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READING FOR MEANINGREADING FOR MEANINGREADING FOR MEANINGREADING FOR MEANINGREADING FOR MEANING

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The Power of Purposeful Readingby Cris Tovani

As a teacher, what do you do to ensure that your students aresuccessful when you assign them a reading?

Before you read the text read the following statements on the next page and putan “A” if you agree or a “D” if you disagree with it. Then read the text todetermine if the author would agree or disagree with the statement. Find evidencein the text to support your position. Meet with a Reading Club to share yourevidence. Try to reach consensus on whether the author would agree or disagreewith the statement by citing the evidence in the text. If your Reading Club cannotreach a consensus, try to revise the statement so that all members can agree withit.

To read well requires students to make connections between what theyread and their previous knowledge of subject.

The Power of Purposeful Reading

Support Refute

Support Refute

Support Refute

BEFORE AFTER

When it comes to establishing a purpose for reading, I would agree withthe statement: “It’s more important to teach a person how to fish forfood than to give him fish to eat.”

If you can’t figure out what is important in a text then you can’t comprehend it.

The Power of Purposeful Reading

My Ideas Author’s Ideas

BEFORE AFTER

The best ideas for helping students find important ideas in reading are...

Support Refute

A fake purpose is better than no purpose at all.

Support Refute

Support Refute

The greater the student’s background knowledge the less clear theteacher needs to be about the purpose for the reading.

Importance like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

A mouse told his mother and father that he was goingon a trip to the seashore. “We are very alarmed!” theycried. “The world is full of terrors. You must not go!”

“ I have made my decision, “ said the mouse firmly. “Ihave never seen the ocean, and it is high time that I did.Nothing can make me change my mind.”

“Then we cannot stop you,” said the mother andfather mouse, “but do be careful!”

The next day, in the first light of dawn, the mousebegan his journey. Even before the morning had ended, themouse came to know trouble and fear.

A cat jumped out from behind a tree.

“I will eat you for lunch,” the cat said.

It was a narrow escape for the mouse. He ran for his life, but he left a part of histail in the mouth of the cat.

By afternoon the mouse had been attacked by birds and dogs. He had lost his wayseveral times. He was bruised and bloodied. He was tired and frightened.

At evening the mouse slowly climbed the last hill and saw the seashore spreading outbefore him. He watched the waves rolling onto the beach, one after another. All of thecolors of the sunset filled the sky.

“How beautiful!” cried the mouse. “ I wish that mother and father were here to seethis with me.”

The moon and the stars began to appear over the ocean. The mouse sat silently onthe top of the hill. He was overwhelmed by a feeling of deep peace and contentment.

Read the statements before you read the story. Then read the story and collectevidence in the text either to support or refute the statement. Meet with a group ofyour classmates and share your evidence then decide as a group if you agree ordisagree with the statment.

The Mouse At The Seashore

BEFORE AFTER

The author probably wants us to feel happy for the mouse.

Support Refute

Support Refute

When the end is good, even a difficult journey is worth it.

The mouse had no real reason to leave home.

Support Refute

The mouse thought he ought to go to the ocean.

Support Refute

A or DEvidence For Evidence Against

According to Bacon, revenge is allowable under some circumstances.



READING FOR MEANING

Model Lesson: RevengeDirections: Review the statements that follow. Then read the essay "About Revenge" that follows. Asyou read, indicate whether you agree or disagree (A or D) with each statement. Cite evidence for, and/or against each statement.

Phase I: Reviewing StatementsBacon believes that the law should punish those who enact plots of revenge against others.

Bacon believes all acts of revenge are self-serving.

Bacon would probably approve of Dirty Harry's notion of private justice and vigilantism.


My feelings about revenge are much like Francis Bacon's.

A good moral for this essay would be: "It is much wiser to focus on constructive things than to worryabout wrongs committed in the past."



Of Revengeby Francis Bacon

Phase II: Active Reading

Phase III: Discussion

If you are working with others, take some time to discuss the reading, the statements, and your re-sponses to them*. Which statements caused the most difficulty? Which caused the most polarization ofthe group? Can you come to any resolution on these statements?

