Sample Lesson Plan

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an explanation of this lesson plan
Why I chose this content and approach

When I first started teaching this particular group of students, the big question for me was what to teach.  Upon hearing that my students would have to take the same state English tests as the mainstream students, I became concerned about  whether I was preparing my students well enough.  I needed to know what was on these tests and what my students were missing that the mainstream students were getting in their English classes.  During a meeting with the ninth grade mainstream English teachers I received a copy of their curriculum and was briefed on the state assessments.  I found that, besides functional English skills, students would be required to know how to analyze and describe literature.  Based on these discoveries, I chose the content for this lesson.

I also chose this content because I felt it would help my students be more effective readers.  It is more than just literary terminology; it is a strategy that can be applied. 

Besides the standards and skills, I also prefer to have some academic content-subject matter to talk about in my lessons.  I find it easier to build proficiency when given academic content to discuss.  Designing communicative language instruction requires that one provide some sort of content for students to communicate.  These were used to design tasks in which students of all different levels could participate.

The story itself also proved to be relevant content.  Firstly it was multicultural and dealt with the history of immigration to the United States.  Secondly, it involved history content-subject matter that my students would be expected to know on the High School Assessments for history.

The method of classroom management I chose provides many opportunities for students to build proficiency.  It integrates all four skills as students listen to the teacher and interact with one another, read a story, write about the story, and ask each other questions or tell their answers.  Students are given many chances to speak.  They continually demonstrate their comprehension and provide evidence of their learning by producing responses.  They are provided support for their production as the teacher models utterances that the students will later have to produce.  And, the ReQuest reading routine functions as a communicative activity as the students take turns playing the role of the questioner that is generally reserved only for teachers in other classrooms.  Throughout the lesson, students are constantly involved with some meaningful communicative task.

Besides building proficiency, the lesson teaches many important learning strategies that empower the students to learn more on their own.  The lesson focuses on a strategies readers can use to monitor themselves while reading.  The use of these reading strategies scaffolds the learners' comprehension of the text and thereby supports their acquisition of the language independent of teaching.   Besides providing opportunities to learn reading skills, the lesson also provides opportunities for students to become more proficient in asking questions about literature.  This is a skill they can use when asking for help from mainstream teachers later on.  The keeping of word lists by the students is yet another strategy they practice in this lesson that will help them to be more successful language learners later on in life.  In conclusion, this lesson doesn't just teach them English, it also equips them for better independent learning.

The following lesson plan relates to the planning, implementing, and managing instruction domain of the TESOL/NCATE Standards for the Accreditation of Initial Programs in P-12 ESL Teacher Education.  This lesson plan demonstrates that I commit myself to the following TESOL standards:

  • "plan standards-based instruction"
  • "lessons such that my students meet learning objectives and assist one another"
  • "multilevel activities"
  • "activities that integrate skill and content areas through thematic and inquiry-based units"

ginger for the Heart ~ Reading a narrative

 

a description of the students:

  • ninth grade ESOL in a sheltered class of 12

  • high intermediate proficiency with variable literacy levels

  • high fluency - low accuracy

  • are taking an ESOL course to get their English credits but must pass the same English High School Assessment test as the mainstream students, and therefore, must learn much of the literature content-subject-matter that will be assessed

theme: Dreams and Decisions

~ How do the decisions you make help you reach your goals?~

 

materials: HighPointB, p.p.147-154, the story Ginger for the Heart

notes for the students

 

homework:

Read the short story, Ginger for the Heart, again at home.  You will be tested on it soon. 

Make a word list in your notebook

  • While reading it, make a list of ten words from the story that you want to learn more about.

  • Copy the whole sentence in which you find each of the words.

objectives: By the end of the lesson, you should be able to apply the following reading skills:

(a) making predictions and reading to confirm predictions, and

(b) identifying the elements of a narrative and using them to guide comprehension.

 

drill (recall and activate background knowledge):

What are the elements of narratives we talked about in previous lessons?  List them.

 

introduction:

start the drill --- give them two minutes to finish writing it – don’t collect it

take attendance while students write the drill

use the drill to introduce the day’s objectives

In today’s lesson, you are going to read a story.

You will use what you know about narratives to guide you to read more effectively.

 

developmental activity:

Students preview the story:

Help them explain what previewing is.

Help them tell how to preview.

Help them explain why readers should preview.

 

Have them write predictions following the model:

(TR) I think this story will be about… because…

(TR) I think that in this story… because

 

guided activity (reading groups):

explain

You can use your knowledge of the common elements found in narratives to guide you as you read.  If you use this strategy, then you will be able to monitor your own reading and know whether you are reading effectively or whether you are missing something.

Model the process by thinking out loud as you find the main character.

 

Give the students instructions to read the story together and make a chart listing the common elements of narratives found in the story.

Each student must make his/her own chart and not share the details with his/her peers.

Give them only ten minutes to complete the task.

Tell them that they may talk about what they are reading and ask each other questions while reading.

Ask the students to repeat the instructions to demonstrate their comprehension.

Start off the chart-making process by modeling:

(example) 

main character (protagonist) Yenna
other characters  
setting  
problem (dilemma)  
solution  
lesson to be learned (moral)  

 

independent activity (reading groups - ReQuest):

Students move clockwise around their group asking other members questions about the elements to check each other

(TR) Who is the protagonist?

(TR) What is the setting?

Students should answer questions without looking at chart, but may look at text.

(TR) The protagonist is Yenna, a young Chinese woman.

(TR) The setting is Chinatown in San Francisco, during the Gold Rush.

assessment activity:

Groups ask other groups their questions.

 

Teacher refers back to the predictions they made at the beginning and calls on students to see whether those predictions were correct or not.

 

Discuss how using the two strategies helped them to be in control of their reading and monitor themselves.

 

closure:

What did you do today?  Did you learn anything new?

 

follow up - application - transfer

In the future, students will write a narrative of their own having the same elements is this one.

  
 
The lesson plan follows recommended conventions for instructional design.

For example, it approximates Gagne's nine instructional events.  The lesson begins with a short task in which the students are required to settle down and focus.  They recall what they learned in previous lessons and are encouraged to refer to their notes and text.  The lesson has a clear introduction and from the start the students know what they will do, what they will learn to do, and why they are learning it.  Then, in stages, they are introduced to a skill, they are guided to practice the skill, they practice it independently and receive feedback, and then their learning of the skill is assessed.  When the lesson is completed, there is some closure given as the students talk about what they learned and what they did.  This skill will be reinforced and used in other contexts in later lessons.

This lesson also models effective reading instruction.  It provides interesting and authentic literature for reading.  The students do more than just read; they learn how to read and are taught strategies to scaffold their comprehension.  The students are given tasks for reading instead of just being asked to read.  The lesson is divided into stages in which the learners engage in pre-reading, while-reading, and post-reading tasks.  Later on opportunities of repeated reading are provided in order to build reading fluency and target vocabulary is reinforced.  Moreover, students are being taught to be in charge of their own reading and will eventually learn to apply these strategies and skills on their own.
 

note:

These standards were copywritten by Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL) in 2002.

 

 

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