Text/Materials Standard Objective Discussion/Writing Target Task Resources for Teaching about the Earthquake in Haiti Disaster in Haiti RI4.3, RI4.1 Exemplar Student Response Analyze what barriers prevented Haiti from being able to prepare for the earthquake and what barriers prevented the country from recovering quickly by stating a claim and providing details from multiple sources to support an idea. The author of Disaster in Haiti states, The disaster added more suffering to people already struggling to cope with everyday life. What barriers prevented Haiti from being able to prepare for the Earthquake? What barrier prevented the country from recovering quickly? Claim: Haiti s poverty is one of the key reasons why it could not adequately prepare for the Earthquake. Its lack of money and resources also prevented it from recovering quickly. Evidence: From Resources for Teaching about the Earthquake in Haiti -- Background Information : paragraph 3: Complicating the problem is the fact that Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, did not have a good public health situation before the disaster paragraph 3: Thousands more are injured, ill, and in need of medical attention. Large numbers of people are without shelter, food, and water. paragraph 3: Distribution of medical supplies, food, and water is progressing slowly. From Disaster in Haiti : paragraph 2: The disaster added more suffering to people already struggling to cope with everyday life. Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world. paragraph 2: Tens of thousands of people...were killed, and many more were injured. The Presidential Palace, which is like the White House here in the U.S., was among the many government buildings that collapsed. Hospitals were destroyed, as were countless homes. paragraph 4: Experts say it was the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years. paragraph 6: Eventually, they may suddenly jerk free. That sudden movement is what triggers an earthquake. (idea that earthquakes happen suddenly, making it very hard to prepare) Criteria for Success for Target Task Scholars identify and explain the different barriers that prevented Haiti from quickly preparing for and recovering from the earthquake (earthquakes are very difficult to predict; biggest earthquake in 200 years; limited money; government and building challenges) Scholars develop an understanding of how wealth shapes country s and people s abilities to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. Scholars annotate specific cause and effect relationships using key details in the text to explain how these barriers impacted the people of Haiti (how conditions in Haiti before the earthquake -- poverty, 1
a lack of public health services -- caused them to not be able to prepare adequately; how the earthquake caused additional devastation that led to greater suffering for the people of Haiti. Key Vocabulary and Definitions catastrophic adj; bringing great harm, suffering, and loss to a large area or many people immeasurable adj; too large or extreme to measure Before Reading Activate background knowledge/build excitement: This week, we have been learning so much about earthquakes -- why they happen, how they re measured, and some of the devastating effects they can have on people and places. We ve also thought about some potential ways to design structures to resist the impact of earthquakes. Many of you know about the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti in 2010. Today, we are going to read several news articles to better understand how the conditions in a country can make it difficult for people to effectively prepare for earthquakes and recover from them. Think about the buildings you designed -- what are some of the resources you would need to make them in real life? (i.e. money, supplies, time to build them, people, etc.) * Since this is one of the few times we will be reading news articles, rather than a book, quickly review with scholars some of the main elements of a news article (subheadings, register, etc.). Also reinforce author s craft -- the authors of news articles pick specific facts and organize them in specific ways to depict events in certain ways. We need to look carefully at what information they chose to include, and think about the possible reasons why. Materials Resources for teaching about the Earthquake in Haiti from Miami-Dade County Public Schools Disaster in Haiti from Scholastic Display TT: The author of Disaster in Haiti states, The disaster added more suffering to people already struggling to cope with everyday life. What barriers prevented Haiti from being able to prepare for the Earthquake? What barrier prevented the country from recovering quickly? Our goals today are: Aim: To identify the different barriers that prevented Haiti from being able to prepare for and recover quickly from the Earthquake. Reading Focus: Use details and information from the text and the text features 2
