Beating the Odds

Beating the Odds is the seventh segment of Read 180 Software Stage B. It's about people who never gave up reaching their goals.

7.1 Feel the Beat, Comprehension: Main Idea, Summarizing, Understand Vocabulary, Sequencing, Drawing Conclusions, Compare and Contrast, Problem and Solutions.
Evelyn Glennie likes the power of music. She can rock a crowd. People are surprised because Glennie cannot hear her own sound. Glennie is deaf. Glennie lost her hearing when she was a girl. Then, she found another way to hear music. Glennie pounds on her instruments. She feels vibrations. The vibrations tell her what sound the instrument makes. When Glennie makes music, the crowd cheers her on.

7.2 Second Chances, Comprehension: Summarizing, Understand Vocabulary, Sequencing, Read for Details, Making Inferences, Cause and Effect, Compare and Contrast, Problem and Solutions.
Karen Medville dreamed of a better life. So, she took a test to get into college. She got a low score. Then, Medville had to force herself to study hard. Hitting the books paid off for Medville. Today she is a scientist. She also works with teens. She tells them her story. Medville hopes the teens will follow their dreams, too.

7.3 Little Rock Nine, Comprehension: Main Idea, Summarizing, Understand Vocabulary, Sequencing, Read for Details, Drawing Conclusions, Making Inferences, Cause and Effect, Compare and Contrast.
In 1957, nine students walked into a new school. The students were African-American. Only white students went to the school before that date. The African-American students faced anger and hate. Some people did not want African-American students in the same school as whites. Today, African-American and white students go to the school together. Some people feel shame about what happened years before.

7.4 Write Direction, Comprehension: Main Idea, Summarizing, Understand Vocabulary, Sequencing, Read for Details, Drawing Conclusions, Making Inferences, Compare and Contrast, Problem and Solutions
Some teens in Seattle are taking a giant step toward a better life. They write stories and poems. Their work is published in a magazine called The Boot. In General, these kids have hard lives. Writing helps them deal with life. They start with a germ of an idea. Then, they pick words that tell how they feel. The teens stick with writing because it fills them with hope.