Austin Simpson

Dr. Coke
E401
01 Apr. 2015
Assessment Plan #3: Post-Reading
Somebody Wanted But So (SWBS)Modified
Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the
text, including determining where the text leaves matters
uncertain.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and
analyze their development over the course of the text, including
how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex
account; provide an objective summary of the text.

Reading Focus:

After this lesson students will know:

o how to analyze a text for explicit meaning while connecting
events throughout the text.
After this lesson students will be able to:
o develop their own coherent thoughts about what
happened in the text.
o paraphrase and cite information they get from the text.

o summarize certain elements of a text such as a single

characters narrative arc.

I know that students will have this need because it directly
addresses multiple different state standards, which they will
surely need to prove their mastery in before proceeding into 12th
grade or into college. The ability to cite textual evidence is a
strong focus of the Common Core Standards, this activity will
help their ability to do so while also making connections within
the text to improve their comprehension.

Instructional Strategies: Using Slaughterhouse-Five as an

Example

Explain the exercise, giving explicit instruction on how it is to be

done. (5-7 min.) This explanation should follow along the lines of
the outline:
o Choose a character from Slaughterhouse-Five. Thats your
Somebody. Lets choose, for example, Roland Weary.
o What did Roland Weary want? He wanted to be a war hero.
But thats not enoughhow did you know he wanted to be
a war hero? I want you to cite your evidence. We know that
Roland Weary wants to be a war hero because of the
daydreams he has on pages 42 and 43.
o Next I want you to tell me why that didnt happen for
Roland Weary, thats the But section of SWBS. So, we
know that Roland Wearys daydreams were a bit fanciful

and exaggerated, so that could be one reason it didnt

happen. Whats another reason?he died.
o The So part of the SWBS exercise is to conclude it. What
became of Roland Wearys desires when they werent
realized?
o I want you to do this with at least four other characters in

the novel. Feel free to do it in small groups!

Let students work (give them premade graphs to work onFig.
1) while I walk around and check in with different groups or
individuals. (15-20 min.)
o Expect to help students find a place in the text (i.e.
Wheres the part when Roland Weary dies? I know its in
here somewhere). Also use that as an opportunity to
point out the importance of marking a text as you read,
especially with a book like Slaughterhouse-Five that is so

sporadically organized.
Bring the class back together and discuss the connections they
made between characters in this exercise. (Until class ends,
probably about 15 min.)

Assessment Tools:

Picking up this assignment as a formative assessment would be a

good way to gauge how students interact with a text and
recollect a text once they have finished reading it. This isnt an
assignment designed to hurt their grade, but rather to give them
another resource for whatever the summative assessment may

be at the end of the unit. Its also a good way for students to
gauge their own understanding of the text by relating how they
viewed a character through their own reading of a text against
another students, especially because they will have concrete
evidence from the text that they can refer to while discussing.
Research Base:

The primary research base for this lesson plan comes from
Kylene Beers text When Kids Cant Read: What Teachers Can Do
(144-151). I made the choice to use this strategy because I see it
as a fun way of recalling what has happened in a text, one in
which students can interact with one another and piece together
a coherent story line for individual characters (something that

may prove extremely useful in a book like Slaughterhouse-Five).

I also chose this strategy because it is a good way to get
students to start to summarize a text, rather than retell it
(http://wsfcs.k12.nc.us).

Fig. 1
Name:
Date:

Somebody
Roland Weary

Wanted

But

So

To be a war hero His visions werent

He

never
(42-43).

Realistic and he died. became a

war hero
and asked
Paul L. to
avenge him
by killing
Billy.