Poughkeepsie Public Library District



Saving Wonder by Mary Knightfrom CoreEmpathy: Literacy Instruction with a Greater Purpose-563880201930Level: DRA 50; Grade 6-8; Guided Reading V; Lexile 870L 00Level: DRA 50; Grade 6-8; Guided Reading V; Lexile 870L Empathy Focus: Having lost both of his parents to coalmining accidents, twelve-year-old Curley Hines lives with his grandfather in Wonder Gap, Kentucky. For as long as Curley can remember, his Papaw has been giving him words to live and to learn. When a new coal boss moves to town, Curley needs to figure out the way to use his words to try to save his mountain from destruction. Knight’s story offers plenty of empathy practice, as readers follow the story through Curley’s point of view. Empathy is also modeled as a key ingredient to friendship, while eco-empathy is evoked for a cherished tree Curley and his friends try to protect. Writing with EmpathyCoreEmpathy Target: I use sensory details and other writing tools to help readers empathizewith my experience or that of my characters.Literacy Learning TargetsI can quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. (RL.5.1)I can compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). (RL.5.3)I can write narratives that develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. (W.5.3)I can use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. (W.3.5B)I can use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. (W.3.5D)Reading like a Writer T: Good writers inspire readers to empathize with their characters—to walk in their shoes, to experience the world from their characters’ perspectives, to feel what their characters feel. Empathy is the key to creating characters that readers care about like Mary Knight did to inspire us to empathize with her main character, Curley Hines. Today, we’re going to read like a writer, looking for how a writer inspires her readers to care or empathize. We’ll do this by re-reading a scene in the book, looking at it with our writer’s eyes. Specifically, we’ll be looking for the author’s use of sensory details. Review the five senses with your students before reading. In partnerships, ask students to reread the scene in Chapter D where Curley and Jules see an elk for the first time (pgs. 21-25)—paying attention to any word or phrase that helps them “feel what Curley is experiencing” with one of their five senses. After reading, ask partnerships to identify and record at least five words or phrases that helped them imagine what Curley was experiencing through his senses and identify each sense. As partners share with the whole class, invite students to notice how sensory details can occur as nouns or verbs. Ask partnerships to determine which of their sensory details from the chapter are nouns or verbs, and make a class list in two columns on a white board or chart. Examples: Jules says Curley’s snow-flaked hair reminds her of “cinnamon and powdered sugar,” evoking not only the visual, but taste and perhaps smell—all with nouns. In “Jules . . . comes ‘tromping’ through the woods,” the verb gives the reader a visual as well as suggesting the “sound” that tromping might make. The author’s use of sensory details inspires readers to experience the story along with her characters. That’s writing with empathy.The Invitation to Write T: When have you experienced wonder in your own life? Perhaps it was a time when you saw something unusual or beautiful or something you’ve never seen before. Or maybe it was a time when something surprised you or woke up one of your senses in a way that you’ll never forget. After giving students some time to reflect, ask them to write a scene about a time they experienced oh-my-gosh amazement, wonder, surprise, or perhaps even shock. Ask them to 1) Write their scene from the “I,” or first person point of view, and 2) Use at least three sensory details in their narrative to help their readers empathize with their experience. Encourage them to use nouns or verbs to awaken the senses. Remind them that “writing with empathy” isn’t just about inspiring their readers to feel sad for them in a difficult situation; it can also mean inspiring readers to feel joy, wonder, or surprise.After writing, ask students to share their narratives in partnerships. Listeners offer positive feedback, naming the sensory details that help them feel the experience.Engaging Revision, Deepening Meaning Tell or remind students that “cool stuff happens in revision,” and that when we revise, we are not just editing or correcting our work, but that we are “seeing it with new eyes.” That might mean taking something out that has already been said in another way, or adding something that helps to deepen the reader’s experience. After reviewing the same scene for places where Curley expresses a thought or feeling (or “inside view”), ask students to revise their narratives by adding at least one thought or feeling they had—or might have had—during the experience they are writing about. After writing, invite students to share in the same partnerships. ................
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