Cause and Effect Lesson with Mentor Text Grade 4-6

Reading Boot Camp 2.0 Cause and Effect Lesson with Mentor Text Grade 4-6

CCSS reading and writing Cause and Effect Lesson with Mentor Text

CCSSR ELA Reading Writing: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. Includes questions you can ask about any story. Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence. Story Source: Sean Taylor and http://reading-sage.blogspot.com/

Cause and Effect Review:Cause and Effect Review: Causality (also referred to as causation) is the relation between an event (the cause) and a second event (the effect), where the first event is understood to be responsible for the second. Cause and effect test questions look for a logical connection (Cause and Effect ) between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence., causality is also the relation between a set of factors (causes) and a phenomenon (the effect).

Vocabulary Review: Fact, Opinion, Argument, Persuasion, Theses, Infer, Drawing conclusions, Compare and Contrast, Main Idea, Authors View Point, Chronological order, Cause and Effect. Sequence, Summarize, and Context Clues

The Disappeared Children

Luxurious, opulent, and spacious marble clad hallways; colossal Corinthian columns with magnificent marble statuary and giant French windows glistening in brilliant sunshine of perfect proportions. Pavered courtyards bordered by beautifully kept flower beds and inviting green sports fields which serve the purpose of play and recreational grounds. This is the Emerald City of Wisdom and Knowledge which greets you at The Learson-Gate Academy. This is one of 50 planned ultra-modern state of the art schools which will be built to board students who have failed to pass the National Academic Standards Tests and Evaluation (NASTE) . Narrator: "The "Disappeared Children" have been forcibly separated from their families and friends, their hopes, dreams, and futures are now in the hands of the FBE and Education Corporation!". The promise of 'A fresh start and a better tomorrow' are the tag line of Learson-Gate Academy!"

          Children, ages five to eighteen are walking solemnly, silently, diligently in military precision along the hallowed hallways. They are heading to their respective classrooms. These classrooms are equipped with the most modern of furnishings and futuristic electronic learning devices and mind growth equipment. This is the apex of twenty-first century teaching and learning, only the superlative in pedagogy takes place in these student centered learning pods. The resplendent classrooms which are airy and illuminated by large gushes of natural light from the numerous and huge windows, are the perfect learning environments for failing students. According to Pearson indoctrination literature.

NEWS Flash: The Federal Bureau of Education said they received a tip from state education officials that all the children in a single school failed their National Academic Standards Tests and Evaluation (NASTE). FBE officials obtained an emergency custody order to remove ALL the students in the failing school and enroll them in the Pearson-Gate Academy. When FBE authorities arrived at the the Socratic Academy of Math, they said a 4-year-old girl answered the front door. FBE agents reported that they found some teachers sleeping in the teachers lounge, others were mindlessly texting on their cellphones, most of the classrooms were out of control.  FBE officers said they removed all six hundred children from the Socratic Academy of Math after the principal could not explain all so many students failed to pass their mandatory end of year test. 

SIX WEEKS LATER 

     LGA CEO, "The students are progressing relatively well in Numeracy and Literacy! Things could not have gone better  with the transition from their failing school, as all our students have superlative teachers, all of our teachers have participated in a rigorous six week teaching course, from USA Teach. The LGA teachers are courteous, knowledgeable and know just how to execute their craft. They get the students actively involved in learning through acting, singing and dancing. The technological advancement in the world of education is at its summit here at Learsons-Gate Academy. Every spacious classroom has its own 3D holographic learning lab."

     Reporter, "It all sounds very impressive, if this educational Eden really exist? Well, at least that’s what all the overly anxious parents thought and hoped after reading the LGA pamphlets and brochures. Until parents realized that this was all a dream. A fiction that would never be realized. Instead of being taken to these splendid Learning Academies, which, of course, doesn’t really exist, in truth the failing children were hauled off to engage in slave labor in gargantuan dehumanizing and grossly-overcrowded Bezos factories. Reporter, "Most if not all of the so called students are from poor minority families causing a number of families to believe there was and is a plot to exploit the poor minorities.

10 WEEKS LATER

    “We going home, mejo?” asked Danna, the youngest of the children. Jesus who was the eldest and acknowledged as being wise beyond his young age, quickly responded, “si podemos, we will, we will, D. We will outwit, out think, and more important, outnumber the LGA guards tonight at 10, we'll make our escape and find our way back to our families.”

     The thousands of child slaves are barely surviving the cruel adversities in the Bezos factories, working 18 hour days, with very little nutritious food and no sleeps. The inhumane working conditions faced daily by these forsaken children would desolate all except those with deep faith and unwavering hope. They believe in their hearts they will be reunited with their families. The older children have taken on the role of mom and dad showing great love, kindness, and compassion, keeping the younger children safe, loved, cherished, and feed. The surrogate moms and dads show great resolve, perseverance and resiliency in the face of cruelty and contempt, all while hope was essentially stripped away from them by the LGA guards. 

    Parents worried endlessly about their lost children as they queried LGA and FBE officials about their children's well-being.