*If you are working alone, take this discussion time to reflect on the reading, the statements, and yourresponses. Which statements caused the most difficulty for you?

REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature runs to, the more oughtlaw to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge ofthat wrong, putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even withhis enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince’s part to pardon. AndSalomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. That which is pastis gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do, with things present and tocome; therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters. There is noman doth a wrong, for the wrong’s sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure,or honor, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a man, for loving himself betterthan me? And if any man should do wrong, merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like thethorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most tolerablesort of revenge, is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy; but then let a man takeheed, the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man’s enemy is still beforehand, and it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous, the party shouldknow, whence it cometh. This is the more generous. For the delight seemeth to be, not somuch in doing the hurt, as in making the party repent. But base and crafty cowards, are likethe arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a desperate saying againstperfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable; You shall read(saith he) that we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read, that we arecommanded to forgive our friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: Shall we(saith he) take good at God’s hands, and not be content to take evil also? And so offriends in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his ownwounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do well. Public revenges are for the mostpart fortunate; as that for the death of Cæsar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death ofHenry the Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges, it is not so. Nay rather,vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end theyinfortunate.

Phase IV: Synthesis

Issues of the Day Magazine has asked you to write a brief (2-3 paragraphs) editorial that responds toBacon's argument by explaining your position on the role of private revenge in our society. They haveasked that your article address these questions: Is private revenge justified? If so, when? How shouldthe law react to people who enact revenge plots? If possible, use some examples in your editorial.

Math Problem StatementsMath Problem StatementsMath Problem StatementsMath Problem StatementsMath Problem Statements

Read the statements before you read the problem, then read the problem to determinewhether you agree or disagree with them, and why. Discuss your answers and resolve yourdifferences. Solve the problem then explain your work:

1. Mr. Smith had more $5 bills than $1 bills.

2. The problem is asking you to find the total number of $1 bills and $5 bills.

3. If x equals the number of dollar bills in the problem than x+7 equals the number of 5 dollar bills in the problem.

4. We already know Mr. Smith’s total register receipts for the day.

5. The following equation can be used to solve the problem. x(1) + (x-7)(5)=T (Total)

AgreeAgreeAgreeAgreeAgree DisagreeDisagreeDisagreeDisagreeDisagree

MrMrMrMrMr. Smith check. Smith check. Smith check. Smith check. Smith checked his cash registered his cash registered his cash registered his cash registered his cash registerat the end of the dayat the end of the dayat the end of the dayat the end of the dayat the end of the day. He found. He found. He found. He found. He found

that he had seven fewer $5 bills thanthat he had seven fewer $5 bills thanthat he had seven fewer $5 bills thanthat he had seven fewer $5 bills thanthat he had seven fewer $5 bills than$1 bills, and no larger bills. In all,$1 bills, and no larger bills. In all,$1 bills, and no larger bills. In all,$1 bills, and no larger bills. In all,$1 bills, and no larger bills. In all,he had $337.00. Fhe had $337.00. Fhe had $337.00. Fhe had $337.00. Fhe had $337.00. Find the numberind the numberind the numberind the numberind the number

of $5 and $1 bills:of $5 and $1 bills:of $5 and $1 bills:of $5 and $1 bills:of $5 and $1 bills:

$ $ Solve Problem Explain Work

Adapted from Kentucky Open Response 2004 8th grade

Reading for Meaning Strategy

Read the problem and use the map below to help you respond to the statements. Use evidence to support or refute your thinking.

The Kid City Recreation Committee plans to put a fence around a playground area in Kid City Park. The solid line in the diagram above outlines the sections in the park that the committee wants to enclose with a fence. Information about fencing prices is shown below: FENCE ALL COMPANY ACME FENCE COMPANY Fencing: $0.30 per foot

Fencing $0.32 per foot Orders $500.00 or more receive a 10% discount.



