1. religion and spirituality
2. islam

SAMPLE LESSONS:
READING FOR MEANING
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The Power of Purposeful Reading
by Cris Tovani
As a teacher, what do you do to ensure that your students are
successful when you assign them a reading?
Before you read the text read the following statements on the next page and put
an “A” if you agree or a “D” if you disagree with it. Then read the text to
determine if the author would agree or disagree with the statement. Find evidence
in the text to support your position. Meet with a Reading Club to share your
evidence. Try to reach consensus on whether the author would agree or disagree
with the statement by citing the evidence in the text. If your Reading Club cannot
reach a consensus, try to revise the statement so that all members can agree with
it.
1
The Power of Purposeful Reading
BEFORE
AFTER
If you can’t figure out what is important in a text then you can’t comprehend it.
Support
Refute
To read well requires students to make connections between what they
read and their previous knowledge of subject.
Support
Refute
When it comes to establishing a purpose for reading, I would agree with
the statement: “It’s more important to teach a person how to fish for
food than to give him fish to eat.”
Support
Refute
2
The Power of Purposeful Reading
BEFORE
AFTER
A fake purpose is better than no purpose at all.
Support
Refute
The greater the student’s background knowledge the less clear the
teacher needs to be about the purpose for the reading.
Support
Refute
Importance like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Support
Refute
The best ideas for helping students find important ideas in reading are...
My Ideas
Author’s Ideas
3
8
9
10
11
The Mouse At The Seashore
Read the statements before you read the story. Then read the story and collect
evidence in the text either to support or refute the statement. Meet with a group of
your classmates and share your evidence then decide as a group if you agree or
disagree with the statment.
A mouse told his mother and father that he was going
on a trip to the seashore. “We are very alarmed!” they
cried. “The world is full of terrors. You must not go!”
“ I have made my decision, “ said the mouse firmly. “I
have never seen the ocean, and it is high time that I did.
Nothing can make me change my mind.”
“Then we cannot stop you,” said the mother and
father mouse, “but do be careful!”
The next day, in the first light of dawn, the mouse
began his journey. Even before the morning had ended, the
mouse came to know trouble and fear.
A cat jumped out from behind a tree.
“I will eat you for lunch,” the cat said.
It was a narrow escape for the mouse. He ran for his life, but he left a part of his
tail in the mouth of the cat.
By afternoon the mouse had been attacked by birds and dogs. He had lost his way
several times. He was bruised and bloodied. He was tired and frightened.
At evening the mouse slowly climbed the last hill and saw the seashore spreading out
before him. He watched the waves rolling onto the beach, one after another. All of the
colors of the sunset filled the sky.
“How beautiful!” cried the mouse. “ I wish that mother and father were here to see
this with me.”
The moon and the stars began to appear over the ocean. The mouse sat silently on
the top of the hill. He was overwhelmed by a feeling of deep peace and contentment.
12
BEFORE
AFTER
The mouse thought he ought to go to the ocean.
Support
Refute
The mouse had no real reason to leave home.
Support
Refute
When the end is good, even a difficult journey is worth it.
Support
Refute
The author probably wants us to feel happy for the mouse.
Support
Refute
13
READING FOR MEANING
Model Lesson: Revenge
Directions: Review the statements that follow. Then read the essay "About Revenge" that follows. As
you read, indicate whether you agree or disagree (A or D) with each statement. Cite evidence for, and/
or against each statement.
Phase I: Reviewing Statements
Bacon believes that the law should punish those who enact plots of revenge against others.
A or D
Evidence For
Evidence Against
Bacon believes all acts of revenge are self-serving.
A or D
Evidence For
Evidence Against
According to Bacon, revenge is allowable under some circumstances.
A or D
Evidence For
Evidence Against
Bacon would probably approve of Dirty Harry's notion of private justice and vigilantism.
A or D
Evidence For
Evidence Against
14
A good moral for this essay would be: "It is much wiser to focus on constructive things than to worry
about wrongs committed in the past."
A or D
Evidence For
Evidence Against
My feelings about revenge are much like Francis Bacon's.
