The Grapes of Wrath ​Spring 2019: Week 1

Lesson 1
Content Standards:
Day # 1 CCSS.ELA-Literacy. RI. 11-12: 7: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
(95 min) CCSS.ELA-Writing. ​W. 11-12: 1a: Text Types and Purposes

Practice Standards: ​Annotating an informational article and writing an informal

paragraph developed by reasons.

ELD standards: ​P1.A3 Offering and justifying opinions, negotiating with and
persuading others in communicative exchanges.

Focal concept/idea: Agenda:

How do people adapt to catastrophic
disasters? What happens if they cannot?
Learning Objective(s):
1. Review and extend prior
knowledge of the Dust Bowl and
Great Depression.
2. Write a paragraph expressing an
opinion about one of the
controversial thematic statements
about the value of individualism,
etc., listed on the Anticipation
Guide.
1. Warmup:​ What do you know about the Dust
Bowl, Great Depression, disasters in general?
What do you want to know?
2. Main Activity:​ Google Slides: Intro to Dust
Bowl, Great Depression
3. Wrap Up: ​What did you learn? What caused
the Dust Bowl? Where do your opinions lie
now about how people adapt to disasters?
4. Closure:​ SSR: Ch 1 T
​ he Grapes of Wrath
(audio); HW: Read Ch 2

​Timing Activity and classroom talk description Guiding questions and

formative Assessments

Into 1. Begin to introduce T​ he Grapes of Wrath​, by KWL Chart:​ What do you

(Warm- bridging off of ​The Great Gatsby​. This already know? What was
up): introduction will be completed through a Gatsby focused on: a focus
10 min KWL Chart. on self-enrichment or a
focus on struggling/working
hard to survive? How do you
know?

2. Introduce the Focal Concept for the new unit

on The Grapes of Wrath, switching from a
focus on riches (from T
​ he Great Gatsby​) to a
focus on adaptation and survival.
3. Introduce Learning Objectives.
4. Explain Agenda.
5. Pass out KWL Chart Assessment and explain
strategy at Doc Camera

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 6. Think: Students fill out K column individually Think, Pair, Share: ​What did
7. Pair: Have students talk to their elbow partner. that fact/idea remind you of
8. Share: Ask for students to share K column as or make you think of?
whole class, and record responses on Doc
Camera.
9. Think: Students fill out W column. Think, Pair, Share: ​What do
10. Pair: Have students talk to their elbow partner. you want to know about
11. Share: Ask for partner pairs to share with those facts? Or what
whole class what they wanted to know, and question do you have that
record responses on Doc Camera. you want answered?

-What made you curious

about that topic or question?

-Does anyone want to add

on to what [Student First
Name] said?

-What [Student First Name]

said reminds me of what
[Student First Name] said
because...

Academic (Literacy support for students with specific needs and ELL’s)
Language Every day, students with preferential seating will be seated at the front of the room or
support close to the door so that those students who require frequent breaks, as needed, will
have that opportunity to take a break during instruction. The KWL Chart Assessment
will be collected at the end of the unit as part of the Unit Notebook, so students who
require extra time to complete this formative assessment will have extra time, as
needed. I will provide sentence starters for my RFEP students who require additional
support to express what they know or want to know using academic language.

Transition “This kind of thinking (assessing what you know already and deciding what you want
to know) is what you do when you build some historical context around a new topic.
Now, we are going to build off of your observations that will provide some additional
context to what you already know or may answer questions you want to have
answered.”

Through 1. Google Slides: Present slideshow with
(Central Projector through a mini-lecture to check
Activity): students’ prior knowledge of the Dust Bowl
20 min and Great Depression; connect their prior
experiences with natural and economic
disasters, if any, to the Dust Bowl and Great
Depression; contrast their prior learning of
The Great Gatsby​ in the 1920s to the Dust
Bowl and Great Depression in the 1930s.
Can you think of a disaster
in your own lifetime that
people had difficulty
adapting to?
Think back briefly to ​The
Great Gatsby​: What were
Gatsby and Myrtle focused

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 on: their dreams or their
survival? How do you know?

Transition “Let’s briefly return to our KWL Chart and wrap up the L column, in order to make
sense of the additional historical context we have built about the Dust Bowl, Great
Depression, and how people adapted to those disasters.”

Academic (Literacy support for students with specific needs and ELL’s)
Language I will provide sentence starters for my RFEP students who require additional support
support to express what they learned using academic language.

Beyond 1. Wrap up L column on KWL Chart. Students KWL Chart:​ What

(making complete L column individually, so the chart information was new to you?
sense of checks their understanding of what they have
the central learned so far of the Dust Bowl, the Great -Or what information do
activity): Depression, and how people adapt to disasters. you need to correct from
40 min your K column?
total
-Were any of your questions
10 min from your W column
(Step 1) answered?

The KWL Chart will be

turned in as a formative
assessment as part of
students’ Unit Notebooks.
15 min
2. Pass out article on the causes of the Dust Bowl
(Steps
(“Climate, Soil were among key factors leading The annotations, vocabulary,
2-6) to Dust Bowl” by Janet Sutter) to see if and questions students
students can read integrate the knowledge they complete and answer will be
already possessed prior to the lesson with the turned in as a formative
knowledge they gained from the Google Slides assessment as part of
min-lecture through a short article. students’ Unit Notebooks.
3. Preview the article with students before they
read it: explain the title, look at the maps, read -What do you notice about
the text-based questions and the this article?
vocabulary-in-context word bank, paying -Is the author guiding us in
special attention to the vocabulary and the some way? How do you
questions know?
4. Think: SSR: 1st Read: Students read the article
silently and highlight the domain-specific
words from the word bank they do not already
know. Using the Document Camera, model
how to do this before students start.
5. Pair: 2nd Read: Students work with their Think, Pair, Share:​ How did
elbow partner to use the article’s context to you arrive at that definition?
define those words by annotating on the article What context clues from the

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 itself. If students are done early, they can start article alerted you to that
answering the text-based questions. translation?
6. Share: Go over some of the vocabulary as a
whole class, using the Document Camera.
Have pairs share one example of how they
defined a word in context.
7. Teacher moves to Anticipation Guide
Assessment: “Now let’s extend our thinking of The Anticipation Guide
the historical context we gained from with the quick write,
15 min reviewing the Dust Bowl and Great argumentative paragraph
(Steps Depression, and challenge our own opinions will be turned in as a
7-8) about themes of survival. These statements on formative assessment as part
this guide are themes ​The Grapes of Wrath of students’ Unit Notebooks.
either supports or challenges.”
8. Pass out Guide and read directions with
students. Students complete a quick write on
at least one of the controversial, thematic
statements.

Academic (Literacy support for students with specific needs and ELL’s)
Language The article—with its annotations, definitions, and questions answered—and the
support Anticipation Guide Assessment will be collected at the end of the unit as part of the
Unit Notebook, so students who require extra time to complete these formative
assessments will have extra time, as needed. I will provide a sentence frame for the
quick write, argumentative paragraph on the Anticipation Guide for my RFEP
students.

Closure: 1. Pass out Drive By Vocab for Ch 1.

25 min 2. SSR: Ch 1 of ​The Grapes of Wrath​ (audio)
3. Explain how class will build their G
​ rapes of Wrath ​Unit Notebook (create list
on whiteboard)
4. Pass out Drive By Vocab for Ch 2.
5. SSR/HW: Read Ch 2 of ​The Grapes of Wrath

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Lesson 2
Content Standards:
Day # 2 CCSS.ELA-Speaking and Listening. SL. 11-12: 1a-b: Comprehension and Collaboration
(95 min) CCSS.ELA-Literacy. RL. 11-12: 1: Key Ideas and Details

Practice Standards: ​Annotating a literary text and supporting claims with textual
evidence

ELD standards:
P1.A3 Offering and justifying opinions, negotiating with and persuading others in
communicative exchanges.

