Concept Unit

Lesson Plan Template

Unit Working Title: I Celebrate Myself and I Sing Myself: Self-Discovery in the 9th Grade
Unit Big Idea (Concept/Theme): Identity
Unit Primary Skill focus: Personal Writing
Week 1_____ of 3; Plan # 2_______ of 9; [90 mins.]
Plan type: X___ Full-Detail ____Summary
Plan Theme: Introduce Personal Writing: Expressive Writing
Related Essential Questions:
What does identity mean to you? What are the things that comprise your identity?
How does ones self-image impact how he/she views and acts within the world?
Is it important to be authentic and real, and vulnerably show your real self to others?
Content Requirement Satisfied: Reading Experience, Model Text Instruction (Still I Rise),
Mentor Text Instruction (Personal Encyclopedia entries)
SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
1. Students will understand that writing is a powerful tool of personal reflection and
communication.
c. Students will know what expressive writing is: a form of personal writing in which a
writer pens his/her thoughts, ideas, feelings, questions, and creative expression.
(Gallagher, 25).
i. Students will know components of expressive writing.
2. Students will understand that identity is made up of personal attributes, personal
experiences, background and culture, and relational and community roles.
c. Students will understand that identity can be expressed in multiple ways, but
especially through writing.
3. Students will understand that an author makes specific word, syntax, and figurative
language choices that impact the purpose of their writing.
d. Students will understand that reading strategies aid comprehension and interpretation
of literary texts.
i Students will know specific reading strategies related to reading personal writing.
Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:
5. Students will know skills for working in small groups.
Performance (do):
6. Students will be able to analyze the concept of identity and identify the different elements of
their personal identities.
b Students will be able to identify attributes of their own identities.
c Students will be able to reflect on what has contributed to and shaped their personal
identities.
7. Students will be able to identify and analyze forms of personal writing.

c. Students will be able to analyze mentor texts for elements of expressive writing.
d Students will be able to analyze elements of expressive writing in video, poetry,
creative nonfiction, and TED Talks.
9. Students will be able to develop narrative and expository personal writing for the purpose of
reflecting on their identities.
a Students will be able to brainstorm, set a purpose for writing, and initially develop
ideas related to personal attributes, experiences, and background that are meaningful
to their personal identities.
SOLs: [List with numbers portrayed in the SOL document]
9.4
The student will read, comprehend, and analyze a variety of literary texts including
narratives, narrative nonfiction, poetry, and drama.
k) Analyze how an authors specific word choices and syntax achieve special effects and
support the authors purpose.
CCSs: [List with numbers portrayed in the CCS document]
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course
of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an
objective summary of the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative
and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning
and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or
informal tone).
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.

Diagnostic
Warm-up discussion
about characteristics of
emotionally-charged emails/texts (1.c)
Observe student small
group interaction during
discussion (5)

Formative
Reading experience (1.c,
1.c.i)
Reading Experience (2.c)
Reading experience (3.d,
3.d.i)
Reading experiences (7.c,
7.d )
Individual Encyclopedia
Entries free write (6.b, 6.c,
9.a)

Procedures/Instructional Strategies

Summative
N/A

Beginning Room Arrangement: The class is currently set up in 5 pods of 4 desks (Learning
Arrangement 1)
Step One: Welcome to Class
When students walk into the classroom, a Do Now will be projected onto the board: Do Now:
Please pick up todays warm-up from the bin at the back of the room. Students are free to pick
up their Do Now and move to their assigned seats at their leisure before the bell rings. I Dont
Want To Be by Gavin DeGraw is playing in the background. After the bell rings, the teacher
will take the first minute of class to greet the students, make any announcements, and review the
days agenda.
Agenda:
Warm-Up: Personal vs. Formal Writing
Mini-Lesson: Expressive Writing
Reading Experience: Still I Rise
Looking ahead: unit project and practicing Expressive Writing
Opening to Lesson
Step Two: Bridge and Warm-Up (18-20 minutes)
[2 mins.]
Teacher will then transition students into time to reflect on the purpose of writing.
So, yesterday we spent some time learning about identity and how identity can be expressed
through personal writing. We learned about reflective writing and how it can be used to think
about the past as a means of appreciating the present and future. Reflective writing is a form of
personal writing. Can someone remind us what personal writing is? 1-2 students raise their
hands and share. Yes. Good. But personal writing is not the only form of writing there is out
there. What would you say is the opposite of personal writing? Looking for: formal writing;
students will likely give examples of formal writing, so if this happens, just sum them up into the
category of formal writing.
[3 min]
**It might be useful to capitalize on examples of formal vs. personal writing. Take three minutes
to generate examples with the class. Like so:
Purposes for writing that students do (reasons for writing)?
o School essays, journals, blogs, exit/entrance tickets, free response, exam
questions, note-taking
o Communication e-mail, letter-writing, postcard, text message
o Personal social media (Facebook posts, blog posts, tweets, text messages),
diary/journal, notes to self
Where/when do you write? (At school? At Home?)
o School class
o Home personal enjoyment, homework
o Out and about when bored, to remember something
o Miscellaneous filling out paperwork, etc.
What is the format of your writing? (Poetry? Creative Writing? Essays?)
o Poetry
o Short stories
o Novels
o Nonfiction articles, observation, data-collections
o Science reports

