Inferences: The Fall of Saigon Module 1: Unit 1: Lesson 1

Learning Targets *I can support my inferences with evidence from the text. *I can participate in discussions about the text with a partner, small group, and the whole class. Note: an inference is a thought process a reader makes to understand the meaning of the text, or even an image. When you infer, you pay attention to the details in front of you, and you use other information (from the text, or your background knowledge) to mentally fill in the gaps between the details that are actually said or shown, and what the author expects the reader to understand. Today: your work will require you to make inferences based on both images and text.

Gallery Walk—10 minutes Directions: In a moment you will get to examine several photographs that are posted throughout the room and record your ideas about those pictures on your Notice/Wonder note- catcher. You will have five minutes to record the information. http://events.nytimes.com/learning/general/specials/saigon/110599saigon-pix.1.html Step1: At each photograph, you should pause and capture specific details that you notice (i.e., "Woman is crying, “ “They are holding on to back of helicopter”), and the things that you wonder about (“I wonder why they are sad?” “What are they getting away from?” “When was this”). You will have just a minute at each picture and you may not get to all of the pictures. Expectations: During this activity, it is expected that your voices are quiet. There is no need to engage in side conversation. I expect zero voice levels during this time. Also, please move carefully, taking care not to bump into one another. This activity is worth 10 points. Timer:http://www.online-stopwatch.com/eggtimer-countdown/full-screen/ Question: What did you notice? What did you wonder?

Mix and Mingle and thinking about details 15 minutes Directions: The next activity will give you additional information. It may lead you to confirm some of your inferences, revise them, or simply add more details to help you make sense of what you saw. Now, each of you will receive 2 sentence strips from “Panic Rises in Saigon but the exits are few.” Step 1: Read your own sentence strip silently to yourself. 1 Minute Step 2: Turn and talk to the person next to you and explain what your strip is about, taking turns. Question: Do you feel like you have the whole story of what is happening in the pictures from these sentence strips? Note: Your classmates have different strips from you, and by mingling and comparing strips, you might be able to collect more information about what is happening in the pictures.

Mix and Mingle Continued…. Expectations: During this activity, it is expected that your voices are quiet. There is no need to engage in side conversation. I expect zero voice levels during this time. Also, please move carefully, taking care not to bump into one another. This activity is worth 10 points. Step 1: Quietly wander for 5 minutes, reading one another’s strips. Look for peers who have strips with different pieces of information from yours. 5 minutes Step 2: Gather together in groups of 3-4, so as a group you have 8-10 different pieces of information that might fit together to tell more of the story about what is happening in the pictures of the Gallery Walk. Huddle up around a desk. 2 minutes Step 3: Take the next five minutes to arrange your strips in an order that makes sense to your group. There is no right answer. You are simply thinking about how all of these details fit together. You should be able to explain why you put the strips in the order that you did. 5 minutes

Continued…. Question: Based on the pictures and sentence strips, what can you infer has happened? What specific evidence do you have to back up that inference? Guiding Questions throughout the unit: 1. What is home? Often times during war, people have to leave their homes. 2. How do critical incidents reveal character? Throughout the unit we will continue to think about how the events around us affect who we are. Step 4: Reread your quotes and identify any that you can connect the idea of home or showing or revealing character. 2 minutes Discuss

Exit Ticket Directions: Take out a lined piece of paper and write: 1.One inference you made today. 2. A question that you hope to have answered in the coming weeks. This task is work 10 points.