Lesson Plan Title:

Director in Training... Take Two!

Brief Description/Abstract:
Here is a perfect way to teach the much needed reading strategy of visualization where
the student gets to be The Director of the movie that plays out in their mind.
Overview:
Students will read a story and begin to draw their visualizations. First they will retell the
story through their drawings and eventually write their own script to have their friends
act out. When they record their movie on the ipad and project it on the big screen
they will have a party to celebrate their premier.
Grade Band:
3-5
Lesson Plan Type:
Standard Lesson
Estimated Lesson Time:
Three to Five 50 minute sessions for Standard Lesson
Featured Resources/Student Interactives:
Comic Creator
Doodle Splash
Printouts: (Graphic Organizers)
Sketch to Stretch template learner website for visualization
Visualizing poster reading lady poster
Create a Story Strip daily teaching tool website
The Movie in My Mind excellent book of graphic organizers
Visualization Sketches
Materials & Technology:
movie scripts or readers theater scripts for inspiration
books for visualizing (picture books or student choice chapter books)
graphic organizer for sketching
ipad for recording video of movie
paper, pencil, and art supplies
From Theory to Practice:
McLaughlin, M., & Allen, M.B. (2002). Guided Comprehension: A teaching model for grades 3
8. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
~ Guided Comprehension is a context in which students learn comprehension strategies in a
variety of settings using multiple levels and types of text. It is a three-stage process focused on
direct instruction, application, and reection.
~ The Guided Comprehension Model progresses from explicit teaching to independent practice
and transfer.
~ Visualizing involves picturing in your mind what is happening in the text.
~ Current studies demonstrate that when students experience explicit instruction of
comprehension strategies, it improves their comprehension of new texts and topics (Hiebert et
al., 1998).
Standards:
NCTE/IRA NATIONAL STANDARDS FOR THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
ARTS
1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of
themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to
respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulllment.
Among these texts are ction and nonction, classic and contemporary works.

2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an
understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human
experience.

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate
texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their
knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identication strategies, and their
understanding of textual features (e.g., soundletter correspondence, sentence structure, context,
graphics).

7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by
posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print
and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their
purpose and audience.

8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases,
computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate
knowledge.

11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reective, creative, and critical members of a variety
of literacy communities.
STATE STANDARDS
Maine
Subject: Language Arts
Grade(s): 4
Standard: RL.4.1. Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says
explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
Subject: Language Arts
Grade(s): 4
Standard: RL.4.2. Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text;
summarize the text.
Subject: Language Arts
Grade(s): 4
Standard: RI.4.2. Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key
details; summarize the text.
Subject: Language Arts
Grade(s): 5
Standard: RI.5.2. Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are
supported by key details; summarize the text.
Subject: Language Arts
Grade(s): 5
Standard: RF.5.4(a) Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.
Subject: Language Arts
Grade(s): 5
Standard: W.5.1(a) Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an
organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer's purpose.
Subject: Language Arts
Grade(s): 5
Standard: W.5.1(b) Provide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
COMMON CORE STANDARDS
ME.CC.RF.5.

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

RF.5.4. Read with sufcient accuracy and uency to support comprehension.
RF.5.4(a) Read on-level text with purpose and understanding.
RF.5.4(b) Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression
on successive readings.
RF.5.4(c) Use context to conrm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading
as necessary.
Websites:
The Comprehension Toolkit
http://www.comprehensiontoolkit.com/samples.asp
This website provides sample resources about comprehension. In particular for
this lesson you would want to focus on Lesson 8: View and Read to Learn and Wonder: Use
images and words to gain understanding and Lesson 14: Make Sense of New Information:
Infer from features, pictures, and words.
Busy Teachers Cafe
www.busyteacherscafe.com/literacy/comprehension_strategies.html
This website provides numerous resources for teachers to use in their
classrooms. This particular website is used for comprehension strategies to used
during reading lessons.
Preparation:
1. Have a variety of high-interest books for students at different levels
2. Have copies of graphic organizers (with exemplars) available
3. Explain the rules of group work for the students when they direct
4. Have movie scenes available that describe and show different moods
5. Be prepared to demonstrate your own writing in script form
6. Be prepared to introduce and assist the guest speaker
7. Have 10 different scenarios that could be used to show a scene from a movie

