Lesson 12: A Single Shard, Chapter 7, Part 1

Quick Write

Have students use in the Quick Write routine to respond to the following prompt with clarity and coherence:

• Write a short paragraph about how you started the day. Use descriptive language to help readers imagine your morning. Make sure to include details that engage the senses. Describe what you saw, heard, smelled, tasted and felt.

Take two or three quick responses from students to share with the whole class.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, you’ll revisit Chapter 7 of A Single Shard to discuss and analyze how the author, Linda Sue Park, uses descriptive language to create vivid imagery for readers.

Generating Context

Target Words: kindling, feigned, guffaw, shard

Introduce the target words, kindling, feigned, guffaw, and shard. Explain that each word connects to important themes and ideas in Chapter 7 of A Single Shard.

Say these Directions: Use the Unit Vocabulary graphic organizer to track the Target Words you learn throughout Unit 2. Write the Target Words in the first column of the Unit Vocabulary graphic organizer.

• Say: Take out your Unit Vocabulary graphic organizer and record the target words kindling, feigned, guffaw, and shard in the first column.

Introduce the Words: Write kindling, feigned, guffaw, and shard on the board and pronounce them.

• Ask: Have you seen any of these words before? Where?

Identify Context Clues: Remind students that context clues are words or phrases in a text that help readers determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. Share with students these sentences from Chapter 7 of A Single Shard:

• Say: Remember that context clues are words or phrases in a text that help readers determine the meaning of unfamiliar words

“Then the wood was precisely arranged in a crisscross pattern of many layers. The kindling of twigs and pine needles was lit with a spark from a flint stone, and when the fire was well on its way, the door of the kiln was sealed.”

• Ask: What words or phrases in these sentences provide context clues about the meaning of kindling?

  • “of twigs and pine needles,” “lit with a spark,” “the fire”

Determine Meaning: Invite students to share their definitions of kindling with the class. Explain that kindling is dry material, such as twigs, used to start a fire.

Share the verified definition of kindling:

• Say: Kindling is a dry material, such as twigs, that is used to start a fire.

• Say: Write the definition of kindling in your Unit Vocabulary graphic organizer.

• Say: Now, draw a picture of kindling, and write an original sentence using the word.

Repeat this process for the words feigned, guffaw, and shard as time allows.

Allow students to share their work. Once sharing is complete, affirm the connection. 

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Understanding vocabulary such as kindling, feigned, guffaw, and shard helps us better visualize or imagine what is happening in the story. Today, as we discuss Chapter 7, pay attention to how these vocabulary words add to the descriptive language used by the author in the novel.

Part A: Modeling Descriptive Language and Imagery (RL.6.4) (15 minutes)

• Say: In literature, imagery refers to the words that engage readers’ five senses: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch. Authors use descriptive language—including vivid nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, as well as connotation and figurative language—to help readers imagine what characters, objects, settings, and events look like, smell like, sound like, taste like, and feel like to the touch.

Say these Directions: Open the text, A Single Shard, to Chapter 7. Annotate the text with a partner, identifying and marking examples of the author’s use of descriptive language and imagery.

Ask students to think back to previous lessons where they looked at how authors use descriptive language.

• Say: In previous lessons, you learned about how writers use connotation and figurative language to create meaning for readers. Writers also use descriptive language and imagery to help readers understand what is happening in a story. Imagery is a powerful tool that writers use to help readers see, hear, smell, taste and feel what is happening in a story.

Share with students this quote from Chapter 7 of A Single Shard:

“For what Tree-ear guessed was the first time in Min’s whole life, the potter threw back his head in a loud guffaw of laughter.”

• Say: The author carefully chose the words in this sentence to describe Min’s behavior and to create vivid imagery. A guffaw is a loud burst of laughter. The reader can clearly imagine Min’s body language and the sounds he is making. This descriptive language creates imagery that is more engaging and informative than simply stating, “Min laughed.”

• Ask: What descriptive language or imagery does the author use? What senses does the imagery in this excerpt engage?

  • “Threw back his head” engages sight; “a loud guffaw of laughter” engages sound.

• Ask: What does this descriptive language tell the reader? How does it affect how readers understand this scene and the character of Min?

  • It tells the reader that Min’s urge to laugh was powerful; it overcame him. It creates a sharp contrast with Min’s normal behavior, showing a side to him that readers have not seen before. Tree-ear may have been surprised by Min’s laughter.

