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 identify cause-and-effect relationships in a text.

Key Skills

cause and effect, text features, vocabulary, central idea and details, author’s craft, inference, point of view, critical thinking, informational writing

Complexity Factors

Purpose: The text describes a teen’s experience with cancer as a toddler and how it shaped her life.

 

Structure: The text is chronological and is written from the first-person point of view.

 

Language: The language is conversational.

 

Knowledge Demands: No prior knowledge is needed. The text provides definitions for medical terms.

Levels

Lexile: 600L-700L 

Guided Reading Level: R 

DRA Level: 40

SEL Connection

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

Lesson Plan: “I Survived Cancer”

Essential Questions:

  • How can difficult experiences shape a person’s identity and purpose in life?
  • Why is it important to share our personal stories, especially the painful ones?

Literature Connections:

  • Novel: Wink by Rob Harrell
  • Novel: Counting Thyme by Melanie Conklin 

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 first sentence of the subtitle: “Bella, 15, almost didn’t make it to her third birthday.” What emotions does this sentence bring up for you? Sample answer: This sentence makes me feel surprised and a little sad, because it shows how serious her illness was. It also makes me feel curious about how she survived and what she’s gone through since then.
  • Look at the photos and read their captions. What do these images and captions tell you about Bella’s life now? The photos and captions show Bella with her family and pets, and mention that she lives on a farm. They also show her at a cancer fundraiser. This tells me that Bella is active, has a strong support system, and wants to help others like her.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

  • Point out the vocabulary box. Read the terms (diagnosed, grueling, remission, hormones, scold) 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)

  • Why do you think the article opens with the sound “Beep . . . beep . . . beep . . .”? What effect does this have on the reader? (author’s craft) Starting the article with the sound of hospital machines grabs the reader’s attention and sets a serious, emotional tone. It helps us imagine what Bella experienced and feel the fear she still remembers from that time.
  • How did Bella’s illness affect her family? (cause and effect) The article says that Bella’s parents spent long hours in the hospital with her, and her sister Kaylee often spent the night at the homes of friends. These details show that Bella’s illness affected the daily lives of everyone in her family.
  • What does Bella say about her scar? What do these statements reveal about her personality? (inference) Bella says her scar reminds her that she survived and calls it her “lightning bolt.” This shows that she is proud of what she’s been through and wants to embrace the difficulties she went through instead of hiding them.
  • How does Bella hope her story will help others? (point of view) Bella wants other people to feel comfortable talking about their own hard experiences. She believes that opening up about difficult things makes them less scary and helps people feel supported.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

  • Bella says that talking about hard things makes them less scary. Do you agree? Why or why not? Answers will vary. Students may say that when we keep hard things inside, they can seem big and scary. But when we talk about them, especially with someone supportive, it helps us realize we’re not alone and that we have the strength to face our fears.
  • Bella wants to become a surgeon so she can help people the way her doctors helped her. What motivates you to help others, and how do you hope to make a difference in the world? 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: Bella says she’d like to become a surgeon because she’s grateful to the doctors who saved her life. Think of a career that interests you. Write a paragraph explaining how you learned about this career, why it appeals to you, and what steps you might take in the future to pursue it.

Go-Further Activity

An enrichment activity to extend the learning journey

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

Write About Your Own Powerful Experience

Bella believes that sharing your story can be good for you and for others. She shares the story of how having cancer at a young age affected many parts of her life: how other people see her, how she sees herself, her plans for the future, and even the size of her body.

Think of an experience you’ve had that has affected your life in a number of ways. It doesn’t have to be something life-threatening like Bella’s illness. It can be meeting a close friend, joining a team, taking a trip, developing a new skill, or anything else that has made a real difference in your life.

Now write a short statement (1–3 paragraphs) describing the experience and explaining how it affected your life. Begin with the sentence “If I hadn’t ______, my life would be very different right now.” (Fill in the blank, of course.)

In your statement, answer as many of these questions as you can:

  • What was the experience that changed your life?
  • Why did you have the experience? (Was it something you chose? Was it someone else’s idea? Was it something that just happened?)
  • How did you feel about the experience at the time?
  • What are at least three ways your life would be different right now if you hadn’t had the experience?
  • How do you feel about the experience now?

Language-Acquisition Springboard

Have students write summary questions for self-assessment.

Before reading, point out that unlike some of the other articles in Action, the True Teen doesn’t have accompanying Pause-and-Think questions at the end of each section. Let students know that they’re going to come up with these questions after reading. Encourage them to try to think of suitable questions as they read.

After reading, divide students into pairs. Have one student in each pair write a question about the section “Family Memories” and a question about the section “A Big Scare.” Have the other student write a question about the section “Battle Scars” and one about the section “Sharing My Story.” Then have the students in each pair try to answer each other’s questions. 

Possible questions:

  • For “Family Memories”: What does Bella remember about being in the hospital? Bella remembers being poked with needles, having to lie still for scans, and watching Frozen.
  • For “A Big Scare”: What is sepsis? Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that happens when your body’s reaction to an infection damages your tissues and organs. 
  • For “Battle Scars”: What question did other kids ask Bella about her scar? Other kids asked Bella if her scar had come from a shark bite.
  • For “Sharing My Story”: What kind of work does Bella want to do when she grows up? Bella wants to be a surgeon when she grows up.

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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