Instructional Plan:
Student Objectives:
Students will:
*Interpret the important events that take place in a book through drawing and
visualizing
*Re-write a summary of the book through writing a script of the main events
*Direct actors to help articulate character traits, events, and mood of the story
*Present their movie to their targeted audience
Session Introduction and Activities:

Session One:
1. Introduce an actor/director and show some of their work (either in person
or on t.v.
2. Have the actor or director show the class some of their scripts and how
they translate what they read into what you see on t.v.
3. Break up into small groups with a specic scenarios for each group and
have them work on their scripts for that scene
4. Have the groups record their scene on the ipad2
Session Two:
1. Show the video of the students rst attempt with script writing and discuss
what went well and what was difcult
2. Read a scene from a book and see if the class can help you write a script using
the information from the book and their feedback from yesterdays class
3. Have a few students act out the scene that we created as a class and YOU (the
teacher) will direct how they should face the audience, speak to be heard, add
voice and mood to what they are saying
4. Have a student video tape the scene on the ipad
5. Have students partner read from a book of your choice and see if they can
turn and talk about what they noticed, how the characters were portrayed,
and what they might change about it
Session Three:
1. Show the video of the class scene and discuss the positives and negatives
about the scenario
2. Send students off to read independently 1 chapter of a book (assign different
chapters of the same book to different students (make sure that at least two
students get the same chapter for partner activity later))
3. While students are reading they will need to be taking notes in a graphic
organizer about visualizing
4. End the lesson with an opportunity to reect on what was read with another
person that read the same chapter
Session Four:
1. Students will meet with their partner from yesterday and share their
visualization of the main events of that chapter
2. The students will then begin to retell their story through captioning their
drawings of the main events. (The captions can go right underneath their
picture on their organizer)
3. Students will end the class with a time to share with the class one of their
pictures and their caption
Session Five or more depending on how much work time is needed:
1. Students will circle up with the whole class and be able to share a different
picture with caption or if they didnt get to share last time they can share this
time
2. The rest of the class should be working time for the students to write more
descriptive scripts from their captions and think about what actors will say
and do.
3. After the scripts are written the student will have the choice to make puppets
and create a puppet show or as their friends to act out their scene. Which ever
way the student chooses they will need to record it on the ipad.
Extensions:
1. Students that excel at the computer will help create an imovie of the different
scenes and try to create a retelling of the entire book through this video
2. This video will be shown to the class as a summary of the book
Student Assessment/Reections:
1. Students will answer comprehension questions about the book based from the
scenes that students described
2. Students scripts will be their assessment (These scripts will determine if the
student clearly understand the main idea and is able to summarize it)

Related Resources:
1. Classroom Resources | Grades K 12 | Student Interactive | Organizing & Summarizing
Doodle Splash
Doodle Splash combines the process of drawing with analytical thinking by pairing online
drawing with writing prompts that encourage students to make connections between their visual
designs and the text.
2. Classroom Resources | Grades 1 12 | Student Interactive | Organizing & Summarizing
Plot Diagram
The Plot Diagram is an organizational tool focusing on a pyramid or triangular shape, which is
used to map the events in a story. This mapping of plot structure allows readers and writers to
visualize the key features of stories.
3. Classroom Resources | Grades K 12 | Student Interactive | Organizing & Summarizing
Story Map
The Story Map interactive is designed to assist students in prewriting and postreading activities
by focusing on the key elements of character, setting, conict, and resolution.
Image:
Directors Cut
Keywords/Tagging:
visualization
comprehension strategies
reading lessons
technology integration
alternative book report