Read the story with students over a few days, pausing to discuss questions in the margins and other questions they have. Then ask them to write one paragraph about how Henry changes in the story. Brainstorm a topic sentence together.
A boy learns to appreciate his dad’s new role in the family in this touching story.
Learning Objective: Students will analyze how a character changes in a story about a young boy’s response to shifts in his parents’ roles.
More About the Story
Skills
how a character changes, vocabulary, inference, problem and solution, author’s craft, synthesizing, compare and contrast, narrative writing
Complexity Factors
Levels of Meaning/Purpose
“Dad's New Job” is about a boy’s learning to accept and appreciate the recent change at home: his father has become a stay-at-home dad while his mother has started working outside the home.
Structure
The story is told in the first person and is chronological.
Language
The language is mainly conversational and includes a good deal of dialogue.
Knowledge Demands
The text refers to different careers.
1. Preparing to Read
Preview Text Features/Set a Purpose for Reading (3 minutes)
Vocabulary (15 minutes)
2. Close Reading
First Read: Get to Know the Text (20 minutes)
Second Read: Unpack the Text (30 minutes)
Answers to Close-Reading Questions
Critical-Thinking Questions
3. Skill Building
Featured Skill: Problem and Solution
Read the story with students over a few days, pausing to discuss questions in the margins and other questions they have. Then ask them to write one paragraph about how Henry changes in the story. Brainstorm a topic sentence together.
Have students read “Freddie in the Shade” from the September 2017 issue of Storyworks. Ask them to write a short essay comparing the recent changes in Freddie’s and Henry’s families and how each boy responds to those changes.
ELLs might be unfamiliar with the names of the careers mentioned in the story: pilot, chef, carpenter, nurse, architect, and store manager. Working in small groups, have them find basic details about each job, plus an image. They can share what they learned—along with the jobs’ names in their native languages.
Read the story with your guided-reading groups, using the close-reading and critical-thinking questions to discuss how Henry changes throughout the story. As you meet with groups, other students can work independently or in pairs on the how a character changes activity sheet.