Lesson Plan Template

EDIS 5882: English Education

Name:
Context:

Date and time for which lesson will be taught: Monday, September 3rd & Tuesday, September 4th
Course name: 11 English Honors
Grade level: 11th
Length of lesson: 80 min
Description of setting, students, and curriculum and any other important contextual characteristics: Our 11th Honors
students are a tough bunch to describe. They are smart, able students who often have a really strong and wonderful
investment in their personal opinions. The ability level of the class is quite wide, which makes instruction
challenging. Although almost all students have passed their SOLs, some students have passed with flying colors, and
others have just barely scraped through. Some need more one-on-one help to get increase their level of
understanding, others need one-on-one help to stay on task. This means that my MTs typical approach is to lead
very directed, class-wide activities. However, Ive been wondering for a while where the kids are as they read. I
want to do a diagnostic on reading comprehension and critical reading to see if I could do some differentiated
grouping in this class. Ive got an idea for where I would put people, but having some small diagnostic would be
helpful.
a. In terms of commas, colons, and semicolons the students in one block were recently given a summative
assessment that too many of them failed, so we are doing some re-reaching. In one block, the environment
of the class, due to some technical difficulties, made it so that the results of the assessment might be
skewed, so they are taking it again. As of right now, this is the only main place where the plan of the lesson
differs for the two blocks.

Objectives:
Number each objective to reference in the Assessment section
SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
SWBAT compare their version what it means to be an American with the view that society tells them that it means to
be an American.
Students will know the proper times to combine sentences with a comma, semicolon, and colon.

Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive: establishing an American identity is a personal and ever-changing
decision.

Performance (do):
Compare their idea of what it means to be an American with societies ideal for what it means to be an American.
Answer a comprehension critical reading question based on James Baldwins The Discovery of what it means to be
an American.

SOLs:[ListwithnumbersportrayedintheSOLdocument]

11.4Thestudentwillread,comprehend,andanalyzerelationshipsamongAmericanliterature,
history,andculture.
11.7Thestudentwillselfandpeereditwritingforcorrectgrammar,capitalization,punctuation,
spelling,sentencestructure,andparagraphing.a)Useastylemanual,suchasthatoftheModern
LanguageAssociation(MLA)ortheAmericanPsychologicalAssociation
CCSs:[ListwithnumbersportrayedintheCCSdocument]
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3

Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of

a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are
introduced and developed).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when
writing or speaking.
Assessments: Methods for evaluating each of the specific objectives listed above.
Please use the sentence stems to describe your assessments. In brackets after each assessment note the number of the
objective(s) from above being assessed
Diagnostic: Students will demonstrate what they already know about American identity by creating a venn diagram
that compares their expectations of American identity to societys expectation of American identity.

Formative: Students will show their progress towards their understanding of American Identity by participating in
class discussions about American Identity and the short story The Discovery of What it Means to be an American.
by

Summative: Students will ultimately be assessed (today or in a future lesson) on their understanding of both James
Baldwins American identity and their own by an exit ticked that will be assessed and used for differentiated
grouping in another class period.

Materials Needed:
This is just a list of the materials you will need for this lesson to occur. In the Materials Appendix below, you will include the
actual materials or links to what you will be using.

Powerpoint
Students need laptops and journals
Copies of The Discovery of what it Means to be American by James Baldwin
Exit ticket
Kahoot game
BeginningRoomArrangement:
[Changesinthisarrangementthatbecomenecessarylaterwillbenotedintheplan]

The students are seated in groups of 4 and one table of 6. A few tables have only 3 people at them.
Instructional Steps (Procedures): Detail student and teacher actions, discourse, and behaviors.
[Note:Anywordsthatrepresentwhatyouwillsaydirectlytostudentsappearinitalics.Whenstudentsarespeaking,indicate
yourtargetresponseaswellasanypossiblestudentmisconceptionsand/oroffthetargetresponsesandhowyouwill
respondtothem.]