THE NIGHT OF THE ESCAPE

     The well-mannered quiet children all sat stone-faced at the huge, food bare dinning tables in the messhall, they all waited for the LGA guards to waltz in and march them to the den-of-culinary-atrocities to receive their one ladle of soylent porridge. Narrator: The green gruel smelled like rancid gym socks and raw onions, that made no real matter when you are literally starving. “Hunger is the best sauce in the world.” After eating every grisly drop of their green gruel they waited for the guards to eat their sumptuous meals before they were marched back to deposit their licked clean empty meal trays. This was a ritual that occurred daily at 10 pm, the end of their 18 hour word day.

     The ‘lookouts’ who sat at the four corners of the room waited for the moment when all LGA guards collected their meals and sat to eat unaware of the children's plot. The ‘lookouts’ stood up and the fierce survivalistic instinct of hundreds of children kicked in. They pounced on the LGA guards who were far outnumbered, relieving them quickly of their rubber batons, hitting them mercilessly in the process of subduing them, really beating them silly for good measure and a little payback.

Before long, all the battered guards were on the slimy porridge covered floor in a dazed state. Little did they know that the children would be able to overpower them in such a completely unified and solid way. The rotten LGA minions lay on the floor writhing in excruciating pain occasioned by blows from their own batons.

All the children, led by Jesus and Danna dashed through the wide double doors, ran along the corridors and into the fields. Twenty-four hours later they all arrived at a farm near the freight depot. They waited for a freight train headed north to the US border and placed the smallest children on the train with a compassionate chaperone. The rest headed north enduring the arduous journey on foot to the US border. Being the led by the smart-charismatic Jesus, he made it relatively easy for them to navigate their way back to their small town across the border. Their anxious and worried parents were overjoyed to see them and they were all in school the next day.

     In a supernatural-ingenuous plot, the disappeared led by Jesus and Danna outwitted the guards and escaped the subjugation. The children were diligent-strategic and meticulous in planning their every move and they did not hesitate to execute their best-laid plan with great deliberation. The students used what little technology they had to document what really happened to them. The Disappeared shared the great atrocities and injustice of separating families in the name of School Reform and Accountability. The world learned firsthand what the LGA was really doing.

     But what really led to the inception of this Modern Greek tragedy that all participants could or should have done without? Close examination revealed that thinking, fun, creativity, innovation and curiosity was taken out of learning because of the commercialization of education and the overbearing testing of the children mandated by politicians. There was no longer any joy, curiosity or excitement involved in teaching and learning. The enormous stresses associated with doing National Academic Standards Tests and Evaluation (NASTE) were imperious and almost terror-like.

However, following this ghastly episode of the Disappeared Children, the teachers and administrators have now revolutionized teaching and learning. Teachers are now in control of all educational decisions, they are paid like doctors, students are enjoying over an hour of recess everyday, there are more fun and games involved in lessons and there’s no mandatory testing.

To everyone’s surprise and delight, the passing rates have now been catapulted upwards from 20 percent in the poorest schools to 90 percent.

As for the LGA officials and Bezos factory guards who wielded power over the children as innocent victims; they were all imprisoned and subjected to mandatory rehabilitation courses. Never again would this ill-fated occurrence be allowed to take hold of education and innocent children.

There trods our obligatory ending, which we'll see in our future, All the children learn happily ever after. The End?

Check for understanding?

Cause and Effect Question Stems

How or why did this occur ...?, What are the effects of...?, What caused the ....?, What is the primary cause...? What is the secondary cause...? What were the reasons for…?, What is the effect of....?, What caused …? What was the outcome of …?, What text evidence supports...?, Why was this detail needed...?, What was the purpose of ...?, Why did the author decide to include...?, Why did the author include ...?, How did the events turn out...? What happened when...?, How should the author restate the cause...?, Why did the author write this article? What inferences can you make from the text?, What evidence would you need to support the inference? What can you conclude from this text?, Why do you think that?, Can you give causal details from the text that supports your inference?, Can you show me where this is supported in the text?

1. There was no longer any joy, curiosity or excitement involved in teaching and learning. The enormous stresses associated with doing National Standards Tests were imperious and almost terror-like. The Passage is an example of,
A. cause
B. effect
C. opinion
D. argument

Writing Lesson

Highlight Keywords and Summarize the Story by Reading Aloud with a Partner. Write a new positive or sad ending for The Disappeared narrative. Explain your opinion about immigration using text evidence why you infer (conclude) that. Write a Tweet using keywords about the theme, main ideas, opinion or feelings! Example: THE COLONY - A claustrophobic, post-apocalyptic survival tale reminiscent of John Carpenter's GHOST OF MARS. Not a bad B-movie rental. | C+

Extensions

Students can do research on High Stakes testing in the US. Students can form arguments about the advantages and standardized testing. Example: Standardized test hold the teacher, parent and students accountable. Students can create a Cause and effect skit to model undeveloped parts of the narrative. Example: Cause and effect, Effect: There was no longer any joy, curiosity or excitement involved in teaching and learning. The enormous stresses associated with doing National Standards Tests were imperious and almost terror-like.