Rachel Strunk

READ 3226
04/17/2018

edTPA Lesson Plan Template

Central Focus: Inferring

Subject: Literacy

Essential Standard/Common Core Objective:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1:
Date submitted: Date taught: 03/19/2018
Refer to details and examples in a text when
explaining what the text says explicitly and when
drawing inferences from the text.

Daily Lesson Objective:

Given a text and a question, students will be able to analyze and infer the motivations of a character in a given
text accurately explained with text evidence with 80% mastery according to a rubric.

21st Century Skills: Academic Language Demand (Language Function and

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving- Students will
need to analyze text to infer the motivations of
characters in the text.
Communication and Collaboration- Students will
work with partners or small groups during guided
practice to infer the motivation of characters in a
text. They will need to communicate effectively with
their partner/s to complete this assignment
effectively.
Vocabulary):
Learning Target: I can infer the motivations of
characters and use that information to help me
understand more about that character.
Language Demand:
-Identify text evidence (speaking/writing)
- Explain the meaning (oral language and written)
-Communicate how that tells me more about a
Character (oral language and written)

Language Support:
- Provide feedback to students
- Partner work or small group support
Prior Knowledge:
Students have prior knowledge of making inferences based on what a character says. Students also know how
to work collaboratively in groups to think critically about a text. Students are familiar with exit tickets.

Activity Description

Ask the students “Who remembers what inferring means?” Wait for
student responses.

“Those are all great responses. So far, we have been practicing

inferring how characters feel and what they think. When we infer, we
1. Focus and Review
have to be like detectives. We have to use clues that we find in the
text to tell us more about our characters.”

“I want you to think about yourself for a second. If you went up to your
mom and gave her a big hug, there would be a reason for it, right? If
you snapped at your brother or sister- you wouldn’t do that for no
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reason. If you studied hard for a test here at school, and I asked you,
“Why?” you could give me an answer, right? Well, characters in our
books are just like people in real life- they have reasons for doing the
things they do. One of our jobs as readers who are trying to
understand our characters is to go a step beyond just saying what
they do and try to say why they do it. Now, the tricky thing is, the
character will rarely say, “The reason I’m doing this is...” just like we
aren’t always likely to explain why we do something in real life with
someone asking us. So that means as readers we have to put
together the information in the story, make an inference, and try to figure
it out.”

“I want you to think about Grandma in A Long Way from Chicago.

When Grandma speaks to people, is she very nice?” Wait for student
responses.

“Right, Grandma can be pretty rough with how she speaks.

Sometimes she can be pretty rude to people. But when we think
about what Grandma does, I think that Grandma is actually cares a
lot for the people in her town. But she kind of hides what she does
behind her gruff personality. Today we are going to focus on looking
at a character’s actions and looking beyond what they did. We are
going to look at their actions and infer why they did it.”

I can infer the motivations of characters and use that information to

2. Statement of Objective help me understand more about that character. I can write what I
for Student think the motivation of a character is and give textual evidence to
support my idea.

The teacher will think aloud to show her thought process and how to
infer the motivations of a character by examining their actions. The
teacher will focus on why Grandma gave Mary Alice one of the kittens
in Chapter 7 of A Long Way from Chicago.

“So, I got a little confused in Chapter 7 of A Long Way from Chicago.

Grandma doesn’t seem to like the kitten that Joey found in the
cobhouse very much. On page 131, it says “” Get that thing out of the
house!” she barked.” Grandma barked it, which I think means that
she really didn’t want that kitten around. Then Grandma says that
they’ll drown the kitten in the creek on the way to Uncle Grady
3. Teacher Input
Griswold’s house. But then at the end of the chapter, Mary Alice finds
the kitten in the picnic hamper that she gave Mary Alice.I’m a little
confused about why grandma did that. Now, we’ve been reading
enough about Grandma that I know that Grandma doesn’t always
mean the things she says, so I’m going to look at what Grandma did
in the chapter to tell me what Grandma actually feels.”

“First I am going to look at what Grandma does” Write Name what

the character says or does on the board.

“Right after Grandma tells Joey to get the kitten out of the house, she
pets the cat a little and then lets the cat rub itself along her arm. At
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the end of the chapter, Grandma had snuck the kitten into Mary
Alice’s picnic hamper. She certainly didn’t drown the cat in the river
like she said she would. So now I need to think about why Grandma
petted the kitten and gave it to Mary Alice, even though she says she
doesn’t like it.” Write Why did a character do or say what they did?
Think about the character’s motivation on the board.

“So, because Grandma was petting the kitten and took care of it for
Mary Alice, I think Grandma really does like having the kitten around.
She may not like having pets in her house, but she doesn’t want
anything bad to happen to it. Maybe Grandma gave the kitten to Mary
Alice because she really does like the kitten and wanted it to be well
taken care of.” Write Use the words maybe... because.... to add on
a motivation on the board.