Focal concept/idea: Agenda:

How do people adapt to catastrophic
disasters? What happens if they cannot?
Learning Objectives:
1. Justify opinions about how one
adapts to extreme changes in
environment and whether life is
such a powerful force that it can
persist despite great impediments.
2. Identify at least one central idea
Steinbeck presents about the harsh
Oklahoma environment during the
Dust Bowl and the Great
Depression, and the individual’s
response to it, in Chapters 1 and 2 of
The Grapes of Wrath​ by citing
textual evidence.
1. Warmup: Where do your opinions lie about
how one adapts to extreme change? Where
do your opinions lie about life being such a
powerful force that it can persist despite
great impediments?
2. Main Activity: Text-Dependent Activity:
Review Ch 1 and 2
3. Wrap Up:​ Whole-Class Discussion
4. Closure: Finish defining vocab in context
from the Dust Bowl article and answer
those text-based questions, finish TDQs for
Ch 2, read Ch 3 in ​The Grapes of Wrath

​Timing Activity and classroom talk description Guiding questions and

formative Assessments

Into 1. Remind students of the Focal Concept by

(Warm- contextualizing it with what the class did
up): yesterday: “Yesterday we (1) reviewed what we
20 min already knew about ecological and economic
disasters like the Dust Bowl and the Great
Depression, and (2) we justified our opinions
in writing about how one adapts to extreme
change by thinking about the controversial,
thematic statements The Grapes of Wrath
either supports or challenges. Today, that
context will provide us with a way in to T
​ he

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 Grapes of Wrath​, specifically Chapters 1 and
2.”
2. Introduce Focal Concept.
3. Introduce Learning Objectives.
4. Explain Agenda. Think, Pair, Share: H
​ ow
5. Think: Have students silently re-read their many people agreed
paragraph in response to at least one of the (thumbs up)? How many
controversial, thematic statements on the people disagreed (thumbs
Anticipation Guide from Lesson 1 and edit, as down)?
needed. -What are some of the
6. Pair: Have students share their quick write reasons you put your thumb
response with their elbow partner. up (agree) / put your thumb
7. Share: Using the Thumbs Up (agree) or down (disagree)? -What are
Thumbs Down (disagree) strategy, read each some of the things this
controversial, thematic statement the novel statement means to you?
supports or challenges, asking the class to put
their thumb up or down in response to each -Does anyone want to add
statement until one statement is one that one on to [Student First
or more students wrote about or wants to Name’s] opinion or
discuss. Have students share out statements explanation?
and responses.
8. Think, Pair: If students did not write on the -Or does anyone have a
last controversial, thematic statement, that justification that takes the
“Life is such a powerful force that it can persist statement or the discussion
no matter the conditions,” then bring it up as so far in a slightly different
part of the whole-class discussion, and ask direction?
students to justify their opinions about that
statement with their elbow partner. -Can you think back to what
9. Share: Repeat Step 6, but only for one we learned about the Dust
statement, the last statement. Bowl and the Great
Depression? Does that
change your opinion on this
statement?

Academic (Literacy support for students with specific needs and ELL’s)
Language Every day, students with preferential seating will be seated at the front of the room or
support close to the door so that those students who require frequent breaks, as needed, will
have that opportunity to take a break during instruction. My RFEP students will be
able to read directly from their quick write, argumentative paragraph from their
Anticipation Guide to support their claim during the discussion. I will also have
sentence starters on the whiteboard to structure the responses of my RFEP students
when they wish to elaborate or justify their claim during discussion using academic
language: “I agree with [Classmate First Name] because…”; “I disagree with
[Classmate First Name] because…”

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Transition “As you make your way through T ​ he Grapes of Wrath​, you will see that some
characters don’t make it through the journey West. And some characters are left by
the side of the road because they know they cannot survive. However, other
characters and animals do survive, despite the adverse conditions; you will see this in
Chapter 3. For now, let’s find out what Steinbeck thinks about some of these same
controversial, thematic statements that you just discussed, in the context of Chapters
1 and 2. And let’s see if we can identify the central ideas he presents about the
environment and the individual’s response to it.”

Through 1. Re-introduce the concept of text-dependent ​The Text-Dependent

(Central questions to students by saying that overall Questions for Chapter 1 and
Activity[ie they engaged at a high level with their Chapter 2 will be turned in
s]): text-dependent questions from the previous as a formative assessment as
unit, T​ he Great Gatsby​: “You will work more part of students’ Unit
50 min
with text-dependent questions for T ​ he Grapes Notebooks.
total
of Wrath​.”
2. Pass out the Text-Dependent Questions
10 min Assessment for Chapters 1-2 of T ​ he Grapes of
(Steps 1-7) Wrath​.
3. Remind students that the class just finished
reading Ch 1 for the first time in Lesson 1 and
started to read Ch 2, as well.
4. Explain to students that they will now work in
with their elbow partner to re-read Ch 1 for
increased comprehension in order to identify
the central ideas Steinbeck presents about the
environment and the individual’s response to
it, using textual evidence.
5. Read and explain Steps 1-3 of the
Text-Dependent Questions Handout and
model roles.
6. Remind students that they can refer to their
Drive By Vocab from Ch 1 and 2 to aid them
in their comprehension.
7. Students discuss, re-read, annotate, and record.
20 min
8. Do a time check to see how partner pairs are
(Step 8) doing, that is, whether each pair has completed
their discussion of and responses to each
question.
20 min 9. Repeat Steps 4-8 for students to answer the
(Step 9) text-dependent questions on the same handout
for Ch 2.

Transition “Now let’s come back together as a whole class and see how we did, in terms of
identifying the central ideas Steinbeck presents about the harsh Oklahoma
environment and the individual’s response to it in Chapters 1 and 2 and how we did,

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 in terms of citing textual evidence to support your claims of what his ideas are on this
concept.”

Academic (Literacy support for students with specific needs and ELL’s)
Language The Text-Dependent Questions Assessment will be collected at the end of the unit in
support a Unit Notebook so that students who require extra time to complete this formative
assessment will have extra time, as needed. Students who learn best by showing their
ability to cite textual evidence through an oral, rather than a written, assessment (i.e.
Text-Dependent Questions) will have that opportunity, if needed, through a
conversation with me while students complete the assessment in writing.

Beyond 1. Begin with the first question from Chapter 1. -How many groups think
(synthesiz 2. Ask one partner in a pair to explain their Thumbs Up (true)? How
ing/ answer with a justification that uses evidence many think Thumbs Down
making from the text. (false)?
3. If the question is a True/False, ask the same
sense of
question of the whole class, using the Thumbs -For those of you who put
the central
Up (for true/agree) / Thumbs Down (for your thumbs down, can you
activity): false/disagree) strategy, after the partner from explain why?
20 min the original pair provides their justification.
4. Work chronologically down the list of -How do you know?
questions from Chapters 1-2, discussing as
many questions as possible, and repeat Steps
1-3.

Academic (Literacy support for students with specific needs and ELL’s)
Language I will have sentence starters on the whiteboard to structure the responses of my RFEP
support students when they wish to elaborate or justify their claim during discussion using
academic language: “I agree with [Classmate First Name] because on page ____
Steinbeck says…”; “I disagree with [Classmate First Name] because on page ____
Steinbeck says…”

Closure: HW: Finish defining vocab in context from the Dust Bowl article and answer those
5 min text-based questions; finish TDQs for Ch 2.

