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Lesson 12: Stories That Fight Back: Red, White, and Whole, “Amar Chitra Kathas”–“Savitri, Part 2” and “Savitri: A Princess Who Would Not Give Up”
50 min
California CCSS: Focus Standards
California CCSS: Supporting Standards
ELD Standards
Student Lesson
Lesson 12: Stories That Fight Back: Red, White, and Whole, “Amar Chitra Kathas”–“Savitri, Part 2” and “Savitri: A Princess Who Would Not Give Up”
Student Learning Objectives
1
Content
Students will analyze how details in poems and myth retellings interact to show when and why Reha shifts from receiving stories to making meaning through them.
2
Language
Students will explain word meaning (including cultural terms such as dharma) and compare how two versions of a story contribute different kinds of meaning using context-clue language, contrastive phrases, and evidence-based explanation.
3
Foundations
Students will use context clues and syllable chunking to pronounce and determine the meaning of unfamiliar cultural and academic words.
Essential Question
What is culture, and how does it shape our identity and sense of belonging, especially when we move between more than one world?
Connections to
Knowledge-Building:
Students extend Investigation 2 by studying stories as cultural inheritance and as tools people use to make sense of pain, duty, and belonging.
Enduring Understanding:
Identity is shaped by biological, cultural, and emotional connections, and literature helps reveal how these layers come together to form a whole person.
Future Lessons:
Students will next trace how other people see Reha and what they miss, building toward deeper analysis of perspective, symbolism, and belonging.
Unit Performance Task:
Students practice comparing how different texts (poems and informational texts) use structure, word choice, and perspective to reveal an important connection, which prepares them to write their literary analysis and original poem.
Lesson Pacing
| Lesson Flow | Purpose of Learning Experience |
|---|---|
Launch5 Minutes | Students will activate prior learning from Lesson 11 and homework. Students will frame stories as a cultural and emotional coping tool. |
Literacy Lab10 Minutes | Students will use context clues (appositive/restatement clues) to determine the meanings of key cultural terms that unlock today’s reading. |
Learning in Action30 Minutes | Part A: What Kind of Hero Is Savitri? (RI.7.4) Students will read the Newsela article and explain how word choice (such as duty and loyalty) shapes Savitri’s heroism. Part B: When Reha Starts Making Stories (RL.7.3, RI.7.9) Students will compare how the poems and the article give different kinds of meaning (emotional perspective vs. background information) and explain why Reha needs this story now. |
Vocabulary
Vocabulary Addressed in Lesson
- dharma
- a person's duty or moral responsibility
- Yama
- the god of death (in Hindu tradition)
- Dharmaraja
- a title for Yama, meaning king of duty
Vocabulary for Additional Support
- retold
- told again in a new version
- bargain
- to negotiate for something
- hero
- a person admired for brave or meaningful action
Material List
- Unit 4 Lesson 12 Student Edition
- Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca, “Amar Chitra Kathas”–“Savitri, Part 2” (pp. 73–83)
Routines
- Think-Pair-Share
- Context Clues in Action
- Group Accountability Share
- Quick Write
Lesson Sequence
Lesson Texts
Short-Form Text
Savitri: A Princess Who Would Not Give Up
Standard News Bureau
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