LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Name:

Alison Lord

Date: 2/4/2015

Grade Level: 6th

1. Content Objective(s)/State Standards:

Reading: Literature Standard 9
Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres (e.g., stories and poems; historical
novels and fantasy stories) in terms of their approaches to similar themes and topics.
Reading: Informational Text Standard 1
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
Behavioral Objectives:
Reading: Informational Text Standard 1
Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
2. Instructional Focus:
Making connections, writing
3. Interesting Texts/Materials for Instruction
What text(s)/materials are you using for your lesson?
Beneath the Streets of Boston by Joe McKendry from Imagine It basal text.
4. Student Engagement: What engagement principle(s) are you choosing for this lesson?
________choice, ____x_____collaboration, ________building concepts, ____x____relevancereal
world interaction
I will engage students in this lesson by:
Students will be collaborating by writing and passing notes to other students in the class.
They will be writing about the text and what we have discussed, but will have the
opportunity to share their ideas and expand on the ideas of their classmates.
5. Student Activity/Differentiation. What will your students be doing to meet the
purpose of your lesson? (listening, reading, searching, writing, strategy instruction, group
work, etc.)
What my students are actually DOING: Before, During, and After.
We will already have read through the story once, and after a brief class discussion and
minilesson about making connections, the students will begin their passing notes writing
activity.
Students will each receive a piece of paper with a short quote and prompt based on the
story Beneath the Streets of Boston. Students will then have about 5 minutes (timed) to
write a short paragraph response/answer to the prompt. Once the five minutes are up,
students will fold up their paper and I will collect the notes and redistribute them so that
each student gets a new note. Students will then have about 5 minutes to read what the
first person wrote and respond in one of three ways: first they can explain their own
thoughts on the prompt if they are different than their classmates, second they can make a

connection from their own life or another text and explain that, or third they can expand on
what their classmate wrote and add to their thoughts.
After 5 minutes, I will once again collect & redistribute the notes and give the students a
final 5 minutes to read and respond to the previous two writers. Once the time is up,
students will get up and pass the notes back to the original owner of the paper. I will then
give them about 5 minutes to read all the writings and write a final few sentences to
respond and tie then entire paper together.
Finally, to close the lesson, we will have a few minutes where students can share their
thoughts and ideas they learned through the writing activity before passing in their papers.
How will you differentiate your instruction for struggling/gifted readers?
My gifted students will be expected to write the entire time (no one saying Im done! two
minutes into the writing time!), as well as respond to more than just one or two of the
question prompts on their papers.
My struggling students will be expected to respond to only one of the question prompts
since they will be taking a bit more time to read their papers.
6. Writing/Communicating/Assessment: How will you know students have met the
purpose of the lesson? What will students do to record their understanding?
Students will turn in their writings and receive a grade before I give them back their notes.

7. Reflection: What were the strengths and or areas of refinement of this lesson. Given
what you taught in this lesson, what are you teaching next?