Sosus Call Lesson Plan
Sosus Call Lesson Plan
Sosus Call Lesson Plan
Short Summary: This lesson helps children understand how they can be affected by the way
others view them. The story is about Sosu, an African boy with a disability. The villagers didn’t
think he could do anything. Sosu used a drum to call for help and save the older people and
children who were trapped by a storm. This lesson plan addresses the following literacy skills:
asking and answering questions about key details and unknown words in a text, referring
explicitly to the text for the answers; describing characters’ traits, feelings, and motivations and
how their actions contribute to the events in a story; and writing an opinion piece in response
to a text-based question.
Grade Level(s): Elementary
Intended Audience: Educators
Instructional Time: 2-3 days, Estimated 3 Hours
Freely Available: Yes
Instructional Component Types: Lesson Plan
Instructional Design Framework: Direct Instruction
Special Materials Needed
Sosu’s Call, by Meshack Asare (1997/2002) Kane/Miller Book Publishers, PO Box 8515, LaJolla,
CA 92038 (1 per child—may be read individually or in small groups if whole class sets are not
available)
Key Questions for Sosu’s Call and Answer Key (included)
Resource Collection: Disability Awareness through Language Arts and Literature: Resources for
Prekindergarten and Elementary School (2012), Tallahassee, FL: Florida Developmental
Disability Council, Inc.
Language Arts Florida Standards
LAFS.3.RL1.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring
explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
LAFS.3.RL.1.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and
explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
LAFS.3.W.1.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
a. Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an
organizational structure that lists reasons.
b. Provide reasons that support the opinion.
c. Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example) to connect
opinion and reasons.
Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to ask and answer questions about key details and unknown words in a
text, referring explicitly to the text for the answers.
Students will be able to describe characters’ traits, feelings, and motivations and how their
actions contribute to the events in a story.
Students will be able to write an opinion piece in response to a text-based question.
Disability Awareness Objectives:
Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of how people are affected by the way
others treat them.
Students will be able to demonstrate ways to show respect and support for what a person with
a disability can do.
Assessments
Formative:
Teaching Phase:
Getting Reading to Read. The initial section of the lesson focuses on the reading skills and
academic vocabulary addressed in the lesson. The teacher can assess students’ prior
knowledge by analyzing oral responses to the questions and prompts for examples of each
concept. Based on students’ responses to the definitions and questions, the students can
practice with additional examples.
Introducing the Story. This section of the lesson provides information about the main
character, Sosu, who has a disability, and how his feelings are affected by the way others
treat him. It also presents information about the setting of the story and the author. The
teacher can assess student understanding by asking questions and observing students’
comments, providing additional explanations, if needed.
Beginning. After reading the beginning section of Sosu’s Call aloud, the teacher will lead
the class to answer the questions about the feelings, motivations, and actions of the
characters and how they contribute to the events that the author presents in pages 3–15.
The teacher can evaluate the clarity of responses of individual students and the accuracy
of the evidence cited from the text and reteach or provide additional scaffolding as
necessary.
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
Guided Practice:
Middle and End. Students will first respond individually in writing to questions about the
middle and end of the story. They are asked to include a notation of the relevant page
numbers in the story for each response. The teacher can evaluate the written responses
and provide individual feedback about students’ understanding of the characters’ traits,
feelings, and motivations and how their actions contribute to the events of the story. The
teacher will also assess students’ use of text evidence to support their responses in writing.
The students will then engage in a partner learning activity to share their responses. The
teacher will circulate to observe the sharing, noting how well students’ responses reflect
how the feelings and motivations of the characters influenced their actions.
Educative:
When asking questions while reading the story to the students, note the reasonableness of
their answers. If students have difficulty thinking of answers to questions that require
inferences, provide scaffolding using illustrations and verbal cues. On the second day of the
lesson for guided practice, help students relate the descriptions to events, setting, or
characters. Encourage children to elaborate their thoughts and describe in more detail.
Summative:
Independent Practice. Students will complete an opinion writing piece to demonstrate their
understanding of how the feelings and actions of the characters contribute to the events of
the story. Students may use the Grade 3 Opinion Writing Frame to plan their response.
Teachers will use the Grade 3 Opinion Writing Rubric to evaluate how well students met the
expectations of the learning objective for writing. The teacher can provide written feedback
that evaluates how well the students used details from the story as evidence to support
their reasons and reflected an understanding of how feelings and actions of characters
contributed to the events in the story.
