Vignette 7.3. Reading, Analyzing, and Discussing
Complex Texts in American Literature
Integrated ELA/Literacy, ELD, and History in Grade Eleven (cont.)CA ELD Standards (Expanding): ELD.PI.11–12.1 – Contribute to class, group, and
partner discussions, sustaining conversations on a variety of age and grade-appropriate
academic topics by following turn-taking rules, asking and answering relevant, on-topic
questions, affirming others, providing additional, relevant information, and paraphrasing
key ideas; ELD.PI.11–12.3 – Negotiate with and persuade others in discussions and
conversations using learned phrases and open responses to express and defend nuanced
opinions; ELD.PI.11–12.6b - Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading
of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia using a variety of verbs and
adverbials.
Related CA History–Social Science Standard:
11.10. Students analyze the development of federal civil rights and voting rights.Lesson Excerpts
In today’s lesson, Ms. Robertson guides her students to read parts of the first chapter from
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee carefully and analytically, using a variety of instructional
approaches. She focuses on four main tasks:- A careful reading of a passage from the text
- A collaborative conversation about the passage using text-dependent questions
- A collaborative summary of the passage
- A written response synthesizing the day’s learning
Ms. Robertson begins by asking students at their tables to recall and briefly discuss what
they learned from viewing the documentary, art, and photographs on previous days, as well as
what they have been learning about in their U.S. history classes. To help students express their
ideas more confidently, she provides students with optional sentence frames (e.g., We noted
in the reading that . We observed in the photographs/painting/documentary that .). In
the whole group debrief, Ms. Robertson notes that she overheard some students discussing the
negative assumptions made about American Indians. She briefly provides an overview of the
first chapter, and she tells students that the text provides perspectives that counter some of
the negative assumptions about American Indians that were prevalent and that may continue
to exist in present times.
She reads aloud the first several paragraphs of chapter one as students follow along in
their own copies of the text. She stops every so often to model the use of different types
of comprehension strategies, including pointing out and explaining terms that are key to
understanding the text. She models engaging in good reading practices by asking herself
clarifying questions and stopping to summarize and take stock of what she has read at the end
of a paragraph or longer section. After she has read the short section aloud, she poses a few
comprehension questions to the class to ensure that they have understood the gist.
Next, she asks her students to read independently the next passage in the text, which she
has provided on a separate handout and consider some text-dependent questions as they read.
She asks them to jot down their responses to the questions as well as any questions they have
about the text and to circle any unfamiliar vocabulary they encounter directly on the handout.
Grades 11 and 12 Chapter 7 | 795