Analyzing How Events Unfold: A Look at Stonewall

Summary Overview Learning Plan Lesson Resources Standards

Grade level:

9-10

Approximate Lesson Duration:

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Unit/Lesson New Jersey Student Learning Standards (NJSLS):

RI.9-10.3. Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.

Brief Summary of Cultural Competencies Related to the Unit/Lesson:

What makes this lesson culturally relevant?

This lesson utilizes a mentor text that helps the reader see what it means to advance the plot. In this case, students are introduced to one of the most prominent locations in history when it comes to fighting for the rights of LGBTQIA+ individuals. A bibliography and a list of resources allow students to conduct further research based on their interests, wonders, and lingering questions.

Lesson Overview:

Essential Question(s)

Why should readers consider an LGBTQIA+ perspective?

Enduring Understanding(s)

A reader can gain a better understanding of a text as a whole by considering multiple diverse perspectives, including marginalized groups (i.e. LGBTQ)
Readers can grasp connections between actions and events as a text unfolds and ask questions to better understand how the author develops these ideas and events.

Potential Misconceptions

This article published by NBC News (2019) identifies some of the myths and misconceptions related to the famous Stonewall Riots.

Learning plan, experiences, intstruction and learning activities:

W
What is Expected?

List the intentional learning objectives on the board.

Students will be able to:

Analyze how the author unfolds a series of ideas or events, including the order in which points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.

Today we will be working on…

Becoming more analytical readers by honing in on how and why individuals, events, and ideas unfold over the course of a text.

H
What is expected?
How will we hook (Introduce this to) the students?

Activate thinking
Consider the language you will use to introduce the lesson (See example in the table)

Link to Engagement

In previous years, you’ve learned that actions and events in a text can be sequenced, and that it’s important to pay attention to the author’s words and how these events unfold.

Many of you are able to retell and sequence the important events that you come across in your texts.

Today, we’re going to dig deeper with a new focus. This focus is on asking 4 key questions when it comes to events that unfold in informational texts.

E
What equipment, resources, or materials are needed?

Recommended Text: What Was Stonewall? By Nico Medina

(Note: This mentor text can also be easily swapped with Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets by Gayle E. Pitman. This text was chosen due to its graphic novel/illustrative features that can engage readers in dialogue about the content.

R
How will we rethink or revise our thinking throughout the lesson?

What learning is confirmed?
What misconceptions are uncovered?
What is your new thinking?

At the end of the lesson, students will be given an opportunity to reflect on their new thinking about the perspectives shared in the text.

E
How will students self-evaluate and reflect on their learning?

Refer to the exit ticket as a check for understanding.

T
How will we tailor learning to varied needs, interests, and learning styles?

Sample Anchor Chart

O
How will we organize the sequence of learning during the lesson?

Scaffold the Instruction

Model

Chapter: What Was Stonewall?

The teacher will use pgs. 1-6 to model that the author begins by describing how LGBTQIA+ Americans can celebrate the rights gained by the community.

It’s important for us as readers to pay close attention to how the author introduces a topic. For example, we noted that the cover of the text demonstrates that there is a hostile standoff between a crowd and the police, but the author has chosen to introduce us to the rights that have been afforded to LGBTQIA+ individuals.

We have to ask ourselves: (1) What ideas or events does the author introduce at the beginning of the text?

Guided Practice

The teacher will continue to read the text, moving onto how the text describes “The Village.”

Turn and talk to your partner. What new information, evidence, or details does the author provide?

The teacher should inform students that every chapter in an informational text serves as an “add-on.” As readers, we should always be cognitive of the fact that each chapter adds additional information that impacts our understanding of the text. We can seek out evidence to support claims related to how ideas, people, and events evolve over the course of the text. This helps us understand the complexities of the content and the relationships that exist.

Independent Practice

When you go off and read today, I am going to let you choose between your own informational text or an excerpt from Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets by Gayle E. Pitman.

Use the anchor chart in our classroom to reflect on 4 key questions.

Check for understanding:

(Formative evidence such as conferencing, group Q/A, teacher observation, exit-slip, etc.)

Exit Ticket:

Students will respond to the prompt below.

How did this strategy help you as a reader?

Quiz/Test (optional):
(attach copy of assessment)

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Performance Task/Project:
(attach rubric)

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Resources

Supplemental Resources:

There are many companion texts that can be used to introduce students to prominent LGBTQIA+ individuals who have made lasting social contributions historically. An incomplete list of suggestions follow:

Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets by Gayle E. Pitman
Stonewall by Rob Sanders
Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights by Ann Bausum
American Experience: Stonewall Uprising by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner