Guided Reading Lesson Plan

Teacher Name: Ms. Miller (Danielle)

Course: English

Date: 28/10/14
Grade Level: 7th

Lesson Length: 50 minutes

Concept or Skill: Primary text reading
Materials/Technology Needed: Teacher provided: Primary texts, printed; a device with internet access for each
pod | Students: writing utensil, paper
Sources Consulted: www.loc.gov
Learning Objective: SWBAT pick out central themes from a primary text and support the themes with evidence
from the reading.
Language Objective: SW read a primary text aloud in groups and then individually write two central themes they
identified; they will then discuss as a group the supporting evidence for their themes.
Standard(s) Addressed: W.7.7. Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources
and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation.
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)
Assessment(s): Write two central ideas with three pieces of supporting evidence from texts turned in as an exit
ticket.
LESSON
ELEMENT

DETAILS

Pre-Reading

Remind them of unit conducting short research projects to answer

questions to draw on several sources
Recap the previous lesson analyzing how the feminist movement
started with women's suffrage in the USA
We have been looking at a particular topic, How the Feminist
Movement has Changed and Evolved (posted on board by door),
as a class to get an idea of how to approach writing a research
paper.
Last class we were introduced to what women's suffrage was
and the time period it occurred in, as well as some of the pioneers
of the movement and methods they used to attain voting rights.
Today, we're going to read a primary source document from suffragettes
in those times, but first we will define some vocabulary to help us
comprehend the document.
Write Suffragette, charwomen (reading term in document),
primary source, wardress, central theme, and supporting
evidence on the board.
The class has already been broken into pods of 4 desks pushed
together for this unit and they have done term research before.
Assign each of them a word and give each group three minutes to
define it.
After three minutes, have each group summarize their
definition/read their definition and write them on the board.
Instruct the class to copy down each definition as you write it
1

TIME

10 minutes

During Reading

After Reading

(they have done this before).

Background knowledge has already been recapped in the unit reminder
I will read the first piece, a short poem from a man's point of view about
suffragettes and we will discuss the central theme and supporting
evidence for that central theme together. Then I will read the next piece,
a one-page news article about a young suffragette that went on a hunger
strike for voting rights and was force fed through tubes in her nose.
As you read, be sure to write down two central themes or ideas you
see running through the story. Make sure to find sentences that
support these central themes. You will write down two central themes
on your own, but you will discuss the supporting evidence for your
central themes when we have finished reading. This will be your exit
ticket. They have done something similar to this before.
Read the first poem together as a class. Discuss how the style and the
words could make it difficult to access. Discuss the point of view and
message. This will take around 14 minutes. Spend about 2-3 minutes on
every question. Have them elaborate on their opinions with evidence.
I purposely did not write down any vocabulary words from this
piece to make the reading easier. Did you feel like you could
understand the words based on the words around them the context
or were they too weird and foreign to comprehend?
What did you think of this piece since it was written from a male's
point of view?
What do you think his central theme or main idea is? Share with
a partner.
22 minutes
Where do you find evidence for this theme? Even if the theme you
said is exactly what the words say on the page, I want you to tell your
partner exactly what sentence you found it in and why it supports
your central theme.
Read the one-page article. Stop after every two paragraphs to remind
them they should be looking for central themes and finding supporting
evidence for those themes. If necessary, make strong hints as you are
reading by emphasizing or inflecting certain sentences that would
summarize the central theme. Remind them that they are learning how to
find evidence for central themes because they will be doing this on their
own later as part of the unit. This should take around 8 minutes or less
(since you, the teacher, are reading).
When the article is finished, remind them of the definitions written on the
board that they produced earlier. Mention that charwomen and wardress
is specific to the reading, but suffragette, central theme, primary source
and supporting evidence will continue to be reused.
These are important words to remember, so we will have a fill-inthe-blank bell ringer tomorrow to help keep them fresh in our mind.
Refocus the class to their exit ticket. As we were reading, you should
have written down at least two central themes from the text. Hopefully
you also saw some sentences that directly supported what you thought
the main idea was. Write down those pieces of evidence in quotes from
the page.
15 minutes
After you are finished writing, share with your pod the two central
themes that you found as we read through the piece together. Then
use one piece of supporting evidence in your discussion to justify
2


Assessment/
Closure

or defend your answer. This is an extremely important skill to have

when writing research papers.
As the class begins working, walk around to each pod multiple times
to keep them on track and guide them to finding sentences within the
text to support their themes. If they are having trouble, suggest
certain sentences to find central themes in and then tell them to look
for more. Usually they will over-think, so reassure them that the
assignment can be simple.
Suggested themes: suffragette suffering, hunger strike, extreme
tactics for a cause, stubbornness, and resilience.
Remember, you must hand this paper to me on your way out. Do not
worry if you don't have it completed fully this exercise was to
introduce you to the idea of finding evidence in a text. This will be a 'best
effort' grade.
The learning objective for today was to identify central themes and pick
out supporting evidence from a primary source. All of you just
3 minutes
participated in that objective this class period. By a show of fingers, one
being not at all and five being 'I got this!', how comfortable do you feel
with saying that you met this learning objective? (They have rated
themselves in this way before).
Alright, we will be using the vocabulary words in our bell opener
tomorrow, so consider looking over your words before next time! You
guys did great today!

Accommodations Needed: More one-on-one time for students struggling with the idea of a central theme or
supporting evidence. If there any students with reading learning disabilities, provide a simpler text for them to
follow along with.
Post-Lesson Reflective Thoughts:
Post-Lesson Suggestions for Revision: