9th Grade ELA

Main Ideas / Lessons

• Students work on a 9th-grade ELA learning objective: identifying and/or locating common themes across multiple texts.
• The class uses several texts—including The Girl Who Can, Rules of the Game, and Hillary Clinton’s speech—to answer the guiding question: “Can truth change?”
• Students analyze how theme is supported by:
  • The purpose of the speaker
  • Textual evidence (required for claims)
  • Direct statements and relevant town/setting or context
  • Tone (especially through word choice and how it directs the audience)
  • Roles of women and whether those roles create conflict or solutions
  • Speech structure (how one idea/event is emphasized over others)
  • Transitions and how personal pronoun usage affects tone
• The culminating activity is to create an objective summary that connects all three texts using:
  • Key details
  • Textual evidence
  • Academic vocabulary
  • A required theme that “fits” each text

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Method / Step-by-Step Classroom Workflow

1) Start with the Speech as the Next Text

• Students retrieve the speech handout (first of the day’s items).
• The teacher frames discussion using guiding questions rather than timed journaling.

2) Use the Board’s Central Question to Guide Theme Work

• The class focuses on whether truth can change across:
  • The Girl Who Can
  • Rules of the Game
  • Clinton’s speech

3) Analyze the Speech Using “Alphabet” Prompts (A, B, C, D…)

A. Purpose and Support

• Identify Clinton’s purpose.
• Explain how students arrived at their conclusion using:
  • Textual evidence
  • How the title helped the conclusion
• Students are reminded: they can’t just state a theme—they must justify it with evidence.

B. Direct Statements + Setting/Context Appropriateness

• Locate direct statements.
• Analyze how those statements create/suggest a certain “town” (context).
• Explain whether that context is necessary, and why/why not.

Tone (Connected to Word Choice / Directing the Audience)

• “Tone” refers to what students should look for in the speech.
• Tone connects to:
  • Word choice
  • How it directs the audience

C. Roles of Women + Conflict/Solution

• Identify what students learn about the roles of women.
• Explain how those roles could be solutions or sources of conflict.

D. Speech Structure + Transitions + Pronoun Tone

• Explain how Clinton structures the speech:
  • Whether one event/idea is greater than another
  • Why, and whether all idea points are needed
• Locate transitions.
• Identify what tone is created through personal pronoun usage.
• Students receive clarification, and the question is reread for understanding.

4) Refresh Theme Vocabulary and How to Complete the Task

• The teacher asks students what theme means:
  • Main message / central idea
• Students are directed to an Elements of Literature text (page 430).
• Students are reminded to use the theme chart to refresh their process.

5) Model Theme Reasoning Using Student Responses

• Students develop a theme with two aspects:
  • Informative: providing information about the problem
  • Descriptive: describing the problems women face
• Example evidence mentioned:
  • A passage emphasizing unfair treatment and human rights being respected/protected
• Students discuss statistics supporting the theme:
  • Women comprise more than half the world’s population
  • 70% of the world’s poor are women
  • Two-thirds are not taught to read/write
• The teacher checks reasoning:
  • Would the speech still work if one statistic was removed?

6) Reduce Discussion and Shift to the Main Construction Task (15 Minutes)

• The teacher notes many groups reached option D, so the focus becomes:
  • Completing the graphic organizer
  • Writing the objective summary
• Groups receive poster board and markers.
• Task definition: the poster must summarize everything across:
  • The Girl Who Can
  • Rules of the Game
  • Hillary Clinton’s speech
• Emphasis:
  • Include key details
  • Include textual evidence
  • Use academic vocabulary
  • Use a theme that connects all three texts

7) Build the Graphic Organizer and Poster Board Summary

• The teacher clarifies the poster board is divided into:
  • First: The Girl Who Can
  • Second: Rules of the Game
  • Last: Hillary Clinton’s speech
• Students create:
  • A single big commonality statement connecting all three texts.
• Summary format rules:
  • Prefer one big sentence; if necessary, two to three sentences
  • Avoid a long “dissertation”
  • Ensure the evidence makes the connection clear to any listener
• Students clarify questions:
  • Whether each story needs its own separate summary vs. one connected summary
  • Teacher response: there should be one entire commonality—a combined summary for the theme

8) Final Reminder

• The teacher instructs students to let the graphic organizer guide them.
• Students should remember to use good wording.

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Speakers / Sources Featured

• Ms. Jones (teacher)
• Clinton / Hillary Clinton (speaker whose speech is studied)

Text Sources Mentioned

• The Girl Who Can
• Rules of the Game
• Elements of Literature (teacher references a chart/book; page 430 mentioned)