UMF Unit-Wide Lesson Plan Template

Name: Stephanie Jillings Program: Elementary Education Course: EDU 450

Lesson Topic / Title: Strategies for Generating Personal Narrative Topics

Lesson Date: 10/12/17 Lesson Length: 47 minutes Grade: 6

Learning Objectives & Content Standard Alignment - Selects, creates, and sequences learning
experiences and performance tasks that support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals
based on content standards.
Learning Objective(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

This lesson is appropriate because

I can use specific strategies, such as creating a map, to
generate topics for my narrative writing.
I can apply narrative techniques in my writing to develop
experiences, events, and characters.
I can demonstrate my writing goals being used in a new
piece of writing.
when assessing the pre-assessment
and conferencing, students struggled
with beginning to write and finding
difficulty with generating a topic. Many
students didnt begin writing until 10
minutes into the writing process.
Students need to learn different
strategies of generating narrative
topics by being reflective on their lives.
Students are beginning to create
writing goals and are expected to use
them each time they write. Students
will be analyzing and learning from
example writing pieces and visuals,
applying techniques to their writing,
and collaborating during this process in
the next two weeks.

Content Standard(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.3 This standard is appropriate for the

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences
or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive
details, and well-structured event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.6.3.B
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and
description, to develop experiences, events, and/or
characters.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.5
Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images,
music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to
clarify information.
lesson because students will be
working to meet this standard over
several weeks. The techniques and
skills they learn from each writers
workshop mini-lesson will help them to
meet this standard.
Students will meet this standard by
collaborating in partnerships and
groups, sharing their ideas, and
practicing to clearly express their ideas.
Students are learning new strategies
for coming up with narrative topics.
Meeting this goal will show students
ability to try a new technique and
connect it to the writing process.
Assessment - Uses assessment flexibly to expand and deepen understanding of learner performance
and determines best supports for continued learner growth.
Assessment Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

Pre-assessment: This pre-assessment/discussion is to

I will be pre-assessing students based on their answers
during whole-group discussion about vocabulary.
Formative assessment:
I will be observing and carefully listening to students
while participating in discussions to determine levels of
comprehension.
I will circulate the room and observe Ss conversations
while they are brainstorming and collaborating.
I will collect and review students practice with creating
visuals and see where there may be misconceptions,
strengths, and weaknesses.
I will assess whether students are using their writing
goals in this new piece of writing, and if they have created
a map/visual with lots of details (specific memory
moments).
make sure all students understand the
vocabulary and criteria to meet the
standards and complete the work.
I will use discussions to observe
answers from students who are willing
to share out. Ss have multiple ways of
expressing their ideas. For example,
orally, with visuals, and written. I will
be able to pinpoint misconceptions and
struggles. I will be using students
written work to provide feedback and
set up conferences.

Instructional Materials and Resources - Stays current in content knowledge and expands expertise in
reviewing instructional materials from the perspectives of both the discipline and individual learner
needs.
Materials, Resources, and / or Technology Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

Document reader Visuals/technology needed to

Model/example maps support Ss learning and learning style
Writing notebooks/utensils differences and instructional support
Copy of teaching point for ELL student.
Traffic light/self-assessment cards Anchor chart used to collaborate and
iPad for accommodation provide students with opportunity to
Anchor chart reflect and have resources moving
forward.
iPad to support student having issues
with fine motor skills.
Self-assessment to help with
classroom management and autonomy.

Instructional Methods: Selects, creates, and sequences learning experiences and performance tasks
by using a variety of instructional approaches, strategies, and technologies that make learning
accessible to all learners and support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals.
Teaching and Learning Sequence Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

5 minutes Discuss learning targets/teaching point Each day we begin the lesson with a
check-in/brainstorm/discussion about
Review previous lesson/connection to vocabulary and expectations for the
today day to prepare students for the
independent/partner/group work
Reference anchor chart following the mini-lesson.
The mini-lesson provides students
10 minutes Mini-lesson/using maps or visuals with an opportunity to learn and then
 Enjoy maps first, then study
Discussion and share.
2 minutes Brainstorm about an important place with
many memory moments/share with pod.
10 minutes Create map/visual adding small memory
moments and labels to parts of map.
After 5-10 minutes, share out.
Remaining Students choose a memory from map and
time start writing a new narrative with
previous writing goals in mind.
Meeting students needs (differentiation, extensions,
modifications, accommodations)
Differentiation:
Brainstorming/Sharing
Guided discussion
Questioning/wait time
Teacher modeling/demonstrating process
Creating poster/visual/anchor chart
Varied roles: an instructor, facilitator, and audience.
Ss will be able to demonstrate their ideas vocally,
through writing, and through visuals.
Examples, lists, modeling, and visuals will be used to
demonstrate and explain the activity and help students
stay organized.
Whole-group direct instruction, peer collaboration, and
individual work time.
Accommodations:
M.A. is an ELL student. Part of his RtI plan is to check-in
with him before individual work time to make sure he
understands what he is expected to do. He has difficulty
with oral directions and often needs this extra support.
B.V. has difficulty with fine motor skills, he will be able to
type his narrative on his iPad.
J.C. gets severe headaches and because of this she has
difficulty staying on task and reading. She will be with a
partner who can do the reading if her head is hurting too
much. However, I will also make sure to turn the lights off
to help with the headaches and provide her with a colored
overlay to help dim the brightness of the paper.
practice new skills and techniques to
improve their own narrative writing.
Check-in and sharing are expected to
support each other in understanding
the content and providing perspective
about the topic.
Goals are written to help students
focus on two specific details of their
writing they would like to improve.
This helps students stay organized and
meeting the standards.
Choice allows the students to be more
engaged with the assignment. Students
get to choose what to write about. This
is completely up to them.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
These multiple roles will provide Ss
with encouragement, support, and
independence throughout the lesson.
Some Ss will be able to explain
themselves better in written form than
orally and vice versa. Creating visuals
helps students to clarify their
information and meet the learning
targets.
Most of the Ss in this block are visual
and auditory learners. Visuals supports
Ss ability to absorb the information.
The variety of groupings benefit all Ss
depending on what style they are more
productive/comfortable with. Peer
support allow Ss to see other
connections and ideas.
Sharing and brainstorming give
students time to formulate ideas and
opinions and see other perspectives
about the topic of discussion.
Goal setting helps students focus on
only a couple of things they would like
to improve on in their next writing
piece. This helps students stay
organized, focused, and prevents them
from feeling overwhelmed. In this
lesson, students are expected to
implement their goals in their writing.
Reflection

