NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
9.1.1
DRAFT
Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
Lesson 4
Introduction
Lesson 4 returns to the skill of close reading introduced in Lesson 1. A main focus of this lesson is for
students to uncover connections between the Stage 1 epigraph and the Stage 1 narrative. Students will
begin this lesson by close reading, from, “‘Ay caramba,’ Sister Maria de la Guardia…” to “Neither did
they” (pp. 226–227). Students will participate in an evidence-based discussion using text-dependent
questions (TDQs). Prior to this lesson, students have been building their skills to respond to these
questions using specific evidence from the text. In this lesson students will annotate by boxing
unfamiliar words, starring important ideas, and writing their thinking in the margins or on self-stick
notes.
Students continue to determine word meaning through context, with a particular focus on words that
develop character. Student knowledge of these words will be assessed through a Quick Write at the
conclusion of this lesson. For homework, students will continue to read their Accountable Independent
Reading (AIR) texts and will complete a vocabulary extension homework activity.
Standards
Assessed Standard(s)
RL.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word
choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place;
how it sets a formal or informal tone).
Addressed Standard(s)
RL.9-10.1
SL.9-10.1.c
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says
explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current
discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the
discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions.
Assessment
Assessment(s)
The assessment of this lesson is a Quick Write, which allows students to show how specific vocabulary
from the text reflects the text’s essential ideas.

Explain why the girls’ parents accepted the nuns’ offer. Use the words ostracized and purgatory in
your response to show specifically how these words reflect essential ideas of the text.
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1
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
DRAFT
Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
High Performance Response(s)
High Performance Responses may include the following details:
 For the parents, the nun’s offer couldn’t be refused. In the caves, on the outskirts of the woods, the
children will never belong to the wolf or the human culture. The werewolf parents experience
ostracism by the farmers after they eat “silled fruit pies and terrorizing the heifers,” and are
shunned by the wolves for having human children. The nuns offer the children a chance at a better
life and the promise of being “naturalized citizens of human society.” The hope is for the children
to no longer live in the purgatory their parents are in, which is between being a real wolf and being
human.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary to provide directly (will not include extended instruction)

heifer (n.) – a young female cow
Vocabulary to teach (may include direct word work and/or text-dependent questions)







barbarity (barbaridad – Spanish) (n.) – crude or unsophisticated act
languid (adj.) – relaxed
hirsute (adj.) – hairy; shaggy
sinewy (adj.) – muscular; strong
purgatory (n.) – a place of purification or temporary punishment after death; a place in between
two worlds
ostracized (v.) – excluded, by general consent, from society, friendship, conversation, privileges,
etc.
bilingual (adj.) – able to speak two languages with the facility of a native speaker
Lesson Agenda/Overview
Student-Facing Agenda
% of Lesson
 Standards: RL.9-10.1, RL.9-10.4, SL.9-10.1.c

•
•
•
•
•
•
Text: "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" (pp. 226–227)
Introduction of Lesson Agenda
Homework Accountability
Close Reading
Reading Reflection
Quick Write
Closing
Materials
• None.
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2
5%
5%
50%
15%
20%
5%
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
DRAFT
Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
Learning Sequence
Percentage Teacher Actions
of Lesson
5%
Students look at the agenda.
Homework Accountability
Check in with students about their AIR text.
Tell students they will begin discussing their
reading in class in Lesson 6.
50%
Instructional Notes (extensions,
supports, common
misunderstandings)
Introduction of Lesson Agenda
Begin by reviewing the agenda and sharing
the standards for this lesson: RL.9-10.1, RL.910.4, SL.9-10.1.c. Tell students they will
continue to work on reading closely. Today,
they will focus their reading and discussion
on analyzing details and defining important
vocabulary from context. Explain to students
that they will have multiple opportunities to
practice these standards.
5%
Student Actions
Students listen.
Close Reading
As a whole class, review the paragraph that
begins with “At first, our pack was all hair
and snarl and floor-thumping joy”( p. 225) by
asking students the following questions:
1. How are the girls acting in this
paragraph?
