Analyzing Cause and Effect in The Cay

The Cay Cause and Effect

Activity Overview

A very important part of any story is the cause and effect relationships that come out of events in the plot. Get students predicting and problem-solving, by demonstrating their understanding of chain reactions in The Cay. Have them create a T-Chart storyboard depicting causes on the left and their effects on the right. To alter or shorten the activity, consider providing students with some cells already filled in and ask them to infer the logical contents of the empty cells.

Example The Cay Cause and Effect

Cause	Effect
The Germans start bombing the oil refineries in Curaçao.	Phillip and his mother board the S.S. Hato to return to the United States where it is safer.
A piece of debris hits Phillip on the head after the S.S. Hato is torpedoed.	Phillip goes blind.
Timothy cares for Phillip and teaches him how to survive.	Phillip becomes friends with Timothy and cares for him when he is sick.

Lesson Plan Reference

Grade Level 6-8

Difficulty Level 3 (Developing to Mastery)

Type of Assignment Individual, Partner, or Group

Type of Activity: Cause and Effect within Plot

Common Core Standards

[ELA-Literacy/RL/6/1] Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text
[ELA-Literacy/RL/6/2] Determine a theme or central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments
[ELA-Literacy/RL/7/1] Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text
[ELA-Literacy/RL/7/2] Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text
[ELA-Literacy/RL/8/1] Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text
[ELA-Literacy/RL/8/2] Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text
[ELA-Literacy/RI/6/3] Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text (e.g., through examples or anecdotes).
[ELA-Literacy/RI/7/3] Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).
[ELA-Literacy/RI/8/3] Analyze how a text makes connections among and distinctions between individuals, ideas, or events (e.g., through comparisons, analogies, or categories).

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Template and Class Instructions

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Student Instructions

Create a storyboard that shows cause and effect relationships in The Cay. Each cause and effect pair will be shown in the same row.

On the left side of the T-Chart, illustrate events that show cause (why).
On the right side of the T-Chart, illustrate events that are the direct effect of that cause.
Write a description below each cause.
In the description under each effect, show how the cause and effect are related.

Cause and Effect

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Rubric

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Cause and Effect T-Chart

Create a T-Chart storyboard that shows cause and effect relationships in the story. Each cause and effect pair will be shown in the same row.

	Proficient	Emerging	Beginning
Cause	All events on the left side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as causes. These events are why something else happened.	Most events on the left side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as causes or why something else happened.	Few or no events on the left side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as causes or why something else happened.
Effect	All events on the right side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as effects. These events are direct results of something else.	Most events on the right side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as effects or direct results of something else.	Few or no events on the right side of the T-Chart are correctly identified as effects or direct results of something else.
Images	Images clearly show the events in the story that have been identified as causes and effects.	Images show events from the story, but not all images match the cause and effect events.	Images do not represent the story or are missing.
Cause and Effect Relationship	All rows correctly show cause events in the story having a direct effect on the effect events.	Most rows correctly show cause events in the story having a direct effect on the effect events.	Few or no rows correctly show cause events in the story having a direct effect on the effect events.