Ko Sasaki for The New York TimesThe community center of a temporary housing complex in Aizu-Wakamatsu, Japan, where some fled after last year’s nuclear disaster. Go to related article »Each Friday we collaborate with a classroom in New Jersey to test and publishthree short writing ideas that address Common Core Standards and that are grounded in New York Times content.
This week, all three prompts focus on the common theme of life on a coastline — a topic of great importance to our classroom collaborators, who recently went through weeks of disruption because of Hurricane Sandy.
Even if you live nowhere near a coast, however, we hope you can find something here that interests your students, whether investigating the notion of “home,” learning about what life is like for those who are still refugees from the 2011 tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan, or reading about a dispute between the United States and Canada.
Common Core Practice Tasks | Week of Nov. 26-30, 2012
Informative Writing
Asia/Pacific: “Hopes of Home Fade Among Japan’s Displaced”
Common Core Standards: RI1, R12, RI10, W2, W4, W9, W10, RH5
The residents of Okuma, Japan, are familiar with disaster and displacement. In March 2011, an earthquake and subsequent tsunami crippled the nuclear reactor at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant causing radiation to seep out into surrounding towns. Okuma is one of those towns whose residents were forced to evacuate during the nuclear meltdown. How long will it be until Okuma residents are allowed to move back home?
Your Task: In a paragraph, draw comparisons between the Fukushima disaster in Japan and Hurricane Sandy — or any other disaster that has affected an area you know well. How are these events and their devastation similar?
Before You Do the Task, You Might …
- Watch this “Year in Review” video from The New York Times that takes a look back at Japan’s nuclear disaster.
- List the similarities between what happened in Japan and what happened in the disaster you will write about.
- Remember to include only similarities in your paragraph.
Extension Activity
The Fukushima power plant and the New York and New Jersey coastlines were both victims of natural disasters. Their proximity to the ocean made these areas more vulnerable to rising tides and powerful waves. Once the storms are over, government agencies must step in and help repair damage. As part of a Room for Debate feature, The Times recently asked five experts to address this question:
Should the federal government stop helping to rebuild properties in areas vulnerable to natural disasters? Follow the discussion and determine where you stand on this issue.
Narrative Writing
New York: “Salvaging at the Shore, or Just Remembering”
Common Core Standards: RI1, RI10, W3, W9, W10, RH4
“There had been the porch parties at Sue and John Notte’s, who no longer have a porch or much else, and barbecues at Uncle Mike’s or Bobalu’s. The coming-of-age moment for all children was when they were allowed to go to Barnacle Bill’s arcade and miniature golf on their own.”
The residents of Ortley Beach, N.J., have only recently been allowed back into their homes to assess the damage done by Hurricane Sandy. Sadly, many of these homes were reduced to rubble, and the residents lost almost everything. But many of them have promised to rebuild and start anew because Ortley Beach is their home.
Your Task: What is home? In a narrative that includes figurative language and sensory details, describe what “home” means to you.
Before You Do the Task, You Might …
- Brainstorm your own definition of home. Is it a structure? A memory? A specific place? A group of people?
- Make a list of sensory details that describe your idea of home. How does it smell? How does it taste? What does it look like? What sounds do you hear? How do you feel when you’re there?
- Watch this video about Ortley Beach and use the images and interviews as inspiration for your writing.
Extension Activity
- Using a tool like Animoto, create a visual representation of your paragraph. Include pictures (either your own or those from the Internet) and quotes from your response.
- Interview a wide variety of people about what “home” is to them. What commonalities do you see? How much of our contemporary notion of “home” do you think has been the same throughout human history? Why? What evidence can you find for your answer?
Argumentative Writing
Op-Ed: “Good Neighbors, Bad Borders”
Common Core Standards: RI1, RI10, W1, W4, W9, W10, RH1, RH4
Machias Island and North Rock barely appear as dots on a map, but they are the center of a 230-year controversy. Both Canada and the United States lay claim to these small pieces of land in the Gulf of Maine, and Op-Ed contributor Stephen R. Kelly worries that this dispute may put an end to the United States’ reputation for running the longest peaceful border.
Your Task: Using evidence from the text, write a paragraph arguing for your point of view on the question of who should be granted possession of the islands.
Before You Do the Task, You Might …
- Make a table, with a column for the United States and a column for Canada. List the reasons each country wants the islands in the appropriate column.
- Read over your list and choose the side that you think has the best reasons.
- Make a list of questions that the Op-Ed piece doesn’t answer. Where could you find out more about this topic?
- Pick two or three of the strongest reasons and be sure to include them in your paragraph.
Extension Activity
- Using the Learning Network’s graphic organizer “Supporting Opinions with Facts,” write an Op-Ed from the opposite viewpoint you used in your initial response.
- Japan, China and Taiwan are in a similar territorial dispute over an island chain in the Pacific called the Senkaku. Common Core Practice tackled this issue in a September post. In a paragraph, contrast the territorial disputes between these Asian countries with this territorial dispute between Canada and the United States.