“I think this is true because all of Grandmas actions towards the kitten
are nice toward the kitten.” Write I think this because... on the
board.

So, if I were going to write this down I would write “Maybe

(emphasize the sentence starter here) Grandma gave the kitten to
Mary Alice because she likes the kitten and wants it to be taken care
of. I think this because Grandma petted the kitten, let the kitten rub
on her arm, and put the kitten in Mary Alice’s picnic hamper.

So when we try to infer a character’s motivation we have to do a

couple things. First, we have to name what the character says or
does (point to that line on the board). Then we have to think about
why the character said or did that thing. We have to think about the
characters motivation (point to that line). Then, when I think I have a
good idea, I use the words maybe and because to tell about what I
think the motivation is (point to that line). And last, I have to give the
evidence from the book that tells why I think that (point to the I think
this because... line)
Students will Chapter 8 of A Long Way from Chicago by Richard
Peck (pgs. 147 &148, approx. 1.5 pages). They will then work in
partners or small groups to collaborate to answer the question “Why
did Joey wave back at Grandma? Use evidence from the text
4. Guided Practice (including earlier chapters) to support your idea.” They will write down
their answers on a piece of paper.

Teacher will work with a small group of students who need support to
read the text and to answer the question. These students will have a
sentence frame to help them answer the question.

Students will individually answer the question, “Based on Grandmas

actions in Chapter 8, how does Grandma feel about Joey? Use
5. Independent Practice evidence from the text to support your idea. Use the Maybe...
because... and I think this because... sentence starters to help you.”
The students will write their answers down on a piece of paper.
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Students responses from the independent practice will be handed in

to be evaluated for understanding. They will be put against 5 scale in
the following rubric. 4/6 will be considered mastery.

3 points 2 points 1 point

Student infers Student infers Student does
Inference of a character a character’s not infer a
character motivation and motivation but character’s
motivation uses the does not use motivation.
“Maybe... the Maybe...
6. Assessment Methods of
Because...” Because...
all objectives/skills:
sentence sentence
structure. structure.
Student Student Student does
Uses provides provides not provide
evidence evidence from evidence from and evidence
from the text the text and the text but from the text.
to support uses the “I does not use
their idea. think this the “I think this
because...” because...”
sentence sentence
starter. starter.
Teacher will give students the opportunity to share either their
7. Closure individual practice or guided practice work with the class on the
document camera. Teacher will address any misconceptions briefly
that may have occurred.

Out of the 14 students I had in the class that day, 9 achieved

mastery, meaning 64% of the class. These students were able to
effectively infer Grandmas motivations and use evidence from the
text to support their idea. I think this is in part because they had spent
a lot of time with this character and how she feels about things. Two
of these nine students were given sentence frames to assist them in
assignment. After working with the teacher in guided practice, they
were able to complete the independent practice on their own with
success.

8. Assessment Results of One student completed her independent practice with the help of the
all objectives/skills: teacher. She is a student who needs severe academic support and in
10 points no way could have completed this assignment on her own.

The remaining four students were missing elements from their

assignment. I had one student that only told me what Grandma did,
with no inference of her actions at all. Two students inferred
Grandmas actions without using the sentence structure and did not
provide any evidence from the text. The fourth student was called out
of the classroom a few minutes into their work time and never
completed the assignment. These students could benefit from
additional instruction in making inferences.
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Targeted Students Modifications/Accommodations Student/Small Group Modifications/Accommodations

-Sentence frame for struggling students. -Strategic partnering/small group placement to pair
struggling students with higher level students.
-Teacher small group for reading the text and
working through the inferences.

Materials/Technology:

-copy of A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck per student

-paper
-pencils
-document camera
-Sentence frame sheets for 3 students (in need of support)

CT signature: ________________________ Date: ______ US signature: ___________________Date: ____

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Photographs of Relevant Text Pages:

Chapter 7: pg. 131

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Chapter 7: Pg. 145

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Chapter 8: 146
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Chapter 8: pg. 148

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Sentence Frames for Student Support: Guided Practice.

Why did Joey wave back at Grandma? Use evidence from the text (including earlier
chapters) to support your idea.”

Maybe Joey___________________________________________________________

Because______________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________.

I think this because _____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________.
Rachel Strunk
READ 3226
04/17/2018

Sentence Frames for Student Support: Independent Practice.

Based on Grandmas actions in Chapter 8, how does Grandma feel about Joey? Use
evidence from the text to support your idea. Use the Maybe... because... and I think
this because... sentence starters to help you.

Maybe Grandma_______________________________________________________

Because______________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________.

I think this because _____________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________.