Standards Correlations

R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.6, R.7, W.2, SL.1, L.4, L.6

Learning Objective

Students will read an article about an inventor and identify text evidence to support conclusions drawn from the story.

Key Skills

text evidence, text features, vocabulary, central idea and details, inference, cause and effect, making connections, drawing conclusions,  informational writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The article profiles American inventor Garrett Morgan and gives information about  his inventions. 

 

Structure: The text consists largely of problem-and-solution structures.  

 

Language: The text includes some higher-level vocabulary. 

 

Knowledge Demands: Some understanding of the history of racial discrimination in the U.S. will aid comprehension.

 

Levels

Lexile: 600L-700L

Guided Reading Level: T 

DRA Level: 50

Lesson Plan: The Man Who Has Saved Millions

Essential Questions

  • Why do some people get recognition for their achievements while others don’t?
  • How does racial discrimination affect society as a whole? How does it affect individuals?

Literature Connection

  • Nonfiction: What Color Is My World? The Lost History of African-American Inventors by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld
  • Biography: The Unstoppable Garrett Morgan by Joan DiCicco 

1. Preparing to Read 

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article. Preview the text features by asking the following questions:

  • Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text beneath the title). What do you think Garrett Morgan did to save millions of lives? Why do you think you’ve never heard of him? Make predictions. Answers will vary.
  • Look at the map. Where did the 1916 tunnel explosion happen? The 1916 tunnel explosion happened in Lake Erie, close to the Ohio shoreline.
  • Find the two sets of images captioned “The Problem” and “The Solution.” Read the captions. In your own words, what problems did Morgan solve? Sample answer: Firefighters didn’t have appropriate gear in the 1900s. Morgan created a gas mask to keep them safe. Also, crazy traffic caused accidents and deaths. Morgan invented the yellow light on traffic lights.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (absurd, brutal, segregated, determined, demonstrations) aloud and discuss their definitions.
  • Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading 

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

  • Set a purpose for reading by telling students that they will find text evidence in “The Man Who Has Saved Millions” that supports important ideas about how Garrett Morgan overcame challenges in his life to become a successful inventor.
  • Point out the Pause and Think boxes. Tell students they can check their understanding of what they’ve read by answering these questions.
  • Point out the activity at the end of the story and tell students they will complete it after reading. Tell them to keep the Think About It! question at the bottom in mind as they read.
  • Tell students that as they finish each section, they should think about how the text features on the page (e.g., photos, captions, and section headings) relate to what they’ve just read.

 2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Guide students to read the article. Once they understand it well, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

  • In the beginning of the article, the author tells a story in which Morgan enters a tunnel in the gas mask that he invented. What does this story tell you about Morgan’s character? (inference) The story tells us that Morgan believed in his invention and wasn’t afraid to do something that seemed dangerous to others. He was brave and confident, and determined to show the world that his invention worked.
  • What effects did racism have on Morgan’s life? (cause and effect) When Morgan was growing up, laws across the South forced Black people into segregated schools, theaters, and bus stations. In Morgan’s professional life, racism kept him from moving ahead. Many White people didn’t want to do business with a Black man. He also didn’t get the recognition that he deserved for his accomplishments. When he rescued two men from the tunnel explosion, newspapers praised the White men who had helped, but few articles mentioned him.
  • How do you think Morgan was able to invent the lifesaving gas mask when he stopped going to school after sixth grade? (inference) Morgan had a curious mind. In his youth, he liked to take things apart and put them back together to learn about how they worked. He was also a problem solver. When he got his first job, at a clothing factory, he applied his curiosity to figure out how to keep the sewing machines from breaking. You can infer that this same sense of curiosity and problem-solving spirit allowed him to come up with a solution to help firefighters combat smoke.
  • Look at the images captioned “The Big Test.” What do the images show? Why are they included in the article? (text features) The images show cutouts from old newspapers. The first one shows a man and his wife. He is labeled “Tunnel Hero.” The second shows Garrett Morgan in a crowd, from above. The images are probably included in the article to show that even though Morgan had a big role in helping save two men from the tunnel explosion of 1916, he barely got any credit. Instead, credit was given to White men, like the one labeled “Tunnel Hero” in the newspaper article. 

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • Speaking about Morgan, his granddaughter said, “He knew you have to take the gifts you’re given and use them to be your best.” What gifts did Morgan have? What gifts do you have? How can you apply this lesson to your own life? (making connections) Morgan had the gifts of curiosity and determination, which helped him move ahead at his factory job and become a successful businessman. (Students’ answers for the second and third questions will vary. Encourage students to think about what qualities they have that they can put to use in their academic and personal lives.)
  • Based on what you read in this story, why do you think it’s important to learn about people who have been left out of history books in the past? (drawing conclusions) Answers may include that it’s unjust that people like Morgan have been overlooked because of their race, and that our knowledge of history is not complete if we don’t know who really did important things.

3. Skill Building and Writing

  • Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Text Evidence activity. As a class, discuss students’ answers and the Think About It! question.
  • Have students work independently to complete our Central Idea and Details Skill Builder, available in higher- and lower-level versions. (Click here to view all your Skill Builders for this article.)
  • Writing prompt: Imagine that you are a journalist traveling back in time to cover the 1916 tunnel explosion and its aftermath. Write an article in which you explain what happened and how Garrett Morgan played a role in rescuing survivors. Don’t forget to give your article a title.

Learn-Anywhere Activity

An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey at home or in the classroom

Design a Solution

In this article, you learned how Garrett Morgan noticed problems around him and got to work trying to fix them. What problems do you see around you that might be fixed with a new invention? In this activity, think like an inventor to come up with a solution to a tricky problem.

  • First, make a list of problems you’d like to fix. To do this, observe the world around you for one day and take notes in a notebook when you notice a problem. You could jot down things as simple as “the line at the cafeteria is too long” or “my sneakers get wet when it rains.”
  • Then, pick one problem that can be solved by creating something new—a gadget, an app, or a new feature added to something that already exists (as Morgan did with the traffic light). 
  • Describe the solution. How is it designed? What materials are needed? Who will use it, when, and how? Create an illustration to go with your description.

Language-Acquisition Springboard

Preview section headings to increase readers’ interest.

Before reading, let students know that the article is about an inventor. Then have students find the section headings and predict what the focus of each section will be. Assure them that there are no wrong answers; making predictions based on brief section headings is just a useful strategy for skimming a text. 

Help students by asking these questions about the section headings:

  • “A Curious Mind”: What does it mean to be curious? Who do you think had a curious mind? 
  • “Up in Flames”: What can go up in flames? 
  • “Masked Man”: What are some reasons people wear masks? In this article, who do you think wore a mask? Why?
  • “Trapped!”: Who do you think was trapped? 
  • “Life of Learning”: Whose life do you think this section heading refers to?
Looking for more ELL support? Download our full lesson plan and scroll to p. 5 to find questions that will help your ELLs respond to the text at the level that’s right for them.

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