o School writing essays

o Blogs (technology)
o Journaling/diary writing
[2 mins.]
It seems we can generally split writing into two categories: formal writing and personal writing.
Formal writing, for the most part, is, as we have established, usually writing related to school
and schoolwork, while personal writing is writing we do for our own enjoyment. With that in
mind, lets begin our lesson today by extending our thinking about personal writing and how it
can help us better understand ourselves, those around us, and the world. In the next four
minutes, I would like you to fill in the Venn Diagram with pros and cons of personal writing,
pros and cons of formal writing, and any pros and cons you think the two types of writing have
in common. Just focus on responding to the prompt for now. After you write, Ill give you
instructions on what to talk about with your elbow partner.
[4 min.]
On their Warm Up sheets, students fill in the Venn Diagram comparing personal and formal
writing. As they write, the teacher circulates to see what students are writing. Teacher checks in
with Grace, an English Language Learner, to see if she needs any support to complete the writing
task. A timer is projected onto the board.
[4 mins.]
In a Think Pair Share format, students will pair and share with their elbow partner by going
over both students diagrams. In the left column of the table on the Warm Up sheet, students will
add anything their partner wrote that they did not have themselves. The teacher will project four
a minute timer.
Okay everyone, in a minute Id like you to turn to your elbow partner. What youre going to do is
share with them your diagram. I want you to specifically focus on the different pros and cons of
personal and formal writing. If your elbow partner has written anything you did not think of,
write down what they said in the left column of the Anything to Add? table at the bottom of your
worksheet. Model this on doc cam. Go ahead and take about three minutes to compare now.
Well come back together as class when the timer is up. Be ready to share from your diagrams.
As students share, teacher circulates to get an idea of how much students have written. Teacher
also listens to what students are saying, to anticipate how she might need to guide the discussion
about the differences between and benefits of personal vs. formal writing.
[4 mins.]
Class goes over the two types of writing.
So now that you all have thought about writing on your own and talked about it with a partner, I
want to hear what you have come up with. Lets fill in a Venn Diagram together. If anything
comes up in discussion now that you havent written, make sure you write in your Class
Discussion column anything we talk about that you dont already have written down. Teacher
writes on a blank copy of the Warm Up under document camera. Teacher uses cold calling to
pairs to share.
Expect students to answer:
Pros of personal writing
o Artistic
o Interesting
o Helpful for processing
o Private writing
Cons of personal writing