A or D
Evidence For
Evidence Against
15
Phase II: Active Reading
Of Revenge
by Francis Bacon
REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature runs to, the more ought
law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of
that wrong, putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with
his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince’s part to pardon. And
Salomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. That which is past
is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do, with things present and to
come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters. There is no
man doth a wrong, for the wrong’s sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure,
or honor, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a man, for loving himself better
than me? And if any man should do wrong, merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the
thorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most tolerable
sort of revenge, is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy; but then let a man take
heed, the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man’s enemy is still before
hand, and it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous, the party should
know, whence it cometh. This is the more generous. For the delight seemeth to be, not so
much in doing the hurt, as in making the party repent. But base and crafty cowards, are like
the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against
perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable; You shall read
(saith he) that we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read, that we are
commanded to forgive our friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: Shall we
(saith he) take good at God’s hands, and not be content to take evil also? And so of
friends in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own
wounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do well. Public revenges are for the most
part fortunate; as that for the death of Cæsar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death of
Henry the Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges, it is not so. Nay rather,
vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end they
infortunate.
Phase III: Discussion
If you are working with others, take some time to discuss the reading, the statements, and your responses to them*. Which statements caused the most difficulty? Which caused the most polarization of
the group? Can you come to any resolution on these statements?
*If you are working alone, take this discussion time to reflect on the reading, the statements, and your
responses. Which statements caused the most difficulty for you?
16
Phase IV: Synthesis
Issues of the Day Magazine has asked you to write a brief (2-3 paragraphs) editorial that responds to
Bacon's argument by explaining your position on the role of private revenge in our society. They have
asked that your article address these questions: Is private revenge justified? If so, when? How should
the law react to people who enact revenge plots? If possible, use some examples in your editorial.
17
Math Problem Statements
Read the statements before you read the problem, then read the problem to determine
whether you agree or disagree with them, and why. Discuss your answers and resolve your
differences. Solve the problem then explain your work:
Agree
1. Mr. Smith had more $5 bills than $1 bills.
Disagree
2. The problem is asking you to find the total number of $1
bills and $5 bills.
3. If x equals the number of dollar bills in the problem than
x+7 equals the number of 5 dollar bills in the problem.
4. We already know Mr. Smith’s total register receipts for
the day.
5. The following equation can be used to solve the problem.
x(1) + (x-7)(5)=T (Total)
$
Solve Problem
Mr
ed his cash register
Mr.. Smith check
checked
at the end of the day
day.. He found
that he had seven fewer $5 bills than
$1 bills, and no larger bills. In all,
he had $337.00. F
ind the number
Find
of $5 and $1 bills:
$
Explain Work
18
Adapted from Kentucky Open Response 2004
8th grade
Read the problem and use the map below to help you respond to the
statements. Use evidence to support or refute your thinking.
The Kid City Recreation Committee plans to put a fence around a playground
area in Kid City Park. The solid line in the diagram above outlines the sections in
the park that the committee wants to enclose with a fence.
Information about fencing prices is shown below:
FENCE ALL COMPANY
ACME FENCE COMPANY
Fencing: $0.30 per foot
Fencing $0.32 per foot
Orders $500.00 or more receive a
10% discount.
Reading for Meaning Strategy
19
Adapted from Kentucky Open Response 2004
8th grade
Read the statements below. Do you agree or disagree with the statements?
Find evidence to prove and/or disprove the statements.
Agree Disagree
1. It would be cheaper to buy the fencing from Fence All Company.
Evidence to Support
Agree
Disagree
2. The Committee will spend more than $500.00 for fencing.
Evidence to Support
Agree
Evidence to Refute
Evidence to Refute
Disagree
3. It doesn’t matter who the Committee buys the fencing from, the cost will
be the same.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
Reading for Meaning Strategy
20
Adapted from Kentucky Open Response 2004
8th grade
Agree Disagree
4. It will take more fencing to enclose the sandbox and swing areas than the
exploration site.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
Agree Disagree
5. The planning committee can save the taxpayers money by understanding
and applying mathematics in their work.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
Agree Disagree
6. Knowing
is important to solving this problem.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
Reading for Meaning Strategy
21
Adapted from Kentucky Open Response 2004
8th grade
Open Response
A. How much fencing will the committee need to buy? Show your work.
B. Which fencing company offers the best deal for this project in the park?
Show all of your work and explain your reasoning.
