Standards Correlations

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

Learning Objective

Students will identify cause-and-effect relationships  in a text about a teen who saved her cousin’s life by performing CPR.

Key Skills

cause and effect, text features, vocabulary, central idea and details, key details, critical thinking, making a personal connection, argument  writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The article chronicles Madison’s experience saving her cousin from drowning in the pool.

 

Structure: The article, written from the first-person point of view, includes narrative and chronological passages.

 

Language: The language is conversational.

 

Knowledge Demands: No prior knowledge is needed.

Levels

Lexile: 700L-800L 

Guided Reading Level: T 

DRA Level: 50

SEL Connection

This article and lesson promote social-awareness and self-awareness skills.

Lesson Plan: “I Saved a Life”

Essential Questions

  • How can we stay calm during stressful situations?
  • Who should take charge in an emergency?

Literature Connection

  • Nonfiction: Respiratory System (A True Book: Your Amazing Body) by Cody Crane 

1. Preparing to Read 

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

Guide students to locate the article in their magazines or at Action Online. Then preview the text features by asking the following questions:

  • Read the article’s title and subtitle (the text beneath the title) and look at the photo of Madison on the title page. What is a life-or-death situation? How do you think Madison ended up saving a life? Make a prediction. Answers will vary. Students might say that a life-or-death situation is one in which someone’s life is on the line. It is an emergency. Based on the photo, they might guess that Madison saved a life by preventing someone from drowning.
  • Read the sidebar “The 2 C’s of Hands-Only CPR.” When should you perform CPR on another person? What are the two C’s of hands-only CPR? CPR should be done if someone’s heart has stopped beating. The two C’s of hands-only CPR are call and compress. Call 911. Compress by placing one hand over the other and pumping at the rhythm of 100-120 beats per minute. 

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the terms (hunched, procedure, observation, adrenaline, surreal) 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: Tell students that after reading, they’ll analyze cause-and-effect relationships in the story. Point out the activity at the end of the story. 
  • Encourage students to pause at the end of each section so they can monitor their comprehension. Prompt them to take note of sentences they think tell them important ideas in each section, as well as any words or sentences they don’t understand.

2. Reading and Unpacking the Text

Read the article. (Higher- and lower-Lexile versions are available on the Story page at Action Online. Click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud.) Then discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (15 minutes)

  • How did Madison know what to do when she realized her cousin Maxine was not breathing? (cause and effect) Madison was motivated by her knowledge of CPR, which she had learned in her sports medicine class. Recognizing that Maxine wasn’t breathing after falling into the pool, Madison understood the urgency of the situation and the need for immediate action to save her cousin’s life.
  • How did Madison manage to stay calm during the emergency situation with Maxine? (key details) Madison managed to stay calm by drawing on her training and pretending she was back in class practicing CPR on a dummy. This mental strategy helped her focus on the task at hand instead of being distracted by her concern for her cousin.
  • How did the experience of helping her cousin affect Madison? (cause and effect) The experience taught Madison to trust herself and her abilities. She feels more confident now that she knows she can take charge in a stressful situation and use her first aid and CPR knowledge.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • What does this story show about the power of learning practical skills like CPR? (critical thinking) Sample answer: This story highlights how important it is to learn practical skills. Madison saved her cousin’s life because she knew CPR, a skill she learned in a class. It shows that knowing such skills can make a huge difference in emergencies.
  • Are you generally someone who acts quickly or who takes some time to think things through? In an emergency situation like the one Madison found herself in, what do you think you would have done? (making a personal connection) Answers will vary.

3. Skill Building and Writing

  • Assign students to work in small groups to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Cause and Effect activity.
  • Go further: Use our Central Idea and Details Skill Builder, available in higher and lower level versions. (Click here to view all your Skill Builders.)
  • Writing prompt: Madison says she thinks all teens should learn CPR and first aid. Do you think schools should require teens to learn these skills? Answer this question in an argument essay. Include details from Madison’s story as well as information from other sources.

Learn-Anywhere Activity

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

Project the task below on your whiteboard or share it with students in your LMS.

Create a Written Self-Portrait

Watch our video “Two Minutes With . . . Madison Atkinson.” In the video, Madison tells you how her best friends would describe her. She also gives a number of details about what she enjoys and how she spends her time. From just these few words, you can tell a lot about Madison.

Now it’s your turn to describe yourself using just a few words. Start by writing your name in the middle of a page. Then, on different parts of the page, briefly answer each of these questions:

  • What are some words your friends would use to describe you? (If you’re not sure, ask them!)
  • What are some things you love to do?
  • What’s one thing about you that most people don’t know?
  • What’s one important lesson you’ve learned from experience?
  • What was your proudest moment?

Language-Acquisition Springboard

Review initialisms and acronyms to boost fluency.

After reading the article, write the term cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the board and invite students to try saying it out loud. They’ll likely struggle to pronounce the two long words; let them  know that’s totally fine. Then tell them this term is what CPR stands for. Ask, “Why do you think people call it CPR?” Students will likely answer that CPR is quicker and easier to say. 

Tell students that many words and phrases in English have shortened forms to speed up communication. The shortened form of a term using its initials (the first letter of each word) is called an initialism. Some examples are FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation), mph (miles per hour), and BFF (best friend forever). Ask students to name another initialism found in the article “I Saved a Life” (the answer: EMTs, which stands for emergency medical technicians).

An acronym is an initialism that can be pronounced as a word. Examples include FOMO (fear of missing out), BOGO (buy one, get one), and PIN (personal identification number).

Ask students to think of some more examples of initialisms and acronyms. If they need help, remind them that these are very common in texting! (Examples include BRB, BTW, IRL, NASA, NBA, PTA, and SMH.)

Tell students that when they come across an acronym or an initialism and aren’t sure how to pronounce it (as individual letters or as a word), they can ask themselves, “Can I easily pronounce it as a word?” If they can, they probably should!

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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