Concept Unit Lesson Plan Template Unit Working Title: Expect the Unexpected Unit Big Idea (Concept/Theme):

Differentiation in Community Unit Primary Skill focus: Being a community member Week ___1___ of 4; Plan #____1____ of 12; [90 mins.] Plan type: __X__Full-Detail ____Summary Content Requirement Satisfied: None Critical Learning Objectives (numbered) [from my Unit Preface], followed by Specific lesson objectives (lettered) being taught in this lesson: SWBAT: Cognitive (know/understand): 1. Students will know that each of them brings different skills and interests to this class. Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive: 2. Students will understand what it means to be in a community. Performance (do): 3. Students will be able to identify their strengths and weaknesses in this class. SOLs: [List with numbers portrayed in the SOL document] None. CCSs: [List with numbers portrayed in the CCS document] None.

Procedures/Instructional Strategies [Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students appear in italics.] Beginning Room Arrangement: desks will be arranged in clusters so that students are sitting in groups of four, facing eachother. [5 mins.] Bridge/Hook/Opening to lesson:

I will begin by greeting my students at the door. I will ask them to find their assigned home base seats. I will say hello and then tell them in general, I will have a little start up assignment or other instructions for you on the board so please always check that as you enter. And remind each other if your neighbor has forgotten to check! I know this is sort of a crazy first day and youre trying to find your classrooms and such but starting tomorrow, class officially begins when the bell rings and I expect all of you to be in your seats, working on your start up assignment when that bell rings. [ 10 mins.] Step 1: Modeling Graphing Me activity To start off today, were going to do an activity called Graphing Me. It will help me get to know you better so that I can be a better teacher for you this year. As you will see over the course of the year, I am a big believer in modeling so I am going to start by showing you how I would complete this activity for myself and then you guys will do it based on your preferences and interests. I turn on the Elmo and begin to draw my graph, while narrating my thoughts and actions So Im going to start off by drawing a vertical axis and a horizontal axis. See, so its an L shape. On the vertical line, Im going to put some descriptors that indicate a range of performance. So mine is going to be crummy down here at the bottom, then so-so in the middle, and then superstar at the top. Im going to put some relevant skills on the horizontal axis. So Ill put reading, writing, public speaking, and listening. So lets see, for reading Im going to put a dot by Superstar there because I practice reading whenever I have free time and Im really good at it. But writing is a little tougher because I used to be a pretty bad writer but now Im in between so-so and superstar. Im going to draw one dot for how good I was when I was your age, and then a different dot for how good I am as an adult. Ive always really enjoyed public speaking and Im pretty good at it so Im going to put that one pretty close to superstar I can definitely improve some but Im pretty good already. Listening is a challenge for me and it always has been. This year, Im going to work really hard on raising up this listening dot, but for now it belongs a little below so-so. Im also going to add in three of my hobbies and nonacademic skills. Lets see well Im going to put knitting because I love knitting in my free time. It keeps me calm and helps me practice my patience, which is one of my big focuses for growth this year. Im also going to put tennis. Ive got pretty good hand-eye coordination and I really enjoy tennis in theory, but Ive only played two or three times so I havent really explored my potential here. Annnndd my other one is going to be math. Guys, I have to admit something. Im pretty much dead-on crummy at math. I was pretty good at math and I liked it until this one teacher I had in fifth grade. I fell behind really far that year and then I never quite recovered. But I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure that that does not happen to you this year in English class!

[ 15 mins.] Step 2: Students do Graphing Me activity Alright so now its your turn to graph yourselves. When I say GO get out a piece of paper and draw the two axes the way I did and then label them. Make sure your horizontal axis

