Weaving the Elements of Reading & Writing
• All eyes and attention should be given to the
speaker.
• All members of the group should speak politely.
• Do not interrupt another person. Begin
speaking when he/she is finished.
• Support your opinion with evidence from the
text.
• Use complete sentences when speaking to
provide details or ask clarifying questions.
Formative Assessment:
Evaluate students abilities
to effectively follow the
“Rules for Discussion”.
1) Read, Gorillas independently.
Getting Ready to Read Independently
1) Read, Gorillas independently.
2)Seed Discussion –
Questions you have
Words that need clarification
Enjoyable sections
Beautifully written language
Humorous bits
Interesting or vivid descriptions
Emotional sections (sad, angry, tense etc.)
Place students in groups of four and have them number off.
Student(1) leads the discussion choosing one of the topics.
Each student in the group should be allowed to address one
of the topics.
A comparison of
physical characteristics
between gorillas and
humans
Hollywood’s unfair
portrayal of gorillas
Coming to Consensus…..
• Participants remain in discussion
groups
• Each should share their
subheadings for each section.
• Groups should come to a consensus creating
common headings for each sections.
• Each group presents their headings and a whole
group consensus should be reached.
• Setting the purpose for re-reading using the text coding as a
• As the students re-read the Gorillas they underline and code as
they find evidence of how Seymour Simon draws comparisons
of gorillas to humans in the following categories:
• B-Behavior(purple)
• R-Reproduction/Young(brown)
• P-Physical Characteristics(green)
After modeling text
coding, put students in
groups of (3). Assign each
student within the group
a category to text code.
B-Behavior(purple)
R-Reproduction/Young
(brown)
P-Physical Characteristics
(green)
Gorillas/Humans
Behaviors
Gorillas
Humans
Young spend a lot of time playing-doing
somersaults, climbing trees and sliding
down hills
Shoulders, chest and head
much larger and heavier
Young shriek when bothered or
separated from its mom
Gorillas and Human use facial
expressions to let others know what
they are thinking or feeling…ex. Tightlip expression
Reproduction/
Young
Physical
Characteristics
Gorillas
Humans
Gorillas
Crawl at two
months
Crawl at seven
months
Muscle and Bone are the same
Arms much
longer
Four months
walk and stand
Slower to
communicate and
in different ways
Humans
Begin to use
language/speech to
communicate
Shoulders, chest and head
much larger and heavier
32 teeth
28 teeth
Walk on all fours,
using their arms as
front legs
Walk on two legs
Gorillas/Humans
Behaviors
Gorillas
Humans
Young spend a lot of time playing-doing
somersaults, climbing trees and sliding
down hills
Shoulders, chest and
head much larger and
heavier
Young shriek when bothered or
separated from its mom
Gorillas and Human use facial
expressions to let others know what
they are thinking or feeling…ex. Tight-lip
expression
Gorillas actually dream like
humans
Reproduction/
Young
Physical
Characteristics
Gorillas
Gorillas
Crawl at two
months
Humans
Crawl at seven
months
Four months
walk and stand
Slower to
communicate and in
different ways
Gorilla babies
weigh half as much
as humans at birth
Humans
Muscle and Bone are the same
Arms much
longer
Begin to use
language/speech to
communicate
Shoulders, chest and head
much larger and heavier
32 teeth
Walk on all fours,
using their arms as
front legs
28 teeth
Walk on two legs
Organizing information for
writing…Power Thinking
Power Thinking is a strategy that will help you organize your
ideas before writing.
Content Frame:
Power 1 is the topic which is comparing gorillas to humans so
number that power 1.
Powers 2’s are the categories that support the comparison for
power 1… for our informational writing this will be a subtitle.
Number the power 2’s.
Powers 3’s are the support or details of a power 2. This is the
information you gathered for each category. Number those
details with a 3.
Gorillas/Humans
1
2
Behaviors
Gorillas
3
Humans
Young spend a lot of time playing-doing
somersaults, climbing trees and sliding
down hills
Shoulders, chest and head
much larger and heavier
Young shriek when bothered or
separated from its mom
Gorillas and Human use facial
expressions to let others know what
they are thinking or feeling…ex. Tight-lip
expression
Gorillas actually dream like
humans
Reproduction/
2 Young
Gorillas
Humans
Crawl at two
months
Crawl at seven
months
2
Physical
Characteristics
Gorillas
Humans
Muscle and Bone are the same
Arms much
longer
Four months walk
and stand
Slower to
communicate and in
different ways
Begin to use
language/speech to
communicate
Gorilla babies
weigh half as much
as humans at birth
3
3
Shoulders, chest and head
much larger and heavier
32 teeth
Walk on all fours,
using their arms as
front legs
28 teeth
Walk on two legs
Using Our Evidence to Write a Compare/Contrast Prose
Constructed Response
• Group students/participants into five groups.
• Assign each group a category/task
– Introductory Paragraph
– Behavior, Reproduction/Young or Physical Characteristics
– Concluding Section/Paragraph
• Groups 2, 3, and 4 will discuss and develop a compare and
contrast paragraph based on the information gathered from
the “Evidence” chart.
• Groups 1 and 5 will follow the Common Core expectations
when developing introductions and concluding sections for
informational/explanatory
Formative Assessment:
Evaluate students abilities to effectively follow the “Rules for Discussion”.
Summative Assessment:
Evaluate the students abilities to effectively develop a compare/contrast paragraph.
Introductory Paragraph
Introduces a Topic & Hooks
the Reader
Compare/Contrast Paragraph
Groups Related Information
(Specific Categories)
Concluding Section
Related to the Information
Presented
Connection to the Audience
ex: Have you ever been around
a tap dancer, you know how
irresistible tap shoes can be.