Read the statements below. Do you agree or disagree with the statements? Find evidence to prove and/or disprove the statements. Agree Disagree

1. It would be cheaper to buy the fencing from Fence All Company. Evidence to Support Evidence to Refute

Agree Disagree 2. The Committee will spend more than $500.00 for fencing. Evidence to Support Evidence to Refute

Agree Disagree

3. It doesn’t matter who the Committee buys the fencing from, the cost will be the same.

Evidence to Support Evidence to Refute



Agree Disagree 4. It will take more fencing to enclose the sandbox and swing areas than the

exploration site.


Agree Disagree

5. The planning committee can save the taxpayers money by understanding and applying mathematics in their work.


Agree Disagree

6. Knowing is important to solving this problem.




Open Response

A. How much fencing will the committee need to buy? Show your work.

B. Which fencing company offers the best deal for this project in the park? Show all of your work and explain your reasoning.

1. Winters are mild in Miami, Florida.

July

January

100

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 San Diego, CA Anchorage, AK Miami, FL Albany, NY San Antonio, TX

Examine the statements below then the temperature graph. Use the graph to find evidence to eithersupport or refute the statements. Then meet with a small group, share your evidence and decide as agroup if you agree or disagree with the statement.

AGREE DISAGREE

Support Refute

Support Refute

2. If you are looking for place to live that has warm winters and cool summers, SanAntonio, Texas is the best place for you.

TEMPERATURE CHART

5. San Diego, California has mild temperatures year round.

Support Refute

Support Refute

6. Albany, New York has very hot summers and very cold winters.

Support Refute

Support Refute

3. Miami and San Antoinio have similar temperature patterns.

4. Anchorage, Alaska sees the greatest change in temperatures from July to January.

Examine the diagram above. Read the statements below. Put a check in the boxwhether you agree or disagree with the statements. Give your reasons for each of yourpositions in the boxes provided.

A

B

CD

E

Support Refute

ABD and EBC seem to be obtuse angles.∢ ∢

AC and DE form four non-straight angles.

Support Refute

When two lines intersect, they form angles.

AGREE DISAGREE

Support Refute

∢ ∢ ∢

∢ ∢

ABE and DBC cannot both be acute angles.∢ ∢

ABE and DBC cannot both be acute angles.∢ ∢

Support Refute

Although we don’t know exactly what ABD and DBC measure,we do know that together the sum of their ‘s is 360o.

Since ABD and EBC are vertical angles, as are ABE andDBC, both pairs of angles are congruent.

∢ ∢

Support Refute

AGREE DISAGREE

Read the statements prior to reading the text and decide if you agree or disagree with thestatement. Then read the text and collect evidence to either support or refute the statement.Meet with a small group of students to share your evidence then decide as a group if the textsupports the statement or it does not.

Mathematics is a tool scientists use to explain things.

Support Refute

AGREE DISAGREE

For every second it takes a pendulum to swing back and forth, thelenght of the pendulum is equal to a number the square of the time.

Support Refute

Support Refute

The time it takes for one swing of a pendulum is a result of thependulum’s length: the longer the length, the faster the swing.

The weight of a pendulum has a direct effect on the periods of thependulum’s swing.

Observing is more than looking.

Pendulums

Galileo Galilei, who lived in Italy from 1564 to 1642, used mathematics to make importantcontributions to physics and astronomy. One of the phenomena he studied was the behavior ofpendulums. He noticed that if you tie a weight to the end of a string, hang it from a fixed point,and start it swinging, it will swing in a definite rhythm. Each swing cycle of the pendulum--fromone side to the other and back--always takes the same amount of time.

Galileo also noticed that the time each swing cycle takes has nothing to do with the weightof the pendulum or where it starts. Instead, the period of a pendulum swing is a function of itslength. If you change the length of the string, the period of the swing changes accordingly. Thefollowing table expresses, or shows, that function. (In Galileo’s time, they used different units oflength from the ones we use today.)

