STUDENT GUIDE

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Affine Ciphers

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Using the guidance in the selection, develop an affine cipher. Using that cipher, create a secret message for someone else to decode.

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Table of Contents

Skills Focus

• Build Your Vocabulary: Map a Word
• Cornell Notes: Finding and Making Use of Structure in Mathematics

Overview and Connect

• Find Your Purpose for Learning
• Share Your Personal Connection

Read and Check

• Share Your Reflections
• Test Prep Strategy: Error Analysis (Optional)

Analyze / Engage with the Text

• Highlight and Annotate

Summarize

• Write a Summary

Develop / Build

• Share Your Argument Builder

Draft and Review / Create

• Peer Editing Activity
• Reflect on Your Writing

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Extension Activities

• Inquiry to Research: Code Talkers
• Inquiry to Research: Asking Questions of the Texts
• Optional Extension: Roundtable Discussion

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SKILLS FOCUS

Build Your Vocabulary: �Map a Word — Expression�

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Synonym (similar or like word)

Antonym (opposite word)

Picture of Vocabulary Word

Vocabulary Word and Definition

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Part of Speech

Root Word or Origin

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Sentence Using Vocabulary Word

Instructions: Analyzing key vocabulary words will help you better understand the texts you are reading. Word mapping can also help the words "stick" in your memory. Complete the map below with the vocabulary word provided in the title. Use a dictionary if necessary. Fill as many boxes as you can.

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SKILLS FOCUS

Cornell Notes: Finding and Making Use of Structure in Mathematics

Instructions: Take notes on the Direct Instruction lesson using the organizer below. Then summarize and reflect on the next page.

Complete the Direct Instruction lesson online at learn.thinkcerca.com

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SKILLS FOCUS

Cornell Notes: Finding and Making Use of Structure in Mathematics

Summarize and Reflect

In your own words and in complete sentences, write a 3–4 sentence summary of this Direct Instruction lesson. An accurate summary will cover the lesson's central ideas and include important details to support those ideas.

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Record your summary here:

OVERVIEW AND CONNECT

Find Your Purpose for Learning

Instructions: When you have finished reading the Overview for this lesson, answer the following questions in the space below:

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What more would you like to learn about coding and decoding ciphers? What would you like to know about other types of secret codes? What do you want to find out about how ciphers and codes are used in our everyday world?

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Read the Overview provided at learn.thinkcerca.com

OVERVIEW AND CONNECT

Share Your Personal Connection

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Complete the Connect section for this selection at learn.thinkcerca.com

Instructions:�

1. Think: On your own, think about your experiences related to the topic.
2. Pair & Share: With a partner, group, or a trusted listener, share the parts of your response that you feel comfortable sharing.
3. Reflect: If time permits, reflect on your experience. What ideas did others share that you hadn't considered? How were your ideas alike?

READ

Share Your Reflections

Instructions: During or after you have finished reading, find the questions in the text marked Pause and Reflect. These questions may help you understand the text, or they may help you connect the text to yourself, to other texts, or to the world around you.

Use the space on the left below to answer the reflection questions. Then discuss your answers, noting how they were similar or different.

Record “Pause and Reflect” answers here:

Record discussion reflections here:

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Refer to the Pause and Reflect questions within the Read section of the lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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READ

Test Prep Strategy: Error Analysis

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Reflect on any multiple choice questions that you got wrong. Taking this step will allow you to avoid making the same mistakes when you see similar questions in the future.

Refer to the reading and multiple choice questions for this lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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ANALYZE / ENGAGE WITH THE TEXT

Highlight and Annotate

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In this step, you will analyze the text closely, then discuss your findings to begin developing reasoning for your argument.

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1. Read the text again, highlighting and annotating important details. ��Follow the prompts provided. The highlighting prompts will help you with the final writing task. ��You will find evidence to support your own argument or informational piece, as well as models of excellence that will help you better understand a writer’s craft in narratives and poetry. The evidence you highlight will be available when you begin building your draft in the next step.

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2. If time permits, pair and share your highlights and annotations with a classmate. Pay close attention to this conversation! Your thinking is important reasoning that you may include in your final draft.

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Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Analyze / Engage with the Text.

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SUMMARIZE

Write a Summary

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Summaries help you process your thinking about a text and are often a great way to start off an argumentative or informational essay. A good summary shows you have knowledge about a topic.

