Lesson 33: Look Both Ways, Discussion, Part 4

Use this opening to connect students’ prior thinking about storytelling to the idea that an author’s identity shapes the stories they tell. Students should move beyond personal connections to analyze how Jason Reynolds’s experiences shape his purpose, characters, and message. This prepares students to discuss how stories build understanding and community.

Have students take out their homework from the previous lesson.

• Find a video interview of author Jason Reynolds discussing storytelling. Students will watch the video and, if possible, discuss it with a co-viewer. They can add notes in their Journals while they watch, and then share their answers from their homework or respond to these prompts:

• How does an author's own identity influence the stories they tell?

• Why do you think we tell stories?

• Choose someone in your life who shares stories. How does this person sharing stories impact your relationship?

Turn and Talk

Instruct students to discuss their answers to the homework questions with partners:

• Say these Directions: Discuss your answers to the previous lesson’s homework questions with a partner.

  • If your answers were similar, how were they similar? If they were different, how were they different? Did you learn anything new from your partner's answers?

    • An author’s identity influences the stories they tell because they choose places and characters based on the places and people they know. Someone in my life who tells stories is my grandmother. I think we become closer when I hear what her life was like a long time ago. My partner and I both learn from our grandmothers. I think this is similar because many people learn from their grandmothers.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, we are going to discuss what we learned about Jason Reynolds, the author, from his video interview.

Oral Presentation and Discussion Skills

Explain to students that today, they will practice the oral presentation skills that they will need for the Author’s Chair component of their Performance Task.

• Say: Today, we’re going to discuss what the interview with Jason Reynolds tells us about the importance of sharing our stories. But we’re also going to practice the speaking skills we’ll need for the Author’s Chair oral presentation, which will be part of the Performance Task.

Fluency:

Explain the importance of fluency when speaking in a discussion or presentation.

• Say these Directions: Speaking with fluency will make it easier for listeners to follow what you’re saying and understand your point. Here are some tips that will help with fluency:

  • Think of an entire sentence before you start saying it, especially the very end.

  • Plan what you will do instead of saying “um” or “uh.” Take a deep breath or look up if you need a pause.

  • Speak slowly and steadily.

Ask: What happens to a listener when a speaker pauses too often or loses their train of thought?

• The listener has a hard time understanding what the speaker is trying to say or might lose interest in listening.

Prosody:

Explain the importance of making thoughtful decisions about your prosody when speaking in a discussion or presentation.

• Say: Remember that prosody is the rhythm, emphasis, and intonation you use while speaking or reading out loud. It is a term we usually use when discussing poetry, but it can apply here as well.

• Say these Directions: Making thoughtful prosody choices will help you hold your listeners’ attention and guide them to focus on your most important points. Here are some tips that will help with prosody:

  • Plan where you will pause, slow down, or speed up in a sentence.

  • Plan the words you will stress in order to emphasize important ideas.

  • Think about what tone will work best for your words: it could be more formal, more casual, or more dramatic, depending on the situation.

Ask: How can changing your tone or emphasis help your listener understand what matters most? When you want to show that an idea is important, what could you do with your voice?

• You can make your voice more firm when you want to show an idea is more important. This catches the listeners attention so that they remember what is important.

Model giving a brief oral summary of the video, emphasizing fluency. For example, exaggerate the tones indicated by exclamation points or question marks, the pauses indicated by ellipses, and the emphasis on the words marked in italics:

• Say: As you listen, I want you to think about how I use my voice to make my ideas clear. I loved seeing how excited all those kids were to meet Jason Reynolds! So, what made them so excited? Well…as the interviewer pointed out…he doesn’t spend time with kids to sell his books. He’s not there to sell them on reading in general! He’s there to tell them that their stories matter. Their stories are important! So when all those kids get together to hear his stories, they’re not just listening to someone read from a book that was written hundreds of years ago by someone they’ll never meet. No! They’re listening to this person tell them his story, so they know their stories are important too. That…is what makes Jason Reynolds such a powerful writer.

• Ask: What did you notice about the pacing, pauses, or emphasis? How did those choices help you understand the message about why stories matter?

  • The pacing, pausing and emphasis helped me stay focused and know what was important about the story.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: In today’s class discussion, you will practice the speaking skills that I just modeled for you. For Additional Student Support: see Oral Presentation and Discussion Skills.

Jason Reynolds and the Importance of Sharing Stories (SL.6.1a) (30 minutes)

Use this discussion to deepen students’ analysis of how an author’s identity influences the meaning and impact of their stories. Students should move beyond summarizing the video to explaining how specific details from the interview shape their understanding of Look Both Ways and what makes stories meaningful to an audience. Emphasize that strong contributions connect ideas, reference evidence from the video or text, and build on peers’ thinking.

Assign students to two groups for a Fishbowl Conversation about the Jason Reynolds video.

