Date: 3/31/23
Topic: TRS Ch 14 Literary Text p. 651-680
Main Ideas
Details
Story Structure
Theme Scheme
Direct Explanation
Teaches students to ask and answer questions about story structure
elements with an emphasis on theme. However, unlike Theme Scheme,
this lesson model incorporates instruction in story maps. (p. 651)
Display the Story Map. Tell students that certain parts of stories are almost
always there. these parts are called story structure elements.
Setting
This box is where you print the story setting. The setting of a story is when
and where the story takes place. (p. 651)
Characters
This box is where you print the names of characters. Characters are the
people, animals, or creatures in a story. Plot – pointing to the bracket
labeled. (p. 651)
The plot tells what happened and gives the story a beginning, a middle,
and an ending. The bracket indicates that the pot has three parts: a
problem, a sequence of events, and an outcome. (p. 652)
This box is where you print the character’s problem. The main characters
in a story always have a problem or something that they want to do. (p.
652)
This box is where you print the sequence of events. These are things that
happen as the character attempts to solve the problem: they usually happen
in the middle of a story. (p. 652)
This box is where you print the outcome of the story, or how the story
turns out. The outcome is almost always at the end of the story. (p. 652)
Plot
Problem
Sequence of Events
Outcome
Theme
Introduce the Story
This box is where you print the theme. The theme of a story is the message
that the author wants the reader to take away from reading the story; it is
the lesson or observation the story is intended to teach. (p. 652)
Tell students that they are going to read a story called “Common Sense:
An Anansi Tale.” Before we read, let me share a little background about
this folktale. (p. 652)
Story Structure Questions
Setting
Characters
Where and when does the story take place? (p. 653)
Who is the story about? (p. 653)
Problem
Sequence of Events
Outcome
Theme
Teach/Model
What is the problem the character faces?
What does the character want to do? (p. 653)
What does the main character do about the problem?
What happens as the character tries to solve the problem? (p. 653)
How does the story turn out?
Does the character solve the problem? (p. 653)
What lesson does the main character learn?
What lesson did you learn from the story? (p. 653)
Use interactive whiteboard technology to display the Story Map. Nearby
displays a copy of the Story Structure Questions teaching chart. Tell
students that they are going to learn how to use the story structure
questions to guide them in filling out the corresponding boxes on the Story
Map. (p. 653)
Story Setting, Characters, Plot Tell students that as they read the story they will be looking for the setting,
characters, and plot. As they read they will find a character, problem,
event 1, event 2, event 3, setting, events 4 and 5, events 6, characters,
events 7, outcome, and setting. (p. 654-656)
Story Theme
Now our story map is complete except for the theme. Now I’m going to
show you how to identify the theme of the Anansi story by asking and
answering three questions. Read aloud the first question: Was the outcome
of the story good or bad? Read aloud the next question: What lesson does
the main character learn? Read aloud the last question: What lesson did
you learn from the story? Now I am going to print them in the box labeled
Theme on the Story Map and you should do the same. (p. 657)
Guided Practice: Theme
After students identify the theme, have them transfer and apply the
Transfer
generalized theme – to other stories and to real-life experiences. Explain to
students that thinking about how the theme applies to other situations can
help them better understand and remember the theme. (p. 658)
Other Stories
Have students read or read aloud a short fable with a similar theme. Have
them fill in the Story Map, using the story structure questions as scaffolds.
Ask students to answer the theme identification questions to find the
theme. Point out that the stories had the same or similar theme. (p. 658)
Real-life Experiences
Remember that the theme of a story is supposed to teach us a lesson. One
good way to learn the lesson is to think about how it applies or connects to
your own life. Then have students share their experiences with greed. How
does the theme apply to your life? Tell about a time when you or someone
you know learned the same lesson. Why is the lesson important to learn?
Describe some situations in which the lesson would apply. (p. 658)
TSI (Transactional Strategies This sample lesson model offers a snapshot of Transactional Strategies
Instruction)
Instruction (TSI), a multiple-strategy instruction approach developed. TSI
emphasizes the coordinated use of strategies to help students to build and
monitor comprehension. Strategies are first introduced individually,
following the model for explicit instruction. Over time, responsibility for
strategy choices shifts from the teacher to the students. (p. 659)
Review: Comprehension
Strategies
Display a copy of the Comprehension Strategies and Questions teaching
chart. Remind students that using comprehension strategies can help them
understand and remember what they read. Review the chart with students.
for each strategy, review the description and then call on students to read
aloud the questions they can ask to help them in applying the strategy. (p.
659)
Comprehension Strategies and Questions
Strategy
Monitor Comprehension
Stop periodically and check to make
sure that you understand the text.
Connect to World Knowledge
Draw on your background knowledge and
experience to help you understand the text.
Predict
Make informed guesses about what you
think will happen in the text.
Construct Mental Images
Make pictures of the text in your mind as you read.
Ask Questions
Ask yourself questions about the text to keep
involved in your reading.
Summarize
Use what you know about story structure to
identify important story information. Then shrink
this information and put it into your own words.
