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This lesson is intended to help students experience both "efferent" (reading for information) and "aesthetic" (reading as a personal, emotional experience) responses to the story A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer. Students work as a whole class and with partners to explore the main character Nhamo as she struggles to survive in her extended family and on her many travels alone.
This lesson is intended to help students experience both "efferent" (reading for information) and "aesthetic" (reading as a personal, emotional experience) responses to the story A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer. Students work as a whole class and with partners to explore the main character Nhamo as she struggles to survive in her extended family and on her many travels alone. The story can be especially engaging for students when it is connected to popular television shows with similar survival themes. Geographic, economic, cultural, religious, ethnic, and personal connections can be made. Suggestions are given for a wide array of interactions and activities to help your students develop a rich transaction with this text. (author/ncl)
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| English Language Arts Standards |
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| Reading Process: Concepts of Print, Comprehension Strategies and Self-Monitoring Strategies Standard |  |
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| Benchmarks (4 - 7) |
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| B. | Apply effective reading comprehension strategies, including summarizing and making predictions, and comparisons using information in text, between text and across subject areas. |
| C. | Make meaning through asking and responding to a variety of questions related to text. |
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| Benchmarks (8 - 10) |
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| A. | Apply reading comprehension strategies to understand grade-appropriate text. |
| B. | Demonstrate comprehension of print and electronic text by responding to questions (e.g., literal, inferential, evaluative and synthesizing). |
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| Grade Level Indicators (Grade 6) |
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| 2. | Predict or hypothesize as appropriate from information in the text, substantiating with specific references to textual examples that may be in widely separated sections of text. |
| 6. | Answer literal, inferential, evaluative and synthesizing questions to demonstrate comprehension of grade-appropriate print texts, electronic and visual media. |
| 8. | List questions and search for answers within the text to construct meaning. |
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| Grade Level Indicators (Grade 7) |
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| 2. | Predict or hypothesize as appropriate from information in the text, substantiating with specific references to textual examples that may be in widely separated sections of text. |
| 6. | Answer literal, inferential, evaluative and synthesizing questions to demonstrate comprehension of grade-appropriate print texts and electronic and visual media. |
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| Grade Level Indicators (Grade 8) |
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| 1. | Apply reading comprehension strategies, including making predictions, comparing and contrasting, recalling and summarizing and making inferences and drawing conclusions. |
| 2. | Answer literal, inferential, evaluative and synthesizing questions to demonstrate comprehension of grade-appropriate print texts and electronic and visual media. |
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| Reading Applications: Literary Text Standard | |
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| Benchmarks (4 - 7) |
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| A. | Describe and analyze the elements of character development. |
| B. | Analyze the importance of setting. |
| C. | Identify the elements of plot and establish a connection between an element and a future event. |
| E. | Demonstrate comprehension by inferring themes patterns and symbols. |
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| Benchmarks (8 - 10) |
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| A. | Analyze interactions between characters in literary text and how the interactions affect the plot. |
| B. | Explain and analyze how the context of setting and the author's choice of point of view impact a literary text. |
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| Grade Level Indicators (Grade 6) |
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| 1. | Analyze the techniques authors use to describe characters, including narrator or other characters' point of view; character's own thoughts, words or actions. |
| 2. | Identify the features of setting and explain their importance in literary text. |
| 3. | Identify the main and minor events of the plot, and explain how each incident gives rise to the next. |
| 5. | Identify recurring themes, patterns and symbols found in literature from different eras and cultures. |
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| Grade Level Indicators (Grade 7) |
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| 1. | Explain interactions and conflicts (e.g., character vs. self, nature or society) between main and minor characters in literary text and how the interactions affect the plot. |
| 2. | Analyze the features of the setting and their importance in a text. |
| 3. | Identify the main and minor events of the plot, and explain how each incident gives rise to the next. |
| 5. | Identify recurring themes, patterns and symbols found in literature from different eras and cultures. |
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| Grade Level Indicators (Grade 8) |
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| 1. | Identify and explain various types of characters (e.g., flat, round, dynamic, static) and how their interactions and conflicts affect the plot. |
| 2. | Analyze the influence of setting in relation to other literary elements. |
| 5. | Identify and explain universal themes across different works by the same author and by different authors. |
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| Standards for the English Language Arts |
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| Range of materials and purposes for reading | |
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| Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. |
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| Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. |
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| Reading strategies, language use, and conventions | |
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| Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics). |
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| Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes. |
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| Write, speak, and visually represent to create text | |
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| Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes. |
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| Research and inquiry | |
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| Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience. |
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| Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge. |
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| Language diversity and competency | |
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| Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles. |
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| Purposes for using spoken, written, and visual language | |
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| Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities. |
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| RESOURCE TYPE |
| Instructional Resource |
| PRACTICE LEVEL |
| Promising Practice |
| STANDARDS ALIGNMENT |
| Grades 6 - 8 |
| TOPICS |
English Language Arts --
Reading;
Comprehension;
Literary Response;
Literature;
World Literature |
| FOUND IN |
| AdLIT |
| KEYWORDS |
Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences;
before-during-after reading strategies;
making predictions;
A Girl Named Disaster;
multicultural literature |
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Author: Kathleen Benson Quinn
Publisher: IRA/NCTE
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