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Lesson 3
Content Standards:
Day # 3 CCSS.ELA-Literacy. RL 11-12: 4: Craft and Structure
(95 min) CCSS.ELA-Writing. W 11-12: 1a-e: Text Types and Purposes

Practice Standards: ​Annotating a literary text and writing a formal analytical

paragraph using textual references.

ELD standards:
P1.A3 Offering and justifying opinions, negotiating with and persuading others in
communicative exchanges.

Focal concept/idea: Agenda:

How do people adapt to catastrophic
disasters? What happens if they cannot?
Learning Objective(s):
Analyze what the turtle symbolizes in
relation to the theme that life can persist
despite great impediments within a story
about migrants heading West by closely
reading Steinbeck’s craft and language in an
analytical paragraph using textual references.
1. Warmup: Recap Ch 2 from last week
through True/False questions
2. Main Activity: Close Read/Double-Entry
Journal Ch 3: The turtle
3. Wrap-Up: Write an analytical paragraph
about what the turtle symbolizes
4. Closure: HW: Finish typed Analytical
Paragraph

​Timing Activity and classroom talk description Guiding questions and

formative Assessments

Into 1. Recap from Lesson 2 last week, in order to

(Warm- prepare students to begin a new chapter, Ch 3:
up): “Last week, we talked about Ch 1, in which we
8 min discussed how Steinbeck describes the
harshness of the Oklahoma landscape during
the Dust Bowl. We also began Ch 2, in which
we started to discuss how the hitch-hiker, Tom
Joad, survives and responds to this harsh
environment. We completed this discussion
using textual references, which is what you
will do in more depth today.”
2. Introduce Focal Concept.
3. Introduce Learning Objective.
4. Explain Agenda.
5. Think, Pair:​ ​Read a total of four Google Slides
with a True/False question about Ch 2,
beginning with Question 1. After Question​ ​1 is

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 read out loud, direct students to discuss with
their elbow partner and refer to their answers Think, Pair, Share:
to their text-dependent questions from Ch 2. -Why do you like him? /
Repeat until students have discussed all four How do you feel about him?
questions with their elbow partner. -Why? Or why not?
6. Share: Re-pose each question to students, and -How do you know?
have students share with whole class.

Academic (Literacy support for students with specific needs and ELL’s)
Language Every day, students with preferential seating will be seated at the front of the room or
support close to the door so that those students who require frequent breaks, as needed, will
have that opportunity to take a break during instruction. To prepare for the whole
class discussion of the True/False questions, I will provide my RFEP students the
ability to use and/or draw on their answers to their Text-Dependent Questions from
Chapter 2 during the Think, Pair, Share. In addition, I will also have sentence starters
on the whiteboard to structure the responses of my RFEP students when they wish to
explain their answer to justify their claim during whole-class discussion using
academic language: “I agree/agree with [Classmate First Name] because on page
_____”; “I disagree/disagree with [Classmate First Name] because on page ____
Steinbeck says…”

Transition “Now that you have warmed up by using textual references informally with Chapter 2
to analyze Tom Joad, you are going to apply the same technique to a close read of
Chapter 3 by looking closely at what the text says and then deciding what it means.
This requires us to analyze the text, in this case, to analyze a land turtle.”

Through 1. Ask students what they think “analyze” means, What do you think “analyze”
(Central and write summary of definition on the means?
Activity[ie whiteboard: “examine in detail structure of a
s]): text to interpret it.”
2. Translate summary into simpler language:
50 min
“What do you see in the chapter, and what
total
does it mean?” The Double-Entry Journal
3. Pass out Double-Entry Journal Assessment. will be turned in as a
10 min 4. Model the language demand (i.e.how to formative assessment as part
(Steps 1-6) practice analyzing) by explaining the of students’ Unit Notebooks.
Double-Entry Journal format: Go to
Document Camera and explain left column as
a place to record images, phrases—what you
see—and the right column as a place to
react—what you think those phrases mean.
5. Pass out Drive By Vocab for Ch 3, in order for
students to understand the domain-specific
vocabulary Steinbeck uses to talk about the
turtle. Explain the chart.
6. Review as a class key figurative language
students need to know in order to analyze the