Questions I Can Ask


Does this make sense?
What fix-up strategy can I use to figure it out?
 Connect: What do I already know about this?
Have I had a similar experience?
 Verify: Is what I know really related to the text?
 Decide: Is what I know helping me to understand
the text?
 Predict: What do I think will happen next?
Make makes me think so?
 Verify: Does the text support my predictions?
 Decide: Was my prediction accurate?
Do I need to change it?
 Visualize: What does this (person, place, thing)
look like? What makes me think so?
 Verify: Does this text support my image?
 Decide: Was my image accurate?
Do I need to change it?
 What am I curious about?
 What do I want to know more about?
 Where and when does the story take place?
(setting)
 Who is the story about? (characters)
 What is the problem the character faces?
(problem)
 What happens as the character tries to solve the
problem? (sequence of events)
 How does the story turn out?
Does the character solve the problem? (outcome)
 What lesson did you learn form the story? (theme)
Direct Explanation
Teach/Model: Preview the
Story
Teachable Moment: Mystery
Genre
Teach/Model: Read the Story
Aloud
Explain to students that good readers use a variety of strategies to help
them make sense of the text and get the most out of what they read. Tell
them that you are going to show them how strategies can work together
smoothly, and in coordination, and how to choose the one that works the
best in each situation. Use interactive whiteboard technology to display
the Predictions Worksheet. Good readers make predictions about what
they are reading. predictions are based on evidence in the text and what
you already know. Predictions Worksheet has two big divisions: Predict
and Verify/Decide. To predict, you make a prediction and then give
evidence about what makes you think so. Verifying and deciding work
together. As you read, you verify a prediction by looking for evidence in
the text. When you find some possible evidence in the text, you can decide
if you need to keep looking for more conclusive evidence, reject a former
prediction if it was wrong, or confirm a former prediction if it was right.
It’s a cycle – predict, verify, decide. (p. 661)
Continue displaying the Comprehension Strategies chart and the
Predictions Worksheet. I’m going to think aloud to show you how to use
the strategies in coordination. Each time I use a strategy, I will point to it
on the Comprehension Strategies chart. As I read, I will record
information on the Predictions Worksheet.
(1) Think Aloud – Good readers make connections between what they
already know and what they are reading. The first thing I see on
the page is a picture. Using my world knowledge, I think this man
is a detective. On the Predictions Worksheet, I’m to print my first
prediction and what makes me think so. + Connect to World
Knowledge, Predict.
(2) Think Aloud – Now I’m going to read the title of the story. The
title is “The Case of the Blue Carbuncle.” On the Predictions
Worksheet, I am going to print my evidence under Confirm +
Predict.
Think Aloud – Good readers constantly monitor, or check, their
comprehension. As I read, I’m also going to ask myself, “What’s a
carbuncle?” Right now, I’m applying a variety of strategies. +
Monitor Comprehension, Ask Questions. (p. 662-663)
Think Aloud – Since I’m pretty sure this is a mystery. I’m going
to stop and connect to what I know about mysteries. The setting
for a mystery is often the scene of a crime or a detective’s office.
+ Connect to World Knowledge, Summarize. (p. 663)
Read the story aloud to students as they follow along in their texts. Stop to
model strategy use as indicated.
(3) Think Aloud – Sherlock Holmes that’s a famous name. My world
knowledge is that he is a fictional character, so I know for sure this
mystery is fiction. On the Predictions Worksheet, I’m going to
print my second prediction and what makes me think so. +
Connect to World Knowledge, Predict.
Guided Practice
Think Aloud – Good readers ask themselves questions as they read
to better understand the story. So, now I’m asking myself, “What is
Holmes looking at with his magnifying glass?” + Ask Questions.
Think Aloud – That answered my question, he’s studying old hat.
Good readers picture in their minds what is happening as they read.
From my world knowledge about Sherlock Holmes, I think he
often does unusual things like this. + Construct Mental Images,
Connect to World Knowledge.
(4) Think Aloud – Okay, I see the author’s starting to set up the
mysterious event, which is the problem in a mystery. I think my
world knowledge about mysteries definitely is going to help me
understand this story. On the Predictions Worksheet, record your
predictions and what makes you think so. + Connect to World
Knowledge, Ask Questions, Predict, Summarize.
Think Aloud – I think this would be a good place to stop and
summarize what has happened in the story so far. It may help me
to better understand the story. Here is my summary so far:
Sherlock Holmes is trying to find the owner of a goose. Somehow
an old hat is a clue. + Summarize. (p. 664-666)
Have students chorally read the next part of the story, stopping to coach
students as indicated. As you coach students to apply a particular strategy,
refer to the strategy name on the Comprehension Strategies chart.
(5) Based on what we’ve just read, can we confirm the prediction
about who the narrative is? On the Predictions Worksheet, record
this new evidence under Confirm. + Predict.
(6) Based on what we’ve just read, can we verify our prediction about
the carbuncle being a type of goose? On the Predictions
Worksheet, record this new evidence under Keep Looking. +
Predict.