Reading for Meaning Strategy
22
TEMPERATURE CHART
Examine the statements below then the temperature graph. Use the graph to find evidence to either
support or refute the statements. Then meet with a small group, share your evidence and decide as a
group if you agree or disagree with the statement.
100
90
July
80
70
January
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
San Diego, CA
Anchorage, AK
Miami, FL
Albany, NY
San Antonio, TX
AGREE
DISAGREE
1. Winters are mild in Miami, Florida.
Support
Refute
2. If you are looking for place to live that has warm winters and cool summers, San
Antonio, Texas is the best place for you.
Support
Refute
23
3. Miami and San Antoinio have similar temperature patterns.
Support
Refute
4. Anchorage, Alaska sees the greatest change in temperatures from July to January.
Support
Refute
5. San Diego, California has mild temperatures year round.
Support
Refute
6. Albany, New York has very hot summers and very cold winters.
Support
Refute
24
A
E
B
C
D
Examine the diagram above. Read the statements below. Put a check in the box
whether you agree or disagree with the statements. Give your reasons for each of your
positions in the boxes provided.
AGREE
DISAGREE
When two lines intersect, they form angles.
Support
Refute
AC and DE form four non-straight angles.
Support
Refute
∢ABD and ∢ EBC seem to be obtuse angles.
Support
Refute
25
AGREE
∢ ABE and ∢ DBC cannot both be acute angles.
DISAGREE
∢ ABE and ∢ DBC cannot both be acute angles.
Although we don’t know exactly what ∢ ABD and ∢ DBC measure,
we do know that together the sum of their ∢ ‘s is 360o.
Support
Refute
Since ∢ ABD and ∢ EBC are vertical angles, as are ∢ABE and
∢ DBC, both pairs of angles are congruent.
Support
Refute
26
Read the statements prior to reading the text and decide if you agree or disagree with the
statement. Then read the text and collect evidence to either support or refute the statement.
Meet with a small group of students to share your evidence then decide as a group if the text
supports the statement or it does not.
Mathematics is a tool scientists use to explain things.
Support
Refute
27
AGREE
DISAGREE
Observing is more than looking.
The weight of a pendulum has a direct effect on the periods of the
pendulum’s swing.
The time it takes for one swing of a pendulum is a result of the
pendulum’s length: the longer the length, the faster the swing.
Support
Refute
For every second it takes a pendulum to swing back and forth, the
lenght of the pendulum is equal to a number the square of the time.
Support
Refute
28
Pendulums
Galileo Galilei, who lived in Italy from 1564 to 1642, used mathematics to make important
contributions to physics and astronomy. One of the phenomena he studied was the behavior of
pendulums. He noticed that if you tie a weight to the end of a string, hang it from a fixed point,
and start it swinging, it will swing in a definite rhythm. Each swing cycle of the pendulum--from
one side to the other and back--always takes the same amount of time.
Galileo also noticed that the time each swing cycle takes has nothing to do with the weight
of the pendulum or where it starts. Instead, the period of a pendulum swing is a function of its
length. If you change the length of the string, the period of the swing changes accordingly. The
following table expresses, or shows, that function. (In Galileo’s time, they used different units of
length from the ones we use today.)
As you can see from the table below, in order to slow the period of the pendulum swing
from 1 to 2 seconds, you have to more than double the length of the string; you have to quadruple
it. In fact, you will note that each number in the length column is the square of the corresponding
number in the period column. If you lengthened the string to 25 units, the period would be 5
seconds. The mathematical way to express the relationship between the length (in Galileo’s
units) of a pendulum, 1, and its swing period (in seconds), p, is p 2= 1.
Length of Pendulum
(in units)
1
4
9
16
Period of Swing
(in seconds)
1
2
3
4
29
Synthesis Task
Which of the following graphs best depicts what Galileo discovered about the behavior of
a pendulum?
