Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus
Visible Thinking Routine: Before and/or After Reading the Book
Purpose: Invites students to connect to their prior knowledge, to be curious, and to plan for independent or group inquiry.
Suggested Class:
· World Studies to peak interest when starting a unit on Japan
· Language Arts at the end of the reading to pull prior knowledge from comprehension of the text.
Group Size: Small groups or as whole class
Set-up: Since this routine helps shape future inquiry and is often used as a reference point at the start of a unit, you’ll want to plan some form of documentation. This could be done by students themselves working in small groups, by you on a whiteboard, or through the use of sticky notes to gather and collect students’ ideas.
Topic: Samurai
Questions:
1. What do you Think you know about Samurai?
2. What questions or Puzzles do you have about Samurai?
3. How might you Explore the puzzles we have around Samurai?
Facilitating notes:
If student’s only response to question #3 is “look it up on the Internet”, you might push this to consider, “What sources would be credible? What keywords should be used? How will we decide if what is reported is true or not? Who else should we ask?” To push students thinking further you might ask, “If we can’t find credible information in books or on the Internet, how might we find this ourselves?”
Assessment:
The listening, reading, and/or documenting of learners’ responses to the first section of this routine, “Think,” provides an opportunity for the teacher to become aware of the misconceptions students may have about a topic. Instruction will need to address these misconceptions if understanding is to be developed. The “Puzzles” uncovered in the second section of the routine provide insights into the sorts of ideas students are interested in exploring further. Look to see if students are able to frame inquiry questions and express broad curiosity about a topic as opposed to just gathering facts. Often this takes time to develop. It is not that factual questions need to be discouraged, only that they need to be complemented by broader and more adventurous types of questions that get to the issues of understanding. The “Explore” section provides an opportunity to look at students’ ability to plan out an inquiry.
Teacher Key
References to Samurai in Heart of a Samurai
· Title “Heart of a Samurai”
· Pg. 5 – 14 year old Manjiro on the 8th day drifting at sea, “I had hoped to become a samurai.”
· Chapter 2 title (pages 9-22) “The Samurai of Bird Island”
· Pg. 13-15 – Bushido=Samurai code of honor, noble Samurai, Katana & Wakazashi swords
· Pg. 70 – “…once said he wanted to be a samurai. But that was not a real dream, because that could never happen” (Manjiro’s comment when Capt. Whitefield asked about his hopes and dreams.)
· Pg. 133 – “Samurai are very high status people who are trained in all manner of fighting including swordship.” -Manjiro
· Chapter 41 title (pages 272-274) “The Samurai”
· Pg. 274– “…Lord Yamauchi wants him (Manjiro) to teach young samurai the barbarian’s language. They even say he will be made a Samurai himself. Imagine a simple fisherman becoming a samurai.” “Well, since he has neither the family nor the upbringing of a samurai, I hope he has the heart of one! He is going to need it.” – messenger from the great Lord of Tosa.
· Pg. 274 – “Within him, Manjiro knew, beat a heart scoured by sand, pounded by waves, burned by sun and polished by rain and wind. It would always be the simple heart of a fisherman, but perhaps it had also become the mighty heart of a samurai.” – Manjiro
· Pg. 275 – “He was appointed as a samurai to the shogun, allowed to carry swords and to take a second name. It was unprecedented for a person no born of a samurai family and of such low rank to be elevated to such status.
· Pg. 279 – Three days after his visit with his family, Manjiro was called back to the city and given the lowest of samurai rank of Sadame-Komono…Manjiro became an advisor to the shogun, who elevated him to an even higher samurai rank.
Sample Puzzles
Why would someone want to be a samurai?
What skills are samurai taught?
What family/upbringing are you supposed to have to become a samurai?
What are the different ranks of samurai and what to they mean?
If you are a samurai, what does your daily life entail?
Provided by Authors In April, Rochester Michigan, 2016
All Visible Thinking Routines are based from Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchart, Mark Church, Karin Morrison