As you can see from the table below, in order to slow the period of the pendulum swingfrom 1 to 2 seconds, you have to more than double the length of the string; you have to quadrupleit. In fact, you will note that each number in the length column is the square of the correspondingnumber in the period column. If you lengthened the string to 25 units, the period would be 5seconds. The mathematical way to express the relationship between the length (in Galileo’sunits) of a pendulum, 1, and its swing period (in seconds), p, is p = 1.2

Length of Pendulum(in units)

Period of Swing(in seconds)

1 4 916

1234

Synthesis Task

Which of the following graphs best depicts what Galileo discovered about the behavior ofa pendulum?

Pend

ulum

(in

units

)


A B C

Explain the reasons for your choice.

Pend

ulum

(in

units

)



Pend

ulum

(in

units

)

Reading for Meaning: ReptilesReading for Meaning: ReptilesReading for Meaning: ReptilesReading for Meaning: ReptilesReading for Meaning: Reptiles

A reptile’s body temperature is the same as the temperatureof the surrounding environment.

Why do you think so?

A reptile’s body temperature depends on the temperature ofthe surrounding environment.


There are probably more reptiles in Kansas then there are inCanada.


Reptiles can be more patient than mammals.


Believe Doubt

Believe Doubt

Believe Doubt

Believe Doubt

Believe Doubt

Believe Doubt

Believe Doubt

Believe Doubt

BeforeBeforeBeforeBeforeBefore After After After After After

Too Cold

11010090807060

z z z z

x x

_ _

90

11010090807060

10

0

703050

10

0

703050

10

0

703050

Comfortable Too Hot

11010090807060

90 90

How cold-bloodedness works.

When the sun’s rays are warm but not too hot, he ten-pound lizard’sblood is every bit as warm as the ten-pound pig’s. But when the sun’s raysare blocked by clouds and rain, the lizard’s metabolism is much too low tokeep its body temperature up and its mental and physical condition slipsinto a somnolent torpor. If the sun is too hot, the lizard can’t sweat orpant the way a mammal or a bird can and the poor lizard’s brain heats upuntil it addles.

Body heat

Hot-blooded metabolism buys freedom in time and space. If a species hasa high heat production, it can forage around for food at peak efficiencyin the shade. But a cold-blood must shuttles back and forth, basking in thesun to warm up before chasing prey in the shade.

THE COLD-BLOOD SHUTTLE

But a warm-blood can forage inthe shade anytime

Go back to tree

Forage for 10 minutes in the shade

Bask in Sunfor 20 minutes

Time Needed For Complete Digestion of Prey Hours

Why body temperature is so important. All physiologicalperformance peaks at one narrow temperature range and the wholebody machinery slows down when the body temperature falls. Manylizards are at peak form at a body temperature close to a human’s-- about 98 degrees F. But when body temperature drops eigh-teen degrees F. performance drops to half -- running speed ishalf as fast and digestion takes twice as long. When temperaturedrops another 18 degrees performance falls to only one quarterof the peak levels.

0 5 10 15

0 5 10 15

0 5 10 15

Top Speed

98° Body Temp 80° Body Temp 62° Body Temp

12

5

1210

12

20

39 9 213 15

HILTER COMES TO POWER

For the following exercise, first examine the statements below. Decide if you agree “A” or disagree “D”with each statement initially. Then read the passage “Hitler Comes to Power” on the following pages.Does the passage change your mind about any of your responses? Go back to your responses and affirmor change them accordingly.

Support Refute

Support Refute

3. The Nazis took a long time to rise to power.

1. The economy was doing poorly in Germany when Hitler came to power.

2. The Nazi party had special appeal for the richest citizens of Germany.

Support Refute

4. The Nazis believed in allowing all people to express their points of view.

5. The Nazis used the SA and the SS (or Gestapo) to intimidate and even kill opponents of their party.

Support Refute

Support Refute

Hitler Comes to PowerIn the early 1930’s, the mood in Germany was grim. The worldwide economic depression had hit

the country especially hard, and millions of people were out of work. Still fresh in the minds of many wasGermany’s humiliating defeat fifteen years earlier during World War I, and Germans lacked confidence intheir weak government, known as the Weimar Republic. These conditions provided the chance for the riseof a new leader, Adolf Hitler, and his party, the National Socialist Germany Workers Party, or Nazis forshort. Hitler was a powerful and spellbounding speaker who attracted a wide following of Germans des-perate for change. He promised the disenchanted a better life and a new and glorious Germany. The Nazisappealed especially to the unemployed, young people, and members of the lower middle class (smallstoreowners, office employees, craftsmen, farmers). The party’s rise to power was rapid. Before thedepression struck, the Nazis were practically unknown, winning only 3% of the vote to the Germanparliamant, or Reichstag. In the 1932 elections, the Nazis won 33% of the votes, more than any otherparty. In January 1933 Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the head of the German government, and manyGermans believed that they had found a savior for their nation.

