Making Change: Speeches, Essays, and Articles (2020)

Lesson 9
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ELA

Unit 7

8th Grade

Lesson 9 of 11

Objective


Structure personal narratives that clearly communicate a point of view. 

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Lesson Guidance


  • Explain that students will be writing a short personal narrative in which they “zoom in” on a specific moment in their lives that connects them to the issue they are focused on. This could be anything—a conversation they had, an article they read, a movie they watched, an experience they had—so long as it allows them an opportunity to describe their emotional and intellectual experience. 
  • Have students brainstorm all of the specific and sensory details they can remember: where they were, who they were with, what they saw, what they were thinking, how they felt, etc. 
  • After zooming in on the moment, students should then reflect on the impact of this moment: how did it change their understanding of a specific issue?

Homework

  • Complete the narrative section of the essay.

Common Core Standards


  • W.8.1 — Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.
  • W.8.2 — Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content
  • W.8.3 — Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences.
  • W.8.3.a — Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
  • W.8.3.d — Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.
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Lesson 8

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Lesson 10

Lesson Map

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