I can use specific strategies, such as creating a map, to generate topics for my narrative writing.
Meets: 6
Partially Meets: 5
Does Not Meet: 0

I can apply narrative techniques in my writing to develop experiences, events, and characters.
Meets: 3
Partially Meets: 2
Does Not Meet: 6

I can demonstrate my writing goals being used in a new piece of writing.

Meets: 6
Partially Meets: 0
Does Not Meet: 5

Students were assessed on whether they implemented their writing goals in the new narrative and
that they created a map/visual and provided details and small memory moments on the map. All
students created a visual. Students who created a visual and added details and small memory
moments to the map met the standard. Students who only had labels for parts of the map and did not
add memory moment details which they were expected to do, did not meet fully. Five students tried
implementing their writing goals into their new narrative. Six students did not write a narrative.
Rather, they provided explanations about why they like their living room or other parts of their map.
There are some misconceptions that will be addressed during conferencing. Perhaps, I did not make
it clear enough that they were to write a narrative, although our week-long learning goal is to write
narratives. These students all provided details and met some of the learning targets. So, all students
except one partially met the targets. Three students met the targets fully. I will be conferencing, and
reviewing at the beginning of next lesson. I think if I set aside some review time in the beginning of
each subsequent lesson, students can explain what we did last time. This would also benefit students
who missed a class.

I think students really benefit from my modeling of creating a map. My modeling and the group
discussions and sharing are some things that always go well during lessons. However, a change I
would make is to take the modeling a little further. I would ask students to brainstorm what they
could write about using the example map and descriptions provided and to reinforce that this is
narrative writing and focus should be placed on small memory moments.

Teaching Standards and Rationale

Standard #3 Learning Environments

The teacher works with learners to create environments that support individual and collaborative
learning, encouraging positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.

This standard means that the teacher implements classroom procedures to help students learn
efficiently and collaboratively with each other. Teachers and students work together to make the
learning environment positive and supportive. Whether it be coming up with classroom expectations
and rules together, meeting to discuss importance of procedures, collaboratively working with
students to make changes to procedures, and modeling positive and cooperative learning
relationships to the students. The teacher understands the importance of voice and choice.

3 (e) Uses a variety of methods to engage learners in evaluating the learning environment and
collaborates with learners to make appropriate adjustments.
Procedures and instructional strategies are put in place to ensure students are using their work time
wisely and responsibly. For example, we provide students traffic light cards where they must first
reflect, then use the resources available to them, and finally proceed to get support from the teacher
with a detailed and specific question in mind. Students know that they have this responsibility to use
their time wisely and participate in class for the short amount of time we have them in the day. We
use many strategies to get attention such as count down or silent waiting. Students are always
expected and encouraged to follow the school-wide Habit of Work policy to be respectful,
responsible, and reflective.

Standard #8 Instructional Strategies

The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to
develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to access and
appropriately apply information.

This standard means that the teacher can effectively provide instruction that helps all students reach
goals and targets. The teacher is knowledgeable about different instructional strategies and reflects
on how they affect student learning. The teacher can provide learning experiences that engage all
students and encourage learner growth.

8 (b) Continuously monitors student learning, engages learners in assessing their progress, and
adjusts instruction in response to student learning needs.

In this lesson, I use many instructional strategies. For example, Modeling two different maps and
visuals, brainstorming, sharing, guided discussion, questioning, wait time, visual creations, varied
roles, direct instruction, groupings, and self-assessment with the traffic light cards. These
instructional strategies give students the opportunity to communicate in many ways through
visuals, writing, reading, speaking, and listening. With these strategies in place, students are
expected to work collaboratively and positively, to be responsible for their own and each others
learning, and support them in building skills related to the lesson topic.
Student Artifact #1 Map/Target 1: (Partially meets)
Student Artifact #2 Narrative writing/Target 2 & 3: (Does not meet, yet)
Student Artifact #3 Narrative writing/Target 2 & 3: (Meets)