Mild/Moderate Lesson Plan Format

Teacher candidate: Shannon Creedon

LESSON PLAN BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

SETTING

School: Williams Elementary School

Grade level(s)/subject: 4th, writing
Classroom (general education, substantially separate)
Date: 3/11/2020
Time of day/lesson duration: 2:00, 30 minutes
Number of students: 3

FRAMEWORK
Objective: What will your student(s) be able to do by the end of the lesson?

Students will be able to identify a topic sentence in a short passage.

Students will be able to write topic sentences that include the topic in a broad way that allows
more concise details to follow it.

Rationale: Why are you teaching this objective to this/these student(s)?

The students in this group are working on paragraph structure.

IEP objective(s): What objectives from student IEPs will be addressed?

Given scaffolding, the student will write at least one paragraph that includes a topic
sentence, 2 details with pieces of supporting evidence and a concluding sentence, using
correct spelling, grammar and mechanics with 80% accuracy 4 out of 5 opportunities.

State/Common Core standards: What standards will be addressed?

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.1.A
Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an
organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer's
purpose.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills: What prior knowledge and skills do student(s)
need in order to successfully participate in this lesson?
 The students need to know what a topic sentence is after having a short introduction to
this prior knowledge.

Learner factors: What learner factors will impact student learning during this lesson?
The students in this group can be distracted easily and will need reminders to
stay on task and focus on what the activity is.
There is one student in the group who may exhibit tough behaviors throughout the
lesson but using positive reinforcement should mostly subdue those behaviors.

Access: What accommodations and/or modifications will be provided to ensure that the
student(s) can fully access and participate in all aspects of the lesson?
● Students will have access to breaks if needed
● Small group learning
● Having a set agenda for the 30 minutes
● One adult to three students

Materials: What instructional materials will be used during the lesson?

● Pencils
● Paper
● Agenda
● Paper with expectations
● Paper with goals for the group
● Worksheets
● A few passages
● Exit tickets
● Highlighters
Possible Adjustments:

Extension: If there is extra time, the students will play a game that is working on topic
sentences.
If there is more extra time, there will be an extension sheet that includes topics they
should write topic sentences for.

Adjustments: If the activities seem to be too hard for the students, I will have the
students look at more examples of topic sentences and instruct how to break down how
we know those are topic sentences.
I will give more support to students who may be struggling with writing or identifying topic
sentences.

Instructional follow-up:
For students who have mastered the skill:
- Students who have finished all the expected work will work on the extension sheet that is
prepared.
 - If the student is still finishing fast, I will ask the student to go back and elaborate their
topic sentences.
For students who almost mastered:
- They will continue to work on the activities that are provided and there will be more
activities planned for the next pull out group.
For students who have not mastered:
- There will be more explicit instruction on topic sentences the next pull out group.
- There will be extra support in the pull out group for a student who shows signs of
struggling with the concept.

EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION LESSON PLAN

OBJECTIVE:

Students will be able to identify a topic sentence in a short passage.

Students will be able to write topic sentences that include the topic in a broad way that allows
more concise details to follow it.

OPENING

Gain students’ attention (A&H, p. 24):

Good afternoon! Let’s do a few deep breaths before we start this lesson. Remember to breathe
in for 7 seconds and breathe out for 11 seconds.

Student-friendly statement of the lesson objective (scripted; A&H, p. 25):

So today we are going to start really diving into topic sentences. The goal for the end of this
lesson is for us to be able to identify a topic sentence in a short passage as well as be able to
write a topic sentence. I know you are all capable of this with those smart brains inside your
head, so let’s get started!

Student-friendly statement of the relevance of the lesson objective (scripted; A&H, p. 25):

This lesson is going to help you when you are writing your reading responses as well as other
paragraphs and essays we are going to be doing in class!

Review of critical prerequisite skills (A&H, pp. 26-27):

So, let’s talk about topic sentences! First off, does anyone want to share with me what a topic
sentence is?
Yes! A topic sentence is a sentence that is usually at the beginning of a paragraph or passage
that gets the reader's attention and previews the topic that will be discussed.
BODY OF THE EXPLICIT LESSON (The below three-step cycle may occur multiple times in a
lesson (A&H, p. 38). The cycle may also occur over multiple days/lessons (A&H, p. 40).)
Here are some examples of a topic sentence:
Bicycling is safe if you follow these rules.
What is this topic sentence about?
I have learned some important things this year.
What is this topic sentence about?
An elephant would not make a good pet.
What is this topic sentence about?

