UbD Lesson Plan Template

Client Organization: Thompson Valley High School

Main Contact: Anton Gerth

Telephone: 970-613-7900

Fax: N/A

Email Address: anton.gerth@colostate.edu

Date: Currently 5/11/2015; Lesson Plan Day 11

VITAL INFORMATION
Author
*Subject(s)
Topic or Unit of
Study
*Grade/Level
*Summary

Anton Gerth
English
Unit 4: Horror and Mystery
9th Grade English
This lesson comes in the middle of the unit and is intended to teach students about character assessment and
development while analyzing a story [50 minute class period]

STANDARDS
*Standards

Analyze how complex characters (those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course
of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme. (CCSS: RL.9-10.3)
Write literary and narrative texts using a range of poetic techniques, figurative language, and graphic
elements to engage or entertain the intended audience (CCSS: W.9-10.3)
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing
products, taking advantage of technology's capacity to link to other information and to display information
flexibly and dynamically. (CCSS: W.9-10.6)

UBD (UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN) LESSON PLAN ELEMENTS REQUIRED:

STAGE 1 DESIRED RESULTS

Established Goals
Understandings
Overarching
Understanding
Related
Misconceptions
Essential Questions

Knowledge

Skills

Students will be able to identify the elements of a short story within The Gold-Bug.

Students will be able to complete a Biography Poem on a character in The Gold-Bug.

-Students will understand how important good character development is in forwarding plot, building conflict, and
maintaining theme in a short story.
-Students will know how to create a Biography Poem.
-Students will identify their own misconceptions of a character after reading The Gold-Bug and analyze and
detail specific elements about the character that makes them unique and essential to the short story.

What must a person or character do to persuade someone to go on a treasure hunt?

What are the character, setting, plot, conflict, and theme of The Gold-Bug?
What characteristics are needs, traits, emotions, fears, and motives of a character in The Gold-Bug.
Deeper knowledge of the mystery genre, specifically as to Poes style.
Greater understanding of how to better understand characters and what elements are necessary to detail
within a short story for your audience to have a comphrensive character.
Writing electronically by responding to a prompt.
Identifying elements of a short story.
Critically analyzing a character from a short story.

UBD (UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN) LESSON PLAN ELEMENTS REQUIRED:

STAGE 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Task Description:

What authentic performance tasks will students demonstrate the desired understandings?
By what criteria will performances be judged?
Through what evidence (e.g. quizzes, tests, academic prompts, observations, homework, journals) will
students demonstrate achievement of the desired results?

How will students reflect upon and self assess their learning:
Goal Students will be able to complete a Biography Poem on a character in The Gold-Bug..
Students can then use this interpretation and analysis when they are creating their trailer or
short film so that they have a better understanding of the character.
Role Writer and Presenter (and eventually presenter to their summative assessment group)
Audience The students peers and teacher
Situation Activity (25 minutes for composing )
Product/Performance A biography poem gives specific details about a characters traits, emotions, needs, fears and
motives to allow the audience to better understand and critically analyze a character.
Standards Write literary and narrative texts using a range of poetic techniques, figurative language, and
graphic elements to engage or entertain the intended audience (CCSS: W.9-10.3)
Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop
over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the
theme. (CCSS: RL.9-10.3)

UBD (UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN) LESSON PLAN ELEMENTS REQUIRED:

STAGE 3: Learning Plan
What learning experiences and instruction will enable students to achieve the
desired results? How will the design:
Where are your students
headed? Where have they
been?
How will you make sure the students know where
they are going?

Students have already been studying the short story genre and read multiple texts
by Edgar Allan Poe. They are keeping a Poe notebook where they have already
been listing characters in other Poe works as well as other elements of a short
story. The students will continue reading another short story by Poe and then
critically analyze the story. This will allow the students to choose from a short
story or poem in order to create a trailer or short film that presents their
interpretation of the text. Students were given a sheet on the summative
assessment on the third day so that they were well aware of what would be
expected of them for the assignment. This allows them to see my cards and be
aware throughout the semester of what the expectation is so that they can
brainstorm and use the assignments throughout the semester to scaffold towards
the finished summative assessment.

How will you hook students at the beginning of the

unit?

I will hook students at the beginning of the lesson by allowing them to free-write
about what characteristics or persuasive behavior would an individual need to do
in order to convince a student to go on a treasure hunt. This is the concept within
The Gold-Bug and it will also let me know about some of the priorities within
the students life. It also allows the student to begin to think about themselves in
connection to the characters in The Gold Bug. (7 minutes)

What events will help students experience and explore Students will have already finished reading and described elements of a short
the big idea and questions in the unit?
story, including characters, setting, plot, conflict and theme. (15 minutes)
How will you equip them with needed skills and
knowledge?
Students will discuss the following questions to ensure their understanding of the
story as well as the characters within it: Why did William Legrand settle on
Sullivan's Island? Why is Legrand excited when the narrator meets him in
October? What does Jupiter believe his master's illness was caused by? What
does Jupiter find at the end of a tree limb? Why does Legrand realize they dug in
the wrong place? How does each character react to finding the treasure? What
did the heat of the fire do to the parchment? What did the numbers in the code
refer to? What did the picture of the goat symbolize? Who did Legrand believe
the two skeletons were and why were they killed? (10 minutes)
-Students will then create a biography poem to analyze a character more in depth
as they detail specific elements about the character that make the character
unique. By stating the characters traits, emotions, needs, fears and emotions the
student has a better understanding of both the character and the short story.
Students are also encouraged to use specific quotes in order to more accurately
describe the character. Students are then given the option to share out to help
other students better understand the characters. (25 minutes)
How will you cause students to reflect and rethink?
How will you guide them in rehearsing, revising, and
refining their work?

Students will be given the last five minutes of this section to reflect and rethink
by presenting their Biography Poem to the class. This allows them to read their
work aloud and revise if it does not sound accurate or change details if a student
has constructive criticism. The following day students need to prepare evidence
as to why The Gold-Bug should or should not be in the mystery genre. They
are able to use the same evidence that they cited within their Biography Poem in
order to support their stance. Other students will also provide evidence and
arguments that would revise the statements that were made within the Biography
Poem. (3 minutes)

How will you help students to exhibit and self-evaluate Students are expected to have created their Biography Poem so they can share
their growing skills, knowledge, and understanding
out towards the end of class. They are also able to use the Biography Poem form
throughout the unit?
throughout the class and in other short stories or poems to gain a better
understanding of the characters. Students can use this to help evaluate their
knowledge around a character in order to best represent that character within
their trailer or short film. Students will keep their notebook on short stories as
well as write a prompt later on the sanity of Poes characters.
How will you tailor and otherwise personalize the
learning plan to optimize the engagement and
effectiveness of ALL students, without compromising
the goals of the unit?

If students have not completed the reading they are able to complete the
Biography Poem on another of Poes work.
If students are having too difficult a time with the structure of the
Biography Poem they can instead free-write a poem about one of the
characters in The Gold-Bug
To Extend: Those students that easily finish the assignment will be
asked to first revise their Biography Poem so that it consists of all cited
evidence from the short story. They will then create a Biography Poem
for Jupiter.