Module 1: Finding Home: Refugees
Module Focus: Becoming a close reader and writing to learn
Book (s) read for the Module: Inside Out & Back Again
Description: Students consider the challenges of fictional and real refugees. They read the novel Inside Out & Back Again, analyzing critical incidents that reveal the dynamic nature of Ha, a 10-year-old Vietnamese girl whose family flees during the fall of Saigon. They also read complex informational texts to learn more about the history of war in Vietnam, the historical context of Ha’s family’s struggle, and the universal themes of refugees’ experiences of fleeing and finding home. Students consider how Ha’s experience represents the universal refugee experience of being turned “inside out” and then coming “back again.”
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
poignant, affidavit, podium, lunar, monsoon, critical, tone, vow, conveys, task, relevant, sustain, consistently, valid, coherence, concepts, precise, transitions, enhance, emerging, hinder, hasty, foretells, determine, consistently
**Please make sure that you have done the required reading and any articles in your reading folder. Bring your reading folder and books for this Module with you for the Exam.
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Module 2: Taking a Stand
Module Focus: Working with Evidence
Book(s) read for the Module: To Kill a Mockingbird
Description: In this second module, students continued to develop their ability to closely read text while studying the theme of taking a stand. During the first half of Module 2, students read two speeches reflecting examples of real people taking a stand. By reading these speeches they built background knowledge about the module’s overarching theme, engaged in a study of the speaker’s perspective, and analyzed the craft of forming an argument. In the second half of Module 2, students read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and continued to study the theme of taking a stand as it is revealed in the novel. Students engaged in a character study of Atticus by analyzing his actions and words, and what others say about him, to better understand him as a character.
Vocabulary: All definitions can be found in the Reading Vocabulary Notebook
“take a stand”, advantage, evaluate, demeaning, oppression, menial, supremacist, objectively, immorality, unconscious, evolutionary, indignation, sustenance, exploits, unbridled, malevolent, sojourn, indigenous, inquisitive, diligent, altercation, penitentiary, replenish, unsullied, tokenism
**Please make sure that you have done the required reading and any articles in your reading folder. Bring your reading folder and books for this Module with you for the Exam.