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 land turtle in Ch 3 through a Word Wall, as a
20 min handout, with definitions and examples.
(Steps 7. Return to the Double-Entry Journal, and direct
7-14) students to highlight key phrases as the page is
read aloud.
8. Read Page 1 aloud. Students annotate. -What do you think the
9. Return students’ attention to the Drive By dominant image is?
Vocab handout for Ch 3. -What picture do you get in
10. Direct students’ to record their highlighted your mind? How does it
references in the left column and note their remind you of the
reaction in the right column. environment in Ch 1?
11. Repeat Steps 7-10 for Page 2. -What is nature being
12. Repeat Steps 7-10 for Page 3. compared to? How do you
13. Repeat Steps 7-10 for Page 4. know?
14. Repeat Steps 7-10 for Page 5. -Can you think back to the
15. Think, Pair: Page 1: Students turn to elbow metaphor we talked about in
partner to share what they observed and what Gatsby​ about Daisy: “her
20 min they thought those images, similes, metaphors voice was full of money”?
(Steps might mean about the turtle. -What do you think that
15-20) 16. Share: Page 1: Students share with whole class means, then, about the
what they discussed. turtle?
a. At least 3 second wait time. -What is the turtle being
17. Repeat Steps 15-16 for Page 2. compared to, and what does
18. Repeat Steps 15-16 for Page 3. that mean?
19. Repeat Steps 15-16 for Page 4. -Can you relate to the
20. Repeat Steps 15-16 for Page 5. turtle’s experience here?
Why?
-How does his experience
remind you of Tom Joad’s in
Ch 2?
-What do you think “line of
march” suggests about the
turtle?
-Is there anything else that is
different about the turtle’s
description?
-What does planting a seed
suggest about the turtle?
-What is still the same about
the turtle’s character? How
do you know?
-Why does the turtle
survive?

Transition “You have thought analytically about what the turtle might symbolize. Now you will
write analytically about what the turtle might symbolize in an analytical paragraph.”

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Academic (Literacy support for students with specific needs and ELL’s)
Language The Double-Entry Journal Assessment will be collected at the end of the unit in a
support Unit Notebook so that students who require extra time to complete this formative
assessment will have extra time, as needed. Students who learn best by showing their
ability to cite textual evidence through an oral, rather than a written, assessment (i.e.
Double-Entry Journal) will have that opportunity, if needed, through a conversation
with me while students complete the journal in writing. I will provide a handout of
the vocabulary from the more informal Word Wall on the whiteboard for my RFEP
students.

Beyond 1. Pass out the Analytical Paragraph Summative

(synthesiz Assessment.
ing/ 2. Explain the directions, especially the sample
making topic sentence, concrete detail, and
commentary, which models the discourse of an
sense of
analytical paragraph.
the central
3. Explain the rubric used to assess student work
activity): and answers any questions about it.
30 min 4. Students complete the handwritten paragraph
on the template.
5. If students finish their handwritten paragraph
early, they can start typing their typed
paragraph on their Chromebooks.

Academic (Literacy support for students with specific needs and ELL’s)
Language Students who require extra time to complete the Analytical Paragraph Summative
support Assessment will receive extra time. Students who may learn best by completing
writing assignments through a first attempt and then revising to improve the logic
and coherence of the organization or to improve citations of textual evidence on a
second or third attempt will have that opportunity. Students who learn best by
showing their ability to cite textual evidence through an oral, rather than a written,
assessment will have that opportunity during the 30 minutes the class is writing or
typing. Students who learn best by re-submitting assignments for a higher grade will
have that opportunity to do so as well, if needed. I will provide sentence starters to
begin the concrete details, the commentary, and the concluding sentence for my
RFEP students.

Closure: HW: Finish typed Analytical Paragraph

7 min

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