Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Teachers: Subject:
Courtney Wessel 7th grade English
Common Core State Standards:
7.RL.1: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well
as inferences drawn from the text.
7.RL.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the
text; provide an objective summary of text.
7.SL.1c: Pose questions that elicit elaboration and respond to others’ questions and comments with
relevant observations and ideas that bring the discussion back on topic as needed.
7.RL.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and
connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including
rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or
section of a story or drama.
SL.7.1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher
led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on other’s ideas and expressing
their own clearly.

Objective (Explicit):
 Students will be able to analyze choices and consequences presented in a text through an extended
metaphor.
 Students will be able to determine a theme in Frost’s poem and analyze its development over the
course of the poem.
 Students will be able to draw personal connections to the theme of choice.
Evidence of Mastery (Measurable): j
 Include a copy of the lesson assessment.
 Provide exemplar student responses with the level of detail you expect to see.
 Assign value to each portion of the response.
 Students will annotate “The Road Not Taken,” by Robert Frost by working in small groups of 3
students. Students will show that they have mastered the concept of determining the theme of the
poem by the independent practice activities they will complete on their own. Each student will
demonstrate their own understanding of theme by providing textual evidence to support the
connections between their chosen quote or song with the theme of Frost’s poem, and also through
their evaluation of the poem by choosing to either argue it (did the speaker make a good choice,
why or why not?) or retitling the poem.
 Mastery will be shown when students have made a thoughtful application of the poem’s theme
with the theme of another song or quote. Mastery will also be shown through their evaluation of
the poem by their argument of whether the speaker made a good choice or not, and through
applying their own ideas of which road they would take.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (Sequenced from basic to complex):
 How will you review past learning and make connections to previous lessons?
 What skills and content are needed to ultimately master this lesson objective?
 How is this objective relevant to students, their lives, and/or the real world?
 Students will be able to identify the sounds devices in a poem. (alliteration, rhyme scheme, consonance,
assonance).
 Students will be able to annotate the poem using the parts of the method of The Big Six.
 Students will be able to identify literary elements within the poem and discuss their effect on the poem.
 Students will be able to identify and define unfamiliar words and discuss the connotation and/or denotation
of the words used within the poem and their effect on the meaning of the poem.

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  Students will be able to draw on resources around them such as songs and quotes that connect with the
theme of the poem- choices.

Key vocabulary: Theme, rhyme scheme, connotation, Materials: Electronic copy of “The Road Not Taken,”
denotation, annotation, Big Six, extended metaphor and hard copies of the poem, dictionaries, thesauruses,
highlighters, document camera, Smart Board, Big Six
graphic organizer, students’ notebooks, Google
Chrome laptop cart.
Opening (state objectives, connect to previous learning, and make relevant to real life)
 How will you activate student interest?
 How will you connect to past learning?
 How will you present the objective in an engaging and student-friendly way?
 How will you communicate its importance and make the content relevant to your students?
 I will begin this lesson by having students complete a journal entry for bell work. In their
journal’s, they will have 10 minutes to reflect on this passage: “Have you ever made a choice that
was unpopular? What was the result of making that choice? Did anything happen because you
went against the group? Would you make the same choice?
 After the journal response, I begin the lesson by projecting different pictures on the Smart Board
that correspond with making a choice and asking the class if they can interpret the feelings that
the image evokes and the message the picture is trying to send. Then I ask the class if they have
heard the expression, “A picture is worth a thousand words?” I then ask, “Can words be like a
thousand pictures?”
 I communicate to the class how authors and poets “paint a picture,” by using figurative language,
imagery, word choice, and extended metaphors in their poems in order for readers to visualize
what the author is trying to say.
 I introduce the importance of theme by telling students that we can infer a theme of what the
poem is all about by connecting to the feelings and images the author is expressing in words.

Teacher Will: Student Will:

 How will you model/explain/demonstrate all  What will students be doing to actively capture and
knowledge/skills required of the objective? process the new material?
 What types of visuals will you use?  How will students be engaged?
 How will you address misunderstandings or
common student errors?
 How will you check for understanding?
 How will you explain and model behavioral
expectations?
 Is there enough detail in this section so that
another person could teach it?
Student Will:
Instructional Input

Teacher Will:
 Students will first be shown “The Road
Not Taken,” and I will read the poem
twice out loud for the class to follow
along. After I read the poem slowly for
the first time, I will have students close
their eyes to visualize the poem as I
read it a second time. Students will
write down their first impressions of
the poem after the second reading.
 Direct students to observe the title of
the poem and infer predictions about
what the poem is about and how it
connects to the theme of choices?
 Direct students to circle unknown
 Follow along reading with the poem and
write down first impressions of the poem in
notebook.
 Students will write their predications of
what the theme of the poem is going to be
based on the title.
 Students will circle any unknown words
and mark the rhyme scheme to the right of
the poem as they read the poem silently to
themselves.
 Students will highlight words or phrases
that they felt were significant in relation to
connotation, denotation, and repetition and
share their findings in groups of 3.
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 words while they read the poem
silently and mark the rhyme scheme of
the poem to the right of the lines.
 Direct students to highlight words or
phrases that they felt were significant
in relation to connotation, denotation,
and repetition and students will share
their findings in groups of 3.

Co-Teaching Strategy
 Which co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Differentiation Strategy
 What accommodations/modifications will you include for specific students?
 Do you anticipate any students who will need an additional challenge?
 Provide a copy with the definitions of diverged, undergrowth, trodden, and hence for
ELL students.
 Students will be paired/grouped to best support all learners (stronger students with
those who need more help/guidance; students who are more apt to stay on task with
those who are more easily distracted).