B
Pendulum (in units)
Pendulum (in units)
Period of Swing
(in seconds)
C
Pendulum (in units)
A
Period of Swing
(in seconds)
Period of Swing
(in seconds)
Explain the reasons for your choice.
30
Before
Believe Doubt
Reading for Meaning: Reptiles
After
A reptile’s body temperature is the same as the temperature
of the surrounding environment.
Believe Doubt
Why do you think so?
Believe Doubt
A reptile’s body temperature depends on the temperature of
the surrounding environment.
Believe Doubt
Why do you think so?
Believe Doubt
There are probably more reptiles in Kansas then there are in
Canada.
Believe Doubt
Why do you think so?
Believe Doubt
Reptiles can be more patient than mammals.
Believe Doubt
Why do you think so?
31
How cold-bloodedness works.
When the sun’s rays are warm but not too hot, he ten-pound lizard’s
blood is every bit as warm as the ten-pound pig’s. But when the sun’s rays
are blocked by clouds and rain, the lizard’s metabolism is much too low to
keep its body temperature up and its mental and physical condition slips
into a somnolent torpor. If the sun is too hot, the lizard can’t sweat or
pant the way a mammal or a bird can and the poor lizard’s brain heats up
until it addles.
Too Cold
Comfortable
Too Hot
xx
zz
z
z
_ _
110
100
90
80
70
60
30
50
70
10
0
90
110
100
90
80
70
60
30
10
0
50
70
90
110
100
90
80
70
60
30
50
70
10
90
0
Body heat
32
THE COL
D-BLOOD
SHUTTLE
Bask in Sun
for 20 minutes
Go
But a warm-blood can forage in
the shade anytime
ba
ck
to
tre
e
Forage for 10 minutes in the shade
Hot-blooded metabolism buys freedom in time and space. If a species has
a high heat production, it can forage around for food at peak efficiency
in the shade. But a cold-blood must shuttles back and forth, basking in the
sun to warm up before chasing prey in the shade.
98° Body Temp
80° Body Temp
0
0
5
10
15
5
10
62° Body Temp
15
0
5
10
15
Top Speed
12
12
12
10
3
9
9
3
21
15
20
5
Time Needed For Complete Digestion of Prey Hours
Why body temperature is so important. All physiological
performance peaks at one narrow temperature range and the whole
body machinery slows down when the body temperature falls. Many
lizards are at peak form at a body temperature close to a human’s
-- about 98 degrees F. But when body temperature drops eighteen degrees F. performance drops to half -- running speed is
half as fast and digestion takes twice as long. When temperature
drops another 18 degrees performance falls to only one quarter
of the peak levels.
33
HILTER COMES TO POWER
For the following exercise, first examine the statements below. Decide if you agree “A” or disagree “D”
with each statement initially. Then read the passage “Hitler Comes to Power” on the following pages.
Does the passage change your mind about any of your responses? Go back to your responses and affirm
or change them accordingly.
1. The economy was doing poorly in Germany when Hitler came to power.
Support
Refute
2. The Nazi party had special appeal for the richest citizens of Germany.
Support
3. The Nazis took a long time to rise to power.
Support
Refute
Refute
34
4. The Nazis believed in allowing all people to express their points of view.
Support
Refute
5. The Nazis used the SA and the SS (or Gestapo) to intimidate and even kill opponents of their party.
Support
Refute
35
Hitler Comes to Power
In the early 1930’s, the mood in Germany was grim. The worldwide economic depression had hit
the country especially hard, and millions of people were out of work. Still fresh in the minds of many was
Germany’s humiliating defeat fifteen years earlier during World War I, and Germans lacked confidence in
their weak government, known as the Weimar Republic. These conditions provided the chance for the rise
of a new leader, Adolf Hitler, and his party, the National Socialist Germany Workers Party, or Nazis for
short. Hitler was a powerful and spellbounding speaker who attracted a wide following of Germans desperate for change. He promised the disenchanted a better life and a new and glorious Germany. The Nazis
appealed especially to the unemployed, young people, and members of the lower middle class (small
storeowners, office employees, craftsmen, farmers). The party’s rise to power was rapid. Before the
depression struck, the Nazis were practically unknown, winning only 3% of the vote to the German
parliamant, or Reichstag. In the 1932 elections, the Nazis won 33% of the votes, more than any other
party. In January 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the head of the German government, and many
Germans believed that they had found a savior for their nation.
