Molloy College

Division of Education

Heading for Participatory Observation and Student Teaching

Teacher Candidate: Kaitlin Batik College Supervisor: Ellen Brett

Content Area: ELA Cooperating Teacher: Mrs. Abshire
Grade: 5 Lesson#1 Topic: ​Hole​s/Poetry Date: 4/25/2018
School District: East Meadow School: Bowling Green

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES

After playing a game to identify their assigned characters from the novel Holes, students will
write an ‘I Am” poem from the perspective of their assigned character, earning at least 9/12 on a
teacher created rubric.

NYS-CCLS / +NYS STANDARDS AND INDICATORS

Standard and/or Key Idea and/or Key Concept

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.3.D
Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events
precisely.
Indicator:​ ​This will be evident when students write poems from the character’s
perspective and reference actions the character took in the story.

Standard and/or Key Idea and/or Key Concept (refer to lesson plan instructions for details)
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1
Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing
inferences from the text.

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language
 Indicator:​ ​This will be evident when students find information about the character they
are using in the poem and identify the page number and passage they got the information from.

INSTRUCTIONAL RESOURCES

● Holes​ books
● Name tags
● Am I worksheet
● Plan Your Poetry question sheet
● Poetry Planning graphic organizer
● Poetry Writing worksheet
● Rubric
● Holes question packet (not attached to lesson plan as it was provided by the classroom
teacher at the beginning of the unit--used for reference during activity)
● Character Booklets (created by students in an earlier lesson, used for reference during
activity)

MOTIVATION

Students will play a ‘Headbandz” style game in groups. Each student will be given a name tag
that they cannot read but their group members can. They will need to ask questions of their
group members to determine which character’s name they have. The teacher will demonstrate
with a character none of the students have been assigned before the students play.

DEVELOPMENTAL PROCEDURES

1. The teacher will lead a class discussion to recap what students have read so far (chapters
1-14) and to introduce National Poetry Month (​What have we read so far? What has
Stanley been up to? What happens in April?)
2. Students will fill out the Poetry Planning worksheet. This will provide an outline for
what they will include in the actual poems. Students can reference the books, the
character booklets they made in class, and the question sheets they have been filing out
throughout the unit. ​(What are things your character does? What time period is your
character from? How does your character feel during [event from book]? How might
other characters react to your character?
3. The teacher will share an example poem written from the perspective of the character
used to demonstrate the game in the motivation.
4. Students will write “I am” poems from the perspective of their characters.

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language
 5. Students will be given the option to share their poems aloud with the class but will not be
required to do so if they don’t want to.

INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Strategy
Teacher Modeling
Indicator:​ ​This will be evident when the teacher demonstrates how to play the game and
shares an example poem
Strategy
Independent reading
Indicator:​ ​This will be evident when students use their copies of the novel to find quotes
that prove what they write about the character in the poem.

ADAPTATIONS

● As per multiple student IEPs, students will be redirected as needed

● As per multiple student IEPs, the teacher will check for understanding of class
instructions
● An intervention assistant is in the classroom to provide academic support to students
● The poetry planning worksheet is given to all students, but has been designed to serve as
the “graphic organizer” that is mandated on several of the IEPs.

DIFFERENTIATION OF INSTRUCTION

Differentiation will occur in the assignment of characters. All students will have to guess which
character they have been assigned and write a poem from that character’s perspective

Struggling students​ will be assigned a character such as Stanley who the readers have a lot of
information on so far.

Average students​ will be assigned a character such as X-Ray who readers have some information
on so far.

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language
Advanced students​ will be assigned a character such as the Warden who readers have limited
information about so far.

ASSESSMENT

● The teacher will float from group to group to check in with students and monitor progress
during the activity (informal assessment).
● The “Am I” worksheets will be collected to ensure that students are accountable for
writing down the questions they ask and asking questions for information before they
start to guess characters
● The final poems will be collected and assessed on a rubric

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

Students will write a journal entry from the perspective of a character from the novel. They will
have the option to use the character they were assigned or to choose a different character. The
entry should be at least two paragraphs long.

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES: DIRECT TEACHER INTERVENTION AND

ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT

Direct Teacher Intervention

If students struggled with getting characters mixed up, or with finding things to write about the
character: ​the teacher can work with the students either individually or in small groups,
depending on the number of students requiring assistance and if students happened to struggle
with the same character. The teacher can work with the student(s) to create a more in-depth
character map.
If students struggled to write the poetry: ​the teacher can read example poems with the student(s)
and discuss the elements used in those poems. The group will then work together to create a
poem for another character that was not used for their original poems.

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language
Academic Enrichment
Students will choose another character out of a hat. They will write a “5 senses” poem from the
perspective of this new character.

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language
 REFERENCES

Parlett, R. (2018, March 30). 6 fun activities to use in a novel unit. Retrieved from
https://beneylu.com/pssst/en/6-fun-activities-to-use-in-a-novel-unit/

Sachar, L. (1998). ​Holes. ​United States: Yearling.

Other materials provided by cooperating teacher.

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language
Name: ________________________________________ Date:_____________

Am I? 
Directions: You will be given a name tag with the name of a character from 
Holes. ​To figure out which character you have, ask your group members 
questions. The questions should start with “Am I” and be answered with a yes 
or no. You must ask three questions before guessing your character, but extra 
lines are provided in case you need more information. 
 
1. Am I ​____________________________________________ ​(y/n) 
2. Am I ​____________________________________________ ​(y/n) 
3. Am I ​____________________________________________ ​(y/n) 
4. Am I ​____________________________________________ ​(y/n) 
5. Am I ​____________________________________________ ​(y/n) 
6. Am I ​____________________________________________ ​(y/n) 
 
 
 
Final guess: ​_________________________________________

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language
 Name:​______________________________________ Date:​ __________

Plan Your Poetry 

In order to write an “I am” poem from the perspective of your character, you 
need to ask yourself some questions about your character. Here are some 
examples: 
● What is my character’s name? 
● How old is my character? 
● Does my character have a job? 
● What does my character do? 
● When does my character live? 
● Does my character enjoy what they do? 
● Does my character have any hobbies? 
● What is my character’s family like? 
 
 

   

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language
Name:​______________________________________ Date:​ __________
 

Poetry Planning 
In the oval in the middle of the page, write the name of your assigned 
character. In the other circles, write information about your character that you 
would like to include in your poem and the page number you found that 
information on.   
 
 

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language
 Category 1 2 3

Questions Did not write down Asked and wrote Asked and wrote 3 or
questions asked down 1 or 2 questions more questions
during the game during the game during the game

Text evidence Minimal references to Poem references Poem references

events in the book multiple events from multiple events from
the book but no page the book and page
numbers are written numbers are written
on the graphic on the graphic
organizer organizer

Length Poem is 5 lines or Poem is between 6 Poem is longer than

less and 10 lines 10 lines

Creativity No extra ideas not “Thinking outside the “Thinking outside the
stated in the text were box,” poem has 1 box;” poem has 2 or
used idea not directly more ideas not
stated in the text, directly stated in the
such as predictions text, such as
about what will predictions about
happen, how a what will happen,
character is feeling in how a character is
a given moment, or feeling in a given
what a character moment, or what a
might be doing in character might be
scenes the reader doing in scenes the
doesn’t get to see. reader doesn’t get to
see.

© Molloy College, Division of Education, Rockville Centre, NY 11571

Revised 10/25/16
*edTPA academic language