The Nazi Terror Begins

Hitler moved quickly to turn Germany into a one-party dictatorship and to organize the policepower necessary to enforce Nazi policies. He persuaded his Cabinet to declare a state of emergency andend individual freedoms including freedom of the press, speech, and assembly. Individuals lost the right toprivacy, which meant that officials could read people’s mail, listen in on telephone conversations, and searchprivate homes without a warrant.Hitler also relied on terror to achieve his goals. Lured by the wages, a feeling of comradeship, and thestriking uniforms, tens of thousands of young jobless men put on the brown shirts and high leather boots ofthe Nazi Storm Troopers (Sturmabteilungen). Called the SA, these auxillary policemen took to the streetsto beat up and kill some opponents of the Nazi regime. Mere fear of the SA pressured other Germans whodid not support the Nazis into silence.

Another important tool of Nazi terror was the Protective Squad (Schutzsaffel), or SS, which beganas a special guard for Hitler and other party leaders. The black-shirted SS members formed a smaller, elitegroup whose members also served as auxiliary police and, later, as concentration camp guards. Eventuallyovershadowing the SA in importance, the SS became, after 1934, the private army of the Nazi party.

SS chief, Heinrich Himmler, also turned the regular (nonparty) police forces into an instrument ofterror. He helped forge the powerful Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei), or gestapo; thesenonuniformed police used ruthless and cruel methods throughout Germany to identify and arrest politicalopponents and others who refused to obey laws and policies of the Nazi regime.

In the months after Hitler seized power, the SA and Gestapo agents went from door to door lookingfor Hitler’s enemies. Socialists, Communists, trade union leaders, and others who had spoken out againstthe Nazi party were arrested, and some were killed. By the middle of 1933, the Nazi party was the onlypolitical party, and nearlly all organzied opposition to the regime had been elimnated. Democracy was deadin Germany.

[Bachrach, Susan D. Tell them we remember: The Story of the Holocaust, Little Brown and Company , New York, 1994, p. 8-10]

Etch-a-Sketch

Draw a picture that depicts Hitler’s rise to power, as explained in the passage you’ve just read.

As your final activity for the day, write a short essay on some obstacles to couragethat you foresee for citizens living in Nazi Germany:

Develop an Initial UnderstandingRequires readers to consider the text as a whole or in abroader perspective to develop initial understanding.

Interpreting TextRequires readers to extend their initial impressions todevelop a more complete understanding of what is read.

Students will know....

Genre: Fantasy

Main Idea

Purpose

Elements of Story

Students will understand...

how writers use actions and dialogue todevelopcharacter within a story;

the difference between fantasy andrealism; and

how elements of a story work togetherwithin the whole.

Habits

Appreciation for literature andreading.

Responsibility

RESPONSIBILITY

What lessons can we learn from stories?

What makes character development important?

Is there any reality in fantasy?

Students will....

connect to prior knowledge;predict and read for evidence;make notes and prove;classify;read to locate information in a text;distinguish fantasy from reality; andreflect.

Connecting to PriorKnowledge

Think of a Time When....you were responsible;

you were irresponsible.

Why is it important to alwaysdo your best?

PredictingWhat do you think Tops andBottoms will be about?

Read the story, “Tops andBottoms.”

Peer PartnersAgree-Disagree Statements

Read to locate information ina text.

Conclusion

Writing an Explanation

What lesson did Bear learnfrom Hare in the story aboutresponsibility?

Profit/Loss

Classify Seeds

Could it reallyhappen?