Guiding Questions:
Why is it important to use text evidence to answer questions about what we read?
How does understanding a character’s traits, feelings, motivations, and actions better help
me understand the events in the story?
What are ways we can share our opinions about something that happened in a story?
How is a child with a disability affected by the way others treat him or her?
How can we show respect and support for what a person with a disability can do?
Prior Knowledge
Students need to know how to ask and answer questions about text. They need to know
how to look back in a story to find the answers to questions.
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
Students need to know how to identify story elements: characters, setting, and major
events.
Students need to have a basic understanding of feelings and personality traits.
Students need to know how to write an opinion piece using grade-appropriate organization,
grammar, and conventions.
Teaching Phase:
Getting Ready to Read. Introduce the lesson using an advance organizer with a list of the
targeted reading skills for this story. Briefly discuss each of the skills.
• Answer questions about stories by finding the evidence in the text
• Identify feelings that people have
• Identify traits that people display
• Understand the meaning of “motivation”
Ask: Why is it important to use text evidence to answer questions about what we read?
Discuss. Practice by having students locate evidence of the answers to questions in a familiar
story. For example, who helped Cinderella get ready to go to the ball?
Ask: How can we tell what characters in a story are feeling?
Define feelings and have students brainstorm a list of feeling words. Explain that authors use
a character’s thoughts, words, and actions to show how he/she is feeling in the story. If
students need more practice, provide examples of character’s thoughts, words, and actions
from a familiar story and have students describe the feelings. For example, how did
Cinderella feel when she left the ball and couldn’t find her slipper?
Ask: How can we know the traits of characters in a story?
Define “traits” and have students brainstorm a list of traits. Have students choose a trait that
describes themselves and tell their shoulder partner what the trait is and why they chose it.
Explain that authors reveal traits by what the characters think, say, and do or by what others
think or say about them. If students need more practice, provide examples of character’s
thoughts, words and actions from a familiar story and have students identify the traits. For
example, in the story of Cinderella, what trait did the stepmother and stepsisters display
when they made Cinderella do all the work and wouldn’t let her go to the ball?
Ask: How can we tell the motivations of characters to act in certain ways?
Define “motivation.” Give examples that students can relate to: you are motivated to get
something to eat when you are hungry; you are motivated to do your homework so you can
play at recess; etc. Explain that characters are motivated to act in certain ways by their
feelings and traits. They can also be motivated by other characters’ words or actions. If
students need more practice, provide examples of character motivations from a familiar
story. For example, what motivated the prince to find the girl who lost her slipper at the ball?
Ask: How does understanding a character’s traits, feelings, motivations, and actions better help
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
1. What is it like in the village where Sosu lived? What is a lagoon (p. 3)? What does the author
mean when he says that Sosu’s house is a stone’s throw from the sea (p. 5)?
2. How does Sosu feel about staying behind the fence at his home (pp. 5–7)?
3. What did the stern-looking men say when they rowed alongside Da’s canoe? Why do you
think they believe that Sosu is back luck (p. 9)?
4. Why does Sosu go outside when he hears the drums? How did the young girl react when
she saw him? Why did she think Sosu was a spirit (p. 10)?
5. How does Sosu feel about his dog, Fusa? Why does he enjoy watching the chickens in his
yard? What does the author mean when he writes, “perhaps there was nothing to envy
about them” (pp. 12–13)?
6. How does Sosu feel about not going to school during the day? How do you know? Why
were his feelings in the evenings different (p. 14)?
7. What do the people in the village think about Sosu at the beginning of the story (pp. 9–10)?
How does this make him feel (p. 7)? How does Sosu see himself (p.14)?
Guided Practice
Middle, Pages 16–33
Have students form partners and make sure each pair has a copy of the questions for the
middle section of the story (Key Questions for Sosu’s Call). Have students read the assigned
pages with their partner as the teacher circulates. If multiple copies of the book are not
available, read the middle section of the text aloud as students follow along. Students will then
write the answers to the questions on the worksheet. Encourage students to include
information from the text to support their answers, writing down the page number where they
found the evidence. Once students have answered all questions, go over the responses orally to
provide feedback and clarify misconceptions.
