Declaring Identity: Being Jazz (2020)

Lesson 22
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ELA

Unit 11

6th Grade

Lesson 22 of 28

Objective


Analyze how Jazz concludes her memoir and how she continues to develop ideas in the text.

Readings and Materials


  • Book: Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings  pp. 207 – 215

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Target Task


Writing Prompt

Read the concluding paragraph of Jazz’s memoir. What elements of a conclusion [see Literary and Standard Concepts below] does she include in this final paragraph? Provide specific evidence from the text to support your answer.

Key Questions


  • Read the epigraph at the beginning of chapter 20. Why do you think Jazz chose to introduce the final chapter of her memoir with this quote?
  • How does chapter 19 fit into the overall structure of the text? Why does she include it rather than just skipping to the final chapter?
  • Why does Jazz include the sentences about Sam on page 210? How does referring back to an earlier part of the text support the development of ideas in this chapter?
  • Discussion: In the last paragraph of her memoir, Jazz writes, “I always tell people to live an authentic life” (215). What do you think it means to be “authentic”? Does Jazz succeed in being “authentic” in this memoir?

Lesson Guidance


Standard and Literary Concepts

  • Ask students: What is a conclusion? When you are writing an essay, what information are you supposed to include in your conclusion?
  • Have students come up with a list of elements to include in a strong conclusion statement:
    • Restates the thesis of the essay but in a new way
    • Sums up the big ideas covered in the essay
    • Leaves the reader with something to think about
  • Explain that even though Jazz’s memoir isn’t an analytical essay, the conclusion of nonfiction texts will often (although not always) include elements of this structure. Today we’ll think about the ways that Jazz crafts her concluding chapters.

Common Core Standards


  • RI.6.5 — Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas.

Next

Determine central ideas in Being Jazz and explain how specific details support these ideas.

Lesson 23
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Lesson Map

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