University of Arkansas Fort Smith

School of Education Format Unit Title: Do the stars make us who we are?
Lesson Title: Culmination of TFIOS
Subject Area: English

Grade Level: 9th Grade

Duration of Lesson: 1 Day 50 Minutes

Dates: 12-10-14

Name: Sara Tomlin

SOE Course: YAL

Standards: Rl.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of
what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Objectives: By the end of the lesson the students will have completed the novel and will
have written an analysis paper that they must cite textual evidence to support what is said and
what they can infer.
I.

II.

III.

IV.

Pre-Assessment: To pre-assess this lesson students will be given a test over the novel
the class prior to ensure that they have read and understood the novel.
Post Assessment: Students will be graded on their paper via a rubric.
Planning- To plan this lesson I will need to ensure that all students have finished the
novel. I will allow them to use all notes and the text for the paper. I will give them the
entire class period to work on the paper. I will expect students to be prepared to start
as soon as the bell rings and if they are to finish early I will ask them to quietly read
or work on other homework. I will let them choose form three different prompts and
tell them to do the one that they can answer the best. The choices are: Augustuss
comment that Were as likely to hurt the universe as we are to help it, and were not
likely to do either Do you agree or disagree with this statement? What lasting
impacts can we, as humans, hope to leave on this world?, What scars or legacies
did Augustus leave behind when he died? How will his life continue to impact the
lives of others?, and Did Augustus have to die? What purpose did his death serve
within the larger context of the novel? How might the novel have been different if he
had not died? I will grade these via rubric and give the students feedback as soon as
possible. Following this we will discuss the text as a whole and turn in the novels.
Engaging the Learner- To engage the learner I will have on the smartboard a screen
that reads TFIOS Culmination. This will let them know it is their last stride in the
novel and that they will be watching the movie the following class period. I will pass
out prompt sheets and urge the students to work quietly but take their time and do
their best work as this counts as a test grade.
Methods- To teach this lesson I will let the students know in the class prior that we
will be doing a big writing assignment and tell them the prompts so that they can

begin thinking about these questions. I will instruct them that this paper will be
graded and treated like a test. Cheating and working together is forbidden. They will
work quietly and I will ensure this by walking around the room and using proximity
during the class. Upon completion students will read or work quietly at their desks.
V.
Activities- The students will pick a prompt out of the ones provided and write a two
page paper on their chosen prompt.
VI.
Resources- SmartBoard, paper, pencil, prompt sheets, novels.
VII. PAL- If students are lost on the topics we can spend time in the beginning of class
discussing the questions and using think pair share. If the students need more time
they can pass their papers back to me and work on it the following class period. For
IEP students I would modify the rubric. For gifted students I would modify the rubric.
VIII. Collaboration- To collaborate this lesson I would talk to the other English teachers.
And the English teacher of the prior grade to see if the students know how to cite.