Student responses may include the
following:
1. They are tearing through St Lucy’s
with joy and excitement. They are
overturning dresser drawers and
going through the Stage 3 girls’
underwear. They are jumping and
moving all over. They are urinating
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When asking a series of textdependent questions in a wholeclass setting, it is important to allow
wait time for student responses.
Prompt students to provide textbased evidence to support their
answers.
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
2. What are they forgetting?
DRAFT
Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
everywhere because they need to
remedy St. Lucy’s foreign smell.
2. They are forgetting the cautions of
their mothers and fathers about
needing to remain civilized and ladylike. Their actions prove they have
forgotten these promises they made
to their parents.
Reintroduce close reading to the students:
Students have experienced the text in its
entirety and will now engage in close reading
to analyze the text more deeply. Rereading
the text in smaller portions will help students
gain new understanding by shedding light on
the details and nuances of the text.
Students listen.
Instruct students to form pairs with another
student and read from “‘Ay caramba,’ Sister
Maria de la Guardia sighed …” to “Our
mothers and fathers were werewolves” (pp.
226-227).
Students read the text in pairs and box any Consider modeling these
unfamiliar words on their own copy of the annotations with an interactive
text.
whiteboard or document camera.
(Explicit instruction of annotation
will be taught in Lesson 5.)
Instruct students to draw a box around any
unfamiliar words they encounter.
Ask pairs to identify any words they boxed in
this section of text.
Student pairs volunteer words that are
new or unfamiliar to them.
Standard RL.9-10.4 asks students to
determine word meaning for
context. Whenever possible, have
students determine the word using
contextual analysis.
Any new word meanings should be
written on the text or a self-stick
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4
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
DRAFT
Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
note.
Ask the following TDQs to explore unfamiliar
vocabulary:
3. How are the girls in Copacabana
different from those at St. Lucy’s, and
how do you know?
4.
What phrases or descriptions help you
determine what languid means in this
context? What does the word mean?
5. What could barbaridad mean and how
do you know?
6.
What do sinewy and hirsute have to do
with in this context and how do you
know?
7. Thinking back to the word work done in
the first lesson, where we analyzed the
first paragraph, beginning with “At first,
our pack was all hair and snarl and …,”
how do the girls further show they are
neither couth nor kempt?
Instruct students to reread the section, “‘Ay
caramba,’ Sister Maria de la Guardia sighed.”
Student responses may include the
following:
3. The girls are not nearly as rowdy and
unrefined as the girls at St. Lucy’s.
They seem calm. The text describes
the Copacabana girls as fat and
willing to eat out of your hand.
4. The other girls are called “fat” and
are gentle enough to eat out of a
person’s hand; therefore, languid
means "relaxed" or "calm" in this
context.
5. Barbaridad means "barbarity" in
Spanish. The St. Lucy’s girls are rowdy
and uncivilized. They are wild and
running around everywhere. They
seem barbaric, especially compared
to other girls.
6. Sinewy and hirsute refer to the shape
of the girls and their relative
hairiness.
7. The girls show they are uncivilized
and unladylike because they are
biting the nuns.
Students reread this section of text and
star any information that tells them about
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5
If students are stuck on the question
regarding barbaridad, share with
them that barbaridad is a Spanish
word that translates to the English
word barbarity.
If students do not remember the
word meanings of couth and kempt,
point them back to page 225 in their
texts where they wrote the word
meanings next to the words.
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
DRAFT
and end before “Our mothers and fathers
were werewolves” (pp. 226–227). Tell
students to identify sections (words, phrases,
and sentences) in the text that support the
description of Stage 1 in the epigraph.
Instruct students to mark these pieces of text
with a small star.
Stage 1.
When students are finished, direct them to
engage in a Turn-and-Talk about the
evidence found. Instruct students to focus on
SL 9-10.1.c for this discussion by actively
asking questions about their partner’s
responses. Circulate around the room to
ensure students are referring to the text in
their conversations. When students are
ready, have them share out one piece of
evidence with the whole group.
