Essential Questions
- How can we advocate for ourselves and for others?
- What can we do to make schools safe for everyone?
Literature Connection
- Novel: Stella by McCall Hoyle
- Novel: The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan
Standards Correlations
R.1, R.2, R.3, R.4, R.7, W.2, SL.1, L.4, L.6
Learning Objective
Students will identify cause-and-effect relationships in a text about a teen who has epilepsy.
Key Skills
cause and effect, text features, vocabulary, central idea and details, problem and solution, compare and contrast, key details, inference, critical thinking, informational writing
Complexity Factors
Purpose: The article describes Oliver's journey from facing challenges caused by epilepsy to advocating for seizure-safe environments in schools.
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: 600L-700L
Guided Reading Level: T
DRA Level: 50
SEL Connection
This article and lesson promote social awareness and self-awareness skills.
Lesson Plan: Standing Up for His Safety
Essential Questions
Literature Connection
1. Preparing to Read
Watch a Video (5 minutes)
As a class, watch our video “Two Minutes With . . . Oliver Tineo.” Let students know that the video introduces them to Oliver, the teen who wrote the article they’re about to read. After viewing, ask students to briefly summarize the video aloud. Ask, “What do you think is the purpose of the video? Why are we watching it before we read the article?”
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:
Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)
Make a Plan for Reading
Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:
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)
Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)
3. Skill Building and Writing
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.
Spread the Word
Is your school seizure-safe? Whether it is or isn’t, you can help make it a little safer by sharing some useful facts about seizures.
Visit epilepsyfoundation.org to find information about what to do if you see someone having a seizure. Write down:
Once you’ve done your research, make a poster with easy-to-remember tips that people can use to help someone who is having a seizure. Get permission to hang your poster in your school or another place where many people will see it.
Language-Acquisition Springboard
Make parts of speech fun with this quick review.
Direct students’ attention to the vocabulary box. Point out the words process and advocate, which are used as verbs in the story but are also nouns. Then point out surges, which is used as a noun but is also a verb.
Have students work in small groups to find noun and verb definitions for each of these three words. (Wordcentral.com and the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary offer fairly clear kid-friendly definitions.) Then have them write their own sentences using each word as a noun and as a verb. For example:
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.