The Nazi Terror Begins
Hitler moved quickly to turn Germany into a one-party dictatorship and to organize the police
power necessary to enforce Nazi policies. He persuaded his Cabinet to declare a state of emergency and
end individual freedoms including freedom of the press, speech, and assembly. Individuals lost the right to
privacy, which meant that officials could read people’s mail, listen in on telephone conversations, and search
private homes without a warrant.
Hitler also relied on terror to achieve his goals. Lured by the wages, a feeling of comradeship, and the
striking uniforms, tens of thousands of young jobless men put on the brown shirts and high leather boots of
the Nazi Storm Troopers (Sturmabteilungen). Called the SA, these auxillary policemen took to the streets
to beat up and kill some opponents of the Nazi regime. Mere fear of the SA pressured other Germans who
did not support the Nazis into silence.
Another important tool of Nazi terror was the Protective Squad (Schutzsaffel), or SS, which began
as a special guard for Hitler and other party leaders. The black-shirted SS members formed a smaller, elite
group whose members also served as auxiliary police and, later, as concentration camp guards. Eventually
overshadowing the SA in importance, the SS became, after 1934, the private army of the Nazi party.
SS chief, Heinrich Himmler, also turned the regular (nonparty) police forces into an instrument of
terror. He helped forge the powerful Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei), or gestapo; these
nonuniformed police used ruthless and cruel methods throughout Germany to identify and arrest political
opponents and others who refused to obey laws and policies of the Nazi regime.
In the months after Hitler seized power, the SA and Gestapo agents went from door to door looking
for Hitler’s enemies. Socialists, Communists, trade union leaders, and others who had spoken out against
the Nazi party were arrested, and some were killed. By the middle of 1933, the Nazi party was the only
political party, and nearlly all organzied opposition to the regime had been elimnated. Democracy was dead
in Germany.
[Bachrach, Susan D. Tell them we remember: The Story of the Holocaust, Little Brown and Company , New York, 1994, p. 8-10]
36
Etch-a-Sketch
Draw a picture that depicts Hitler’s rise to power, as explained in the passage you’ve just read.
37
As your final activity for the day, write a short essay on some obstacles to courage
that you foresee for citizens living in Nazi Germany:
38
RESPONSIBILITY
What lessons can we learn from stories?
What makes character development important?
Is there any reality in fantasy?
Develop an Initial Understanding
Requires readers to consider the text as a whole or in a
broader perspective to develop initial understanding.
Interpreting Text
Requires readers to extend their initial impressions to
develop a more complete understanding of what is read.
Students will know....
Habits
Genre: Fantasy
Appreciation for literature and
reading.
Main Idea
Responsibility
Purpose
Elements of Story
Students will understand...
Students will....
how writers use actions and dialogue to
develop
character within a story;
connect to prior knowledge;
predict and read for evidence;
make notes and prove;
classify;
read to locate information in a text;
distinguish fantasy from reality; and
reflect.
the difference between fantasy and
realism; and
how elements of a story work together
within the whole.
39
Connecting to Prior
Knowledge
Think of a Time When....
you were responsible;
you were irresponsible.
Why is it important to always
do your best?
Predicting
What do you think Tops and
Bottoms will be about?
Profit/Loss
Read the story, “Tops and
Bottoms.”
Classify Seeds
Could it really
happen?
Peer Partners
Agree-Disagree Statements
Read to locate information in
a text.
Reflection
What is responsibility?
What are you
responsible for?
How does
irresponsibility feel?
What is a personal
goal you are going to
work on?
Conclusion
Writing an Explanation
What lesson did Bear learn
from Hare in the story about
responsibility?
40
Connecting to Prior Knowledge
When you showed responsiblity....
Think of a Time
When you didn’t like the task you were doing
and you were not responsible...
