Students analyze the biographies to discover categories that epitomize great heart: generosity, courage, heroism. In preparation for Focusing Question Task 1, students learn to write focus statements using these characteristics of great heart. Lastly, students support their focus statements with evidence taken from the biographies, thus bringing the lesson full circle to explicitly show the connection between reading and writing.

The lesson is annotated to highlight highly supportive lesson features, including rationale and accompanying Guidelines which provide information on why the features are effective for multilingual learners. Some of the features highlighted showcase learning opportunities that apprentice multilingual learners into valued academic practices.