®
GUIDED READING HISTORICAL FICTION 880L
Malinali Written by Vicki León and illustrated by Cecily Lang KEY IDEA Malinali, the daughter of a Mayan chief, was sold into slavery by her stepfather, and resold repeatedly. Each time, she learned the language of her captors. In Aztec Mexico, she became the interpreter to the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés, and won her freedom.
Session 1 Text Selection: pp. 3–17
Session Learning Focus/Standards
STUDENTS
KEY IDEA: TEXT SELECTION Malinali’s first entries described her happy life in her parents’ village. Then her father died, and her mother married an ambitious man who sold Malinali into slavery. She was sold again and again until the chief of the Tabascans gave her to the newly arrived Hernán Cortés as a peace offering.
RL.5.3* Determine the challenging major events in the story and describe how characters respond/contribute or how these events progress the plot line. *Standard adapted from another grade SL.5.1a Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
Comments for future instruction:
✓= demonstrated/articulated
PREVIEWING THE TEXT
X = not demonstrated/not articulated
5 minutes
et’s begin by sharing what our preview shows us about the book. Who’d like to share what L the back cover tells us? omething the back cover doesn’t explain is the form that Malinali tells her story in. Who can S see the answer in the headings on the pages? But you can’t understand all the headings, can you? Someone explain why. That part of the heading is the date in Malinali’s Mayan language.
MONDO BOOKSHOP GRADE 5 1
READING THE TEXT CLOSELY
10 minutes
eing a slave brought a lot of challenges into Malinali’s life. As we read, we’re going to look B for challenges that Malinali faces and describe how she responds to them. Let’s look for a challenge she faces on pages 3 to 4. How does she respond to the challenge? ow Malinali responds to her challenges shows us what she’s like as a character. Looking at H how she responds to a challenge, how would you describe her character? s the book goes on, we’ll see those traits in her more and more. We can also see how her A responses may develop the plot line. Do you notice a small event that occurs after Malinali starts studying? er positive response caused her father to give her the corn kernels. I wonder if this is how H she knows what the dates of her diary entries are. ur work as readers today is to find the many challenges that Malinali faces.For each O challenge, we’ll examine how she responds or how the challenge helps move the action, or plot, forward. Now read to the end of page 17.
DISCUSSING THE TEXT
10 minutes
henever you participate in a classroom discussion, it’s a good idea to be prepared. One W way to be prepared for our discussion about Malinali is to have any notes you’ve taken with you and to refer to them during the discussion. After the challenge we read about on page 4, what challenge comes next? I like your use of text evidence. Now how does Malinali respond? Now let’s look at how this challenge affects the plot. Think about how it affects her life. ne challenge leads to another and progresses the plot. Her father’s death leads to the O challenge of a new stepfather who doesn’t want her around. et’s do a close read of some vocabulary in this section. Often, a word in English is related to L a word in another language. That happens because one language takes words from the other. For instance, look at the word cacao. Who can tell us, from the context clues, what it refers to? Yes, and what English word that has to do with chocolate looks almost exactly like cacao? hocolate originated in Mexico, before Columbus, so some English words relating to C chocolate come from native Mexican languages. I like the way you find challenges in Malinali’s story and describe how they affect her and the plot. This is a strategy readers can use for reading any kind of fiction, whether it’s historical fiction like this book or purely made-up fiction.
2 Malinali
®
GUIDED READING HISTORICAL FICTION 880L
Malinali Written by Vicki León and illustrated by Cecily Lang KEY IDEA Malinali, the daughter of a Mayan chief, was sold into slavery by her stepfather, and resold repeatedly. Each time, she learned the language of her captors. In Aztec Mexico, she became the interpreter to the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés, and won her freedom.
Session Learning Focus/Standards
STUDENTS
Session 2 Text Selection: pp. 3–17
RL.5.3* Determine the challenging major events in the story and describe how characters respond/contribute or how these events progress the plot line. *Standard adapted from another grade RL.5.6* Describe how the point of view of the story’s narrator impacts the telling of the story (e.g. establishes understanding of one point of view over others) and the effect it has on the reader. *Standard adapted from another grade RL.5.7 Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text.
SL.5.1a Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
Comments for future instruction:
✓= demonstrated/articulated
RETURNING TO THE TEXT
X = not demonstrated/not articulated
5 minutes
To begin today, let’s have someone give us a brief summary of Malinali’s story so far.
