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STUDENT GUIDE

The Ingredients

Based on dialogue from Jason Reynolds’ text, describe what readers learn about the characters, their relationships to each other, and their world.

View this lesson at ThinkCERCA

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Table of Contents

Skills Focus

Build Your Vocabulary: Map a Word
Cornell Notes: Analyzing Story Elements in Literature

Overview and Connect

Find Your Purpose for Learning
Share Your Personal Connection

Read and Check

Share Your Reflections
Test Prep Strategy: Pre-Reading Strategies (Optional)

Analyze / Engage with the Text

Highlight and Annotate

Summarize

Write a Summary

Develop / Build Your Argument

Share Your Argument Builder

Draft and Review / Create your CERCA

Peer Editing Activity
Reflect on Your Writing

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Extension Activities

Analysis and Discussion Activity: Socratic Discussion
Inquiry to Research: Asking Questions of the Texts

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SKILLS FOCUS

Build Your Vocabulary: �Map a Word — Banter �

Synonym (similar or like word)

Antonym (opposite word)

Picture of Vocabulary Word

Vocabulary Word and Definition

Part of Speech

Root Word or Origin

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: Analyzing Story Elements in Literature

Give three examples of a character trait.	Three examples of a character trait are…
What is character motivation?	Character motivation is…
How do character traits and motivations cause events to happen?	Character traits and motivations cause events to happen by…

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: Analyzing Story Elements in Literature

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.

Record your summary here:

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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:

What more would you like to learn about communication between friends? What would you like to learn more about the reality of disappointment and how it can affect your mood?

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Read the Overview provided at learn.thinkcerca.com

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OVERVIEW AND CONNECT

Share Your Personal Connection

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

Instructions:�

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

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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: Pre-Reading Strategies

Pre-reading involves making predictions before you dive into a passage. Taking this step before you read strengthens comprehension and test-taking skills.

First, preview the text. If you are reading on a screen, scroll through the piece to determine its length. Then, look at the text and ask the following questions:

Based on the title, what do you think the reading will be about?
How is the passage organized?
Are there pictures (photos, maps, charts) with captions? If so, what do they suggest to the reader?
What predictions can you make based on bolded vocab words, subheadings, and other text features?
Is it fiction, or nonfiction? What is the genre (fiction examples include folklore, fantasy, and mystery; nonfiction includes biography and autobiography)?

Asking these questions before reading will help you actively think about the text as you read, and after.

Refer to the reading for this lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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ANALYZE / ENGAGE WITH THE TEXT

Highlight and Annotate

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

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.

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.

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

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SUMMARIZE

Write a Summary

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.

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.

Use the sentence stems provided in the online lesson to summarize the text. Your summary should:
Be brief
Include the main idea and key details
Represent these ideas fairly and accurately �
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?

Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Summarize.

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DEVELOP /BUILD YOUR ARGUMENT

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.

Based on dialogue from Jason Reynolds’ text, describe what readers learn about the characters, their relationships to each other, and their world.
Share Your Argument	Listen and Record Others
1.
2.
3.

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

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DRAFT AND REVIEW / CREATE YOUR CERCA

Peer Editing Activity

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.�
Next, collaborate with a classmate to read each other’s drafts. Again, use the rubric to evaluate each other’s work.�
Share insights into what might make your pieces stronger. Find two positive attributes and one area of growth for each draft you review.�
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 YOUR CERCA

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…

The strongest areas of this piece of writing are…

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

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Extension Activities

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

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Socratic Discussion

OPTIONAL EXTENSION : ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ACTIVITY

Prepare	To have a productive discussion, you must prepare observations about the texts you read and be prepared to share your evidence and and your reasoning effectively.
Listen	Since your goal is not just to share your point of view or “win” but to explore a text together, good listening is really important! The point of the experience is to build knowledge together.
Take Notes	Note-taking helps you remember your learnings and the evidence cited. It also helps you capture new ideas to explore later in your writing.
Speak Respectfully	You might not agree with everything your peers share about the topic or text, but you can still express your ideas civilly and carry on the exploration. That means, respectfully restating what you heard, questioning to better understand your peer, and calling people into the circle rather than calling them out. Consider a Socratic Discussion an opportunity to expand the circle to include all points of view on complex topics, so that regardless of whether or not people agree, they have considered many aspects of the issues deeply and are truly well-informed when they take a position.

How does a Socratic Discussion work?

A Socratic Discussion is a structured discussion that allows you to express your opinions about the texts you read while supporting your thinking with evidence and learning from others.

Instructions: Review these guidelines for participating in a Socratic Discussion.

Prepare to Discuss

Based on the Socratic question, prepare observations from your reading, writing reasons, and citing evidence to support your answers.
Use the “Prepare for Discussion” notes in order to get ready. List all of the points for each side before deciding on where you stand. Make sure that these points are grounded in strong evidence and reasoning.

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Prepare for the Discussion

OPTIONAL EXTENSION : ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ACTIVITY

Reasons supporting your response to the question	Evidence supporting your reasons for your argument
Reason 1	Evidence 1
Reason 2	Evidence 2
Reason 3	Evidence 3
Counterargument Notes:

Socratic Question

Do our experiences shape our values? �Or do our values shape our experiences?

Instructions: Using the selections you read, complete the chart below with reasons, evidence, and notes for providing a possible counterargument.

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Use Stems to Discuss

OPTIONAL EXTENSION : ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ACTIVITY

Instructions: Use these sentences for arguments and counterarguments.

Sentence Stems for Discussion:

Presenting an idea and evidence to support it: �When the author/poet/interviewer said, “________,” it suggests that ________.�In the text it says, “________” which captures perfectly the idea that ________.�The use of the image of ________ throughout the text demonstrates ________.
Disagreeing or questioning respectfully: �You said, “________.” Is that because ________? Can you say more about that?�Let me see if I understand. You are suggesting that _______ based on ________?�I see how you might interpret ________ as ________, but I would also say that ________ could be viewed as ________.
Agreeing and adding to the argument: �I’d like to build on what ________ said, adding that ________.�I totally agree with ________ and would add that ________.�I really liked what ________ said about ________ and would even say that ________ also.

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Reflect on the Discussion

OPTIONAL EXTENSION : ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ACTIVITY

Socratic Reflection: Strongest Ideas
Ideas:	Evidence:
Did your ideas about the topic change? If so, how? If not, why do you think they did not?
Did you learn more about the topic? If so, what did you learn? If not, what might have helped you learn more?

Instructions: As a whole class, discuss: Which observations about the topic led to a deeper discussion? Which evidence? Then, individually, reflect on the Socratic Discussion by answering the questions below.

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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.

Approaches	Example
Questions about the author	Is the author an authority on this topic? What was the author’s motivation in writing this piece?
Questions about the audience, purpose, and occasion of the text	Why was this article written? Why was it published at this time?
Questions about civics, economics, geography, and history	Do you and friends have a special language that you use to communicate?
Questions about concepts and ideas	Have you ever heard the expression “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade”? This means you should try to turn negative experiences into something positive. Can you recall an instance where you did this? If so, how did you turn the negative experience into a positive experience?
Questions about self and community reflections	Have you ever wanted something that you couldn’t have? Did it make you feel disappointed, upset, or sad? If so, what did you do to improve your mood?

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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.

Approaches	Questions
Questions about the author
Questions about the audience, purpose, and occasion of the text
Questions about civics, economics, geography, and history
Questions about concepts and ideas
Self and Community Reflections

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