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Practicing summarizing also helps you prepare for the main idea questions posed on many standardized assessments. In addition, summarizing is a helpful skill for working with others, such as when you need to confirm your understanding of what someone else has said. That's a useful skill for all parts of life.

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1. Use the sentence stems provided in the online lesson to summarize the text. Your summary should:
1. Be brief
2. Include the main idea and key details
3. Represent these ideas fairly and accurately �
2. If time permits, pair and share with a classmate. Read each other’s summary, and discuss how they are similar or different. What did you say were the main idea and key details? Were your summaries fair and accurate? Why?

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Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Summarize.

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DEVELOP / BUILD

Share your Argument Builder

When you’ve completed the argument building step, share your results with others, and listen to how they responded to the same question. Ask questions, and give feedback to help strengthen your partners’ reasons and evidence.

Complete Develop / Build to begin building your argument at learn.thinkcerca.com

DRAFT AND REVIEW / CREATE

Peer Editing Activity

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1. Do a self-assessment of your CERCA. Use the online rubric for the lesson on learn.thinkcerca.com, checking each box where you find evidence that you have achieved the criteria.�
2. Next, collaborate with a classmate to read each other’s drafts. Again, use the rubric to evaluate each other’s work.�
3. Share insights into what might make your pieces stronger. Find two positive attributes and one area of growth for each draft you review.�
4. Revise your piece using what you learned from your self-assessment and the feedback from your peers.

Complete your Draft at learn.thinkcerca.com

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DRAFT AND REVIEW / CREATE

Reflect on Your Writing

Before you submit your final CERCA, write a brief reflection describing your experience.

An area for growth for me on this piece or in my writing in general is…

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The strongest areas of this piece of writing are…

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Through self-assessment and/or peer editing, I learned…

Extension Activities

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The following activities can be used as extensions to this lesson.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : INQUIRY TO RESEARCH

Code Talkers

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Background

During World War I and World War II, members of at least 15 Indigenous American communities served as “Code Talkers” in the US military. Communication in languages including Navajo (or Diné) and Choctaw allowed for the transmission of secret messages, strategies, and tactics.

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With this activity, learn about the history of Code Talkers and their contributions to American history.

Research

Use resources in your school library, including databases and other digital tools, to research the history of Code Talkers. Questions you may want to ask include:

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• Who were the Code Talkers, and from what communities did they hail?
• Why were the Code Talkers recruited by the US military to encode and decode messages?
• Why do some people see the US government’s reliance on Code Talkers as ironic?
• How did the process of encrypting and transmitting codes work? How is this process like the substitution ciphers featured in the reading in the ThinkCERCA lesson?
• What impact did the Code Talkers have on outcomes in World War I and World War II?
• What is the legacy of Code Talkers today?

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : INQUIRY TO RESEARCH

Code Talkers (continued)

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Create

After you complete your research, meet with a team of two to three peers to compare your findings. Together, create a short documentary or podcast that explains the significance of Code Talkers to a broader audience. Remember: your viewers and listeners may not be familiar with this history, so provide context about the Code Talkers and the global conflicts in which they were enmeshed.

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With permission from your teacher, share your creations on social media with the hashtag #SparkCourageousThinking.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : INQUIRY TO RESEARCH

Ask Questions of the Texts

As you engage with texts in any subject, you can actively ask questions about the author’s purpose, intended audience, and occasion to understand the message. The table below provides examples.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : INQUIRY TO RESEARCH

Ask Questions of the Texts (continued)

Use the table below to record questions about the text you read.

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

Sharing Additional Research Findings, Learnings, and Experiences

Roundtable discussions offer you the opportunity to share what you’ve learned, as well as to ask questions and learn from others. Come to the discussion prepared to share your key findings. Use the organizer on the next page.

How the discussion works:

1. Choose a group leader who will help lead the roundtable discussion, and select a member of the group to go first.
2. Go around the group, allowing each participant to share a quick review of their their key findings.
3. When not presenting, take notes, summarizing key findings of your peers. Snap silently to show gratitude, appreciation, or interest!
4. After each presenter, take a moment for participants to ask questions or summarize what they just heard. Each participant should ask at least one question or summarize what someone else presented at least once during the discussion.
5. When complete, the presenter “passes the mic” to the next presenter.

Remember, it’s important to value dialogue and appreciate different perspectives. Learning from and understanding people who think differently or have different experiences is part of the process of growth! You don’t have to agree to learn from another perspective!

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OPTIONAL EXTENSION : ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

Discussion Notes

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