Middle School Lesson Plan with Paired Texts

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Middle School Lesson Plan with Paired Texts"

Albert Cobb
6 years ago
Views:

1 Middle School Lesson Plan with Paired Texts Non-Fiction (Lexile Level 1022): Guynup, S. (2001, May 7). What do you know about SHARKS? Science World, pp Fiction (Lexile Level 940): Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea (excerpt) Lesson Overview Part I: What do you know about SHARKS? WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT SHARKS? They re ferocious predators. They haunt us in nightmares. But the scariest thing about sharks may be that they re vanishing from the world s oceans. Last December, former President Clinton signed an executive order to ban shark finning in U.S. waters. Fishers catch sharks, shear off their fins, then fling them back in the water to die. (The fins are used in shark fin soup, an Asian delicacy that can fetch $100 per bowl). Shark populations have declined alarmingly- by up to 80 percent- along U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts since the mid-70 s, says Robert Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla. Worldwide, up to 100 million sharks are caught, drowned, or tangled in fishing nets each year. Why do sharks need protection? Sharks are top predators in the aquatic food chain- a web that interconnects all organisms, in which smaller creatures become food for larger predators. Without sharks, the ocean s delicate ecosystem would be disrupted. Species that sharks devour, like seals, for example, would overpopulate and in turn decimate other species, like salmon. ARE ALL SHARKS DANGEROUS TO PEOPLE? Most sharks are harmless. Out of 375 shark species, only two dozen are in any way really dangerous to us, says Hueter. Still, scientists don t know for sure why sharks sometimes attack humans. One theory: sharks may mistake the sound of swimming humans for that of injured fish- which are easy prey. WHICH SHARK IS THE MOST DANGEROUS TO HUMANS? In terms of fatal attacks, it s a tossup between the great white, the tiger, and the bull shark, Hueter says. People fear the massive great white the most because of its size- up to 6.4 m (21 ft) long- and its large razor-like teeth, not to mention the terror stirred up by Jaws flicks. But great whites usually inhabit deep

2 seas- not shallow waters where people swim. Worldwide, fewer than 100 human attacks by all shark species are reported each year. WHERE DO MOST SHARK ATTACKS HAPPEN? Florida leads the world in shark bites, with 22 to 25 reported incidents each year. But, claims Hueter, they re not repeated shark attacks- usually a single bite. In fact, shark attacks kill a human only once every few years. Most really bad attacks occur off the coast of California, Hawaii, Australia, and South Africa, Hueter says. JUST HOW POWERFUL IS A SHARK S BITE? Scientists built a shark-bite meter that measures the jaw strength of one species, the dusky shark: it exerts 18 tons of pressure per square inch on a victim. That s like being crushed beneath the weight of 10 cars! WHAT DO SHARKS EAT? Sharks chow down on what they can when they can- usually smaller animals from shrimp and fish to turtles and seabirds. Some, like the bull shark, consume large mammals like sea lions or dolphins; others, like the whale shark, eat only plankton, tiny drifting animals and plants. And tiger sharks devour just about anything- mammal carcasses, tin cans, plastic bags, coal, and even license plates have been found inside their stomachs! HOW DO SHARKS FIND PREY? Sharks can hear a wide range of sounds, but are attracted by bursts of sound- like those made by an injured fish- or occasionally humans romping in water. At close range, sharks also sense vibration with their lateral line, a sensory system that runs from head to tail on each side of a shark s body. Inside the lateral line, which helps a shark maintain balance as well as detect sound, are canals filled with fluid and tiny hair cells. Sounds cause the liquid to vibrate, alerting the shark to the presence of another creature. This sense allows sharks to hunt even in total darkness. WHAT S A FEEDING FRENZY? Sharks usually travel solo, but if one finds easy prey, an excited, competitive swarm of sharks may join in the feast, biting anything that lies in its path. ARE SHARKS SMART? Experiments show that sharks recognize and remember shapes and patterns. Using shark snacks as rewards, scientists have taught lemon sharks to swim through mazes, ring bells, and press targets. Although we learn new things about sharks every day, there s still a lot we don t know about them, says Hueter.