Why is it important to always do your best,
even when you don’t like the task?
41
Pre-Reading
Predict
hard worker
What do you think the story will be about? Use the words from
the word bank and to write some predictable sentences in your
journal. As you read check to see if the author used the words in
the same way.
lazy
smart
sleep
partners
deal
harvest
wealth
risky
business
42
After Reading
After reading “Tops and Bottoms” work with a partner to decide if
you agree or disagree with the following statements.
Agree Disagree
1. Hare is a clever businessman.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
Agree Disagree
2. Hare did not live up to his end of the deal.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
Agree Disagree
3. Bear learned a valuable lesson.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
43
Agree Disagree
4. Hare showed responsibility.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
Agree Disagree
5. This story is fantasy.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
Agree Disagree
6. Responsibility and hard work pay off.
Evidence to Support
Evidence to Refute
44
Could it really happen?
Yes or No and Why?
1. A hare and his family trick a bear.
2. A bear sleeps all day while hare works.
3. Hare raises a garden on bear’s land.
4. A family of hares are starving.
45
Draw a picture and write two fantasy sentences
about the story and one sentence that could really
happen.
46
Complete the face. Make it happy if it is showing
responsibility. Make it sad if it is not.
1. Hare made a bet with tortoise and lost.
2. Hare planted crops on Bear’s land.
3. Bear slept while Hare worked.
4. Hare and his family dug up the carrots,
radishes, and beets.
5. Hare gave Bear only the tops.
6. Hare used the profits to buy back his land.
47
At the beginning of the story Bear was irresponsible, but changed.
Draw a picture showing bear before and after the lesson.
Irresponsible Bear
Responsible Bear
What is an important lesson Bear learned from Hare?
48
RESPONSIBLE
What does it mean to be responsible?
I am responsible for.....
1
What does irresponsibility feel like?
2
What is a goal you want to work on to
show more responsibility?
3
49
Mr. Peabody’s Apples
RD-05-2.7
Students will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read. DOK 2
RD-05-2.2
Students will identify or explain literary elements (e.g., characterization, setting, plot, theme, point
of view) in a passage. DOK 3
RD-05-3.4
Students will identify main ideas and details that support them. DOK 2
50
Read the Statements below.
Place a check whether you agree or disagree before reading. Share your thoughts
with a partner. Afterwards, read Mr. Peabody’s Apples and find evidence to support
and/or refute the statements. Decide whether you still feel the same after reading the
story. Share your thoughts with a partner and be ready to discuss your reading.
Before Reading
Agree
After Reading
Disagree
Prove
Disagree
Disprove
Before Reading
Agree
Agree
1. People should not spread rumors.
Disagree
Prove
After Reading
2. Words cannot really hurt you.
Agree
Disagree
Disprove
Before Reading
After Reading
Agree
Agree
Disagree
Disagree
3. A person’s reputation is easily bruised.
Prove
Disprove
51
Before Reading
Agree
Disagree
Prove
After Reading
Agree
4. The truth is not always easily seen.
Disprove
Before Reading
Agree
Disagree
Disagree
Prove
After Reading
5. Words have great power.
Agree
Disagree
Disprove
Before Reading
After Reading
Agree
Agree
Disagree
Disagree
6. Judging others can get you into trouble.
Prove
Disprove
52
Group Discussion Questions:
1. What is the lesson to be learned from this story?
2. How are words powerful?
3. Why were the boys quick to make judgement on Mr. Peabody?
4. What happened when the boys spread the rumor about Mr. Peabody?
5. Why are perceptions dangerous?
6. How do you think Mr. Peabody felt when he found out why there were
no players on the field?
7. What lesson did Mr. Peabody teach Tommy and Billy? How?
8. What lesson did you learn from this story?
9. How would you describe Mr. Peabody? Tommy? Billy?
10. What would have happened if Billy had not had the courage to tell Mr.
Peabody why the team did not show up? What does this say about Billy’s
character?
11. What happens when people spread rumors?
53
“It would be just as impossible to undo the
damage that you have done by spreading the
rumor that I am a thief,” said Mr. Peabody.
