Essential Question: “What inspires people to be courageous?”

Unit Overview

In this unit, you will read “The Terror” by Junot Diaz that speaks to the essential question: What inspires people to be courageous? You will practice analyzing how each author develops their theme. You will be given a list of vocabulary words and be asked to complete activities regarding context clues and word meaning.

---

Section A: Vocabulary – Context Clues

Activist	(noun) a person who works as part of an organized effort to bring about political or social change Related: active, activity, action
Associate	(verb) to be involved with someone or something; to be connected to someone or something in people’s minds (she associates friendship with loyalty) Related: association, disassociate
Controversy	(noun) a lot of disagreement or argument about something, usually because it affects or is essential to many people Related: controversial
Dreary	(adjective) dull or drab Related: drear
Flair	(noun) a natural talent, ability, or skill
Instantaneous	(adjective) occurring in a moment; completed suddenly Related: instant, instantaneously
Replica	(noun) a close or exact copy of an original; a reproduction Related: replicate, replicated, replication
Segregate	(verb) to separate or set apart from others or the central part of a group (doctors segregated the sick students in a special dorm) Related: segregation
Spontaneous	(adjective) unplanned; coming from a natural impulse and not thought-out in advance (a spontaneous purchase) Related: spontaneity, spontaneously
Terrorize	(verb) to create and maintain extreme fear in someone Related: terror, terrorism

Let’s Practice: Fill in the Blank Sentence

Directions: Fill in the blanks using the correct vocabulary word to complete each sentence.

Context Clues

When you read, there will be times that you're going to come across a word or several words that you're not quite sure what they mean. You have to rely on yourself to figure out the meaning of that word. Context Clues can help you figure out the meaning of the word. Below are several types of context clues.

· Synonyms

· Antonyms

· Definitions

· Examples

· Word parts

Did you use context clues to help you complete the Let’s Practice above? Below is a practice activity using context clues.

Let’s Practice: Context Clues

Directions: Use context clues to try and determine the meaning of your vocabulary words.

Strategy: Look at the photo – Look at the caption – Look at the example sentence – write a prediction

Remember: Context clues are using words around an unknown word to figure out the meaning.

Let’s Practice: Scenario

Directions: Fill in the blanks, using the correct vocabulary word to complete each scenario. Then, explain why that vocabulary word fits best based on context clues provided in the scenario. You may have to change the form of the word (ex: go, going, gone).

Synonyms are words that mean the same thing or almost the same thing. When you see words, you don't know; you can use synonyms as context clues to help figure out the new words' meanings. Complete the activity below using your vocabulary words and finding a synonym word that matches.

Let’s Practice: Matching Synonyms

Directions: Match the following vocabulary words to their synonyms.

---

We have set-up a class on CommonLit for you to receive the reading passages in multiple formats. Below is the class code.

---

Section B: Author’s Central Idea (“The Terror”)

The main idea of a passage is sometimes identified as the primary or central idea. The main idea is the big idea of the passage, sometimes the topic sentence, but sometimes not supported by many supporting details throughout the passage. Every paragraph should contain the main idea and can be defined as what a paragraph is about. This central idea is usually expressed in a sentence that can be found in the paragraph.

The main idea is not always at the beginning of the paragraph, and it's not still directly stated. But generally speaking, it's a good idea to state the main idea directly in a paragraph to clarify the paragraph.

Essential Question: “What inspires people to be courageous?”

“The Terror” by Junot Diaz

About the Author: Junot Díaz is a Dominican American writer, creative writing professor, and editor. Díaz’s work often focuses on the experience of immigrants. In this text, Díaz recounts his experiences with fear after getting beat-up as an adolescent.

Skill Focus: In this lesson, you’ll practice identifying an author’s central idea and how they support it. This means paying attention to the evidence they give for their central idea and the details they provide to clarify it. As you read, take note of the features that reveal the author’s “terror” and how he reacts to it.

Read the Text

Let’s Practice: Guided Questions

Directions: Answer the Guided Reading Questions based on the text “The Terror”.

Essay Map

This graphic organizer will help you develop an outline that includes an introductory statement, the main ideas they want to discuss or describe, supporting details, and a conclusion that summarizes the main ideas.

1. Introduction à Write one or two sentences that introduce your topic, including a brief description of your main idea. (Claim/Thesis)

2. Body Paragraph à (Reasons/Evidence/Explanation)

a. Main Ideas à List the main ideas about the topic that you will include in your writing.

b. Supporting Details à What are some supporting details that can further describe, explain, or define this idea.

3. Conclusion à Write one or two sentences that will conclude your writing. These can summarize the main ideas, describe what is important about the topic. (Summary Statement)

Below is a chart of transition words and sentence prompts to develop your essay.

Transition words to start a body paragraph	Sentence prompts for introducing evidence	Sentence prompts for explaining the evidence
● First (second, etc.), ● In addition, ● Another ● Similarly,	● For example, ● For instance, ● To demonstrate, ● To illustrate, ● In the text, / In the story … ● In [paragraph X,] … ● When [X happens] / When [character Y does / says] … ● The author illustrates this when …	● This means … ● This illustrates … ● This reveals … ● This highlights …