Fishbowl Conversation

Say these Directions: You will hold a Fishbowl Conversation discussion based on the following prompts:

• What is one new piece of information you learned about Jason Reynolds? Why is it important to understanding the text?

• How does Jason Reynolds try to “sell kids on books”? Why do you think this is important to him?

• How does learning about the author influence your understanding of the settings of the vignettes in Look Both Ways?

• Why are Jason Reynolds’s stories meaningful and powerful for the audiences he speaks to? Consider where many of the students are from and who Jason Reynolds uses as characters.

Remind students of how the Fishbowl Conversation routine works, and model both parts.

• Say these Directions: Half of you will sit in the inner circle and discuss the prompt, while the other half sits in the outer circle, observing and taking notes. Then you’ll switch places. Students in the outer circle will use the requirements to track and give feedback to the inner circle after the discussion.

• Someone in the inner circle might say, “I learned that Jason Reynolds grew up in a place a lot like the streets in Look Both Ways.” Another student may respond, “I want to add to what was just said. I think that’s what the kids at the assembly are so excited about. They might not always see themselves in stories they read in school, either. Books like Look Both Ways show them how they can also tell their own stories.” Meanwhile, people in the outer circle will listen and take notes.

Requirements

• Cite evidence to support ideas from the text, videos, or peers’ responses.

• Follow discussion norms.

• Ask and answer at least 2 questions.

• Paraphrase at least 2 different perspectives.

Arrange the two groups of students into an inner and outer circle. Give the inner circle ten minutes to discuss one or more of the prompts while the outer circle observes. Scaffold the discussion for students in the inner circle, providing additional prompts as needed to keep it going. When the ten minutes are finished, ask 2–3 students in the outer circle to give a glow and a grow to the inner circle based on the discussion requirements.

• [Sample Additional Prompt]: Which of the characters in Look Both Ways reminded you most of Jason Reynolds as a person? How are they similar? Are there other characters that seemed a lot like him as well?

  • We learned that Jason Reynolds’s parents got divorced when he was young and that he grew up in places that were not safe. That sounds like where Simeon and Kenzi live.

  • I want to add that I think I also understand Kenzi and Simeon better. It sounds like there is some of him in both of those characters. He thought that part of his story was important.

  • I have another example. I understand Satchmo more, because it sounds like people he knew may have been scared of a lot of things. He probably thought it was important for people to know that and not to judge people.

After ten minutes, have the two groups switch roles. Give the new inner circle another ten minutes to discuss the prompts. The new outer circle should provide the same feedback, aligned with the requirements, when the time is up.

• Reynolds tries to “sell kids on books” by telling them that their stories matter and deserve to be told. I think he does this because, when he was growing up, he didn’t hear stories from people who grew up as he did.

• I want to add that it seems like when he tells kids that their stories matter, it gets kids excited about his stories too. It might make them think that reading his stories will help them figure out how to tell theirs.

• That reminds me of the last prompt. I think stories are powerful and meaningful when you relate to a character or to what happens to them.

• I sort of agree and sort of disagree with that. I agree that stories are more meaningful when you relate to them, but that doesn’t have to mean you went through the exact same thing. It could just mean that you felt the same way, even if it was about something else.

If time allows, transition back to a large group discussion and invite students to reflect on the experience of the Fishbowl Conversation with the following prompt:

• What was it like being in the inner circle, having the discussion? Was it easier or harder than being in the outer circle, listening and taking notes?

  • I was able to listen more when I was in the outer circle, because when I was in the inner circle, I was trying to think about what I was going to say next. But it was also really hard to have an idea in the outer circle and not be able to say it out loud!

By the end of the discussion, students should be able to explain how Jason Reynolds’s identity influences his storytelling and why his stories are meaningful to his audience, using specific evidence from the video and text. They should also be able to build on and respond to peers’ ideas, preparing them for more independent, sustained discussions and their upcoming Author’s Chair presentations.

Reflection

Use this reflection to help students synthesize their thinking about storytelling, identity, and community. Students should connect ideas from the discussion to the unit’s essential question, explaining how sharing stories helps people understand one another. This reflection reinforces the role of storytelling in building empathy and prepares students to apply these ideas in future discussions and writing.

Prompt students to reflect on the lesson by writing a brief response to the following prompt, a variation on Essential Question 2. Collect students’ work as a formative assessment of their understanding of the unit’s themes.

• Ask: Let’s make a connection to one of our unit’s themes. How does sharing our stories build community and empathy?

  • • Optional Sentence Starter:

  • “Sharing our stories builds community and empathy by ______.”

    • Sharing our stories builds community and empathy by helping us realize that everyone is going through something that may be really hard or really uplifting. When you understand someone’s point of view better by hearing how they think and feel, you’re more willing to help them out or give them a break. It may even make you want to help them if they need it. That builds community.

Instruct students to take notes in their Journal on the following prompt:

• Who is the strongest adult character in Look Both Ways?

• Briefly describe them and why you chose them.