1. RIGHT OFF THE BAT, the plan was changed due to a poor testing situation last time:
2. So, instead of doing The Discovery of What it Means to be an American, we stopped discussed the
results of the quiz and then jumped right into the Kahoot. The first half of class became the Kahoot and
the second half became retesting. This was a gameday, last minute decision on our parts, so Im very
sorry that the plan fell through! Im doing pieces of this plan in a future lesson (today). Mamma mia.
3. 10 mins: News Return Round 2 (if I get them graded on time!) and discuss the top story of the day.
4. 10 mins. Free write about October. Say: Okay, everyone, take out your journals. You wont need
anything else on your desk so go ahead and clear it. This afternoon, we are going to start off with a free
write. Like most things you do in life, the more practice you get with writing the better youll become.
There are no rules for a free write expect for the fact that your pen or pencil must keep moving for the
entire time. If you run out of things to say, write the same sentence over again until you think of
something new. You may write anything you wish; however, Im giving you a topic to get started this time.

5.

6.

7.
8.

We are going to listen to Eric Whitacres October. Its only 7 minutes and 30 seconds long. Write about
what this October means to you if you think of the football field or leaves on the trees or your favorite
tea mug, whatever. If you say pumpkin spice lattes I may or may not roll my eyes at you, but I will accept
it. If it means college apps are starting to make you stressed, if it means youre starting a job and youre
worried about it, go for it. If you dont have anything to say, create a story based on the music, or simply
write how it makes you feel. Are there any questions?
Play Eric Whitacres October and let them write. Write with them, but also keep an eye up and tell them
to continue writing.
Say Excellent, okay! Go ahead and finish your thought. How was that? Take responses to gauge how
the activity went. Allow for about 3 minutes of feedback, and explain why its important to practice
writing.
15 Mins: American Identity:
Say: For the next few weeks, we are going to be talking about American identity. In your journals, I want
you to take 3 minutes and create a venn diagram in your journals. Ask yourself what you think it means to
be an American, and think about the things society tells you that it means to be an American. These things
can overlapin fact, your middle circle might be quite large.
a. Discuss in pairs. Say: With your elbow partner or in a group of 3, discuss what you wrote. Be
able to have at least 2 things to share out to the class. After 5 minutes, take responses from each
table and create a class venn diagram on the board, labeling a few things that we think define
American identity.
15 mins: Class read: The Discovery of what it Means to be An American
a. Read through the start of The Discovery of What it Means to be an American as a class. Before
beginning, say, Everyone, this essay has a word in it that almost made me choose not to give it
to you. It was not because of your maturity level I hope you can prove me correct in assuming
that you can handle it but it was because there are certain things in the world that I wish I
could see less of, and this word is one of them. The word is a derogatory term that begins with an
N that was used to describe Black people before and during the civil rights movement. I will only
ever say this word in the context of a story, and I take its usage very seriously. I do not want to
hear this word thrown about causally in this classroom. I expect an environment of respect
towards both the literature and your peers. As they would say in Pirates of the Caribbean, are we
in accord?
Read with the students to Of course, which is about a third of the way into the 7 page text,
stopping and questioning their thinking as a class. Prompt them with questions and take answers
from students who offer, trying not to cold call too much because they have not seen this text
before. Then, tell them that they will be reading the rest of the story on their own. Say, Alright,
guys. From this point, you will be reading individually. At the end of each page (the pages are
doubled up, so there will be two pages left), I need you to ask a question of the text. It can be a
question for clarifying for something you dont understand in the text, or a discussion question
about something youre wondering about probing further. Write your question on the bottom of
the page. When youre finished, answer the final comprehension questions on the sheet that Im
passing out to you.
15 mins: silent reading time & time to answer the questions Ive prompted them with.
15 mins: Kahoot! Play Kahoot! game with students to help them practice more with semicolons, colons
and commas. Stop after questions that the majority of the class gets wrong and do a quick review of why
the sentences are fixed the way they are. Tell them that if we can achieve 100% of the class correct on
more than 10 questions, I will purchase Halloween candy for the whole class.

