Writing

Lesson 6: Informational Paragraph Writing: Bloody Sunday

50 min

California CCSS: Focus Standards

California CCSS: Supporting Standards

ELD Standards

Student Lesson

Lesson 6: Informational Paragraph Writing: Bloody Sunday

Student Learning Objectives

Content

Students will write an explanatory paragraph using the RACE writing strategy to explain how the various texts depict the key events of Bloody Sunday.

Language

Students will explain the connection between key events using cause-and-effect language (because, as a result, therefore) and academic vocabulary.

Essential Question

How does storytelling become a tool for civic change?

Connections to

Knowledge-Building:

Students will continue to build knowledge of Bloody Sunday, a key historical event of the Civil Rights Movement.

Enduring Understanding:

People shape and preserve civic memory through storytelling.

Unit Performance Task:

Students will use what they learn about writing an informative/explanatory piece during the Performance Task later in the unit.

Future Lessons:

In Lessons 7 and 8, students will read and engage with pp. 14–35 of March: Book One.

Lesson Pacing

Lesson Flow	Purpose of Learning Experience
Launch5 Minutes	Students will revisit the connections among events of Bloody Sunday they learned through reading pp. 1–11 of March and “Confrontations for Justice” in Lessons 4 and 5.
Literacy Lab10 Minutes	Students will analyze a model response and observe how the RACE strategy is used to organize notes, cite evidence, and explain connections among key events related to Bloody Sunday using multiple texts.
Learning in Action30 Minutes	Part A: Teacher Models RACE Writing Strategy (W.8.2a, W.8.2.b) Teacher models writing an explanatory paragraph answering an example question using the RACE strategy. Part B: Write RACE Paragraphs (RI.8.1, W.8.2.b, W.8.9.b) Students will write an explanatory paragraph in pairs answering a question using the RACE strategy.