o Informal
o Inappropriate for school or work
o Flowery
o Content may only be relevant to author
Pros of formal writing
o Widely used in school and work
o Communicates news
o Helps when you want to be taken seriously
o Helps you get into college
Cons of formal writing
o Hard to master a lot of rules
o Not everyone knows how to write formally
o Boring
Ask: What conclusions can we draw from the fact that there are pros and cons to both types of
writing? Writing is context-specific!
[1 min.]
At this point the teacher wants to bring the discussion to the question: why is personal writing a
good format through which to express personal things?
Today we have come up with awesome ideas about the purposes for writing, as well as the
benefits and setbacks of formal and personal writing. We have seen that writing is extremely
context-specific, and we are going to spend the rest of todays class learning about why the
personal writing context is a good context for writing personal things.
Main Lesson
Step Three: Mini-Lesson: What is Expressive Writing? (6 minutes)
Yesterday the students learned about the reflective form of personal writing. They read the text
Magic and saw how the author used that reflective piece to remember a significant moment
from her childhood. Today the class will learn about the expressive side of personal writing:
writing through which an author communicates his/her thoughts and feelings. The teacher
introduces this concept through a mini-lesson in which the students take notes on the definition,
characteristics, and examples of Expressive writing (student notes are in their Identity packet
from the day before). The teacher also gives examples of expressive writing from Magic.
Step Four: Reading Experience (45 minutes)
Students engage in pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading experiences while reading
Maya Angelous Still I Rise
Step Five: Pre-Reading (8 minutes)
In their Writers Notebooks, students respond to the prompt: Describe a time in which you had a
strong negative reaction to something and either wrote and sent a nasty e-mail or text, or thought
about sending a nasty e-mail or text. What kinds of things did you want to say in the e-mail?
Would it have been appropriate for you to have sent that message? Why or why not?
Students write for five minutes, and then discuss what they wrote at their tables. The class comes
together to discuss why it would not have been appropriate to send the message
Step Six: During Reading (22 minutes)
So when is it appropriate to express deep feelings?

The class reads aloud Maya Angelous Still I Rise, an empowering and determined piece of
writing that captures negative thoughts, but rises above them. The goal for the reading
experience is for students to identify elements of the poem that are expressive. The class reviews
the definition and characteristics of expressive writing. To interact with the poem, the students
will:
Identify (by underlining) speakers thoughts, feelings, and questions
Circle strong words the speaker uses to communicate thoughts and feelings
Write any questions they have about what the speaker is saying
[5 mins.]
The teacher begins by modeling the underlining, circling, and questioning format of annotating
intended for the students in the first two stanzas.
[12 minutes]
Individually, students annotate the rest of the poem in this way.
Step Seven: Post-Reading (15 minutes)
Students work in small groups to answer the following questions about the poem
What thoughts does the speaker express throughout the poem? Summarize at least three.
How do you know the speaker is expressing these thoughts?
What feelings do you think the speaker was experiencing when she wrote this poem? Identify
at least two feelings and give examples from the poem that support these feelings.
The speaker asks a lot of questions in this poem. To whom do you think she is speaking?
What effect do her questions have on you when you read them?
What is the use of figurative language in this poem? Give two examples of figurative
language and describe how they affect the speakers poem.
Do you think the speaker is confident in herself? What parts of herself does she take pride in
(ex: physical characteristics, character traits, past experiences)? Identify and describe the
effect of at least three different ways the speaker refers to how she feels about herself.
What does the speaker mean when she says I rise? To her, is this a positive thing? Please
explain your answer to both questions.
Step Eight: Closure to Reading (5 minutes)
As a class, the students and teachers identify the expressive elements of the poem. Groups turn in
a group sheet with their answers to the discussion questions.
Step Nine: Introducing Expressive Writing of Portfolio + Students Practice with Expressive
Writing (15 minutes)
Now that the students have had the opportunity to read what expressive writing looks like in
action, they get to try their own hand at it.
[5 min.]
In the last fifteen minutes of class, I want to introduce to you all a second component of the
writing portfolio we talked about yesterday: the expressive writing piece you will create! Teacher
walks students through creative expressive writing component of the Portfolio project.
[5 min.]
In the next couple of class periods, we will continue our discussion of personal writing and
identity. Some of the texts we use will serve as examples of the writing you may choose to submit.
We will also experiment with our own writing, and today I want to end class by letting you try

