Building Background Knowledge: Small-Group Work to Learn More about the History of Wars in Vietnam

Engaging the Reader: Reviewing Homework (8 minutes) First, let’s get into your 1-4 groups. Please get out your homework: “The Vietnam Wars” Questions and Notes: Section 1: The Chinese Dragon take two minutes to turn and talk with a partner about your notes and summary.

Let’s compare Let’s refocus as a group and talk about what makes a good a strong summary will be a brief statement about the most important information. Here is one that I wrote: “The main idea of Section 1 is that the Vietnamese are warriors who have been fighting many different countries for over 1,000 years.”

Look at your notes again Please look at the last question for Section 1: “What seems to be the author’s perspective toward the Vietnamese people? What specific words or phrases led you to infer that perspective?”

Today’s learning targets today, you will work collaboratively in groups on Sections 2, 3, and 4 of the article, and share what you have learned with groups who read other sections. the purpose for reading this informational text is that it provides important background knowledge about the history of war in Vietnam, which will in turn help you understand the time and place that Ha describes in her diary. Also , this history is very complex so you do not need to memorize every single name and date. Just focus on the central ideas.

Modified Jigsaw, Part I: Key Vocabulary and Questions Now, You will do work similar to what you did together for Section 1. But today, you will work in small groups. the Jigsaw protocol: each group will reread and summarize just one section of the article, and then will share what they learned with peers in other groups who reread a different section. Your goal is to understand more about Vietnam so you can understand more about what is going on with Ha and her family. You do not need to understand every detail in your section of the text.

Let’s start Each group will have 2 minutes to reorient to your section and silently reread the section. When you are done, look at “The Vietnam Wars” Questions and Notes (for the specific section each group was assigned). • Then, groups discuss the gist with your small group: “What is the gist of this section? What is it mostly about?” take 10 minutes to do the following: 1. Read the questions on the Questions and Notes for your specific section. 2. With your partner, reread your section of text with these questions in mind. 3. Work with your partner to answer the questions. • Then work in you small group of four to prepare to share you brief summaries with you 1-4 groups.

Modified Jigsaw, Part II: Sharing Our Summaries now different groups will share with the class about the section you read. Take 5 minutes per section for sharing. You are not sharing everything on you note-catcher: just the summary, and then specific evidence that will help your peers understand that summary statement. groups that focused on Section 2, 3, and 4 share the summary of what your group read. Another person elaborate, citing specific evidence. Students who did not read that section take a moment to jot down the summary statement that was shared. hold on to your Questions and Notes (for all three sections) to support them as you reread and do a QuickWrite for homework. hold on to your article because you will need it for the homework, and you will also read the last section in a future lesson.

Debrief: Adding to Our “Things Close Readers Do” Anchor Chart Pay attention to text structure: titles and headings (in informational text) Consider the author’s purpose/perspective

Homework You read pages 22–41 on Friday, and you may want to revisit those pages as you write. Reread Section 4, “The Fall of the French.” Use the questions on the note-catcher to help focus your reading. QuickWrite 3: How do the details in this informational text connect to Ha’s circumstances? Be sure to include evidence from the novel and the article in your answer.