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What factors shaped the development of the Varna system in ancient India?

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ThinkCERCA Lesson: The Varna System of Ancient India

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What factors shaped the development of the Varna system in ancient India?

In ancient India, a social hierarchy known as the Varna system divided society into four classes based originally on occupation and later, heredity: Brahmin (priest), Kshatriya (noble), Vaishya (commoner), and Shudra (servant). These classes were described in the Hindu religious texts the Bhagavata Purana and the Rig Veda.

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Step 1

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Read Topic Overview
Complete Connect Quick Write

Coaching Tip: Have students read the Overview and complete the Finding Your Purpose for Learning reflection in the Student Guide. You’ll need to make your own copy of the Student Guide if you want to further tailor the document to your students’ needs and create a class master copy to use with diverse learners who may require note-taking accommodations.

Optional Coaching Tip: If this is the first time students have learned how to generate questions before reading the text, you can model the process with them. After reading the Overview, have the students complete the Finding Your Purpose For Learning section of the Student Guide using the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model.

Gradual Release of Responsibility Model:

I Do It: You can share questions you have about the essay, the author, etc.
We Do It: Have students work with you to generate a list of questions, taking notes in the organizer.
You Do It: Together: Have students work in pairs or small groups to generate more questions together.
You Do It: Alone: Individually, have each student generate questions.

Talking Point: Engaging with text is really all about connecting text to one’s self, to others, and to the world. As we continue to build our community of learning together, it’s important to take time to learn more about each other and discover your own purpose for learning. Complete the Connect step of the lesson. pair with another to share your experiences and use the Think-Pair-Share worksheet to support your collaboration. Students will need 10 minutes to share and collaborate before the larger group debrief if you choose to bring the whole class together for a discussion.

Coaching Tip: Provide the Student Guide after this Connect step has been completed. Students will need at least 3-5 minutes to

Gradual Release of Responsibility Model:

I Do It: You can share questions you have about the essay, the author, etc. Use the optional slides that follow to guide the experience of questioning the text.
We Do It: Have students work with you to generate a list of questions, taking notes in the organizer.
You Do It: Together: Have students work in pairs or small groups to generate more questions together.
You Do It: Alone: Individually, have each student generate questions.

Asynchronous Model:

You Do It Alone: Individually, have each student read the Overview, generate questions using the Finding Your Purpose for Learning section of the Student Guide, and complete the Connect step.

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After sharing your personal Connect story with a peer.

How can cultural or religious beliefs impact social structures?

Step 1 Reflection

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Step 2

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Read Selection
Check Your Comprehension

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Coaching Tip: Students will need at least 30 minutes to complete the reading. “Pause and Reflect” Questions appear throughout the text. Students can use the annotation tool to write answers to these questions. You may choose to have students work together and to collaborate in discussion around the Pause and Reflect prompts using the Student Guide. Each of these questions is designed to help students make disciplinary and personal connections to the text.

Coaching Notes: To incorporate test preparation into your everyday great instruction, you can ask students to complete an activity in which they use context clues to deduce meaning. See Context Clues Activity in the Student Guide.

Asynchronous Model:

Preview the essay with students, pointing out the “Pause and Reflect” questions. Encourage students to independently read the essay at their own pace and to use the annotation tools to actively read and respond to the questions.

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Step 2 Reflection: Drag your dot to how you are feeling:

Keep going, I understand

I’m a little confused

Stop, I need help!

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Step 3

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Read the writing prompt. You will respond to this in your final writing assignment.
Highlight and Annotate the Text to support your opinion.

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Coaching Note: If students are learning highlighting, annotation, and other disciplinary literacy strategies for the first time, they can benefit from many times “at-bat” and the modeling and guidance that the gradual release of responsibility model provides. Here is a sample script of what that might look like.

Gradual Release of Responsibility Model:

I Do It: Project the reading. Follow the highlighting and annotation prompts in the first paragraph, providing a think-aloud that explains why you are selecting a piece of the text and what you think when you read it. “I am highlighting ...;” “I am going to add a note that explains that...makes me think...,” etc.
We Do It: Have students work with you to complete the next paragraph, taking notes in the text in the teacher preview.
You Do It Together: Have students work in pairs or small groups to complete the next several paragraphs or the rest of the lesson.
You Do It Alone (options): Students can continue highlighting and annotating for the last several paragraphs.

Asynchronous Model:

You Do It Alone (options): After observing teacher modeling, students can independently highlight and annotate the remainder of the text.

Alternatively, after highlighting, each student can demonstrate their own achievement by summarizing the reading in Step 4. If they haven’t already completed it, they can also complete the quiz in Step 2 in ThinkCERCA.

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Step 3 Reflection: Share a striking quotation.

Share the most striking pieces of evidence from the text?

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Step 4

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Summarize the Reading
Share with a peer

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Step 4 Reflection: Pause and Reflect

How might people’s professions impact their interactions with other people?

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Step 5

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Build Your Argument

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Coaching Note: The planning step involves a solo or collaborative experience of outlining an argument. Developing a draft claim is the first step. Students then support the claim with reasons, and provide evidence to support their reasoning. After students present a supporting reason+evidence, they should also include an explanation of how the evidence links back to the reason, making their thinking visible. Together the reason-evidence-reasoning sandwiches make up the supporting paragraphs in an argument.

Gradual Release of Responsibility Model:

I Do It: Project the argument-builder step in the teacher preview. Show the claim stem in the Claim box.
We Do It: Have students work with you to complete the sample claim stem. Then ask contributors to improve the claim by making it more specific or general as needed and encourage students to use more formal language to capture the specific and debatable ideas they have about the essay’s structure.
You Do It Together: Have students work in pairs or small groups to complete the rest of the argument building or the rest of the lesson, analyzing the major ideas of the text and the details the author uses to support them. Remind students they can arrange and rearrange the argument as they go. Encourage students to test their ideas and share throughout the drafting process.
You Do It Alone (options): Students can refine their final argument during the actual formal drafting step in the lesson.

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Step 5 Reflection: CERCA Collaboration

X=Ready to collaborate or !=I can use some help

Evidence

Reasoning

Audience

Counterargument

Claim

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Step 6

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Create Your CERCA
Complete self-assessment in Rubric section of Step 6

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Coaching Note: The final step involves creating a fully fleshed out draft. Student will drop their argument builder outlines into the draft space and use sentence starters to fully flesh out the ideas of their more formal piece of writing.

Gradual Release of Responsibility Model:

I Do It: Project the contents of an argument-builder step in the teacher preview. Drop the outline into the text box. Model how you move from a single statement to a full introduction. You might begin by using the personal connect as a hook and the summary as a transition in order to develop an introduction with significance and a strong claim. Show students how to build the argument’s support using the reason->evidence->reasoning approach, so each point is stated in the reason, supported by evidence, and has a reasoning statement that links the evidence to the overall paragraph and/or argument.
We Do It: Have students work with you to complete an introduction and or a support together.
You Do It Together: Have students work in pairs or small groups to complete another supporting section.. Encourage students to test their ideas and share throughout the drafting process.
You Do It Alone (options): Students can refine their final argument on their own before engaging in peer editing.

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Organization & Development	Introductions & Conclusions	Conventions & Documentation	Reading/ Subject Matter Help	Sentence Level/ Language Level

Claim	Evidence	Reasoning	Conclusion	Audience

Step 6 Reflection: What feedback is most helpful?

Where can additional feedback help you the most?

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How do you feel about your ability to support an opinion?

Ready for more of a challenge!

Just right!

Not quite there yet.

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