Marina Brandle Dr.

McCracken

Indiana Wesleyan University

Elementary Education (Children’s Literature) Lesson Plan Template
CAEP 2018 K-6 Elementary Teacher Preparation Standards

Book Title & Author/Illustrator: The Bad Seed by Jory John, illustrated by Pete Oswald

LESSON RATIONALE/INJUSTICE CONFRONTED

Students’ comprehension hinges partly on their ability to recall and sequence events in a
story. In the process of tackling parts of a story, students will also confront the fact that we
don’t know what people have been through and we can’t hold anyone to a fixed mindset.

READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s)—Unit (broad terms)
• While confronting and discussing the concept of fixed mindset and unknown
experiences of others, students will identify the beginning, middle, and end of
a story.
B. Objective(s)—
• Students will differentiate between the beginning, middle, and end of a story.
• Students will pair scenes of the story with one of the following labels:
“beginning,” “middle,” or “end.”
C. Standard(s):
• 2.RL.2.2 Recount the beginning, middle, and ending of stories, including fables
and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson,
or moral.
II. Management Plan-
a. Time (per lesson element): 30-40 minutes
5 minutes—Anticipatory Set
30 minutes—Lesson Presentation
3-5 minutes—Closure
b. Use of Space
• Students will be seated on the carpet surrounding my chair.
• Students will work on their seed worksheets at their desks.
c. List of Materials
• The Bad Seed by Jory John/Pete Oswald
• sunflower seeds
• anchor chart
• construction paper (colors matching the colors used on the anchor chart)
• MacBook & AppleTV projection screen (in classroom)
• Accompanying PowerPoint for illustration slides:
o https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1p80fJ6yIGnoB90DZGbn-
Uo163oDIDKt11he415XJqPE/edit?usp=sharing

d. Expectations and Procedures

1
Marina Brandle Dr. McCracken

• Students will sit “on their pockets” throughout the lesson.

• Students will refrain from talking, especially while I am reading/talking
• Students will raise their hand to answer a question.
• If students speak during the lesson, I will remind them that voices need to
be off and ears need to be open;
• If necessary, I will remind students of the behavior management method
of a “warning”; I will personally try to avoid any students “clipping down”
but will utilize it in extreme circumstances.
• A discussion with my cooperating teacher resulted in the preparation of
“emergency” strategies to manage behavior during the lesson. These
included one, in particular, “Beat the Teacher”—something the students
are already familiar with.

III. Anticipatory Set

• Hand out seeds.
• “As I hand you something, I want you to quietly, with your voices off, think to yourself
about what I hand you so that when I ask a question, you can raise your hand and tell
me.
• Raise your hand to answer: what do you notice about what I handed out today? [allow
for answers]. That’s right! You are holding a seed. Are all of your seeds the same…?
Not quite. Some are bigger, some are smaller, and some are even broken! But wait…
they all came from the same bag. Shouldn’t they all be the same? I want you to all
close your eyes for a minute and think about the life of a seed. Think about where seeds
come from, think about what happens to seeds or what they do. Do they always stay
the same forever? [wait a few seconds]. Okay, as you open your eyes I would like
someone to raise their hand and tell me what they thought about the life of a
seed…[call on a 2-3 students, allow for answers]. Many things could happen to a seed,
couldn’t it? We don’t know where our little seeds have been. And you know what? Lots
of things could happen to our seeds! Today, I want to read you one of my favorite
picture books called The Bad Seed by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald. While I
read I want you to pay attention to our main character and what happens to him
throughout the story…(Continue to purpose statement)

IV. Purpose:
• “[That way], we will discover how the beginning, middle, and end of a story work
together to show us the main idea!”

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

V. Adaptation to Individual Differences and Diverse Learners—
• For two of my students who are hard of hearing, I will make sure I enunciate and
that these students have a clear view of my lips while I’m speaking, especially when
I’m giving directions.
• For a handful of students, they might need to be moved while they work to minimize
distractions.

2
Marina Brandle Dr. McCracken

• While this lesson is intended for second grade, my class is largely lower-ability.
Thus, the difficulty level of tasks has been adjusted accordingly.

VI. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)

• I will read The Bad Seed by Jory John and illustrated by Pete Oswald.
• Prior to exploring the standard, students and I will participate in a “grand
conversation,” initiated by varying levels of questioning.
• Questions I might ask include:
1. What did you think of this book?
2. What was your favorite part?
3. Why did you like it? / Why didn’t you like it?
4. Does this story remind you of any other stories, or maybe of a real-life
situation?
5. What did you think of the main character?
6. Is there anything you think should be added to this story?
• To tie this lesson plan in with my UNIT, I will also ask students: Did the bad seed
stay the same in this story? Did he change? How do you know he changed? You
could SEE it, right? We are able to see or observe change. It happens a lot in books
that we see characters change, just like the bad seed changed in this book.
• Next, with the use of an anchor chart, I will lead a discussion about the three parts of
a story: beginning, middle, and end.
• The anchor chart will be similar to the one pictured below:

3
Marina Brandle Dr. McCracken

• Does anyone know the different parts of a story? [There are 3 parts…] [allow for
answers]. That’s right! Every good story has a beginning, middle, and an end. Each
part of a story has a different job. I would love to hear some good guesses—what do
you think the job is of the beginning of the story? [allow for answers] What about the
middle? [allow for answers] What is the job of the end? [allow for answers]. Right
now, I am going to teach you what the jobs are of each part of a story, so I need you to
be really good listeners and pay close attention!
• I will begin to fill in information on the anchor chart and introduce the jobs of each
part.
• Here, we have B for beginning. The beginning of a story catches the reader’s attention!
We find out the who the characters are and where the story takes place, or the
setting. The middle tells us what happens to the characters. It has the main events
and action of the story. Then, the end, shows how the characters feel now, how they
changed, or what they learned. It tells us how they solved the problem.
• Having all three parts of the story is very important. Why do you think that is? [allow
for answers]
• Having a complete story helps give us a really good main idea or lesson in the book.
Take a minute, and think in your head, don’t say it out loud yet—what do you think the
main idea or lesson is from this book? [allow ample time for conversation].