Attention to Individual Student Needs: (Differentiation):

Detail specific actions/materials you will use to differentiate instruction in this lesson. Use specific student names when
appropriate

Sometimes, students in both classes need one-on-one attention because they are lacking understanding
and comprehension of the materials. At other times, they just will not work unless someone is standing
over them. Because of this, I know I will be largely floating between two main tables in each class to
make sure students are on task. However, I do not want to neglect the on-task but more quiet students
who seem to slip through the cracks. Because of this, I will be taking notes on my clipboard today of
who speaks and who seems to be on task. I will also be noting potential groupings for future seating
arrangements. This means I will be doing a lot of watching today, in preparation for future
differentiation. Of course, as I see issues arise in my observation, I will push gifted students further or
ask them to regain focus.
Technology Use:
Detail specific technology being used in the lesson with explanation for why it is being used.
Students will be using their laptops, and I will be using the projector.
In this lesson, the online service Kahoot!, a review game, will be used to aid the students in their understanding of commas,
colons, and semi-colons.

Materials Appendix:
Include the actual materials or links to what you will be using. If you are using a handout or a PowerPoint, or giving a quiz,
etc., these documents (or links to them) must be included. (see the list above)

A google slides powerpoint that starts on slide 4

A mini exit card and paired discussion questions, both of which are attached below.
In Retrospect (to be completed after the lesson has been taught):
Reflect on the lesson after you taught it. Was there anything that surprised you? Discuss your students reactions and
behaviors to the activities you planned. Is there anything that you would do differently if you were to teach this again? What
would you do?
Reflection on this lesson has much to do with the day that came before it, so below Im including my blog post from this
week, which tells a bit of the background that this class was facing before we tried to retest them during this day. Man oh
man. In general, from this lesson, the Kahoot actually went really well. The scores improved by about 20% after the Kahoot
and review and the kids seemed to enjoy it! I dont think they liked stopping so much, because I made them do that on almost
every question more than one of us missed, but they did learn, which was great.
I stopped track changes so that the rest of this isnt in red, but heres the reflection on what happened leading up to the lesson:
tough times, go hoos?
Right, so this past week was a lil rough. My MT was out for 2 days at a conference somewhat unexpectedly (I found out the
day before each time; he came in during lunch of the conference on Wednesday to say he was missing Thursday). I was
excited for the opportunity to try my hand at the classroom without him there at all. Some of it went well, some did not.
So I knew going in, and I told my MT this, that the kids were going to test me. He agreed. He said you can be the best
babysitter in the world and the kids will still try to tell you that they go to bed at 9:30 and not 8:00. Of course. With this in
mind, I went into the two days expecting a challenge. My AP classes went along okay. When my MT wasnt there, they asked
after him, and pushed a little bit at a quiz I had to give them, but for the most part, things happened at a normal pace. Once
we got going, they listened and responded well, and we had normal problems (phones, talking, etc., but nothing out of the
ordinary, all stuff they do when my MT is here too). I think this was largely due to the fact that Ive been slowly taking over
AP as it is. Theyve already had me for multiple days on my own, and my MT is very good at not getting involved when Im
teaching. If the class isnt listening, he doesnt say from the back listen to Ms. Greiner! He just sits. This is actually great,
because they are used to me running the whole class by now or at least theyve seen it before. Honors were another story. I
havent been in front of them by myself since the 1st week of school. Ive been in the class, of course, and helping one-onone and in small groups, but my MT has the lead. The result was that one of the first times Ive ever run the class was the
day he was gone. One block of honors went alright lots more attitude and reminders to be quiet than AP, but we had a pretty

