Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
Introduction
In this lesson, students will read 1975: Year of the Cat by Thanhha Lai and use text-based inferences to support analysis of the poem. Students will then complete a short writing task asking them to show evidence of themes from the poem and make predictions as to what will happen next. Finally, students will work in groups to decipher unknown words and phrases in the poem.
CCSS Standards Addressed
Standard Standard Description #
RL.8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text
RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text
RL.8.3 Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
RL.8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
RL.8.9 Analyze how a modern work of fiction draws on themes, patterns of events, or character types from myths, traditional stories, or religious works such as the Bible, including describing how the material is rendered new.
W.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection,
Sample Common Core ELA Lesson Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
organization, and analysis of relevant content
W.8.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Time (m) Activity
10 min Activating Prior knowledge Handout: Map of Asia, K–W–L (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart Say: This poem takes place during the Vietnam War. Can anyone find the country Vietnam on the map? (await answers, and then show students location on Map .) Say: What do you know about the Vietnam War? What questions do you have? Record your responses on in the first two columns of the K–W–L chart.
(Give students 3-5 minutes to fill out the chart.)
Say: We’ll fill out the last column of the chart as we read the book; now, we’re going to read the first poem in the book, called 1975: Year of the Cat
10 Min. Part A: Close reading/Academic Vocabulary Instruct the students to read along as you read the first four stanzas of the poem aloud. Then re-read the poem aloud and facilitate the class in a text-based discussion of the poem.
Sample Common Core ELA Lesson Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
Today is Tết, the first day of the lunar calendar. Ask: Based on the text, when is Tết? (listen for: the first day of the lunar calendar) Every Tết we eat sugary lotus seeds and glutinous rice cakes. We wear all new clothes, even underneath.
Ask: What does the speaker’s family do on Tết? (listen for: eat glutinous rice cakes, sugary lotus seeds and wear new clothes) Ask: What does “glutinous” mean? Can you determine the meaning of this word from what is going on in this text? (NOTE: this may be difficult to determine from context, but listen for good guesses based on context and then provide meaning: sticky)
Mother warns how we act today foretells the whole year.
Everyone must smile no matter how we feel.
Sample Common Core ELA Lesson Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
Ask: Why do you think Mother is warning them? (Listen for: because the day is important, because it foretells the whole year, because she is superstitious) Ask: How is the speaker feeling in this poem? (Listen for logical inferences based on the text)
15 min Part B: Writing Activity Read the remainder of the poem aloud to students and ask: Ask: How does this poet use structure to add meaning to the poem? (Listen for: the clipped structure of the poem adds tension to the scene or other reasonable text-based response)
Say: for the rest of class, you’re going to use the structure of the poem to write an analysis of each stanza. (hand out 1975: Year of the Cat Summary worksheet). The worksheet has modeled the first two stanzas for you- with a partner, work to complete the remaining stanzas on the worksheet. 5 min Share-out of analysis of stanzas
Ask groups to share out the stanzas, going in order around the room until every group has shared their summary of the stanzas. Then ask: based on what you just heard, what do you think the theme of the poem is? Remind students that a theme is the subject of a piece of writing—what it’s about.
Sample Common Core ELA Lesson Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
5 min Exit Ticket Write a sentence explaining what the theme of the poem is, using evidence from the text. Hand in before leaving.
Sample Common Core ELA Lesson Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
MAP OF SOUTHEAST ASIA
NYS Common Core ELA Sample Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
NYS Common Core ELA Sample Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
KWL CHART
NYS Common Core ELA Sample Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
TOPIC: WHAT I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO KNOW WHAT I LEARNED
Year of the Cat Summary worksheet
Stanza Summary (what this stanza means) 1. Today is Tết, Sample response: Today is a special NYS Common Core ELA Sample Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
TOPIC: WHAT I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO KNOW WHAT I LEARNED
Year of the Cat Summary worksheet
Stanza Summary (what this stanza means) 1. Today is Tết, Sample response: Today is a special NYS Common Core ELA Sample Grade 8 English Language Arts -Inside Out and Back Again—Unit 1 lesson 2
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NYS Common Core ELA Sample