3 WHAT ARE SHARKS NATURAL ENEMIES? Large sharks sometimes eat smaller sharks, and killer whales also dine on sharks. But the shark s greatest enemy is people. Humans kill sharks for food, use their skins for leather, make medicine from their liver oil, and use shark teeth for jewelry. Many sharks are killed senselessly for sport or get trapped and die in fishing nets. And it takes a long time for shark populations to rebound: most shark species take 10 years to reach reproductive age and produce small litters of less than a dozen pups. Text Coding: Highlight examples from the text that support sharks being a vicious species Underline examples from the text that support sharks being intelligent creatures Part II: The Old Man and the Sea from The Old Man and the Sea They sailed well and the old man soaked his hands in the salt water and tried to keep his head clear. There were high cumulus clouds and enough cirrus above them so that the old man knew the breeze would last all night. The old man looked at the fish constantly to make sure it was true. It was an hour before the first shark hit him. The shark was not an accident. He had come up from deep down in the water as the dark cloud of blood had settled and dispersed in the mile deep sea. He had come up so fast and absolutely without caution that he broke the surface of the blue water and was in the sun. Then he fell back into the sea and picked up the scent and started swimming on the course the skiff and the fish had taken. Sometimes he lost the scent. But he would pick it up again, or have just a trace of it, and he swam fast and hard on the course. He was a very big Mako shark, built to swim as fast as the fastest fish in the sea and everything about him was beautiful except his jaws. His back was as blue as a sword fish s and his belly was silver and his hide was smooth and handsome. He was built as a swordfish except for his huge jaws which were tight shut now as he swam fast, just under the surface with his high dorsal fin knifing through the water without wavering. Inside the closed double lip of his jaws all of his eight rows of teeth were slanted inwards. They were not the ordinary pyramid-shaped teeth of most sharks. They were shaped like a man s fingers when they are crisped like claws.

4 They were nearly as long as the fingers of the old man and they had razor-sharp cutting edges on both sides. This was a fish built to feed on all the fishes in the sea, that were so fast and strong and well armed that they had no other enemy. Now he speeded up as he smelled the fresher scent and his blue dorsal fin cut the water. When the old man saw him coming he knew that this was a shark that had no fear at all and would do exactly what he wished. He prepared the harpoon and made the rope fast while he watched the shark come on. The rope was short as it lacked what he had cut away to lash the fish. The old man s head was clear and good now and he was full of resolution, but he had little hope. It was too good to last, he thought. He took one look at the great fish as he watched the shark close in. Activity: At the conclusion of the excerpt from The Old Man and the Sea, students will be asked to write a conclusion to complete the old man s encounter with the shark. Knowledge of shark should be evident in the conclusion through the use of the What Do You Know About Sharks article with text marking. A rubric will be used to assess the application regarding student of sharks, as well as, integration of author s craft into the conclusion.

5 Rubric: CATEGORY Spelling and Punctuation Knowledge Characters There are no spelling or punctuation errors in the final draft. Character and place names are spelled consistently throughout. thorough named and clearly described in text. Most readers could describe the characters accurately. Solution/Resolution The solution to the is easy to understand, and is logical. There are no loose ends. There is one spelling or punctuation error. complete named and described. Most readers could provide a general description of the characters. The solution to the is easy to understand, and is somewhat logical. There are 2-3 spelling and punctuation errors. general the topic named. The reader knows very little about the characters. The solution to the is a little hard to understand. The final draft has more than 3 spelling and punctuation errors. Little or no application regarding of shark. No evidence of It is hard to tell who the main characters are. No solution is attempted or it is impossible to understand. Creativity many creative descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has really used his a few creative descriptions that contribute to the reader's enjoyment. The author has used his a few creative descriptions, but they distract from the story. The author has tried to use his There is little evidence of creativity in the story. The author does not seem to have used much

Sharks. The most shark attacks have been in Australia, South Africa, America and Brazil.

Sharks. The most shark attacks have been in Australia, South Africa, America and Brazil. Sharks There are more than 500 different species of shark, including the great white shark, grey reef shark, hammerhead shark and tiger shark. Where do they live? Sharks can be found in every ocean. Grey