directed lesson that day, so they settled and got to work with manageable disruption. For the most part, okay. The other block
the notorious 2B was struggle city.
The day started poorly because I was giving them a quiz. They knew this was coming, but theyd never used No Red Ink, an
online quizzing site, before. It was new to me as well. I told them at the start of class to make an account. What I didnt know
was that you needed to fill out an interest survey of TV shows, books, movies, pets, celebrities, etc., in order to make an
account. No Red Ink uses characters based on this survey to make individual grammar sentences. Because of this, I laid out
expectations incorrectly they assumed they were just pluggin in a username and password and then suddenly they were
being asked about all of their interests. This threw them for a huge loop. For about 4 students, the site wasnt working at all,
so I was troubleshooting with them. One already had my laptop because his whole computer was giving the blank screen of
death and needed a reboot. As I was helping out another student, and telling the rest of the class to just go with it, guys, and
fill out your interests, I suddenly sensed a commotion. I had checked in with everyone at the beginning of class, just like my
MT does, to make sure that all phones were in the hotels. Well, Alex, a girl with the biggest personality in the classroom, had
the Tupperware of cellphones in her lap and was on her phone while holding everyone elses hostage. I looked up because
another student, Timothy, suddenly shouted, Alex! GIVE me my phone! I said, Hey! Whats going on? and Alex said
Im not on his phone! but then a second later both of them were standing up and wrestling with the Tupperware container,
each trying to pull it out of the other hands like they were 3 years old fighting over chocolate. I walked over and took it,
saying, Okay, this is mine. And this [meaning the situation] is so immature. Take a seat. They both sat down, thankfully,
and I took the phones to the front of the room, but man oh man, I never had full control over that block again. When we
finally got down to taking the quiz, I had to ask for silence so many times before saying instructions, and then when it started
and there were still whispers, I had to call a student out and say, Richard. Absolute silence. As they left, I desperately tried
to wish a few a good weekend to maintain some kind of positive attitudes, but I lacked any real control over that room and
everyone knew it.
In the moment, I didnt totally lose it, but I came home and nearly cried. I think I ran on adrenaline the rest of the day and just
powered through, but holy cow! Two kids almost got in a physical FIGHT in my room. Not good. So, that was the lowest day
of teaching so far and that wasnt even all of it.
Next class, we retook the quiz, and my MT reset expectations for the classroom with his presence. We did not explicitly
address the previous class, which I felt uncomfortable with, but we went so long in between seeing them (the event happened
on a Thursday and we didnt see them again until the next Tuesday) that it felt off to address them directly. Behavior
management in general continues to rear its ugly head with all students, but with that block in particular. I was slightly sassy
with a student who pushed me today, which I should never be. The following are the sum of my reflecting on the whole
thing:
Im too friendly: I was in rehearsal for the choir I sing with for my #selfcare, and theres an English teacher from CHS there
named Amanda and shes really nice. I was chatting for a quick second with her about behavior management, and as I got
into my dilemma with wanting to be kind and understanding to the students and their problems, the choir member between us
said, it must be so hard to balance being and adult and being their friend! Especially at your age! and every inch of me
screamed YES, but when she said the friend bit something immediately felt wrong. Both Amanda and I said, I am not
their friend. And that felt so natural to say in the moment, because I know it should be true, but I realized that I wonder if
Im taking this role too personally. Im constantly caught up with something I learned from Peases class: students learn more
from someone they like. This is a fact. This has made me want to be liked so badly (which is really bad, because my
personality already cares too much about people liking me) that I think Im in danger of the opposite effect. Im losing
control of the classroom when I should be being more firm. I think a much larger piece of me than I care to admit wants to be
their friend, and I know thats so very bad. I even feel shameful typing it. I know Im not their friendbut they really are
such good people, and they are my brothers age. Ive got another sister who is younger than them. We arent on the same
level (Ive got 5 years on them), but were much closer than I like to admit to myself. I think I push the mentor role too far.
Sometimes, I need to be much more distant. Its not like Ive been facebook friending them, nothing like that. I just dont
demand their respect because Im trying too hard to get them to like me. I know, of course, that having their respect will
make me like them in the long run, which leads to
Mother knows best: Well, naturally, I called my mom and told her about the whole episode and she was livid. That was
super weird, because Moms typically crying when we call recently, but it was actually a nice change. Mary Kathrynne! she
shouted, Put yourself back in that classroom! I said, Im in it every day, Mom! No, as a student. WOULD YOU WANT
SOMEONE CONTROLLING THE TUPPERWARE WITH YOUR PHONE? NO! Do not let those students walk all over
you and each other. They know youre nice. Theyve had a month to figure that out. Time to lay down the law. Time to stop

putting up with any sh*t. Lots to say about that, but all in all, shes right. I need to put on some big girl shoes and set some
higher behavior expectations, for the sake of the other students in the classroom who genuinely want to learn.