ReflectionWhat is responsibility?What are youresponsible for?How doesirresponsibility feel?

What is a personalgoal you are going towork on?

When you showed responsiblity....

When you didn’t like the task you were doingand you were not responsible...

Why is it important to always do your best, even when you don’t like the task?

Connecting to Prior Knowledge

Think of a Time

Predict

What do you think the story will be about? Use the words fromthe word bank and to write some predictable sentences in yourjournal. As you read check to see if the author used the words inthe same way.

hard worker

lazy

smart

sleep

partners

deal

harvest

wealth

risky

business

Pre-Reading

After Reading

After reading “Tops and Bottoms” work with a partner to decide ifyou agree or disagree with the following statements.

Agree Disagree

1. Hare is a clever businessman.


Agree Disagree

2. Hare did not live up to his end of the deal.


Agree Disagree

3. Bear learned a valuable lesson.


Agree Disagree

4. Hare showed responsibility.


Agree Disagree

5. This story is fantasy.


Agree Disagree

6. Responsibility and hard work pay off.


Could it really happen?Yes or No and Why?

1. A hare and his family trick a bear.

2. A bear sleeps all day while hare works.

3. Hare raises a garden on bear’s land.

4. A family of hares are starving.

Draw a picture and write two fantasy sentencesabout the story and one sentence that could reallyhappen.

Complete the face. Make it happy if it is showingresponsibility. Make it sad if it is not.

1. Hare made a bet with tortoise and lost.

2. Hare planted crops on Bear’s land.

3. Bear slept while Hare worked.

4. Hare and his family dug up the carrots, radishes, and beets.

5. Hare gave Bear only the tops.

6. Hare used the profits to buy back his land.

At the beginning of the story Bear was irresponsible, but changed.Draw a picture showing bear before and after the lesson.

Irresponsible Bear Responsible Bear

What is an important lesson Bear learned from Hare?

RESPONSIBLE I am responsible for.....What does it mean to be responsible?

What does irresponsibility feel like?

What is a goal you want to work on toshow more responsibility?

1

2

3

RD-05-2.7

Students will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read. DOK 2

RD-05-2.2

Students will identify or explain literary elements (e.g., characterization, setting, plot, theme, pointof view) in a passage. DOK 3

RD-05-3.4

Students will identify main ideas and details that support them. DOK 2

Mr. Peabody’s Apples

1. People should not spread rumors.

Prove Disprove

2. Words cannot really hurt you.

Prove Disprove

3. A person’s reputation is easily bruised.

Prove Disprove

Read the Statements below.Place a check whether you agree or disagree before reading. Share your thoughtswith a partner. Afterwards, read Mr. Peabody’s Apples and find evidence to supportand/or refute the statements. Decide whether you still feel the same after reading thestory. Share your thoughts with a partner and be ready to discuss your reading.

Agree Disagree Agree Disagree

Before Reading After Reading








4. The truth is not always easily seen.

Prove Disprove

5. Words have great power.

Prove Disprove

6. Judging others can get you into trouble.

Prove Disprove




Group Discussion Questions:

1. What is the lesson to be learned from this story?

2. How are words powerful?

3. Why were the boys quick to make judgement on Mr. Peabody?

4. What happened when the boys spread the rumor about Mr. Peabody?

5. Why are perceptions dangerous?

6. How do you think Mr. Peabody felt when he found out why there wereno players on the field?

7. What lesson did Mr. Peabody teach Tommy and Billy? How?

8. What lesson did you learn from this story?

9. How would you describe Mr. Peabody? Tommy? Billy?

10. What would have happened if Billy had not had the courage to tell Mr.Peabody why the team did not show up? What does this say about Billy’scharacter?

11. What happens when people spread rumors?

“It would be just as impossible to undo thedamage that you have done by spreading therumor that I am a thief,” said Mr. Peabody.

“Each feather represents a person inHappyville.”

Tommy has a difficult task ahead of him in trying to undo the damagecaused by his false rumor about Mr. Peabody.

