Lesson 15: Look Both Ways, Vignette 6, Part 2

Have students take out their copies of Look Both Ways. Share the following dialogue samples from Vignette 6 where all students can see them.

Say these Directions: Look at the following dialogue samples for Vignette 6. We are going to discuss whether the samples are informative, entertaining, or both.

• “Fantana banana, what’s good? What’s hood? What’s new? What’s true?”

• “Anyway, like I was saying. We family.”

• “To your mother’s house. Ask her how many times she dropped you when you were a baby.”

Informally poll the class on whether each sample dialogue is informational, entertaining, or both.

• Ask: Is the first dialogue sample informational, entertaining, or both? Tell us why.

  • The first one is both. It is entertaining because his language is funny, especially because he’s talking to a teacher who sounds very serious. It’s also informational because it shows the reader that Simeon is charming and a little silly but also respectful.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, we’re going to take a close look at the dialogue in “Five Things Easier to Do Than Simeon’s and Kenzi’s Secret Handshake” and discuss how it helps develop the characters, their relationship, and the story.

Language Study

Target Words: explicit, implicit

Review the Words: In Write or project the words explicit and implicit where all students can see them. Remind students that they studied these words in Lesson 5 and learned how they are related.

• Ask: Where have you seen the words explicit and implicit before? Do you remember how they are related?

Identify the Relationship Between the Words: Review the relationship between the two words, and relate it to how students will explore explicit and implicit meanings in today’s lesson.

Say these Directions: Explicit and implicit are opposites. Explicit means “made clear with no room for confusion,” and implicit means “only implied or suggested.” Today, when we talk about the explicit and implicit meanings of words or phrases, we’re talking about what the exact words mean versus what they might imply in the context of this story.

Discuss Explicit and Implicit Meanings: Lead a discussion about the explicit and implicit meanings of this piece of dialogue: “Mr. Cross, Mr. Thompson was just on your back yelling yee-haw while circling his arm in the air as if winding an imaginary lasso.” Remind students of its context: the teacher caught Kenzi riding on Simeon’s back in the hallway, they denied it, and now she’s explaining what she saw.

• Ask: Remember the context here: Kenzi was riding on Simeon’s back in the hallway. Ms. Wockley caught them, and they said they weren’t pretending to be in a horse race. What is the explicit meaning of what she says to them?

  • The explicit meaning is, “I saw one of you pretending to be a rodeo rider on the other.”

• Ask: What is the implicit meaning of what Ms. Wockley said?

  • The implicit meaning is, “Are you seriously going to pretend I don’t see the ridiculousness that is right in front of me?”

• Ask: Why would an author choose to use dialogue that is more implicit?

  • Implicit dialogue is more genuine, since it is a more natural way for people to talk. This helps make the dialogue more interesting to read and makes the characters more relatable as real people.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, we are going to continue to analyze the dialogue in “Five Things Easier to Do Than Simeon’s and Kenzi’s Secret Handshake,” looking for explicit and implicit meanings in the story dialogue to discuss how this helps develop the characters, their relationship, and their story.

Part A: Explicit and Implicit Meanings in Dialogue: Look Both Ways, Vignette 6 (RL.6.6, L.6.5) (15 minutes)

This section focuses on deepening students’ ability to distinguish between explicit and implicit meaning in dialogue and connect those meanings to character relationships. Students should move beyond identifying what is said to analyzing what is implied and how that shapes reader's understanding of characters. Emphasize the use of inference language (e.g., implies, suggests, reveals) and require students to ground their thinking in specific words from the text. This work builds directly toward RL.6.6 by helping students analyze how dialogue reveals point of view and relationships.

Say these Directions: In this part, we will continue to analyze the dialogue between Simeon, Kenzi, and Ms. Wockley, teasing apart explicit and implicit meanings to understand how stories help us see through someone else’s eyes.

Teach

Lead an echo-read of the following section from “Five Things Easier to Do Than Simeon’s and Kenzi’s Secret Handshake.” Read each line aloud, and have students echo it back.

“See here’s the thing, Wockley Broccoli. Can I call you that?” Simeon asked.

“No.”

“Got it. Here’s the thing. Kenzi here got a big heart. But that big heart happens to be in a small body. Now, I don’t know about you, but I would hate for that heart to be broken because that body was knocked around. That would be a travesty.”

Explain that there are both explicit and implicit meanings to what both Simeon and Ms. Wockley say here. This dialogue can tell us important information about how these characters relate to each other.

Discussion

Discuss the explicit and implicit meanings contained in the previous dialogue and what they tell us about the relationship between the characters.

• Ask: What are the explicit and implicit meanings of Simeon calling Ms. Wockley “Wockley Broccoli”?

  • An explicit meaning is that he likes to call people by silly names. An implicit meaning is that he sees her as someone he can talk to casually, like a friend, even though she is a stern teacher. It shows how confident and charming Simeon is and how good their relationship is.

• Ask: What are the explicit and implicit meanings of the way Ms. Wockley says, “No”? What does it tell us about her relationship with Simeon and Kenzi?

  • An explicit meaning is that she is simply saying, “No.” An implicit meaning is that she feels the need to act a little serious with them, but she is also willing to tolerate their goofiness and hear them out. She says no instead of just laughing or saying yes, but she also lets them keep explaining when she could just punish them and move on. It shows that their relationship is both fun and serious.

• Ask: Based on this dialogue, what do you think Ms. Wockley thinks about Simeon and Kenzi?

  • While she gets kind of annoyed with them, she also finds them charming and entertaining and wants to hear what they have to say. Earlier in this vignette, the narrator says, “She’d heard their excuse . . . but they were always so entertaining that she was game to hear it once more.” She reinforces this when she says no to the silly nickname but lets them keep talking and eventually lets them go with just a warning.

