Lesson 3: Ordinary Moments, Extraordinary Stories, Part 3

Turn and Talk

Invite students to review their homework from last night. (“What makes a piece of writing interesting to some readers but not to others?”)

Say these Directions: What does the word authentic mean? Turn and talk with a partner about its meaning.

• Say: Authentic means genuine or honest. For example, a story feels authentic when the characters speak in a way that sounds believable. When it sounds believable, we consider it genuine or honest.

• Ask: What does it mean to be authentic?

  • To be authentic means being true to who you really are and not pretending to be someone else. It means your words and actions match what you believe and feel.

Display a circle and write “AUTHENTIC” in the center. Work with students to create a word cloud around the word authentic.

• Say: So we know authentic can describe something, or it can be a way of acting. What other words do you think of when you hear the word authentic?

  • I think of something real or honest. Something that is authentic is believable. It’s something original or someone genuine, not fake.

• Say: When writing is authentic, it feels real to us. The author feels trustworthy and credible, like they know what they’re talking about. Trustworthy and credible are both synonyms for authentic. If something does not feel authentic, it feels fake or like an imitation.

• Ask: Are all these words exactly the same? Or do they feel slightly different?

  • They are not exactly the same and feel slightly different. Depending on how they are used, they can have slightly different meanings.

Support students in identifying nuances among synonyms for authentic.

• Ask: Is something “real” always authentic? Can something be honest but not feel authentic? Why might a writer choose the word authentic instead of real?

  • Real means something is true, but authentic means it feels true and genuine. Something can be honest but still not feel authentic if it doesn’t seem natural or believable. A writer might use authentic to show something feels real and true, not just that it happened.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Authors often strive for authenticity. Today, we’re going to preview Look Both Ways, by Jason Reynolds, and analyze how the text’s structure helps the author tell authentic stories about ordinary moments.

Part A: Preview Anchor Text: Look Both Ways (RL.6.5, SL.6.1) (15 minutes)

This section introduces students to the structure of the anchor text, building their understanding of how vignette storytelling works. Students begin to notice how short, focused scenes can reveal character and meaning through ordinary moments.

Preview the text structure of Look Both Ways with students, explaining the word vignette and the overall structure of the book.

Preview the Text

• Say: Take some time to page through Look Both Ways. I want you to look closely at the text structure.

• Say these Directions: What do you notice about the structure of Look Both Ways? How is it different from other books you may have read? How might the vignette structure help reveal characters?

  • I notice the book is made up of short chapters that each focus on different characters. This is different from most novels, which follow one main character or group the whole time. The vignette structure helps reveal characters because small, everyday moments show what a person is like and what matters to them.

• Ask: What can you predict about how the street names relate to the stories?

  • I predict the street names connect to where each story takes place. Maybe the characters live on those streets, or things happen to them on those streets.

Teach: Text Structure

• vignette: a short, descriptive scene or sketch that focuses on one person or incident

• text structure: how an author organizes information in a written piece

• Say: Throughout the unit, we will think about two essential questions: “How do ordinary moments reveal who we are and how we belong?” and “How does sharing stories help people understand one another?” First, we’ll focus on ordinary moments.

• Ask: Based on what we have learned about Jason Reynolds’s approach to writing for middle schoolers, how do you think the text of Look Both Ways will be meaningful and authentic?

Part B: Create Ordinary Moments Graphic Organizer (SL.6.1) (15 minutes)

This section prepares students to track how ordinary moments reveal character across the text. By building and practicing with the graphic organizer, students develop a concrete way to capture how small actions show identity and belonging.

Work with students to create a graphic organizer that they will use throughout the unit to track ordinary moments and what they reveal about a character.

Discussion

Say these Directions: Make a three-column chart to use throughout the unit. Look at the sample chart filled in with two characters from the book.

• Ask: We want to keep track of ordinary moments that teach us about the characters in the vignettes. What should our first column heading be?

  • First, we should list the characters’ names, so the heading should be “Character.”

• Ask: If we are trying to keep track of ordinary moments and what they teach us about a character, what should the heading of the second column be? What about the third column?

  • The second column should be “Ordinary Moment,” and the third column should be “What It Reveals About the Character.”

Tell students that this simple chart will be important as they work toward their performance task at the end of the unit, when they will write about their own ordinary moment.

Ordinary Moments Graphic Organizer

Because students have not read any of the book yet, they won’t be able to fill in the graphic organizer with a character. Have them practice with someone they all know, like the school principal or another teacher.

• Character

• Ordinary Moment

• What It Reveals About the Character

Students should leave this activity with a clear structure for tracking how ordinary moments reveal character, which they will continue to use as they read the anchor text.

Think-Pair-Share

This closing reflection helps students synthesize their thinking about what makes stories meaningful and authentic. Students connect their ideas about ordinary moments and character to the unit’s essential questions.

Say these Directions: Think-Pair-Share with a classmate to respond to the following question.

• Ask: What makes a story feel meaningful or authentic to you as a reader?

  • Optional Sentence Starter: “A story needs ____ to be meaningful and to make a connection with me as the reader.”

    • A story needs an important character to whom I can relate to be meaningful and make a connection with me.

Have students read “Water Booger Bears” from Look Both Ways and use their Journal to address the following prompt:

As you read:

• Identify ordinary moments that become meaningful to the reader. Explain how each first seems ordinary, then becomes significant.