Students participate in a Turn-and-Talk
with a partner. Student responses may
include the following:


Turn-and-Talk encourages class
discussion and participation of all
students. Before proceeding with
the activity, establish partners. The
“We went knuckling along the wooden student who listens will be expected
floor on the calloused pads of our
to report what he or she heard.
fists” (p. 226) describes Stage 1
Consider using any techniques that
because the girls continue to walk like are similar to a Turn-and-Talk that
wolves.
require active involvement by
Claudette’s biting of the nun shows
students.
that the narrator has not adapted to
Some students may benefit from
the new environment, and it’s still
Language Frame Options to remind
new and unfamiliar to her.
them to use evidence from the text:


Bring students back together as a whole class
and ask the following TDQs about the section
that begins with “‘Ay caramba,’ Sister Maria
de la Guardia sighed” and ends before the
paragraph that begins with “Our mothers
and fathers were werewolves” (pp. 226–
Student responses may include the
following:
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6
The quote _______ teaches me
about ________ because …
The text ________ connects to
the Stage 1 epigraph because …
Provide wait time between
questions and make sure students
understand the answers before
moving on to the next questions in
the sequence. Prompt students to
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
DRAFT
227). Remind students again to ask questions
of peers as they discuss.
8. Why does Sister Josephine use the word
backwoods?
9. What does the phrase, “we went
knuckling along” reveal about the girls?
10. From the narrator’s point of view, what
is Stage 1 really like?
Have students close read with a partner the
paragraph that begins with “Our mothers
and fathers were werewolves,” again boxing
any words they find new or unfamiliar (p.
227). After reading, student partners will
write their understanding of this paragraph
on a self-stick note.
provide text-based evidence.
8. This group of girls at St. Lucy’s is less
civilized or refined than girls at other
schools who are in similar
circumstances. Therefore, the girls
may need to undergo a longer
readjustment period to this culture,
as indicated by Sister Josephine
saying the nuns must be patient with
the girls.
9. The girls still are wolf-like in many
ways; they are not cultured and they
do not act like humans.
10. The epigraph said that this period
would be fun, but it seems to be a
time when the nuns are disappointed
in the girls’ actions. The narrator
seems to understand that this group
of girls is different than others the
nuns have encountered.
Students will read, box new or unfamiliar
words, and write their initial
understanding of the text on a self-stick
note.
Look for students to note that the parents
are werewolves, but the girls are human—
the condition skipped a generation. The
nuns came to give the girls a culture they
would not have received from their
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Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
7
This paragraph can be broken into
two parts to ensure comprehension.
For struggling readers, the
paragraph can be split before the
sentence beginning with “Our
parents…” (p. 227).
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
DRAFT
Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
parents.
Ask student partners for any new or
unfamiliar words from this section of text.
Have student partners volunteer new or
unfamiliar words.
In a whole class discussion, ask the following
TDQs to familiarize students with important
vocabulary:
Student responses may include the
following:
11. Who is ostracized in the text and how
do you know?
12. Why do the farmers ostracize the
parents?
13. Why do the parents ostracize the local
wolves?
14. From these clues, what does ostracized
mean?
15. Where is the werewolves’ purgatory?
16. What are the qualities of this place?
17. What is the word meaning of purgatory
in this context?
11. The parents are ostracized because
both the farmers and the local
wolves push them out. The text also
says the parents live an “outsider’s
existence” (p. 227).
12. The parents eat their pies and scare
their cows (heifers).
13. They are physically different
(thumbs); they have human emotions
(regrets), and human children.
14. Ostracized means "to be pushed out
of a place or not accepted by a
group."
15. The werewolves’ purgatory is where
they are set apart from the other
wolves and humans.
16. It seems to be a place that no one
wants to be and it seems pretty
terrible since the werewolves have
been pushed out of other places to
live.
17. Purgatory is "a place in the middle."
Here, it is between purebred wolves
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It is important to let students
respond to these TDQs to determine
the meaning of ostracized and
purgatory as used in the text.
Provide students with the definition
of heifer if they are struggling with
meaning.
Some students may understand the
word purgatory from previous
experiences. It is important to use
this background knowledge to
understand how it is being used to
describe the werewolves’ plight.