Teacher Will: Student Will:
 How will you ensure that all students have multiple  How will students practice all knowledge/skills required
opportunities to practice new content and skills? of the objective, with your support, such that they
 What types of questions can you ask students as continue to internalize the sub-objectives?
you are observing them practice?  How will students be engaged?
 How/when will you check for understanding?  How will you elicit student-to-student interaction?
 How will you provide guidance to all students as  How are students practicing in ways that align to
they practice? independent practice?
 How will you explain and model behavioral
expectations?
 Is there enough detail in this section so that
another person could facilitate this practice?
Student Will:
Teacher Will:  Students will participate in a whole

Guided Practice

Guide students through the class discussion by offering

annotation of the poem on the
document camera as students
follow along in their graphic
organizer by paraphrasing the
poem stanza by stanza with the
class.
 After paraphrasing each stanza,
I will ask students what big
ideas/images stand out and
write students answers in the
graphic organizer.
 As a class, we talk about
extended metaphor and theme. I
will first ask students what they
think the theme of the poem is
interpretations of each stanza and
following along with their graphic
organizer as they paraphrase each
stanza.
 Students will raise their hand and
answer what images stood out in
the poem.
 Students will respond to the
question of what is the theme or the
poem? Students will write on
graphic organizer the theme of the
poem which is choice.
 Students will answer the question
relating to connotation on why
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 and then guide students to the Frost chose to use the word “road.”
extended metaphor used in the  Students will respond to the
poem which is the fork in the questions asked and respond with
road for the speaker to choose evidence based from the text.
which path in life to take.  Students will respond with their
Metaphor for choices in life. original inferences and evaluate
Explore the significance of how the title contributes to the
shifting connotation and why theme of the poem.
Frost chose to use the work
“road” instead of path, street,
trail, or crossroad. Why do you
think the author made that
particular word choice?
 To encourage deeper thinking, I
will ask the class questions
about each stanza and how it
might contribute to the overall
theme. Questions: “What is the
speaker doing in the poem?”,
“Which road did the traveler
take?”, “What season of the
year do you think it is and
why?”, “Why might the speaker
want to do something others
had not done?” “Are some
choices really permeant?”
 Direct the class to look back at
their inferences they originally
made based on the title and ask,
“Were your inferences
correct?”, “How does the title
guide or misguide the readers
idea of theme?”

Co-Teaching Strategy
 Which co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Differentiation Strategy
 What accommodations/modifications will you include for specific students?
 Do you anticipate any students who will need an additional challenge?
 How can you utilize grouping strategies?
 ELL students that need will be given the option to make a drawing that represents each
stanza rather than paraphrasing the stanza’s in their notebooks or I will provide a photograph
of a path in the woods diverging in two separate directions.

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 Teacher Will:
 How will you plan to coach and correct during this
practice?
 How will you provide opportunities for remediation and
extension?
 How will you clearly state and model academic and
behavioral expectations?
 Did you provide enough detail so that another person
could facilitate the practice?
Teacher Will:
 Explain how songs and quotes often
paint a picture for readers and listeners
that portrays a theme. Present the after
reading activity to the class where
students find a quote or song that
represents the theme of the poem or a
similar theme by using at least 3 pieces
of evidence from the poem to justify
your response. (example: Waterfalls by
T.L.C- In this song from the 90s, the
R&B trio each takes a turn telling a
Independent Practice
Student Will:
 How will students independently practice the knowledge and
skills required by the objective?
 How will students be engaged?
 How are students practicing in ways that align to
assessment?
 How are students using self-assessment to guide their own
learning?
 How are you supporting students giving feedback to one
another?
Student Will:
 Students will either find a quote or song
that represents the theme of the poem or a
similar theme by using at least 3 pieces of
evidence from the poem to justify their
response.
 On a separate piece of paper, students will
also have to evaluate the poem by either
arguing it: Is the speaker happy with the
choice he made? Argue both sides,
providing three pieces of evidence for
each, Or students can retitle it: What is the
significance of the title- “The Road Not

story about someone who got caught Taken”? Suggest two alternative titles and
up in something that hurt him. It was a explain how your choices might alter the
metaphor warning us not to go chasing interpretation of the poem. Use evidence
things that are beautiful, like from the poem to explain which title may
waterfalls, which might actually hurt the better choice.
you)  Students will turn in assignment at the end
of class or finish for homework.
 On a separate piece of paper, students
will also have to evaluate the poem by
either arguing it: Is the speaker happy
with the choice he made? Argue both
sides, providing three pieces of
evidence for each, Or students can
retitle it: What is the significance of the
title- “The Road Not Taken”? Suggest
two alternative titles and explain how
your choices might alter the
interpretation of the poem. Use
evidence from the poem to explain
which title may the better choice.
 Teacher will walk around the
classroom assisting any students that
needs help or clarification.

Co-Teaching Strategy
 Which co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

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 Differentiation Strategy
 What accommodations/modifications will you include for specific students?
 Do you anticipate any students who will need an additional challenge?
 Students may use computer to dictate responses rather than writing them.
Closing/Student Reflection/Real-life connections:
 How will students summarize and state the significance of what they learned?
 Why will students be engaged?
 Students will be asked to demonstrate their understanding of theme through the activities
during class and for homework. Students will be able to connect their knowledge of theme by
finding a quote or song of their choice that relates to the theme of the poem- making choices,
whether popular or unpopular.
 As I close class, I will direct students to think about their journal entry during bell work. I ask
students to imagine what might have been different in their lives if they had made a different
choice than the one they first wrote about.