Let’s find out why.
Comparisons
ex: Ballet shoes are quiet. Tap
shoes are not. This book is
about tap dancing. You will
learn about tap shoes, tap
floors and tap steps.
Fact-Based Question
What kind of shoe has metal
on the sole? What kind of
shoe loves a wooden floor?
You guessed it! Taps! This
book is about tap dancing. You
will learn about tap shoes, tap
floors and tap steps.
Comparisions Developed with
Facts, Details, Examples and or
Quotations
Leave Us with Something to
Think About Rather than Simply
Summarizing the Content
Ideas are linked within the category
of Information
Quotation
Present an interesting quotation
or fact related to what you have
written. You might need to
write something before or after
the quotation/fact so that it
makes sense to the
reader/audience
Encouragement to Reflect
End with a statement that
encourages readers to keep
thinking about the concept.
Use precise language and Domain
Specific Vocabulary
ex: Topic related: silverback, knuckle
walk, poaching, endangered, bed
down
Encouragement to Act
End with a statement that
encourages the taking of some
action.
Moving from
Synthesizing
to
Analyzing
Word in Context Map
Favorable
Condition
A struggle or
problem
dilemma
Best
circumstances
Plight
predicament
Word
awful situation
Ideal Situation
person example
victim
animal example
Gorilla
person non-example
animal non-example
survivor
Python
action example
poaching
action non-example
protecting
synonyms
antonyms
Definition
Problem
Cause
Effect
• Decrease in the population of gorillas
• Endangered
• Hollywood portrayal of gorillas
• Farmers are taking over the
gorillas’ habitats
• Civil Wars
•
Movies like “King Kong”
•
•
Decrease habitat effect their abilities to survive.
• Not finding enough food
• Not enough area to roam
Due to civil wars in the area; scientist were unable to access the gorillas in
order to monitor their population
Due to poaching entire families are killed and consequently lowered
reproduction rate
People think these myths are true
•
•
•
•
•
•
Preservation of the forest
Protect the gorillas from hunters and poachers
Train and pay local people to help in the conservation effort
Zoos and museums stop taking gorillas from the wild
Continued education of the public about the plight of the gorillas
Need more movies like “Gorillas in the Mist”
•
•
Solution(s)
• Poaching
• Thoughtless people pay a lot of
money for:
• Bush meat
• Gorilla trophies
• Baby gorillas as pets
Performance Task
How do the video and Seymour
Simon’s Gorillas structure the ideas,
concepts and information to lure the
reader into becoming concerned about
the plight of gorillas?
Breaking It Down for Better Understanding of
What the TASK Requires…..
How do the video and Seymour
Simon’s Gorillas structure the
ideas, concepts and information to
lure the reader into becoming
concerned about the plight of
gorillas?
Organize
points
convince
caring
struggle
How do the video
and Seymour
Simon’s Gorillas
structure the ideas,
concepts and
information
to lure the reader
into becoming
concerned about
the plight of gorillas
Both the Discovery Ed video and Seymour Simon’s book Gorillas draw the reader in to the
topic by comparing humans to gorillas. Simon even kept saying “just like you”. This helps the
reader make a personal connection as the gorillas are very similar to humans. For example, the
gorilla’s dream like humans, use facial expressions like humans, live in families like humans,
and even travel together like humans.
Simon even makes sure you understand the difference between the myths about gorillas
that Hollywood movies portray (such as in the movie King Kong) where gorillas seem to be
very scary by capturing humans and dragging them into the jungle or smacking airplanes out
of the sky. In reality, they are naturally shy and keep to themselves.
In addition, the author causes us to feel compassion for the gorillas in their struggle for
survival. It is an awful situation for them as their population decreases. The more the farmers
take over their habitat, the more difficult it is for the gorillas to find food and places to roam.
Poachers are a huge threat because they often kill the gorillas to sell their meat and capture
their babies to sell as cute little pets to thoughtless people. The civil wars occurring in their
habitat keep the scientists away, so their population cannot be watched. This makes it very
difficult to know how the gorillas are doing under these complicated conditions. In both the
book and the video, all of these issues combined bring the gorillas closer to becoming
endangered.
Simon suggests options that would create the ideal situations. One thought would be to
train and pay local people to help in the conservation effort. By preserving the forests the
gorillas live in, poachers would not have easy access to the gorillas. Unlike humans, the gorillas
don’t have a voice. Local conservationists could speak out to zoos and museums across the
world pleading to protect the vanishing gorillas by leaving them in the wild. In addition, we
should keep educating the public about the plight of gorillas so that we don’t continue to add
Performance Task
Instructional Procedure
Teacher Modeling/Think Aloud
• Teacher/student analyze question by discussing what is necessary to fulfill the requirement of the task
• Teacher/students examine text to support the responses
Write Answers To The Questions
• Students write individual answers
• Students share written responses in pairs/groups
Improving Responses
Compare and Justify
• Guide students in discussing whether the answer fulfills the reading concepts embodied in the task and are
supported by the selection
Develop Better Responses
• Use student responses to build and model complete paraphrased text-based answers
Application For Ongoing Instruction
• Students practice responding to similar questions and apply strategies independently with various texts
• Teachers select assessments for primary and secondary benchmarks using the reading standards format
SC.4.N.1.6
Keep records that describe observations
made, carefully distinguishing actual
observations form ideas and inferences
about the observations.
SC.4.N.1.4
Attempt reasonable answers to scientific
questions and cite evidence in support.