includes reading, writing, public speaking, and listening and then you can include two or three hobbies and nonacademic skills to that. Ill leave mine displayed so you can reference it but be sure to fill out your graph based on your interests and proclivities! Ready, GO! [ 5 mins.] Step 3: Students share results in base groups Okay it looks like you guys have all made good progress. Now I want you to go ahead and share two traits from your graph with your base group. Please remember to respectfully listen to each person as they share. Each person gets one minute to speak so dont take too long. Ready, GO! Students discuss traits in their base groups. I circulate and listen, while also putting two rolls of masking tape on each table. [ 5 mins.] Step 4: Students post graphs around the room Now that yall have shares a little with your base groups, I want you to go ahead and share with the whole class. But were going to do this a little differently. When I say GO, I want you and the person next to you to pick up one of the rolls of tape on your table. Then you and your partner will find a place on the wall of the classroom to tape your graphs. They have to be readable, not too high or too low, and they cant cover up anything thats already on the walls. I want you to do this quickly you only have two minutes! GO! Students work in pairs to post their graphs around the classroom walls. [ 15 mins.] Step 5: Graph gallery walk Okay return to your seats in 5-4-3-2-1 (all students have returned to seats). Good! Now heres your challenge: when I say go, youre going to walk around the room and write down/ finish this sentence in as many ways as you can think of. Heres the sentence In general, its true that. So you will walk around the classroom and look at other peoples graphs and try to see what you can say about the graphs in general. You dont have to look at all the graphs, but I want you to look at as many as you can while also making interesting observations. You will have ten minutes to do this. I want you to work silently on this so that everybody can think of good things. READY, GO! Students circulate and look at the graphs, writing and thinking. I circulate and observe as well. [ 10 mins.] Step 6: Class graph discussion Alright everybody return to your seats now. Lets have a whole class discussion about your observations. We discuss their findings. I wait until someone says In general, its true that nobody had a straight line or In general, its true that we all had different strengths and weaknesses or In general, its true that no two graphs were the same. At this point, I will draw attention to the point that everybody has different strengths and weaknesses and nobody is equally good at everything. At this point in the conversation, I will say something like You know, I think about that a lot as a teacher. All of you will be better in some things and less confident in others. Its always that way in class right? Some people are really good at writing fiction but really shaky with reading biographies, and others of you are just the opposite, what

should I do? How do I decide which one of you to concentrate on? After students discuss this a little bit, I will say I teach because I believe every student can be successful in learning what matters. When you learn, you are stronger people. Every one of you has the potential to learn something new each and every day. The path you follow may or may not be the same as the one followed by the person sitting next to you. Thats not important. What is important is that you take the next step and continue to follow your own path. My job is to work with you and make sure you continue to learn and move along that path. What I want us to figure out together during the next few days and throughout the year is how we can work together to create a classroom that supports every single person on their individual paths. [ 10 mins.] Step 7: Group differentiation discussion Okay now I want you guys to get back in your base groups and discuss this prompt Given the differences we see, how should I teach you? You have five minutes to discuss and you need three strong points to share with the class when youre done talking. Ready GO! [ 15 mins.] Step 8: Closure, Exit Ticket To end class today, I want you to write an exit ticket. When I say GO, take out a piece of paper and write down some ideas to answer this prompt: If our classroom is going to work for all of us, what will it be like? How can we ensure that we work together so that we can all reach our greatest potential here? Okay, it was lovely meeting you all today and Ill see you tomorrow. Start writing now and hand your exit ticket to me on your way out the door.

Methods of Assessment: [How will you know if the intended learning occurred?] List all methods of assessment used in this lesson or which are related to this lesson and come in a future lesson. After each assessment, indicate in brackets the number(s) and letter(s) of the unit objective and the related lesson objectives that the assessment is evaluating. Formative: Base Group Share x2 (1, 2) Gallery walk (1) Class discussion (1) Graphing me graph (3) Exit Ticket (2) Differentiated Instruction to accommodate one or more of my profiled students: (This is where you identify specific aspects of this lesson which have been differentiated in order to address the needs of one or more of your profiled studentsidentify them by name) The whole lesson is built as a base for differentiation! It sets the stage for a class in which fair doesnt mean everybody gets the same thing, but that they all get what they need. It also begins to cultivate a growth mindset as students realize that their graphs can always change. However, this lesson works particularly well for Louises learning preferences, since she works well in groups.

Materials Needed: Paper, Elmo projector, masking tape Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers, handouts, etc.) None