Vignette 6.1. “The Making of a Scientist”
Close Reading of a Memoir in ELA with Integrated ELD in Grade Six (cont.)Source
Adapted from
Student Achievement Partners. 2013a. “Close Reading Model Lessons: ‘The Making of a Scientist’ by Richard
Feynman.” Achieve the Core.Additional Information- To learn more about Richard Feynman, see the BBC (Horizon) documentary, “Richard Feynman—No Ordinary
Genius” (http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/14/bbcs-richard-feynman-no-ordinary-genius/) at
Brainpickings.org. - For more ideas on supporting girls to be classroom leaders, see the Ban Bossy Web site (http://banbossy.com/).
- To see a video demonstrating the law of inertia, visit the WonderHowTo Web site (http://science.wonderhowto.
com/how-to/experiment-law-inertia-354383). - To see more ideas for using this text and for many other resources, visit http://achievethecore.org.
For an example of how to guide students to annotate and question the texts they read, see:
Schoenbach, Ruth, Cynthia Greenleaf, and Lynn Murphy. 2012. Reading for Understanding: How Reading
Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms. 2nd ed. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass.
Designated ELD Vignette
Vignette 6.1 illustrates good teaching for all students with particular attention to the learning
needs of ELs. English learners additionally benefit from intentional and purposeful designated ELD
instruction that builds into and from content instruction and focuses on their particular language
learning needs. Vignette 6.2 illustrates how designated ELD can build from and into the types of
lessons outlined in the vignette 6.1. It also illustrates how a teacher can help her students develop
awareness of the language resources in complex texts.
Vignette 6.2. Analyzing Language to Understand Complex Texts
Designated ELD in Grade SixBackground
Ms. Valenti’s sixth-grade class of 35 students includes five English learners at the Expanding
level of English language proficiency, four who have been in U.S. schools for at least four years
and one who arrived to the U.S. a little over a year ago. There are a small number (three to
five) of EL students in each sixth-grade class, and each of the sixth-grade teachers teach their
own students designated ELD in small groups, working collaboratively as a team to design
lessons and adapt them to students’ English language proficiency levels and particular learning
styles and needs.
Lesson Context
The sixth graders in the school have just started reading Richard Feynman’s memoir, “The
Making of a Scientist.” (See Vignette 6.1.) Designated ELD lessons for the next several days are
designed to support EL students’ understandings of the text and enhance their ability to convey
their understandings through speaking and writing. In planning these lessons, the teachers
noticed that the memoir is organized in a way that may not be immediately apparent to their
EL students, and Feynman also uses language that may be unfamiliar. The teachers plan to
focus lessons in ways that address the particular needs of EL students at different English
language proficiency levels.Grade 6 Chapter 6 | 575