• Analyze characters from selected short stories to understand the importance of friendship, empathy, and resilience in facing challenges and apply these themes to their own lives
• Apply the lessons learned from characters to examples in their own lives

How do characters in literature show the importance of good friends during tough times? How do they demonstrate empathy? How do they stay resilient in the face of adversity?

• Copies of the stories being used; students can choose which story they would like to read and then do the work in pairs or small groups, or the class can focus on a wholeclass text. Some examples that work well for this lesson:
  • “Thank You, M’am” by Langston Hughes; approximately 5 pages
  • “The Treasure of Lemon Brown” by Walter Dean Myers; approximately 6 pages
  • “The Scholarship Jacket” by Marta Salinas; approximately 4 pages
  • “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara; approximately 8 pages
  • “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury; approximately 6 pages
• Paper or notebook for notes on the discussion
• Whiteboard and markers

Before starting, review norms from the first lesson in this unit or use that lesson to discuss and create norms before proceeding.

Here are some norm examples, although it is best if students create these norms as a class.

• Respect other people’s opinions.
• Try to understand other people’s points of view; listen to understand, not to respond.
• Participate, participate, participate.
• Respect all opinions.
• Be rational in responding; attack ideas, not people.

Have students write about a time when they faced a tough situation and how having friends or support helped them through it. Pick 2–3 students to share their ideas with the class.

Divide students into small groups and assign each group a different story or ask them to read and discuss the whole‐​class text. Give them time to read the text. They may want to read silently or take turns.

Students should take notes as they discuss the story. This discussion needs to be centered around the themes of the story, which you can give them or have them find, and the essential questions, which you should display on the whiteboard. They need to be able to cite specific examples.

Jigsaw so that there are new groups with a person or two from each story in a group. Students should discuss their respective stories.

What themes are similar in each of the stories? How does each story go about displaying these themes?

As a whole class, discuss the themes in each of the stories.

Why do these themes help readers connect to the story?

How can we make and maintain good friendships? What are some ways we can show empathy toward others? How can we build resilience to overcome challenges?