VII. Check for understanding.

• Now, I am going to count to 3. Listen carefully! On one, you will stand up. On two, you
will walk, silently, to your desk. On three, you will sit down, ready to listen to what I
have to say next. Ready? 1, 2, 3…
• Eyes on me! Next, we are going to work together and come up 10 things we learned.
Take a minute and think to yourself of something we learned today about parts of a
story. When you’re ready, you may raise your hand and wait for me to call on you to
answer. [allow for answers, brief discussion, and formation of a list].
• This is a great list! You have learned so much, I’m SO proud!
• One last thing we’re going to do before we do some independent work… I am going to
have pictures of different parts of the book up here on the screen. Your job is to hold up
one of your cards on your desk that matches which part of the story the picture comes
from. You have a B, a M, and an E. Show me which one will you hold up if the picture is
from the beginning of the story. Good! What about the middle of the story? You got it.
Okay, are you ready?
• I will display different pictures from different parts of the book and students will
hold up their cards. As this activity concludes, I will pass out worksheets for
students to work on independently.
• Take a look at your worksheet with me so I can give you directions, okay? You have
three boxes. One for the beginning, one for the middle, and one for the end of the story.
You are going to draw a picture of something that happened in that part of the story
for each box. Then, underneath, you are going to write something you learned from
that part of the story. Think back to our anchor chart…remember when we talked
about how each part of the story has a job? I want you to tell me what that part’s job

4
Marina Brandle Dr. McCracken

was. For example, what does the beginning of the story tell us? [allow answers]—
that’s right it can tell us about the setting and introduce us to the characters.

VIII. Review learning outcomes / Closure

• Friends, as you keep working, I want you to take a look up here at the list we made
earlier. You did such a good job—look how much we learned together! Go ahead and
take a few more minutes to finish up and then we will get ready for a bathroom break.

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

Formative:
• “List 10 Things” will give me an idea of what the students took away from the lesson
thus far. It will give me the opportunity to refocus their attention to something
important they may have missed.
• The whole-group activity where students hold up B, M, or E will also give me insight
into the learning of the class.

Summative:
• Students will complete a worksheet with which they will recall the story—a scene
for each part of the story (beginning, middle, end). They will draw a picture of the
scene and write a sentence about what that part of the story taught/informed them.

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
I believe the majority of my students who remained in the class for the entirety of the lesson
achieved my lesson objective. There were several students (about half the class) who left for RTI
prior to completing my summative assessment. I would say about half of that group had a good
grasp on achieving the objective.
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
I felt my read aloud itself and my formative assessment were both very strong. I think my
management of an easily distractable group hindered the full execution of content.
3. How should I alter this lesson?
I would alter the anticipatory set to set myself up for greater success and less distraction.
Like I discussed with Dr. Karr, I would keep the tactile aspect while limiting the distraction of
handing out individual seeds.
4. How would I pace it differently?
I was satisfied with the pace in general. I think I would
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
Yes, the majority were! There were a small handful of students who struggled to follow
procedures and therefore did not participate fully the entire time. However, the majority did a great
job.
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
I chose a summative assessment that was accessible even to my lower-level ability students
in this class. As I mentioned in the adaptations of the lesson plan, I have a spectrum ranging from
early preschool to about third grade. I have one student in particular who cannot write at all. Thus,
there was a drawing portion and a short writing portion.
7. Were your attempts at management during the read-aloud successful? Why or why not?

5
Marina Brandle Dr. McCracken

Not so much. I was intentional about management for this lesson, believe it or not. The
management piece of this lesson really inhibited my ability to stay on track with the lesson
presentation, especially with clarifying the main points of the content.
8. Were students receptive to the idea of “the impact of choice” or “change”? Is there a
different big idea you should have pursued?
I think they were responsive. I had one student in particular who picked up on the bigger
picture idea immediately. I can’t remember his exact words, but he didn’t miss a beat when he
talked about the seed choosing to change and be good.
9. How were the students’ response activities? Did they understand the big idea underlying
the activity?
Yes. The formative assessment was very helpful, especially to me. They were engaged and I
was given a clear idea of their understanding. Observing the completion of the independent
summative assessment gave me further insight into their understanding of beginning, middle, and
end.
10. Were you satisfied with the independent work done for this lesson? Would you change
anything about this?
For the most part, I was. I would like to see further development of this section of my lesson.
I think I would like to see further application of characteristics of story parts. For example, many
students told me what happened in the beginning of the story instead of telling me what each part
of a story tells us in general (ie “The Bad Seed was…” vs. “The beginning tells us about the main
character.’) I think I wasn’t as satisfied with the independent work because the lesson presentation
was hindered. If content had been more clearly explained, perhaps the independent work would
have gone smoother.

6
Marina Brandle Dr. McCracken