out one form of reflective writing. Has anyone heard of an encyclopedia? Students answer. Who
can tell me what it is? If students cannot, teacher will take out an encyclopedia, explain the
definition, and explain how it used to be widely used (but not as much anymore because of the
internet).
One clever author got creative and wrote her whole autobiography by charting her life through
mini encyclopedia entries. The authors name is Amy Rosenthal and she called her
autobiography Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. Here are some examples that she wrote:
Amy Rosenthal: My father-in-law informed me that my married name could produce two
anagrams: Hearty Salmon. Nasty Armhole. I cannot tell you how much I love that. (Gallagher,
27)
Anxious, Things that Make Me: Vending Machines. I have to double-, triple-check. Okay, its
A5 for the Bugles, right? Is that right? A5? I dont want to read the codes wrong and end up with
the Flaming Hot Cheetos. But then, what a relief when the Bugles come tumbling down. Yes! I
knew it was A5. (Gallagher, 27)
Birthmark: I have a birthmark on my left arm. As a child I thought it looked like a bear, or
Africa, depending on the angle. I would often draw an eye and a mouth on it; sometimes I would
allow a friend to do so. To look at my birthmark was to remind myself that I am me. (Gallagher,
27)
These entries will be projected. Walk students through them:
Entries include details about: her name, her married life, things that make her happy,
things that make her anxious, her humor (second example is a good testament to her
humor), her body
Style: description (of birthmark), story-telling to explain something (as with her married
name), stream-of-consciousness writing (second entry)
Encyclopedia format: alphabetical, entries sorted by main theme (Anxious, Things That
Make Me)
Bolded title (have to give a title to each small section) and a few sentences to describe it
First person
**Includes her view of herself, hinting at identity: To look at my birthmark was to
remind myself that I am me.
[5 min.]
Not only is Amy writing here to reflect on the things in her life that have made her who she is,
but through that she is also expressing to her readers her identity. This is perfect for our unit!
What I want to invite you all to do now in the next ten minutes is to think about what would go in
your Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. In the next ten minutes, brainstorm in your Writers
Notebooks up to ten entries you could make that would describe what has made you who you are
today. Make sure to sort your ideas alphabetically. If you finish your brainstorm, use Amys
examples as a guide to start writing your entries.
Closure
Step Ten: Announcements Dismissal (1 minute)
The teacher reminds students that their first blog post is due next class. Then she dismisses
students to pack up their things and get ready to leave.
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)
Grace: as an ELL, Grace will likely struggle with the writing in this unit. I specifically
chose the personal encyclopedia entries for students who may not be able to write as
much, but who still need to learn the same skills. I also made sure to build in a brainstorm
for the Encyclopedia Entries to help guide her writing. I hope the sentence starters will
help her too, because they guide thinking and give clues about what to put in.
Bethany: it will be crucial to keep an eye on Bethany throughout this unit. Since she has a
difficult home situation, some hard things might come up as I ask her to reflect. I think it
will be useful to check in with her during the independent work time at the end of this
lesson, to make sure she feels okay doing the assignment.
Cody: It might be useful to help him brainstorm his encyclopedia assignment through
focusing on historical events that mean a lot to him personally. I wonder if his autism will
limit his ability to engage with an understanding of his identity. It will be necessary to
keep track of what he is writing and see if he is getting the concepts.
Materials Needed (list):
I Dont Wanna Be by Gavin Degraw
Basket for Do Now/Warm Up
Warm Up
Doc cam
Mini-lesson PPT
Personal Writing notes
Maya Angelou poem
Maya Angelou questions (for small groups to answer)
Portfolio Assignment
Amy Rosenthal quotes to project
Student writers notebooks
Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers,
handouts, etc.)

Personal Writing vs. Formal Writing

Please fill in the Venn Diagram below by identifying the pros and cons of personal
writing, the pros and cons of formal writing, and then any pros or cons they have in
common.

Personal Writing

Formal Writing

Anything to Add?
Elbow Partner

Class Discussion

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Still I Rise Small Group Discussion Questions

Before answering the questions below, please spend at least five minutes
annotating the rest of this poem by identifying the speakers thoughts and feelings.
Annotate by:
Identify (by underlining) speakers thoughts, feelings, and questions
Circle strong words the speaker uses to communicate thoughts and feelings
Write any questions you have about what the speaker is saying
1. What thoughts does the speaker express throughout the poem? Summarize at
least three. How do you know the speaker is expressing these thoughts?

2. What feelings do you think the speaker was experiencing when she wrote
this poem? Identify at least two feelings and give examples from the poem
that support these feelings.

3. The speaker asks a lot of questions in this poem. To whom do you think she
is speaking? What effect do her questions have on you when you read them?

4. What is the use of figurative language in this poem? Give two examples of
figurative language and describe how they affect the speakers poem.

5. Do you think the speaker is confident in herself? What parts of herself does
she take pride in (ex: physical characteristics, character traits, past
experiences)? Identify and describe the effect of at least three different ways
the speaker refers to how she feels about herself.

6. What does the speaker mean when she says I rise? To her, is this a positive

thing? Please explain your answer to both questions.

Works Cited
Gallagher, Kelly. "Chapter 2: Express and Reflect." Write like This: Teaching Real-world Writing
through Modeling & Mentor Texts. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse, 2011. 23-61. Print.