Lesson Title: “​An A From Miss Keller” 

Grade Level: ​4th 

Approximate length of time:​ ~40 min. 
Curriculum area:​ Literacy  
Objectives: 
● Reading: Literature Standard 1: ​Refer to details and examples in a text when 
explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. 
● Reading: Literature Standard 6: ​Compare and contrast the point of view from 
which different stories are narrated, including the difference between first- and 
third-person narrations​. 
● Writing Standard 3:​ Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or 
events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. 
Goals: 
● Inferring; students will infer how characters are feeling and what they may be 
thinking in the story “An A from Miss Keller” 
Essential Question/s: 
● How does inferring help us understand a story? 
● Why is inferring important? 
Materials: 
● The book​ “​An A From Miss Keller” by Patricia Polacco, ​PowerPoint 
Accommodations/Adaptations: 
● Writing vocab on the board so students can see the words written 
DAP: 
● Book:​ “An A From Miss Keller” by Patricia Polacco 
○ Gives opportunities for students to infer 
○ Gives opportunities for students to connect with the character and her 
struggles 
○ It demonstrates the influence and power a teacher can have on their 
students 
○ It demonstrates that sometimes first impressions can be wrong 
Vocab words: 
● Infer 
● High expectations 
● Thesaurus 
Stop and Thinks: 
● How do you think Patricia and her classmates feel? 
● How do you think Patricia feels about being teased? 
● How do you think Pop feels talking about Millie? 
● How do you think Patricia is feeling? 
 ● Why do you think Miss Keller helped Pop’s son? 
● How do you think Miss Keller feels? 
● Why do you think Patricia is crying? 
● How do you think Patricia feels about Miss Keller? 
 
Implementation of Plan for Read Aloud: 
Phase I: Exploration and Explanation/Concept Development (15-25 min) 
1. Assess prior knowledge while building background, as needed 
2. (Slide 2) - Ask students if they know what “inferring” means 
3. Think-pair-share 
4. Discuss with class 
a. Possible answers: 
i. Interpreting something about the book that the author doesn’t tell 
you. 
ii. Making assumptions about the book using clues from the text. 
5. (Slide 3) - Give examples on SmartBoard and have students infer a conclusion in a 
think-pair-share 
a. “When I woke up, there were branches and leaves all over the yard.” 
b. “We bought tickets and some popcorn.” 
c. “I forgot to set my alarm clock last night.” 
d. “A student falls asleep in class.” 
e. “One student put her hand in the air.” 
f. “Mary plays her recorder every day for two hours.” 
g. “Shannon grabbed her raincoat and umbrella.” 
6. (Slide 4) - Ask for/ provide reasons why proficient readers make inferences 
a. You infer when you think about something the book tells you and put it 
together with something you knew before reading the book, from your 
background experiences or knowledge. 
b. There can be more than one correct answer. 
c. We need to be able to support inferences by using clues from the 
book/story. 
d. When you infer, you are interpreting something about the book that the 
author doesn’t tell you. 
e. If you don’t infer, you miss out on some of the author’s critical points. 
f. If we could only understand a story based on what the author tells us 
explicitly, and we don't bring any of our own ideas to the text, think how 
much we would miss! 
7. (Slide 5) - Go over key vocabulary on SmartBoard 
a. Infer 
 b. High expectations 
c. Thesaurus 
8. Tell students you will be reading a book and they are going to have to infer how 
characters are feeling and what they may be thinking. 
9. Read only ​half​ the book incorporating questions and think alouds (other half will be 
read in another lesson) 
a. (4-8 sticky notes are placed in book) 
10. While reading and asking questions, praise students for making inferences. 
a. “Great, you just made an inference. You took information from the book 
and blended it with your understanding of X to infer something the author 
didn't tell us” 
11. After reading the first half of the book, facilitate a discussion about the book and 
inferences from the book 
12. Ask students questions such as: 
a. How do you think Patricia felt at the beginning of Miss Keller’s class? 
b. Have you ever had a teacher that you were nervous to have? 
c. Have you ever had a teacher that had high expectations? 
d. What do you think Patricia would say to Miss Keller if she had the 
opportunity? 
13. Give them opportunities to think-pair-share 
14. Tell students they are going to write a letter to Miss Keller from the perspective of 
Patricia 
 
Phase II: Guided Practice (10-15 min) 
1. Students will write a letter to Miss Keller from Patricia’s perspective. 
2. Letter can include: 
a. Concerns, worries, questions, feelings, etc. that Patricia might be feeling. 
3. Success criteria:  
a. Students write at least one paragraph letter to Miss Keller from Patricia’s 
perspective 
b. Letter must include inferences students had from reading the first half of 
the story 
4. Model how to write a letter: 
a. Dear Miss Keller, 
5. Model your thinking and use of inferences from the book 
a. Your class is hard and so are your assignment. Why do you make us use a 
thesaurus? 
6. Have students share ideas and write them on the board as part of the letter. 
7. Give students 10 minutes to write their letters 
 8. Bring them together the last few minutes to share what they wrote 
 
Phase III: Independent Work/Assessment (Homework) 
1. Students will write a letter from Miss Keller’s perspective replying to Patricia’s 
letter (the letter written in Phase II)