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
18. Why does Russell say that the pack
grew up in a “purgatory”?
Ask student partners to engage in a Turnand-Talk about the following TDQs about the
paragraph that begins with “Our mothers
and fathers were werewolves” (p. 227):
19. What important information do we
learn about the girls and their parents in
this paragraph?
20. How will the girls be bilingual, and
what does the word bilingual mean in
this context?
21. What offer did the nuns make to the
parents? How do you know?
22. Why is St. Lucy’s culture better?
Facilitate a discussion of student responses.
DRAFT
and humans.
18. The werewolves are pushed out of
both groups and so are living “in
between.”
Student partners participate in a Turnand-Talk about the TDQ’s.
Student responses may include the
following:
19. The girls’ parents are werewolves,
but the girls are not because the
condition skips a generation.
20. The girls will learn to “speak” the
culture of werewolf and human
because the nuns will teach them
about human society. Bilingual
means to be able to speak two
languages.
21. The nuns offered to take the children
away from the purgatory in which
they were living and to give them an
education in human culture. In the
text, it says that the nuns wanted to
let them be part of “human society.”
22. St. Lucy’s culture will be an education
in human society. The nuns are
stating that this is a better choice
than remaining in purgatory, where
the girls are neither purebred wolves
nor werewolves. The education
would allow the girls to participate in
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Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
9
Encourage students to use text
evidence in their responses by
including the word because in their
answers. This will have students
refer specifically to the text.
Additional scaffolding question:
How are the girls different from
their parents? (The girls are human
because the parent’s condition skips
a generation.)
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
DRAFT
Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
human society as “naturalized
citizens” (p. 227).
15%
20%
Reading Reflection
Have students revise the thoughts they
recorded on the self-stick note based on
what they learned about the paragraph
(“Our mothers and fathers were werewolves
...” (p. 227)) through this whole-group
discussion of the TDQs.
Students revise their thoughts about the
paragraph (“Our mothers and fathers
were werewolves....” (p. 227)) on the selfstick note.
Have students share changes in perceptions
of the text.
Students share out responses.
Lead a quick debrief on the discussions
students had today. Ask them to complete a
Turn-and-Talk about how they did with SL.910.1.c.
Students discuss standard SL.9-10.1.c in a
Turn-and-Talk.
It may be useful to tell students that
they will focus more on this
standard in upcoming lessons.
Students independently answer the
prompt using evidence from the text. See
High Performance Response at the
beginning of this lesson.
Post or project the prompt so
students can see it.
Students listen.
If students are struggling to find
Quick Write
Provide students with the following Quick
Write prompt: Explain why the girls’ parents
accepted the nuns’ offer. Use the words
ostracized and purgatory in your response to
show specifically how these words reflect
essential ideas of the text.
Give an allotted amount of time for students
to respond.
5%
Closing
For homework, instruct students to continue
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10
NYS Common Core ELA & Literacy Curriculum
DRAFT
reading their Accountable Independent
Reading text.
Grade 9 • Module 1 • Unit 1 • Lesson 4
texts, refer to the supplementary
reading list for this module. If time
permits, consider assigning the
vocabulary extension homework
activity. (See below.)
Homework
Students will read their AIR text.
Vocabulary Extension Activity
Select two words from the list below and explain the connections between them in "St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves." Write your
two words and then explain how they’re linked to demonstrate comprehension of both word meanings and story plot.
Vocabulary Words: purgatory, ostracized, civilized, bilingual, barbarity (barbaridad), remedied, culture, lycanthropic
Examples:
barbarity  (CONNECTION: The girls show they are barbaric when they first arrive at the home, but the nuns have the charge to turn them into
civilized citizens.)  civilized
ostracized  (CONNECTION: When the girls lived with their parents they were ostracized by two different groups, but by the time they are
finished with their education at St. Lucy’s, they should be bilingual and able to move between the werewolf and human culture.)  bilingual
bilingual  (CONNECTION: The education the girls receive should enable them to be bilingual in two cultures.)  culture
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11