Written Communication to Reading

A Long Walk to Water Lesson Plan

Overview

This lesson would appear in a unit plan for Linda Sue Park’s A Long Walk to Water. In it, students will read the first two or three chapters of the book, and then decide what they think will happen in Salva and Nya’s stories. It requires students to make predictions about the story, so this lesson assumes it is being done the second or third day the book is being taught; however, it could easily reused throughout the story. Students could adjust their predictions as the story goes on or make them later on. The book is short and meant for juvenile readers, though, so if it is used in a high school class it may be hard to convince students to not read ahead.

This lesson is also written using Montana Common Core Content Standards for ninth and tenth grade students.

Content Standard

Despite many content standards being used throughout the lesson, the one this lesson specifically focuses on is:

W.9–10.3.c Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole.

Students have to use a variety of analyzation and predication techniques to decide what they think will happen next. They also have to synthesize what they know about how people interact with their environment and how people in war torn countries have acted between each other in the past to decide how they think the book with continue.

Materials Needed

The following list will have a standard material, and then other suggestions for what students can use to apply with the Universal Design for Learning framework. The list will be slightly different from most lists, however, because students will not be required to write their thoughts if they do not want. The standard says they have to sequence events to create a coherent whole, so the product students turn in just has to comply by that guideline.

A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park — Audio-books and e-books that allow the text size to be changed should also be available for students that need them.

Computers — The computers should have text to speech properties and should have a usable mouse pad instead of a touch button so that students that want to create an online storyboard for their project can.

Paper, Pencils, and Pens — All these products should be available for students that want to physically draw or write their prediction instead of drawing or writing it on the computer.

Cameras — Students can use school cameras or their phones, but they may want to also act out what they think will happen instead of documenting it the other ways.

Lesson Sequence

This lesson should only take one 50 minute class period. For homework the night before the lesson starts, the students should be told to read the first three chapters of A Long Walk to Water, so they can start the current day’s lesson right away with predictions. It should also be heavily stressed that students CANNOT read ahead on the first night because of the upcoming lesson.

Start the lesson by having students take a few minutes of quiet to think about what they read and what they imagine will happen next. Make sure students do not talk with one another.

Next, have students write, draw, or act out what they think will happen to Nya and Salva throughout the story. Instead of just the next scene, have students say what they think will happen for the entirety of the story. These predictions need to be realistic. If students are going to record what they think will happen, they should jot down what they want to record to make sure they are not influenced by their friends ideas since at least two people will be needed for recording.

Once students are done, have them independently read for the rest of the class period so they can start to see if their predictions were correct!

Later Lessons

At a later point in the unit, students should revisit this lesson through either a written or oral activity. Students can sit in small groups, talk about their predictions, and say where they went right or wrong, or they can write short half a page to one page essays explaining the same idea. In these reflection activities, students can also talk about places where their prediction could have been correct again. For example, if a student said they thought Salva was going to be eaten by a wild animal before reaching the refugee camp, they would be wrong. However, Marial was eaten by a lion, which could have been Salva, and Salva was almost eaten by crocodiles after being forced out of the first refugee camp.