Analyzing Text Structures
The Lesson Activities will help you meet these educational goals:
21st Century Skills—You will use critical-thinking skills and effectively communicate your ideas.
Directions
Please save this document before you begin working on the assignment. Type your answers directly in the document. ______
Self-Checked Activities
Read the instructions for the following activities and type in your responses. Click the link to the Student Answer Sheet at the end of the lesson. Use the answers or sample responses to evaluate your own work.
- Applying Graphic Organizers
- In this lesson, you have studieda number of types of graphic organizers and their uses. Now, list the graphic organizer that would be the best choiceto complete each assignment in the table below.
Type your responsehere:
Assignment / Graphic OrganizerCompare two characters from a novel.
Give the order of events in a story.
Trace the route of a famous explorer.
Chart the life cycle of a butterfly.
Show similarities in novels by the same author.
Explain the varieties of flowers found in the Northeast.
Tell what you know about feudalism and what more you want to learn.
List the events of a time period from earliest to latest.
Brainstorm ideas about a topic for a research paper.
Show things that you would do on a family vacation.
Describe the water cycle.
State the problems and solutions of a story.
- Some graphic organizers are designed to help us understand specific details about characters or events in literature. A character analysis pyramid is one such graphic organizer: you can use it to define a character and the character’s relevance to the story. Generally, a character analysis pyramid includes the character’s name, physical description, traits, problems and challenges, and accomplishments.
Read the introduction to the character of Beth in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and then complete the character analysis pyramid.
Little Women
by Louisa May Alcott (excerpt)
Beth was too bashful to go to school. It had been tried, but she suffered so much that it was given up, and she did her lessons at home with her father. Even when he went away, and her mother was called to devote her skill and energy to Soldiers' Aid Societies, Beth went faithfully on by herself and did the best she could. She was a housewifely little creature, and helped Hannah keep home neat and comfortable for the workers, never thinking of any reward but to be loved. Long, quiet days she spent, not lonely nor idle, for her little world was peopled with imaginary friends, and she was by nature a busy bee.
There were six dolls to be taken up and dressed every morning, for Beth was a child still and loved her pets as well as ever. Not one whole or handsome one among them, all were outcasts till Beth took them in, for when her sisters outgrew these idols, they passed to her because Amy would have nothing old or ugly. Beth cherished them all the more tenderly for that very reason, and set up a hospital for infirm dolls. No pins were ever stuck into their cotton vitals, no harsh words or blows were ever given them, no neglect ever saddened the heart of the most repulsive, but all were fed and clothed, nursed and caressed with an affection which never failed. One forlorn fragment of dollanity had belonged to Jo and, having led a tempestuous life, was left a wreck in the ragbag, from which dreary poorhouse it was rescued by Beth and taken to her refuge. Having no top to its head, she tied on a neat little cap, and as both arms and legs were gone, she hid these deficiencies by folding it in a blanket and devoting her best bed to this chronic invalid. If anyone had known the care lavished on that dolly, I think it would have touched their hearts, even while they laughed. She brought it bits of bouquets, she read to it, took it out to breathe fresh air, hidden under her coat, she sang it lullabies and never went to be without kissing its dirty face and whispering tenderly, "I hope you'll have a good night, my poor dear."
Beth had her troubles as well as the others, and not being an angel but a very human little girl, she often “wept a little weep” as Jo said, because she couldn't take music lessons and have a fine piano. She loved music so dearly, tried so hard to learn, and practiced away so patiently at the jingling old instrument, that it did seem as if someone (not to hint Aunt March) ought to help her. Nobody did, however, and nobody saw Beth wipe the tears off the yellow keys, that wouldn't keep in tune, when she was all alone. She sang like a little lark about her work, never was too tired for Marmee and the girls, and day after day said hopefully to herself, “I know I'll get my music some time, if I'm good."
There are many Beths in the world, shy and quiet, sitting in corners till needed, and living for others so cheerfully that no one sees the sacrifices till the little cricket on the hearth stops chirping, and the sweet, sunshiny presence vanishes, leaving silence and shadow behind.
Type your response here:
How did you do? Check a box below.
Nailed It!—I included all of the same ideas as the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
Halfway There—I included most of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
Not Great—I did not include any of the ideas in the model response on the Student Answer Sheet.
Teacher-Graded Activities
Write a response for each of the following activities. Check the Evaluation section at the end of this document to make sure you have met the expected criteria for the assignment. When you have finished, submit your work to your teacher.
- Using Your Own Graphic Organizer
Complete a graphic organizer for a novel or other piece of literature that you are currently reading. You may use a piece that has been assigned for class work or an independent reading selection of your choice. Review the graphic organizers from the lesson. Select an organizer that best relates to your piece of literature. Keep in mind the purpose for the organizer that you choose, and be sure that your literature contains appropriate data to complete it. You may create or paste your organizer into the space provided or turn it in to your teacher along with this activity.
Type your response here:
Evaluation
Your teacher will use this rubric to evaluate the completeness of your work as well as the clarity of thinking you exhibit.
ConceptsDistinguished
(4 points) /
- Chooses a highly appropriate graphic organizer for the selectedtext structure
- Fills in all parts of the organizercorrectly
- Entries are neatand free of errors
- Submits an accurate and complete organizer
Proficient
(3 points) /
- Chooses an appropriate graphic organizer for the selectedtext structure
- Fills in most parts of the organizer correctly
- Entries are neatand containfew errors
- Submits a complete organizer
Developing
(2 points) /
- Chooses a somewhat appropriate graphic organizer for the selectedtext structure
- Fills in some parts of the organizer incorrectly
- Entries are legible butcontainsome errors
- Submits a complete organizer
Beginning
(1 point) /
- Chooses a graphic organizer that is not appropriate for the selectedtext structure
- Fills in several parts of the organizer incorrectly
- Entries are barely legible and contain several errors
- Submits anincomplete organizer
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