Analyze a Hidden Figure: Katherine Johnson

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Focus Standards: These are the standards the instruction addresses.

Supporting Standards: These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

Daily Learning Targets

• I can analyze how the author introduces and elaborates on Katherine Johnson's character in the text. (RI.6.3)
• I can gather evidence and develop reasoning for an argument essay about Katherine Johnson's remarkable accomplishments. (W.6.1)
• I can share my independent research reading with my peers. (RL.6.10, RI.6.10)

Ongoing Assessment

• Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 2, Lesson 12 (RI.6.1, RI.6.8, W.6.1, W.6.10)
• Work Time A: Gist on sticky notes
• Work Time B: Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catcher (RI.6.1, RI.6.3, W.6.1, W.6.9b, W.6.10)

Agenda

1. Opening

A. Engage the Learner - RI.6.8 (5 minutes)

2. Work Time

A. Jigsaw: Hidden Figures, Chapters 13 and 16 (20 minutes)

B. Gather Evidence - W.6.1 (10 minutes)

3. Closing and Assessment

A. Share Independent Research Reading - RL.6.10, RI.6.10 (10 minutes)

4. Homework

A. Preread Anchor Text: Students preread chapters 17 and 18 in Hidden Figures in preparation for studying these chapters in the next lesson.

Alignment to Assessment Standards and Purpose of Lesson

• RI.6.1 – Opening A: Students complete an entrance ticket in which they reread an excerpt from Hidden Figures and identify textual evidence that can be used to support a claim based on the excerpt.
• W.6.1 – Opening A: As part of the entrance ticket, students support a claim about Katherine with relevant evidence from the text.
• RI.6.1 – Work Time B: After participating in a Jigsaw Reading of chapters 13 and 16 of Hidden Figures, students add textual evidence to their Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catchers.
• RI.6.3 – Work Time B: Students analyze the way in which Margot Lee Shetterly illustrates and elaborates on the accomplishments of the hidden figures in the text and add notes to their note-catchers.
• W.6.1 – Work Time B: Students add relevant evidence to their note-catchers, which they will use to write arguments to support claims.
• W.6.9b – Work Time B: Students gather relevant evidence from the anchor text to support their claims.

Opportunities to Extend Learning

• Chapter 15 in Hidden Figures is skipped in this lesson due to time constraints. Encourage students to read this additional chapter. Chapter 15 introduces a fourth hidden figure, Christine Mann. Practice similar work with determining point of view and tracing an argument with the chapters focused on Mann’s remarkable accomplishments, which will not be included in this module.
• Extend the learning around aeronautics introduced in the chapters read during this lesson by directing students toward online resources that offer additional STEM practice, such as http://eled.org/0168.
• Students who show great interest in and advanced knowledge of the module may serve as discussion captains during the independent research reading share.

How It Builds on Previous Work

• In the previous lesson, students were introduced to a new hidden figure, Katherine Johnson, by reading chapter 12 in Hidden Figures. They also participated in a Language Dive to examine how the author develops Katherine’s character. In this lesson, students will move into jigsaw expert groups and read another chapter focused on Katherine; during Opening A of Lesson 13, students will share with their home groups what they learned. In preparation for the argument essay they will write in Unit 3, students add to their Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catcher, gathering evidence that Johnson’s accomplishments were truly remarkable.
• Since the launch of independent research reading in Unit 1, students have been reading self-selected texts on the module topic. During this lesson, students share with their peers what they have learned from their texts and how that learning adds to their understanding of the module focus.

Support All Students

• ELLs with limited vocabularies may find it challenging to understand science-driven passages of Hidden Figures. Videos or other visuals about wind tunnels, turbulence, and aeronautics will be critical in helping students visualize the scientific processes described in these chapters. If time and resources are available, facilitating opportunities for students to practice some of these scientific principles in a hands-on way (e.g., through building and testing paper airplanes) will also help students build a deeper understanding of the text. ▲
• Students may be confused by references to Katherine using two different last names. Point out that the text initially refers to Katherine by her first husband’s last name, Goble. After her first husband died, she remarried and took her new husband’s last name, Johnson.
• Not all students may be as fascinated by aeronautics and spaceflight as the hidden figures are in the anchor text. Relate Katherine’s fascination with aeronautics to the passions of students who seem less engaged. Katherine described a report about air traffic regulations as “one of the most interesting things [she] had ever read” (105). Invite students to share the most interesting thing they have ever read. Allow space for students to share stories of the topics that fascinate them and how they pursued this passion. Guide them to empathize with Katherine.

Assessment Guidance

• Review students’ entries on their Collaborative Argument Evidence note-catcher to ensure that recorded textual evidence is appropriate, relevant, and comprehensive. Remind students that this note-catcher serves as preparation for the essays they will write in Unit 3; the more effort they put into the note-catcher now, the easier the writing task will be later.

Down the Road

• During Opening A of Lesson 13, expert groups, who read one chapter about Katherine Johnson, will debrief their work with their home groups, who read a different chapter about Johnson. They will also conclude their study of Johnson by reading two more chapters about her work at NASA and updating the Remarkable Accomplishments anchor chart.