• Ask: What does this type of explicit and implicit language tell us about how stories, and especially dialogue, can help us see through someone else’s eyes?

  • This scene shows how explicit dialogue advances the story by creating authentic conversations. It can also reveal what another character is thinking by telling the story from multiple points of view. We know that Mr. Fantana has a soft spot for Simeon and the other students, even when they bother him, but we might think Ms. Wockley doesn’t like them at all. The implicit dialogue in this scene shows that even someone who is stern and serious can be charmed by them because they are so funny, witty, and kind. It shows how the relationship between teacher and student is important to all of them.

• Ask: Think about a time you said something to a friend or family member where the implicit meaning was very different from the explicit words. How does understanding that experience help you understand what these characters are doing?

Part B: Dialogue Reveals Characters (RL.6.6, L.6.5) (15 minutes)

Have students work in groups of three or four for this part of the lesson. Each student will become an expert on one piece of dialogue from this vignette by analyzing its explicit and implicit meanings to show what those meanings reveal about the character. Groups will work together to record findings on a graphic organizer.

Say these Directions: In your group, each person will become the expert on one piece of dialogue from this vignette. As you read your line, think about its explicit meaning, or what it says directly, and its implicit meaning, or what it suggests without saying it outright. Then use both of those meanings to figure out what the dialogue reveals about the character. As a group, you’ll share your thinking and record your ideas on the graphic organizer.

Jigsaw Reading

Hand out copies of the 3 Column Chart graphic organizer to each student. Label (or instruct them to label) the three columns “Quotes and Explicit Meanings,” “Implicit Meanings,” and “What Each Reveals About the Speaker.” Say these Directions: At the top of the three columns, label the first one ‘Quotes and Explicit Meanings,’ the second one ‘Implicit Meanings,’ and the third one ‘What Each Reveals About the Speaker.’ If your chart is already labeled, just take a moment to look at those headings so you know how we’ll use each column.

Explain that each group member will become an expert on one piece of dialogue from this vignette. They will complete the organizer for their portion and share their thoughts with the rest of the group. Model filling out the information based on a sentence from a different part of the vignette.

• Say: Each person in your group is going to become an expert on one piece of dialogue from this vignette. That means you will focus on your assigned line, fill out the organizer for that part, and then share your thinking with the rest of your group so everyone can learn from one another. Before you start, I’m going to model how to fill in the organizer using a different sentence from another part of the vignette so you can see what this should look like.

• Say: If I am the expert for the passage where Ms. Wockley says, “I’m going to say this to you for the thousandth time,” I would say that the explicit meaning is that Ms. Wockley has told them before not to mess around in the hallway. The implicit meaning is that she is exhausted from having to repeat herself so many times. This tells us that the speaker is dealing with a lot at school and may not always feel heard or valued.

Assign each group member to one of the three excerpts listed below. Give them a few minutes to reread the section and add information to their graphic organizer.

1. The conflict with Fredo in section 4, from “You made me lose count, man!” until the end of that section

2. The discussion after the conflict, from the beginning of section 5 through “. . . offered Simeon some”

3. The conversation around wishes in section 5, from “Happy birthday” through the repetition of “brothers”

Say these Directions: Take a few minutes to reread your excerpt and fill out the graphic organizer with at least one sentence from that section.

• Excerpt 1, the conflict with Fredo in section 4

When there are a few minutes remaining, instruct students to share their answers with the other members of their groups.

• Say: Share at least one sentence from your excerpt with the rest of your group. Then share what you learned from at least one other group member.

  • The member of my group who read the part about the conversation after leaving Fredo’s helped me understand both of them and their relationship better. They said that the way Kenzi made fun of Fredo had the implicit meaning that he wanted to defend Simeon from Fredo calling him fat. But Simeon saying, “But I can’t front, he got me with the gravy joke” showed that Simeon can take the joke. This also shows that while he’s not too bothered by it, he still appreciates Kenzi sticking up for him.

If time allows, discuss the following prompt as a large group.

• Ask: How does the end of “Five Things Easier to Do Than Simeon’s and Kenzi’s Secret Handshake” give new meaning to why Simeon and Kenzi consider themselves brothers?

  • We learn that Kenzi’s brother, Mason, went to jail for a crime that Simeon’s brother, Chucky, committed. They feel like brothers because their own brothers are bonded in this way. Simeon protects Kenzi like a big brother, just like Kenzi’s brother protected his. This shows that Simeon feels responsible for Kenzi’s brother being in jail. We also know that Kenzi misses his brother and feels sad about him. He does not seem to blame Simeon at all and has only gotten closer to him.

This reflection provides an opportunity for students to synthesize their understanding of how dialogue and actions reveal character perspective. Students should use evidence from across the vignette—not just a single moment—to support their inferences. Encourage students to connect implicit meaning to larger character motivations and relationships, reinforcing the lesson’s focus on point of view and empathy.

Reflection

Prompt students to reflect on today’s lesson by writing a brief response to the following prompt.

• Ask: What do you think Kenzi wished for? What has he said or done in the story that makes you think this?

  • The last paragraphs tell us that Simeon knows that Kenzi wants to carry a message to his brother to tell him how much he misses him. I think Kenzi also wishes to have his brother free again, and for Simeon not to blame himself. I know this because we see at the end how much Kenzi misses his brother, and throughout the story, we also see that Kenzi loves Simeon as a brother and doesn’t blame him for what happened. He probably wishes Simeon wouldn’t blame himself either.

Instruct students to read the next vignette, “Satchmo’s Master Plan,” and take notes in their Journal on the following prompt:

• How is the structure of this vignette similar to or different from others you’ve read so far?