MONDO BOOKSHOP GRADE 5 1
READING THE TEXT CLOSELY
10 minutes
oday we’re going to keep reading pages 3–17. In addition to thinking about Malinali’s T challenges, we will also think about point of view. Now, reread pages 3–6 silently. Let’s talk about who the narrator is. Some of you may have diaries or journals. What do people usually write in a diary or journal? Can you find examples of Malinali’s personal thoughts? e are really learning a lot about Malinali’s point of view, her feelings, her thoughts, and her W opinions. How does this affect you as readers? Can you understand her feelings? eeing the story from her point of view helps you understand her and feel more sympathetic S toward her character. Let’s analyze the visual elements of the book. What illustrations did you notice? Do you think this adds to the meaning, tone, or beauty of the words on page 4? s we continue reading, keep noting challenging major events. Also pay attention to the A illustrations and how they add to your understanding of the words you read. Lastly, keep in mind how the point of view of the narrator affects you as the reader.
DISCUSSING THE TEXT
10 minutes
et’s keep discussing Malinali’s responses to challenges, how her responses reveal her L character and advance the plot, and how we learn about these developments through her point of view and visual elements. We’ll start by naming a challenging major event. That’s a huge challenge for a young girl like Malinali. How does she respond? Does the text say she feels lonely? e’re reading the text from Malinali’s perspective. How does her point of view affect you, W the reader? eeing things from her perspective changes how you read the story. Do the illustrations S affect you as well? he illustration contributes to the sad and scary tone of the text. There are a few different T types of visuals in this book. Let’s talk about what meaning, tone, or beauty some of the visuals add to the story. hat’s a lot of visuals! Is there anything you think could be added to the visuals to make them T more effective? I see another Native American word that’s related to an English word, near the end of this page. Who sees it? Yes, and what English words do we get from it? That’s our second food word from Mexico. There are a lot of them in English today. I like the way the discussion has been going. Keep discussing this portion of the book. As you enter the discussion, ask yourself whether you’ve prepared sufficiently. If you haven’t, you might want to take a minute to review the text. Help your partners by sharing any prior knowledge you have. We’ll talk more in our next session.
2 Malinali
®
GUIDED READING HISTORICAL FICTION 880L
Malinali Written by Vicki León and illustrated by Cecily Lang KEY IDEA Malinali, the daughter of a Mayan chief, was sold into slavery by her stepfather, and resold repeatedly. Each time, she learned the language of her captors. In Aztec Mexico, she became the interpreter to the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés, and won her freedom.
Session 3 Text Selection: pp. 18–43
Session Learning Focus/Standards
STUDENTS
KEY IDEA: TEXT SELECTION Malinali accompanies Cortés and his men from the coast to the Aztec capital, helping him gain allies among anti-Aztec peoples and translating as Cortés plies Moctezuma for gold. Ultimately, she gains the freedom Cortés had promised her.
RL.5.3* Determine the challenging major events in the story and describe how characters respond/contribute or how these events progress the plot line. *Standard adapted from another grade RL.5.6* Describe how the point of view of the story’s narrator impacts the telling of the story (e.g. establishes understanding of one point of view over others) and the effect it has on the reader. *Standard adapted from another grade RL.5.7 Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text.
SL.5.1a Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
Comments for future instruction:
✓= demonstrated/articulated
RETURNING TO THE TEXT
X = not demonstrated/not articulated
5 minutes
oday we’ll read Malinali’s diary as she travels with the Spanish conquerors. Would someone T briefly remind us of our purpose for reading? Let’s read the rest of the story. MONDO BOOKSHOP GRADE 5 1
READING THE TEXT CLOSELY
10 minutes
s you read, take some time to notice challenging major events and Malinali’s point of view. A How does that affect what you learn about her challenges and responses? hat difference do you think that makes, compared to seeing her experiences from an W outsider’s point of view?
DISCUSSING THE TEXT
10 minutes
Let’s discuss how Malinali responded to interpreting for Cortés and Moctezuma. How does Moctezuma’s response to the Spaniards’ arrival progress the plot? et’s turn our attention to the visual elements. Point out an image and explain how it adds to L your understanding. How about the other illustrations? In your view, is the balance between the types of visuals in this part of the book a good one, and why or why not? ou’ve finished reading Malinali’s diary! Now you’ll find an Afterword that summarizes Y Malinali’s adult life, and an Author’s Note. Read them, and think about whose point of view they take and how that affects your understanding.
2 Malinali
