Pygmies: Getting right to the point
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/10/g912/geopygmies.html
A lesson plan for grades 9–11 English Language Arts
In this Xpeditions lesson, students explore the Pygmies of Africa in order to get a better sense of their culture. Students develop the skill of synthesizing and organizing information from many sources to identify, in a single paragraph, the important points that “tell the story.” Through whole group discussion, small group collaboration and independent practice, this lesson introduces students to writing for different purposes and the research process.
Students will:
- locate on a map where many African Pygmies live;
- identify basic characteristics of Pygmy culture;
- identify unique physical characteristics of Pygmies; and
- identify, summarize, and synthesize critical information from articles and photographs.
Xpeditions provides links to necessary web resources on Africa and the Pygmy people, detailed instructions for completing the lesson, and suggestions for assessment and extension activities.
North Carolina Curriculum Alignment
English Language Arts (2004)
Grade 9
- Goal 2: The learner will explain meaning, describe processes, and answer research questions to inform an audience.
- Objective 2.01: Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print informational texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:
- selecting, monitoring, and modifying as necessary reading strategies appropriate to readers' purpose.
- identifying and analyzing text components (such as organizational structures, story elements, organizational features) and evaluating their impact on the text.
- providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader's response to text.
- demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
- summarizing key events and/or points from text.
- making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
- identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
- making connections between works, self and related topics.
- analyzing and evaluating the effects of author's craft and style.
- analyzing and evaluating the connections or relationships between and among ideas, concepts, characters and/or experiences.
- identifying and analyzing elements of informational environment found in text in light of purpose, audience, and context.
- Objective 2.01: Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print informational texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:
- Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.
- Objective 6.01: Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression that:
- uses varying sentence types (e.g., simple, compound, complex, compound-complex) purposefully, correctly, and for specific effect.
- selects verb tense to show an appropriate sense of time.
- applies parts of speech to clarify and edit language.
- addresses clarity and style through such strategies as parallelism; appropriate coordination and subordination; variety and details; appropriate and exact words; and conciseness.
- analyzes the place and role of dialects and standard/nonstandard English.
- uses vocabulary strategies such as roots and affixes, word maps, and context clues to discern the meanings of words.
- Objective 6.01: Demonstrate an understanding of conventional written and spoken expression that:
Grade 10
- Goal 2: The learner will evaluate problems, examine cause/effect relationships, and answer research questions to inform an audience.
- Objective 2.01: Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print informational texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:
- selecting, monitoring, and modifying as necessary reading strategies appropriate to readers' purpose.
- identifying and analyzing text components (such as organizational structures, story elements, organizational features) and evaluating their impact on the text.
- providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader's response to text.
- demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
- summarizing key events and/or points from text.
- making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
- identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
- making connections between works, self and related topics.
- analyzing and evaluating the effects of author's craft and style.
- analyzing and evaluating the connections or relationships between and among ideas, concepts, characters and/or experiences.
- identifying and analyzing elements of informational environment found in text in light of purpose, audience, and context.
- Objective 2.01: Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print informational texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:
Grade 11
- Goal 2: The learner will inform an audience by using a variety of media to research and explain insights into language and culture.
- Objective 2.03: Respond to informational texts by:
- using a variety of strategies for preparation, engagement, and reflection.
- paraphrasing main ideas and supporting details present in texts.
-explaining significant connections among the speaker's/author's purpose, tone, biases, and the message for the intended audience.
- Objective 2.03: Respond to informational texts by:
