Vignette 6.1. “The Making of a Scientist”
Close Reading of a Memoir in ELA with Integrated ELD in Grade Six (cont.)Jamal: Okay, so what do we think that his dad, Feynman’s dad, was trying to teach
him with the tiles?
Tatiana: (Referring to her notes.) I think he was trying to teach him about math,
about math patterns, and he was showing him how you can make patterns
with tiles.
Jamal: But he was just a baby, so he couldn’t teach him with numbers, right? So he
used the tiles.
Tatiana: What about the dinosaurs? What do you have?
Jamal: (Referring to his notes.) I think it’s the same thing. His dad was trying to
show him how big a dinosaur would be if it was standing outside the house,
but he was also trying to get him excited about dinosaurs.
Ms. Valenti: Is there something in the text that gave you that idea?
Jamal: (Looking at the text for a moment.) Here it says, “Everything he read to me
he would translate as best he could into some reality.” I think he means that
his father was trying to teach him some things, some real things about math
patterns and dinosaurs, but he had to make it real for a kid, even for a baby.
Tatiana: And he was also trying to teach him something about the world.
Ms. Valenti: Can you say more about that, and can you find some examples in the text?
Tatiana: Here, it says that his father said, “No, I want to show him what patterns are
like and how interesting they are.”
Ms. Valenti: So, what does that mean to you? How can you interpret that, using the focus
questions?
Tatiana: I think his dad was really trying to show him how the world has all this...
stuff... how it’s interesting. His father was trying to teach him some real
things, like math patterns and dinosaurs, and he had to make that real for
him as a kid. But I think he was also trying to teach him about how to see
the world. That he should see it as interesting and that it has a lot of things
to observe.
Jamal: Yeah, like he was trying to help him think differently about the toys he has or
things he’s doing. Like he was trying to help him think like a scientist.
After the students have had time to delve deeply into the text, Ms. Valenti pulls the whole
class together to discuss their notes. Picking up on the themes and questions the students
have raised, she leads a loosely structured discussion during which they articulate and
elaborate on their ideas. As the conversation progresses, she prompts them to go back into the
text for evidence that supports their claims. Lately, Ms. Valenti has noticed that some of the
girls in the class have seemed reluctant to share their ideas, so she makes a conscious effort to
let them know she wants to hear from them and cares about what they have to say, using the
following techniques:572 | Chapter 6 Grade 6