Lesson 28: Seen and Unseen, Explanatory Writing, Part 3

Remind students that they have analyzed different elements of Seen and Unseen, including survivor testimony, photographs, and illustrations. Review key ideas from the previous reading lessons:

• Craft Lens: How text, photography, and illustrations are created and arranged shapes the emotion, tone, and perspective of the larger work.

• Survivor Voice: Because of their specific perspectives, survivor accounts emphasize some elements of the story and may omit others.

• Language Matters: Word choice affects understanding and memory.

Display the Essential Question: How can readers evaluate words and images for accuracy, perspective, and ethical use?

Turn and Talk

Say these Directions: Turn and talk to a partner and discuss the following question. Develop a brief, one-to-two sentence response.

• Ask: What makes a story believable and ethical to share?

  • A story is believable if it has details that come from eyewitnesses or people who were directly involved. To share a story ethically, the person sharing should obtain permission for the words and images that are used.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: In writing your paragraphs today, keep in mind the observations you made about believable, ethical storytelling. Think about how you will assess the credibility of different sources of information and interpret them responsibly.

Guide students in expanding a Kernel Sentence by generating and answering questions. Model the process, then support partner and independent practice to develop clearer, more detailed ideas. Project a kernel sentence about the stories of Japanese Americans who survived incarceration, such as the following: They sneaked away briefly. Then, with the class, discuss the who, where, and the why for the kernel sentence.

Sentence Expansion

Say these Directions: Use question words, such as who, what, when, where, and why, to create questions about your Kernel Sentence, and choose one question to answer. Use your answer to turn your Kernel Sentence into a longer, more detailed sentence that expresses the idea more thoroughly.

Forming Questions

Model identifying a who/whose question:

• Ask: One question we can ask is who sneaked away?

  • Miyatake and his friends briefly sneaked away from the camp.

• Ask: Another question we could ask is where did they go when they sneaked away?

  • They sneaked away from Manzanar into the surrounding mountains.

• Ask: What is a “why” question you could ask to learn more about the sentence?

  • Why did they sneak away? They sneaked away to go fishing and to experience some freedom from their confinement in the camp.

Repeat with what, when and/or how until students have identified several questions.

Turning Answers into Expanded Sentences

Select questions to answer and model rewriting the sentence based on its possible answers.

• Say: To explain who sneaked away, we could write “Miyatake and his friends briefly sneaked away from Manzanar,” and to explain where, we could add “to go fishing in the mountains.”

Point out that not all details may fit elegantly into a single sentence. Display, “Miyatake and his friends briefly sneaked away from Manzanar to go fishing in the surrounding mountains to experience some freedom from their confinement,” as a counterexample.

• Ask: Sentences can become overloaded if too much information is included. How can we break up the sentence into two shorter, but informative sentences?

  • Miyatake and his friends briefly sneaked away from Manzanar to go fishing in the surrounding mountains. They wanted to experience some freedom from their confinement.

Have students form pairs and write kernel sentences based on their own research materials, then work together to identify and add details. Finally, instruct them to repeat this exercise independently with new sentences specific to their primary sources. As time permits, invite volunteers to share their original and expanded sentences.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: As you write your paragraphs, you may find that there are many details you might mention. Choosing the most important and interesting details is a skill we can practice as writers. When we read and review each other’s work, we can point out opportunities to add detail or clarify statements that seem vague to us.

Explain to students that they will now begin compiling the evidence from their annotations into sentences and paragraphs. Guide them through their individual practice.

Comparing Sources (RI.7.6, RI.7.7, W.7.2.a, W.7.2.b) (30 minutes)

Model Annotation and Writing

If students need a refresher, project a short page spread of your choice from Seen and Unseen (teacher-selected), then model analysis of the pages using a Think-Aloud:

• Text: Highlight words conveying tone or perspective.

• Photography: Note what is emphasized or left out.

• Illustration: Observe style and visual emphasis.

Finally, synthesize:

• Say: Together, these elements show X about life in the camp, but they leave out Y. Responsible witnessing means noticing both what is shown and what is missing.

Next, show how to convert this analysis into a paragraph:

• Claim/Topic Sentence: State the insight about perspective or responsibility.

• Evidence Sentences: Include one to two examples from text, images, and/or illustrations.

• Omission/Hidden Details Sentence: Note what remains unseen.

• Concluding Sentence: Connect back to the Essential Question and responsible witnessing.

Say these Directions: Choose a page spread or survivor excerpt that you have analyzed. Use the Argumentative Essay Organizer to:

• Identify the main insight about perspective/responsibility.

• Collect one to two pieces of evidence (text, photo, or illustration).

• Identify one omission or hidden perspective.

• Draft a concluding sentence connecting to the Essential Question.

Circulate and provide feedback, emphasizing clarity, evidence, and connection to responsible witnessing.

Say these Directions: Now that you have gathered evidence and drafted your conclusions, begin writing a full five-to-seven-sentence paragraph that synthesizes the evidence from your reading and annotations. When you finish, exchange your paragraph with a partner and check for the following:

• Is the perspective clearly identified?

• Are text and visual evidence included?

• Does the paragraph note what is missing/hidden?

• Does it connect to the Essential Question?

Allow students some time to peer-review and implement their partners’ suggestions.

• The text and illustrations on p. 6 of Seen and Unseen help build a foundation for understanding contrasting perspectives about this incarceration. Two black-and-white illustrations show examples of negative stereotyping of Japanese Americans. The red of the American flag coordinates with the red of the sign in the window that indicates that Japanese were not allowed in the shop. An unhappy woman is drawn below the other illustrations; she holds flowers that provide a contrast between the grimness of the situation and hope. The placement of the illustration emphasizes the physical and mental burden, as well as fear and frustration, experienced by Japanese Americans. In contrast, the text explains how rumors that “flew from person to person” fueled the fears of white Americans. For example, people worried that Japanese Americans might be “planning to sabotage the United States.” Looking back as responsible witnesses, we can understand why these fears existed, while also recognizing that they were unfounded; the response to such fears was out of proportion, harsh, and even cruel. Missing from this page are actual images and words of the people interred, which appear later in Seen and Unseen. Instead, this page sets the stage for readers to understand the competing perspectives held by people during World War II.

Lesson 28 Writing Rubric: Explanatory Paragraph — Comparing Perspectives on Incarceration

Writing prompt: Write an explanatory paragraph comparing how different sources — survivor testimony, photographers, government officials, and contemporary journalists — depict the same events in Japanese American incarceration. Explain what each perspective reveals and conceals.

Have students write a short response to the prompt. Collect the response as formative data.

Quick Write

Say these Directions: Consider your experience today writing, then complete this sentence starter.

• One insight I gained about responsible witnessing is ___, and one perspective I still want to understand more fully is ___.

  • One insight I gained about responsible witnessing is that some stories are much easier to access than others because they are written down and widely shared. One perspective I still want to understand more fully is that of the young men who left to fight in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Have students review their annotations and writing from this lesson to prepare for in-class writing during the next lesson. Encourage them to write any questions they have about their writing in their Journal.