Awesome! So each of these topic sentences were clear about what the rest of the passage was
going to be about. These sentences did not give every rule that you should follow about
bicycling but they did state that bicycling is safe if you follow these rules. What do you think they
would talk about next in that passage?
Yes! They would talk about what rules to follow to make bicycling safe. Great!

Clear explanation of key concept (scripted): Write the exact language you will use to convey
the critical concept, rule, skill, or strategy in this lesson.

Modeling/I Do (scripted; A&H, pp. 29-32): Write the exact language you will use to show
students how to show they can perform the task set by the lesson.

Here are some examples of a topic sentence:

Bicycling is safe if you follow these rules.
What is this topic sentence about?
I have learned some important things this year.
What is this topic sentence about?
An elephant would not make a good pet.
What is this topic sentence about?

Awesome! So each of these topic sentences were clear about what the rest of the passage was
going to be about. These sentences did not give every rule that you should follow about
bicycling but they did state that bicycling is safe if you follow these rules. What do you think they
would talk about next in that passage?
Yes! They would talk about what rules to follow to make bicycling safe. Great!
So I am going to write a topic sentence about computers and you guys are going to let me know
if you think it is good by giving me a thumbs up or thumbs down.
My topic sentence about computers is:
There are many ways that computers have made our lives better.
Thumbs up or down? Why?

Criterion for moving to prompted/guided practice: How will you know that students are
ready to practice with you?
 I will know the students are ready to practice with me when they all give me a thumbs up about
a topic sentence that I wrote.
Prompted or Guided Practice/We Do: (A&H, pp. 32-38): Write the exact physical, verbal, and
visual prompts (pp. 32-39). State how you will monitor the students’ learning/performance and
fade prompts (p. 38)
So now let’s write some topic sentences together. The first subject we are going to write
one together with is dogs. Can someone with a raise hand give me an example of a
topic sentence that has to do with dogs? It could be about how dogs are great pets or
how dogs are not great pets.
Awesome!
Let’s do this together one more time! Our topic this time is basketball. What could we
write about with basketball?
Does anyone want to take a swing and try to write a topic sentence about basketball?
Awesome!

Criterion for moving to Unprompted Practice: How will you know that students are ready to
practice on their own?

They will have discussed and engaged with writing a topic sentence together.

Unprompted Practice/You Do (A&H, pp. 38-39): This is different from homework or a long
section of independent practice. Students should practice once on their own with checking and
feedback from you.

Okay now that we have written some together, we are going to take this time to write some on
our own. I am giving you three different topics that are each individualized for you guys. Once
you guys finish those three we are going to share one to the group.
Once they have shared, they are going to get a passage that we will read as a group and they
will highlight the topic sentence. If there is time we will do one more passage together.

CLOSING

Review critical content (A&H, p. 39):

So the lesson objectives for today was to be able to write a topic sentence as well as identify a
topic sentence in a passage. I think that we did a great job with that, how do you guys think we
did? GIve me a thumbs up or thumbs down!
So today we talked about topic sentences and how they are important to a good paragraph and
passage. They introduce what the topic of that paragraph is going to be which is critical!

Preview the content of the next lesson (A&H, p. 39):

Next time we meet we are going to review topic sentences and dive into what we would write
after those topic sentences! Awesome work today! Your exit ticket is to circle what you are
feeling related to what we did today.

Assign independent work (A&H, p. 39):

If there is still time, the students should play a game that is a matching game. There will be a
topic sentence on one card and a topic on the other and they will have to match them to each
other.

STUDENT EVALUATION

Assessment plan:
- Throughout the lesson I will be noting the engagement and ideas that each student is
giving.
- I will collect the topic sentences that they write and give them feedback the next time we
meet.

Criteria for mastery: Describe the specific assessment criteria (e.g., # or % correct,
quality of response) for student mastery of the critical concept, rule,
- The criteria for the assessment is that the students should have written at least
two topic sentences that are broad enough to introduce what the topic is but not
include all the reasons about the topic.