COMMON CORE CLASSROOM READY GUIDE
Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs
COMMON CORE CONNECTIONS—SIXTH GRADE FOCUS
Every book can meet most if not all Common Core State Standards. However, we have found that some books address certain standards with particular strength. These activities seek to make the connections between a given text and the Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards—leaning on this text’s literary strengths. Teachers can find specific ELA standards for their grade within each Anchor Standard at
PB 978-0-316-56594-3PB corestandards.org.
RI 6.3 This comprehensive biography of Louisa May Alcott describes pivotal events in the writer’s life and traces how she became a beloved American author. Encourage students to use reading journals or notebooks to keep track of major events from the book. Students may create timelines, webs or visual representations of these key events to show when they occurred and how they are connected. How did these pivotal events have an impact (positive or negative) on Alcott’s career and later life?
Examples of important events: relocated to new homes multiple times, created plays with her sisters, worked as a nurse in during the Civil War, contracted typhoid, traveled to Europe, and published Hospital Sketches
RI 6.2 This reading standard focuses on identifying the central idea of an informational text. There are many lessons readers can take away from Invincible Louisa. Ask students to identify the theme or central idea of the biography. What can readers learn from Alcott’s life? Students should provide examples from the text to support their thinking.
Possible Themes: perseverance, loyalty, sacrifice, compassion, and sense of self
SL .6.1 This standard focuses on speaking and listening in a variety of settings. Divide students into small groups to discuss the text. Students should come to the group prepared to contribute to the discussion, and they should use details and evidence from the text to support their answers. (RI.6.1) Encourage students to listen, reflect upon and respond to the multiple perspectives of their classmates during the discussions.
Possible Discussion Questions
• Why is the book titled Invincible Louisa? Do you think the title aptly describes Alcott? Why or why not? • In addition to “invincible,” what other adjectives would you use to describe Louisa’s personality? Provide examples from the text to support your thinking. COMMON CORE CLASSROOM READY GUIDE
• Some people may describe Alcott’s childhood and education as unconventional. How was Alcott’s early life unique? How did Louisa May Alcott’s unconventional upbringing and education have an effect on her adult life? • Which events and characters from her own life does Alcott include in Little Women? • Why do you think Alcott didn’t model the father in Little Women after her own father? Which character in Little Women represents Bronson Alcott? How are they similar? • When Alcott sent Little Women to Thomas Niles, he “did not find the story as absorbing as he had hoped,” and he almost did not publish it (p. 164). How did the public react to Little Women when it was published? Why did the book strike a chord with young girls at the time? • How did the success of Little Women serve as a turning point in Alcott’s life?
RI 6.7 The Common Core Standards encourage students to view and read a variety of media and formats to better understand a topic or issue. After reading Invincible Louisa, show students the American Masters documentary, The Woman Behind Little Women. Have students take notes as they view the film. They should keep track of new information they learn about Alcott’s life. How do the events and ideas in the film compare to Invincible Louisa? Discuss how the film helped to reinforce or clarify ideas and events from the text.
RI 6.9 This literature standard asks students to compare and contrast different texts that have similar themes. Emily Dickinson was publishing poetry during the same time that Alcott was publishing short stories and novels. Read the poems “Luck is not chance” and “Look back on Time, with kindly eyes” by Dickinson. Identify the themes of the poems then compare and contrast them to themes in Invincible Louisa.
W.6.7 & W.6.8 These writing standards require sixth grade students to complete short research projects. Invincible Louisa describes important historical events and introduces readers to a number of well-known American writers and thinkers from the 1800s. Allow students to select a topic or person mentioned in the biography or from the time period. Students should generate several “thick” or substantial questions about the topic then use a variety of print or online sources to answer the questions. Have students cite their sources in a bibliography.
SL.6.4 & SL.6.5 Once the students have completed their notes, they will synthesize the information and present what they have learned in the form of an oral presentation in a small-group setting. Students should focus on making appropriate eye contact and speaking clearly using an adequate volume. Students may also share what they have learned in the form of visual or multimedia presentations.
Possible Research Topics: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charlotte Bronte, John Audubon, the Underground Railroad, Quakers, typhoid, Harper’s Ferry, Fort Sumter, U.S. schools in the 1800s, the Emancipation Proclamation, the assassination of President Lincoln, women’s suffrage
Guide prepared by Cathy Potter, school librarian at Falmouth Elementary School in Falmouth, ME