-three
events or did not
explain one-two of
the Cause-andEffect relationships.
Featured two or
more characters but
only provided 2
traits for each, or left
two or three traits
unsupported by
textual details.
Featured two or
more character
actions and
motivation
inferences for those
actions, but did not
justify one of the
actions.
Featured one trait
that was not wellexplained, or had
one that was not
supported with
details from the text.
4
A summary that left out
three or more major plot
elements.
A Cause-and-Effect
representation that did not
clearly identify four or
more events or did not
explain three or more
Cause-and-Effect
relationships.
Featured one character
instead of at least two, or
provided only 1 trait for
each character, or left four
or more traits unsupported
by textual details.
Featured one action
instead of two, or did not
provide a character
motivation for each of
these actions, or did not
justify the actions.
Did not clearly explain
two or more traits, or did
not have three total traits,
or had two-three traits that
were not supported with
details from the text.
Narrator’s
Message
Presentation
narrator, are encouraged. Each
trait should be supported with
details from the text.
Should include at least one
well-developed message that
the author had for writing this
story. The message should be
supported by at least two
examples from the text.
Each group member
participated equally in the
presentation, and each member
demonstrated a strong
understanding of their content.
The message was
not clearly explained
but there were two
examples from the
text to support it.
The message was not
clearly explained or there
were not two textual
examples to support it.
Each group member
participated in the
presentation, but
some members had
to fill- in information
for other members,
and one-two
members did not
demonstrate strong
understanding of
their content.
Not every member
participated in the
presentation, or three or
more members did not
demonstrate a strong
understanding of their
content.