Concept Unit

Lesson Plan Template

Unit Working Title: How I Can Use Literature to Approach Problems in My Life

Unit Big Idea (Concept/Theme): Approaching Adversity

Unit Primary Skill focus: Making an Argument

Week __2___ of 3; Plan #___6___ of 9; [90 mins.]

Plan type: _X_Full-Detail ____Summary

Content Requirement Satisfied: Writing Instruction

(Note: Refer to the list in the document called Concept Unit Lesson Plans)

Unit Learning Objectives (numbered) [from my Backwards Design Unit Document],

followed by Specific lesson objectives (lettered) being taught in this lesson:

SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
N/A

Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:

N/A

Performance (do):
7. Students will be able to critically examine how characters in literature approach different
problems.
a. students will be able to back up their analysis of characters decisions for textual
evidence

8. Students will be able to make written and oral arguments about whether characters choices
when faced with adversity were effective choices to make at the time
b. students will be able to compose argumentative statements based off close-readings
e. students will be able to revise their writing for clarity and argument

SOLs: [List with numbers portrayed in the SOL document]

7.7 The student will write in a variety of forms with an emphasis on exposition, narration, and
persuasion.
e. compose a topic sentence or thesis statement
f. write multi-paragraph compositions with unity elaborating the central idea

CCSs: [List with numbers portrayed in the CCS document]

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1
Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1.B
Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant evidence, using accurate, credible sources
and demonstrating an understanding of the topic or text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and
information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content

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 Formative Summative

At the beginning of the class,
everyone will go around and
say where they are in the
process of drafting their
Character Talk and if they
have any questions about
anything. This will serve as a
valuable way for me to gauge
where the class is as a whole
and adjust my instruction
accordingly (if students are
moving quickly, could add
other activities like more
peer-editing and time for
revising)
7a, 8b, e
I will workshop with students Students will complete a
individually throughout this character talk (based off
class period to check in with Steinekes concept of a Book
them and offer additional Talk with a different name so
assistance on their drafting. they dont think its a book
report) where they will have to
CCSS.ELA- follow the following structure:
LITERACY.W.7.2 1. Present the characters
CCSS.ELA- adversity, explaining
LITERACY.W.7.1.B the context and relevant
CCSS.ELA- details
LITERACY.W.7.1 2. Describe how the
character approaches
SOL 7.7e, f this adversity within the
context of the story
7a, 8b, e 3. Form an argument
about the effectiveness
of the characters
decision at the time.
What do you think
he/she couldve done
differently, if anything?
Why?
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.2
CCSS.ELA-
LITERACY.W.7.1.B
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.1
SOL 7.7e, f
7a, 8b, e

Procedures/Instructional Strategies
[Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students appear in italics.]
Beginning Room Arrangement:
[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted in the plan]
Students will be seated in their usual cluster arrangement and will come to conference with me at
a table in the back of the room.

1. [5 mins.] Bridge/Hook/Opening to lesson:

Hello everyone! Thanks for coming in quickly and quietly today. Okay guys, today is going to
be a workshop and conference day. You have a lot of time to work on your character talk
scripts, so please take advantage of this opportunity. I will be conferencing with each of you
 throughout the period so if I call your name to come over to the table, dont be nervous! If
you finish early, I have worksheets for peer review and self-review of your drafts. Keep in
mind that your final product should be 2-3 full pages. Does anyone have any questions?
(Pause)

2. [35 mins.] Students Work on Drafting and Personal Conferences

I will conference with Zoe and Stan first because I anticipate that they will need the most help.
Since there are ~27 students in this class, I will need to keep conferences short. I will try to keep
each of them between 3 and 5 minutes, prioritizing errors that impede comprehension.
Conferences will be formatted like a conversation. I will sit next to the student and ask open
ended questions such as how is it going so far? what do you think are your strengths and
weaknesses in this process? I will give positive feedback first, always making sure to thank
students for sharing their writing with me and looking for a golden line or part that really
stands out as strong to me.

I will make sure to listen to students during the conference and have the goal of them speaking
most the time instead of me lecturing at them. At the least, I would hope for it to be a
conversation. I could use the strategy of having the student read their work aloud, but I could
also read it quietly if this made some students nervous. Below, I have detailed things I can do to
help for specific writing problems (there is also a graphic for this in Appendix B that would be
helpful for conferencing)

If a student has a lot of run-on sentences

have them read the sentences aloud and ask if there are places where they feel a natural
pause (a place where they could put a period or other punctuation and separate ideas into
different sentences).

If a student has awkward phrasing/word choice

ask students why they chose this word in the first placeemphasize that they dont have
to pick words from the thesaurus to sound smart, just need words that you would use in
conversation that arent too casual

If a student is struggling with paragraph organization and/or topic sentences

tell them the trick of only having the thesis and then reading the first sentence of each
paragraphwould your paper still make sense?
Give them the graphic organizer worksheet for paragraphs (Appendix D)

If a student is struggling grammatically with commas or spelling

For commas: ask where they naturally pause when they read the sentence aloud
After teaching where a comma goes, give practice sentences to reinforce this and have
the student insert the commas
For spelling instead of saying this is how you spell it say lets sound this out
togetheralso emphasize that spelling comes with more experience reading and writing

If a student does not have a strong thesis

ask the student to explain to me verbally before we read any of their paper what their
argument is
ask the student to underline the sentence(s) that is their thesis in the introductory
paragraph
 ask the student to revisit the rubric with the criteria for a strong thesis and help them see
why theirs is weak (which criteria could they improve on? How?)

Additionally, I will have this list of questions and statements ready to go and ask if there is a lull
in conversation.
Do you have any lingering questions or anything youre wondering about?
Do you have any questions about the rubric?
Is there a section that you want to focus on?
Tell me about how this process has been going for you so far?
Talk to me about your comfort level with writing in generalwhat are your worries?
What are you especially proud of?

Thank you all for staying on task during this workshop period. For this next section, you will be
allowed to take breaks when you feel like you need them, but please make sure you are still doing
things that are relevant to our class. Some things you could do are read for fun with a book from
our library or explore the extra resources folder on our class website. Try to keep these breaks
shortthey are meant to help you be more productive when you are working on your Character
Talk instead of just pushing the work to later.

**5 MIN BREAK**

3. [35 mins.] Students Work on Drafting and Personal Conferences

see above section for details about writing workshops

4. [5 mins] Closure:
Thank you all for your attention and hard work today. Im so glad that I got to see how each of
you are approaching this projectyoure all doing a great job so far and Im excited to see the
final product! The next step is going to be revising these drafts and then we will work on
translating them into podcast recordings. Have a great rest of your day everyone!

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)

I will conference with Stan and Zoe first because I anticipate that they will be needing the most
help. I will start with both of them and emphasize that I just want to see progress in their work so
far this semesternot that Im looking for perfection from them. In both conferences, I will start
off with a positive note by praising something they have been doing well recently because I
anticipate that they will be needing a self-confidence boost.

Materials Needed (list):

Index cards for each student and a paper folder
Student drafts of Character Talk (whatever they have so far)

Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers,

handouts, etc.)
Appendix A: Model for Organizing Workshopping
Appendix B: Tips for Writing Workshop
Appendix C: Analysis of Individual Student Writing Progress (can also use this later in revising
lesson)