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Resources:
Excerpt from Buddha’s
Sermon at Benares: http://www.sacredtexts.com/bud/btg/btg17.htm
Excerpt from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: http://www.biblegateway.com/
Materials:
Reflection tool (last page)
Turn ‘n’ Talk on p81 from the
25 Quick Formative
Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom
QuickWrite/QuickDraw on p58 from the 25 Quick
Formative Assessments for a Differentiated Classroom passage/?search=Matthew+5-
7&version=NIV
Excerpt from the Qur’an on the conduct of believers: http://quran.com/17/23-38
Your department chair has a copy of this book.
ReadingQuest.org’s explanation & handout of Clock
Buddies: http://www.readingquest.org/strat/clock_buddies.html
Common Core State Standards:
RH.9-10.9
Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.
WHST.9-10.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.
WHST.9-10.9
Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
Essential Question(s):

How does religion affect the lives of its followers?
Step 1
Read Buddha’s Sermon at Benares, paragraphs 3-10 (starting with “There are two extremes…”).

Annotate the text as you read by underlining each instruction or rule Buddha gives to his followers.

Write any questions you may have out to the side of your reading.

Reflect with a partner (use column notes tool found on last page of this lesson): how would your life be different if you were following these instructions given by
Buddha? Use information from the text in your answer.
Step 2
Read Matthew chapter 6, verse 19 through chapter 7, verse 6.

Annotate the text as you read by underlining each instruction or rule Jesus gives to his followers.


Write any questions you may have out to the side of your reading.

Reflect with a different partner (use column notes tool found on last page of this lesson): how would your life be different if you were following these instructions given by Jesus? Use information from the text in your answer.
Step 3
Read the excerpt from the Qur’an on the conduct of believers.

Annotate the text as you read by underlining each instruction or rule it gives to followers.

Write any questions you may have out to the side of your reading.

Reflect with a third partner (use column notes tool found on last page of this lesson): how would your life be different if you were following these instructions given by the Qur’an? Use information from the text in your answer.
Step 4
Brainstorm your answer to the essential question (How does religion affect the lives of its followers?) by answering the Turn ‘n’ Talk questions with a partner. The questions are:

What are the most important ideas to remember?

What are some of the details related to each idea?

What questions do we need to ask so that we can understand this information better?

How is this information related to something else that we know?
Discuss these questions as a full class. Finally, write a strong paragraph with a thesis statement that answers the essential question. Use textual evidence from the documents to support your thesis.
Differentiation:
Before writing the final paragraph, students could use the QuickWrite/QuickDraw to help them organize their thoughts (found in Materials).
To easily create partners and increase time on task, you could use the Clock Buddies strategy (found in Materials).

Muhammad
Jesus
Reflection Tool
How would your life be different if you followed the instructions given by…?
Buddha
Thoughts from your partner?
Text from the document to support your answer?