Assume the role of Tommy in the story. Write a public letter of apology forthe local newspaper to Mr. Peabody and the townspeople, be sure toinclude in your letter the valuable lesson you have learned from thisexperience.

Support Refute

Support Refute

The present is not controlled by the past.

In a democracy, soliders never die in vain.

Words can help heal a nation.

Liberty is more important than equality.

Support Refute

Support Refute

Read the following statements. Decide if you agree or disagree with them by marking a“A” or “D” in the box. Then read Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and find evidence tosupport or refute the statements. After you have collected your evidence meet with asmall group of other students to decide if you believe Lincoln would have agreed ordisagreed with the statements based on your reading of the text.

BEFORE AFTER

Gettysburg AddressGettysburg AddressGettysburg AddressGettysburg AddressGettysburg Address

November 19, 1863

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived inliberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and sodedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate aportion of it as a final resting place for those who died here that the nation might live. This we may, inall propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallowthis ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poorpower to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it cannever forget what they did here.

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from thesehonored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measureofdevotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shallhave a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall notperish from the earth.

The Gettysburg Address

Gettysburg AddressGettysburg AddressGettysburg AddressGettysburg AddressGettysburg AddressRead the following statements about Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Then read thetext and collect evidence either to support or refute the statements from the text.Meet with a small group of other students to discuss your evidence and then decide asa group if you believe there is sufficient evidence to support or refute the statement.

Support Refute

A good slogan for the Gettysburg Address would be, “We can work it out.”

Lincoln sees a linear relationship between past and present.

Lincoln wants to make Americans feel guilty about the war.

Support Refute

Support Refute

Support Refute

Lincoln believes the Gettsburg soldiers have died in vain.

November 19, 1863

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived inliberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and sodedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate aportion of it as a final resting place for those who died here that the nation might live. This we may, inall propriety do. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallowthis ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have hallowed it far above our poorpower to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it cannever forget what they did here.

It is rather for us the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from thesehonored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measureofdevotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shallhave a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall notperish from the earth.

The Gettysburg Address

Weighing the Elephantby Baoquing Xu

Almost two thousand years ago, there lived a very smart young Chinese prince namedCao Chong.

When the prince was seven years old, an envoy from Siam presented his father with ahuge elephant. The king and his court had never seen a creature like this before, and theymarveled at its great size and wondered how much it weighed.

“Why don’t we find out?” asked Cao Chong.

“ How?” asked his father. “We don’t have a scale big enough!”

Cao Chong thought for awhile. “It’s not that hard,” he said. “Follow me to the river, andI’ll show you.”

Now, the important people in court—the lords, the ladies, the generals-all hesitated.They knew that Cao Chong was brilliant, but he was just a little boy. Everyone looked at theking to see if they should take Cao Chong seriously.

The king knew his son. Smiling, he rose from his royal throne and said to Chao Chong, “Goahead. You are the commander. We’ll all follow your orders.”

So out they marched. Cao Chong and the king led the way, carriedon a magnificent royal litter, followed by the big elephant decorated withsilk and precious stones, generals and lords on horseback, the queenand princesses in sedan chairs, and servants and guards on foot.

As they went down the street, more and more people followed. Bythe time they arrived at the riverbank, Cao Chong had an audience ofseveral thousand. Everybody was curious and anxious to see how aseven-year-old would weigh such a huge animal.

As soon as the royal family stopped, Cao Chong hopped out andstarted giving orders. First, the elephant was led onto a boat which sank

several inches right away under the beast’s weight. Cao Chong marked the boat’s new waterline with a chalk and led the elephant out. Then he ordered servants to pile big rocks into theboat until it again sank to the marked water line. When the rocks were carried back to shore,he weighed them one by one on a regular scale. With an abacus,Cao Chong quickly added all the weights. Finally, he looked upand announced: “The elephant weighs one hundred and thirtytons.”

The king heaved a sigh of relief and smiled broadly. Hedidn’t say anything. There was no need to—the spectatorswere wild with applause, and all were proud of the youngprince.

Before you read the text decide if you agree ordisagree with the following statements.BEFORE AFTER

Weighing the Elephant

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