8. What motivates the animals in Sosu’s yard to act in strange ways (p. 17–19)?
9. What is really happening when the author writes, “The usual lazy yawn of the sea turned
into an angry howl. The coconut leaves flapped and rustled, swaying desperately in the
wind” (p. 17)?
10. How does Sosu react when he hears the loud bang of the wooden gate smashing into the
yard and sees the churning tide of water spilling into his yard (p. 19)?
11. Why is Sosu worried? How does Fusa’s knowing and reassuring look help Sosu come up
with a plan (p. 21)?
12. How does Sosu get to the drum shed behind the chief’s house? What gives him the strength
to move his frail limbs (p. 22)?
13. What problem does Sosu face when he finally gets to the drum shed? How does he solve
the problem (pp. 24–27)?
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
14. What do the men and women think when they hear the drums and come running to Sosu’s
village (pp.29–33)?
Reflection
Ask: How will you act when you meet children with disabilities after reading this story?
Discuss.
Independent Practice:
Ask: What are ways we can share our opinions about something that happened in a story?
Discuss.
Ask: When we share our opinions, what should we include?
Discuss the third grade level opinion writing rubric:
• Introduce the topic and state your opinion
• Describe how you will organize the reasons for your opinion
• Provide the reasons that support your opinion
• Use linking words to show how your ideas are connected, such as because, therefore,
since, for example
• Provide a concluding statement or section
• Use correct grammar and spelling
Model how to use an opinion writing frame to plan and then create an opinion statement in
response to the following question related to the story.
How did the storm and the flood change what Sosu thought about himself?
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
Closure:
Use an exit slip to help students reflect on what they have learned. Model how to create a
response for a question on an exit slip and write it on a half-sheet of paper.
Ask: How did Sosu and the village people change?
In the beginning of the story, Sosu felt helpless and thought the villagers were afraid of him.
After he was able to save the trapped children, old people, and animals from the storm and
the flood, he felt courageous and confident.
In the beginning of the story, the people in the village were afraid of Sosu and didn’t want to
see him. They thought he was bad luck. When they learned that Sosu was very smart and
brave, they got him a wheelchair so he could go to school and just be one of the boys in the
village.
Display the following questions and ask the students to write a response to each question on
the back and the front of a half-sheet of paper. Collect exit slips at the end of the activity. Exit
slips can become part of a student’s assessment portfolio.
• What was the most important thing that happened in the story, Sosu’s Call?
• How can we show respect and support for what a person with a disability can do?
The next day, respond to what the students wrote on their exit slips and have children share
their responses. Emphasize the importance of thinking positively about each other, especially
with students who look or act differently or have a disability. As appropriate, continue to point
out and reinforce instances of children supporting and encouraging each other.
Accommodations:
Use alternative strategies when communicating with children who are non-verbal, English
Language Learners, or who have language delays, such as locate illustrations to respond to
questions or use an augmentative alternate communication device.
Provide alternate formats (audio, braille, large print) for students who have difficulty reading
independently.
Assign specific children to serve as buddies who can support their partner in the partner
process for students who have difficulty working together.
Provide a writing frame for the summative response that includes a planning template like the
one used for the model.
Extensions:
Write a letter to someone who needs encouragement (may be a person with a disability) telling
something you really like about that person. Describe characteristics and things they do that
you appreciate. Suggest an activity you might do together.
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
Author’s Remarks:
This lesson plan was developed as part of the following resource guide on disability awareness.
You will find more information in the Disability Awareness section on Positive Attitudes and
Productive Relationships and information about Exit Slips and Sharing Opinions in the Language
Arts and Literacy section.
Beech, M. (2012). Disability Awareness through Language Arts and Literature: Resources for
Prekindergarten and Elementary School. Tallahassee, FL: Florida Developmental Disabilities
Council, Inc.:
You can download a copy in English or Spanish from this webpage: Florida Developmental
Disabilities Council. INC
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
14. What do the men and women think when they hear the drums and come running to Sosu’s
village?
Reflection
After reading this story, how will you act when you meet children with disabilities?
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
At the beginning of the story the people in the village thought he was bad luck. Sosu felt sad.
Sosu feels unhappy that he isn’t useful in the village.
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
Reflection
How will you act when you meet children with disabilities after reading this story?
Answers will vary, and may include being friendly, inviting them to play, and respecting them for
what they can do.
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
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Lesson Plan for Sosu’s Call
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