“Each feather represents a person in
Happyville.”
Tommy has a difficult task ahead of him in trying to undo the damage
caused by his false rumor about Mr. Peabody.
Assume the role of Tommy in the story. Write a public letter of apology for
the local newspaper to Mr. Peabody and the townspeople, be sure to
include in your letter the valuable lesson you have learned from this
experience.
54
Gettysburg Address
Read the following statements. Decide if you agree or disagree with them by marking a
“A” or “D” in the box. Then read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and find evidence to
support or refute the statements. After you have collected your evidence meet with a
small group of other students to decide if you believe Lincoln would have agreed or
disagreed with the statements based on your reading of the text.
BEFORE
AFTER
Liberty is more important than equality.
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In a democracy, soliders never die in vain.
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The present is not controlled by the past.
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Words can help heal a nation.
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55
The Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in
liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of it as a final resting place for those who died here that the nation might live. This we may, in
all propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow
this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poor
power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can
never forget what they did here.
It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measureof
devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall
have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not
perish from the earth.
56
Gettysburg Address
Read the following statements about Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Then read the
text and collect evidence either to support or refute the statements from the text.
Meet with a small group of other students to discuss your evidence and then decide as
a group if you believe there is sufficient evidence to support or refute the statement.
Lincoln believes the Gettsburg soldiers have died in vain.
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Lincoln sees a linear relationship between past and present.
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A good slogan for the Gettysburg Address would be, “We can work it out.”
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Lincoln wants to make Americans feel guilty about the war.
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Refute
57
The Gettysburg Address
November 19, 1863
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in
liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so
dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a
portion of it as a final resting place for those who died here that the nation might live. This we may, in
all propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow
this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poor
power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can
never forget what they did here.
It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these
honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measureof
devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall
have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not
perish from the earth.
58
Weighing the Elephant
by Baoquing Xu
Almost two thousand years ago, there lived a very smart young Chinese prince named
Cao Chong.
When the prince was seven years old, an envoy from Siam presented his father with a
huge elephant. The king and his court had never seen a creature like this before, and they
marveled at its great size and wondered how much it weighed.
“Why don’t we find out?” asked Cao Chong.
“ How?” asked his father. “We don’t have a scale big enough!”
Cao Chong thought for awhile. “It’s not that hard,” he said. “Follow me to the river, and
I’ll show you.”
Now, the important people in court—the lords, the ladies, the generals-all hesitated.
They knew that Cao Chong was brilliant, but he was just a little boy. Everyone looked at the
king to see if they should take Cao Chong seriously.
The king knew his son. Smiling, he rose from his royal throne and said to Chao Chong, “Go
ahead. You are the commander. We’ll all follow your orders.”
So out they marched. Cao Chong and the king led the way, carried
on a magnificent royal litter, followed by the big elephant decorated with
silk and precious stones, generals and lords on horseback, the queen
and princesses in sedan chairs, and servants and guards on foot.
As they went down the street, more and more people followed. By
the time they arrived at the riverbank, Cao Chong had an audience of
several thousand. Everybody was curious and anxious to see how a
seven-year-old would weigh such a huge animal.
As soon as the royal family stopped, Cao Chong hopped out and
started giving orders. First, the elephant was led onto a boat which sank
several inches right away under the beast’s weight. Cao Chong marked the boat’s new water
line with a chalk and led the elephant out. Then he ordered servants to pile big rocks into the
boat until it again sank to the marked water line. When the rocks were carried back to shore,
he weighed them one by one on a regular scale. With an abacus,
Cao Chong quickly added all the weights. Finally, he looked up
and announced: “The elephant weighs one hundred and thirty
tons.”
The king heaved a sigh of relief and smiled broadly. He
didn’t say anything. There was no need to—the spectators
were wild with applause, and all were proud of the young
prince.
Weighing the Elephant
BEFORE
Before you read the text decide if you agree or
disagree with the following statements.
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AFTER
Weighing the Elephant
BEFORE
Before you read the text decide if you agree or
disagree with the following statements.
Support
Refute
Support
Refute
Support
Refute
Support
Refute
AFTER