to explain the impact of and response to a natural disaster (the Earthquake in Haiti). Annotation Focus: WHAT: Specific cause and effect relationships about the barriers in Haiti and the impact in had on the country s ability to prepare and recover (what effects did these barriers have?) HOW: Look for specific text evidence about these barriers to preparation and recovery. What are these barriers? How did/are these barriers impacting the people of Haiti? Why did these barriers make it hard to prepare and recover from the earthquake? WHY: In news articles, authors provide facts and evidence that help us understand the effect of current events, like a natural disaster. These facts can help us understand how and why the natural disaster impacted people s lives in different ways. *Emphasize to students that today, we will be using evidence from multiple texts to answer our target task. Good readers make connections between two texts and think about how the information from one relates to and builds onto the other. *Note from unit plan: The focus of this day is to do a deeper dive into how because Haiti was a poorer nation it did not have the resources to build the solutions brainstormed in the previous lesson. Therefore, there was significantly more damage. Limiting factors: money, government, takes a long time to build, had been over 200 years etc. Scholars should get to the idea of inequality here that depending on wealth people are more prepared for earthquakes and that the solutions brainstormed yesterday are valid, they require a strong society and money. During Reading HOW: Shared Reading: First two paragraphs of Resources for teaching about the Earthquake in Haiti Model annotating sections about the force and impact of the earthquake paragraph 1: Based on the text, how powerful was this earthquake? Help scholars connect this information to what they learned about the earthquake measurement tools and scales last week. Guide scholars to understand the aftershocks of earthquakes -- how the devastation can last long after the original natural disaster. Goal is to solidify students understanding that this was the worst earthquake in a long, long time Model annotating Paragraph 2 for cause and effect relationships Resources for teaching about the Earthquake in Haiti from Miami-Dade County Public Schools Disaster in Haiti from Scholastic 3
What effects did the earthquake have on the people of Haiti? On buildings? Landmarks? Hospitals? How would this impact people in Haiti after an earthquake? Key ideas: the loss of medical facilities would make it very difficult for Haiti to recover because people were injured and couldn t access medical care Catastrophic in context: annotate with students Partner Reading: remainder of Resources for Teaching about the Earthquake in Haiti Have students focus on the human suffering caused by the earthquake, as well as on the barriers that made the effects of the earthquake more devastating. people s need for medical attention slow distribution of supplies poverty in Haiti -- lack of good public health resources Independent Reading (or continue partner reading): Disaster in Haiti Have students focus on the impact of the earthquake, the conditions in Haiti before the earthquake, and how these elements made it difficult to prepare and recover extreme poverty in Haiti earthquake causes buildings to collapse caused suffering Questions to focus on during CIRCULATION: For Resources for teaching about the earthquake in Haiti Describe the power of the earthquake in Haiti paragraph 1: Worst earthquake in nearly 200 years paragraph 1: magnitude 7.0 earthquake paragraph 1: powerful enough to be felt strongly over 200 miles away...the initial quake was followed by a series of at least 33 aftershocks...fourteen of the aftershocks were between magnitude of 5.0 and 5.9 The author describes the earthquake as being catastrophic. What evidence does he include to support that statement? paragraph 2: Structures of all kinds have collapsed paragraph 2: Almost 80 percent of the structures in Port-Au Prince were destroyed paragraph 2: Countless other buildings including homes, schools, hotels...have collapsed The author describes the human suffering as immeasurable. What evidence does he include to support that statement? 4
paragraph 3: The death toll is estimated to be up to 200,000. Thousands more are injured, ill, and in need of medical attention. paragraph 3: Large numbers of people are without shelter, food, and water. For Disaster in Haiti : What is the economy in Haiti like? Why is that problematic? paragraph 2: Haiti is one of the poorest nations in the world. paragraph 2: The disaster added more suffering to people already struggling to cope with everyday life. In what ways are people from around the world helping out? Why is this important? paragraph 3: International aid groups are rushing to provide food, water, and medical aid to Haiti. People worldwide are donating money to help. paragraph 3: Many nations, including the U.S., are sending aid as well as money. The U.S. is sending troops to help with rescue and relief efforts, and to police the streets. Idea that other countries have more resources and money than Haiti -- they are better prepared for an Earthquake and its effects than Haiti is. After Reading Discussion: *Discuss the impact of the information on the TT. What was the situation like in Haiti before the earthquake? Does this make a difference to how Haiti could help itself after the Earthquake? What was done by Haiti and other governments to try and help the people cope with the aftermath of the disaster? Materials Writing papers Writing: Have students select the brainstorm that is best suited to their evidence Reference unit plans for Writing for FCAS and mini-lessons. Closing The Earthquake in Haiti brought additional suffering to a nation that already had a great deal of troubles. Would the Earthquake have been as disastrous if Haiti had been a rich and prosperous country? Why or why not? 5
Name: Topic: What barriers prevented Haiti from being able to prepare for the Earthquake? What barrier prevented the country from recovering quickly? Structure: Brainstorm: 6
Writing What barriers prevented Haiti being able to prepare for the Earthquake? What barrier prevented the country from recovering quickly? Use evidence from both texts to support your answer. 7
8