(7) Where does the story take place? Who is Peterson? On the
Predictions Worksheet, record students’ predictions and what
makes them think so. + Predict.
(8) What do we need to do about our earlier prediction about the
carbuncle? On the Predictions Worksheet, record the evidence
under Reject. + Predict, Monitor Comprehension.
(9) Are you curious about anything so far in the story? On the
Predictions Worksheet, record students’ predictions and what
makes them think so. + Ask Questions, Predict.
(10) Can anyone sum up the problem, or the mysterious event? On the
Predictions Worksheet, record students’ predictions and what makes
them think so. + Summarize, Predict.
(11) So, What do you think about the fact that Henry Baker responded
to the ad? On the Predictions Worksheet, record the new evidence
under Keep Looking and Reject, respectively. + Predict.
Scaffold Practice
After Reading Wrap Up
Discuss the Outcome
Discuss the Author’s Craft
Discuss Predictions
Discuss Strategy Use
Book Club: Writing in
Response to Literature
Direct Explanation: Angles of
Written Response
(12) What do you think here? How does Holmes know that Baker isn’t
the thief? On the Predictions Worksheet, record the new evidence
under Reject. + Predict. (p. 667-673)
Continue choral reading the rest of the story. When students appear
surprised, curious, or confused, stop reading and have students respond to
an open-ended prompt. Refer students to the Comprehension Strategies
teaching chart if they have difficulty. (p. 674)
Conclude the lesson by discussing the story outcome, the author’s craft,
predictions, and strategy use. (p. 676)
Point out that the outcome of the story is the solution to the mystery. (p.
676)
Ask a volunteer to reread the last paragraph. Point out that this paragraph
contains puns and idioms. Remind students that a pun is a type of
wordplay, and an idiom is an expression in which the entire meaning is
different from the usual meanings of the individual words within it. (p.
676)
Review the completed Predictions Worksheet. Tell students that reviewing
the predictions can help them to summarize the story. discuss which of the
predictions were confirmed and which were rejected. Point out that even a
carefully made prediction may end up having to be rejected, especially
when the author is trying to create twists in the plot. (p. 676)
Have students identify the strategies they used. Discuss with students how
using a variety of strategies in coordination helped them to better
understand and enjoy the story. (p. 676)
Students need instruction and support to develop their skills in using
writing as a tool for reflecting on reading. Book Club provides instruction
in three categories, or angles, of written response to literature: personal,
creative, and critical. Response options in these three categories help
students to focus their writing and provide a structure for responding to
reading from different angles. They also serve as the focus of student
Book Club discussions. This sample lesson model would be most
appropriate after students have gained some familiarity with a variety of
response options, or writing prompts. (p. 677)
Use interactive whiteboard technology to display the Tripod Response
Sheet. Explain to students that writing is one way to respond to what they
have read. Then point out that the Tripod Response Sheet is divided into
sections and that this format allows them to display three different angles
of written response on a single page. One section focuses on personal
response, or connecting the story to their own lives and feelings; another
on creative response, or using their imaginations to engage with the story;
and another on critical response, or analyzing the text and the author’s
craft. (p. 677)
Personal Response
Creative Response
Critical Response
Guided Practice: Tripod
Response Sheet
Point to the heading Person Response. Explain to students that stories not
only entertain us and introduce us to interesting new people, places, and
ideas, but they also can help us better understand ourselves. Good readers
make connections between a story and their own lives to understand the
story more deeply. Personal response options encourage students to relate
the text to their lives through writing. These responses can also include
sharing feelings brought out by the text. (p. 678)
Point to the heading Creative Response. Explain to students that when
they respond creatively, they are using their imaginations to explore ideas
in the text. this includes engaging creatively with the text by putting
themselves in a situation or altering a text event. Students can also engage
creatively with the author by imagining themselves as the author. When
students write a creative response, they can apply the author’s ideas and
issues in new ways or to new situations. (p. 678)
Point to the heading Critical Response. Explain to students that when they
respond critically, they are analyzing aspects of the literary work. Tell
students that authors reveal information about characters, situations, and
themes in a variety of ways. Some of the most important ways are through
dialogue, point of view, voice, imagery, or foreshadowing. These literary
techniques are what we call the author’s craft. They can describe the
impact the story had on them as readers, such as changing their beliefs or
feelings about an issue, and explain how the author created that impact.
They can also compare the literary techniques of different authors. (p.
678-779)
Using response options, or writing prompts, such as the ones shown on
this and the following page, create a Tripod Response Sheet for “The Case
of the Blue Carbuncle.” After reading the mystery, give each student a
copy of the Tripod Response Sheet with writing prompts and a blank
Tripod Response Sheet. Explain to students that you’re going to guide
them in using the Tripod response Sheet to respond to “The Case of the
Blue Carbuncle” from three different angles: personal, creative, and
critical. Tell students that later they will get together in small groups to
share and discuss their written responses. Have students select a writing
prompt for each angle of response. Then have them write their response on
the blank Tripod Response Sheet. (p. 679-680)