Ready-to-teach lesson
ELA SKILL LESSON · GRADE 3
Just Like Josh Gibson
Whose Story Is This?
- TIME
- 30 minutes full · 15 minutes short
- PRIMARY SKILL
- Trace narrator and source in layered storytelling
- OBJECTIVE
- Distinguish the child narrator's voice, Grandmama's remembered words, and the story-within-the-story.
- STUDENT
- A three-source sort and a final-voice explanation.
- EVIDENCE
- ESSENTIAL
- Whose story reaches the reader, and who passes each part on?
- QUESTION
Before teaching
Read or play the complete book before the timed lesson. Mark the repeated source phrases and the final quotation.
- Materials:
- The book; Student Evidence page; pencil.
Mark these moments: 'Grandmama says' · 'the story goes' · remembered praise/exclusion · legend-like hit · ball handed to 'me' · final speech
Lesson sequence
- TIME
- TEACHING MOVE
- 4 min
- Count the voices Read the opening. Ask who speaks to the reader, whose words are reported, and which part is introduced as a story people tell.
- 6 min
- Model the source signals Use “Grandmama says” for memory/account and “the story goes” for a legendary claim. Other connecting narration belongs to the child teller.
- 10 min
- Sort who tells what Sort statements under child narrator, Grandmama, or story/legend. Require the wording that supports each placement.
- 10 min
- Identify the final voice Trace who receives the ball and whose quoted speech closes the book.
ELA SKILL LESSON · TEACHER SUPPORT
Just Like Josh Gibson
Whose Story Is This?
Access routes
- SOLO
- Sort the marked statements into the three source columns, citing the signal phrase for each, then explain the closing voice.
- SUPPORTED
- Color-code “Grandmama says” and “the story goes.” Sort one statement at a time, rehearsing the source aloud before writing.
page 1
- LISTENING
- Replay the opening and final passage. After each statement ask, “Who is giving us this part?” Dictate the three-source sort and final-voice explanation.
- EXTEND
- Explain what the nearly invisible child narrator adds by appearing clearly when the ball changes hands.
Teacher guidance
The lesson is about source and narration, not proving whether every event occurred exactly as told.
Students should use text signals to explain how memory, family storytelling, and legend are layered.
Accuracy note: Do not label all of Grandmama’s account third-hand. Her childhood memories, the child’s retelling, and the opening legend have different sources.
Assessment
- Identifies the child as narrator.
- Recognizes that the child reports Grandmama.
- Uses a signal phrase as evidence.
- Separates remembered events from story/legend.
- Identifies Grandmama as the final quoted voice.
Short route · 15 minutes 3 min - read the opening. 4 min - model the two source signals. 8 min - sort one example per source and identify the closing voice.
STUDENT EVIDENCE · GRADE 3 Just Like Josh Gibson Three Sources, One Story Name ______________________________________ Date __________________ Sort evidence by who tells it. Then explain whose words close the book and how you know.
CHILD NARRATOR GRANDMAMA
What does the child tell or connect? What does Grandmama remember or say?
FINAL VOICE
Whose words end the book? What text signal proves it?
EXIT CHECK One source signal I used was __ ______________________________________ ________.
STORY / LEGEND
What is marked as a story people tell?
page 2
TEACHER KEY · GRADE 3
Just Like Josh Gibson
Whose Story Is This?
Strong response
The child narrator organizes the story and reports Grandmama. “Grandmama says” marks her memory or account; “the story goes” signals a legendary claim passed along. The final scene brings the child explicitly into the story through “me,” and Grandmama hands over the ball and speaks the closing quoted words.
Expected evidence
- Child narrator: connecting narration and reporting.
- Grandmama: memories and quoted/remembered words.
- Story/legend: material introduced by “the story goes.”
- Final voice: Grandmama within the child narrator’s telling.
Watch for
- Sorting by whether a statement seems true rather than by who supplies it.
- Calling all reported material “Grandmama” without recognizing the child narrator’s framing.
Independent success
The student correctly distinguishes all three source types and identifies the final quoted voice using a textual signal.
page 3