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Lesson 36: Writing Sharper Claims and Stronger Evidence: “Through her grief, an Indian American photographer rediscovers her heritage”
50 min
California CCSS: Focus Standards
California CCSS: Supporting Standards
ELD Standards
Student Lesson
Lesson 36: Writing Sharper Claims and Stronger Evidence: “Through her grief, an Indian American photographer rediscovers her heritage”
Student Learning Objectives
1
Content
Students will revise a literary analysis paragraph by strengthening a claim, sharpening image-based evidence, and embedding and explaining poem evidence to deepen analysis.
2
Language
Students will refine precise word choice, sentence boundaries, and punctuation around quotations to increase clarity, coherence, and style in analytical writing.
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 continue analyzing how cultural images and poetic language work together to reveal identity and belonging.
Enduring Understanding:
Identity is shaped by biological, cultural, and emotional connections, and writers use symbols and images to show how those layers form a whole person.
Future Lessons:
Students will present, discuss, and refine their analytical writing as they move toward the culminating literary analysis task.
Unit Performance Task:
Today’s revision work strengthens students’ ability to produce a clear, coherent literary analysis that explains how imagery or symbolism reveals meaningful connections related to identity and belonging.
Lesson Pacing
| Lesson Flow | Purpose of Learning Experience |
|---|---|
Launch5 Minutes | Students will activate prior learning and be prepared to revise their cross-text analysis drafts by identifying a clear, arguable claim and noticing where explanation is needed. |
Literacy Lab10 Minutes | Students will learn how to test whether a sentence functions as a claim (not just a topic) and how to revise for precise evidence and clear explanation. |
Learning in Action30 Minutes | Part A: Claim Check and Partner Feedback (W.7.5) Students will identify, underline, and revise the sentence that most directly answers the essential question, using partner feedback to strengthen clarity and arguability.Learning in Action B: Specificity, Embedded Evidence, and Final Revision (L.7.3, W.7.5)Students will revise their paragraphs by: making image evidence specific and visible, embedding and explaining poem evidence, and editing for sentence clarity, boundaries, and correct quotation punctuation. |
Material List
- Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca
- Student drafts (from Lesson 35)
- Unit 4 Lesson 36 Student Edition
- Dictionaries or other reference materials for checking word choice during final editing
Routines
- Think-Pair-Share
- Language Study
- Iterative Conversation Exchange
- Revision Sprint
- Quick Write
Lesson Sequence
Lesson Texts
Short-Form Text
Through Her Grief, an Indian American Photographer Rediscovers Her Heritage
Maansi Srivastava, NPR
Read text