Share with students this quote from Chapter 7 of A Single Shard:

“It seemed to Tree-ear that the potter had never before rejected so many pieces that came off the wheel; all day long, to the tune of Min’s curses he heard the sound of clay being slapped down in disgust.”

• Ask: What descriptive language or imagery does the author use? What senses does the imagery in this excerpt engage?

  • “To the tune” engages sound; “clay being slapped down in disgust” engages sound.

• Ask: What does this descriptive language tell the reader? How does it affect how readers understand this scene?"

  • The descriptive language tells the reader how Min is behaving. It helps readers understand how frustrated Min is and how it is affecting Tree-ear.

Check for Understanding

Provide students with a confidence continuum (i.e., 1–5). As needed, model how to demonstrate a level of confidence using the continuum.

Part B: Analyzing Descriptive Language and Imagery (RL.6.4) (15 minutes)

Write-Pair-Share

Prompt students to take out their copies of A Single Shard. Have students engage in the Write-Pair-Share routine to respond to the prompts below.

Read the section from “Tree-ear was rubbing the sediment between his fingers” through “. . . a clear vision emerging from a cloudy dream” aloud as students follow along.

Say these Directions: Using the excerpt, follow the Write-Pair-Share routine: (1) write a response to the prompt, (2) jot notes as a partner shares their ideas, and then (3) share their ideas with the whole class.

• Ask: What descriptive words or imagery does the author use? What senses does the imagery in this excerpt engage?

  • “Rubbing the sediment” engages touch; “he had been staring into the forest greenery” engages sight; “the clay felt good—fine, pliant, smooth” engages touch; “a clear vision emerging from a cloudy dream” engages sight.

• Ask: What important transition or change happens in this excerpt?

  • Tree-ear reaches a new phase in his understanding of the pottery-making process.

• Ask: What descriptive language and imagery does the author use to show this change?

  • The author compares Tree-ear’s new understanding of the clay with a deer in the woods, explaining that the deer had always been there, “but only at the last minute had he actually seen it.” She also compares it to “a clear vision emerging from a cloudy dream.”

As a whole class, read this excerpt aloud as students follow along:

“Min was like a man with a demon inside him. He ate little, slept less, and whether he worked by daylight or lamplight, his eyes always seemed to glitter with ferocity. Tree-ear felt that the very air in the workspace under the eaves was alive with whispers and hisses of anxiety . . .”

• Say: After reading the excerpt, discuss the following questions:

• Ask: What descriptive language or imagery does the author use? What senses does the imagery in this excerpt engage?

  • “Worked by daylight or lamplight” engages sight; “glitter with ferocity” engages sight; “alive with whispers and hisses of anxiety” engages sound.

• Ask: What descriptive language does the author use? What does this help readers understand?

  • “Min was like a man with a demon inside him” is an example of a simile; it shows how restless and agitated he is. Describing the air in the workspace as “alive with whispers and hisses of anxiety” is an example of personification.

Read this excerpt aloud as students follow along:

“Suddenly, a fox appeared before me. It stopped there, right in the middle of the path, grinning with all its teeth shining white, licking its lips, its eyes glowing, its broad tail swishing back and forth slowly, back and forth—”

Discuss these questions:

• Ask: What descriptive language or imagery does the author use? What senses does the imagery in this excerpt engage?

  • “Right in the middle of the path” engages sight; “grinning with all its teeth shining white, licking its lips, eyes glowing” engages sight; “broad tail swishing” engages sound.

• Ask: What does this description help the reader understand?

  • It suggests that the fox is dangerous and has human qualities.

Transition students to the Look Back portion of the lesson.

Retell & Paraphrase Partner Check

Say these Directions: Partners will participate in a Retell and Paraphrase Partner Check activity. The first partner will orally retell and paraphrase a section of Chapter 7 while the second partner checks for accuracy. Then the second partner will orally retell and paraphrase the next section while the first partner checks for accuracy. Partners should alternate until the entire chapter has been retold and paraphrased.

As students retell and paraphrase the text, circulate around the room to listen for gist and accuracy. Correct misconceptions as needed.

Respond to the following prompt in your Journal:

• Write a paragraph (3–5 sentences) about a topic of your choosing using descriptive language and imagery.