Lesson Plan Guide

Teacher Candidate:

Apryll Cosby

Date: 7-23-15

Grade and Topic:

ELA/ESL 4th Grade

Length of Lesson:

Mentor Teacher:

Annette Cornelius

School: Highland Oaks Elementary

1 hour

UNIT/CHAPTER OBJECTIVE/GENERALIZATION/BIG IDEA:

Students will write a story, real or imagined, about their experience coming to the United States. The story must have a
sequence of events using transitional words and/or phrases, dialogue and sensory description, concrete details, and a
conclusion that follows logically from the story.

LESSON OBJECTIVE:
Students will write a conclusion for their stories. A good conclusion will: refer back to the beginning of
the story, resolve a problem, have an emotional effect, and have a final thought or message.

Students will evaluate other students conclusions, using a scale of 1-5. They will be required to justify ratings verbally in
class discussion.

Students will enter data into a spreadsheet and use Autosum to calculate an average of all ratings.

STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.3.E
Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

3. Research and Information Fluency - Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
d.

Process data and report results

MATERIALS:
Think/data sheet (provided by teacher), personal narrative/story sample (provided by teacher), pencil/eraser
Students will use Excel spreadsheet on computer.
BACKGROUND and RATIONALE:
What are the key concepts for the lesson? Key concepts are the components of a satisfactory conclusion to a
personal narrative.
What is the critical academic language (general and technical) that must be addressed in this lesson? Critical
terms include: conclusion, resolution, effect.
How does this lesson connect with and build on the previous lesson(s)? Previous lessons included establishing
a sequence of events for the story, and including sensory descriptions and concrete details.
How do you expect to build on this lesson in subsequent lessons? The next lesson will include revising, editing,
and publishing the story.
Why will you need to plan differentiated activities or assessments? Students will progress at different rates and
may need intervention or additional activities.

PROCEDURES AND TIMELINE:

Introduction: Who likes happy endings, when youre watching a movie or reading a book? How do you
know its the end? Sure! When the movie stops! But, what makes a good ending? Today we will talk about what
makes a good ending, and how can we write one. Well decide which sentences are most effective and why. When a
movie or a book wins an award, a panel of experts all vote to determine the winner. Today, you will be the experts, and

well decide which conclusion is the most effective. Since all of you will be rating all the components of all the stories,
well be using a spreadsheet to record all the data and give us an average, or composite score for each student.

Procedures:
Instruction and modeling: 10 minutes
1. Teacher explains the different components of a conclusion. A satisfactory conclusion:
a) Refers to the storys beginning
b) Resolves a problem
c) Appeals to an emotion
d) States a final thought or lesson
2. Teacher fills out data sheet/graphic organizer for story conclusion on a board or overhead, using students
suggestions.
3. Teacher asks if anyone has any questions/ checks for comprehension.
Independent and group writing/brainstorming: 20 minutes
Students break into peer groups and fill out their data sheets/graphic organizers. Teacher monitors closely and
makes suggestions and clarifications as needed. Teacher observes who is making progress and who is stuck and
applies attention strategically. The students who are making more progress become a new group, and rotate into
the next phase.
Peer review and Data Entry: 10 minutes
Students review each others work and give each other a ratings for the different components of their conclusions.
They input the ratings into a preformatted Excel spreadsheet. They will use the Autosum function to get an
average for each component and an average of all component scores. Teacher monitors unobtrusively to make
sure students are on task. Teacher will ask: Why did you give this rating?
Independent Writing/Revising: 10 minutes
Students reflect on their feedback and transfer their conclusions from the graphic organizer/data sheet into
paragraph form.

Closure:
Conclusion: 10 minutes
Teacher reviews the completed spreadsheet with the class. Teacher discusses which components got the
highest ratings, asks individual students why they gave the ratings, and asks if they agree with the
overall ratings.

ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE:
Spreadsheet Rubric

5
3-4
1-2

Student entered all ratings correctly and was able to autosum to determine component average
and overall average.
Student entered all ratings with less than two errors and was able to use autosum to determine
component average and overall average.
Student did not enter all ratings, or made more than two errors. Student did not use autosum to
determine all component averages, did not determine overall average.

Conclusion Rubric

5-8

1-5

8-10

Student wrote each component of the conclusion using correct grammar and punctuation.
Students components succeeded in fulfilling the objectives.
Student evaluated all the conclusions of the others in the group and was able to justify all ratings.
Student contributed to class discussion.
Student wrote each component with less than three grammatical errors, and less than three errors in
punctuation.
Students components satisfactorily met objectives.
Student evaluated all the conclusions of the others in the group and was able to justify most ratings.
Student participated in class discussion.
Student wrote most but not all components. Student had more than three grammatical errors, or
more than three errors in punctuation.
Students components did not align with objectives.
Student did not evaluate the conclusions of others in the group, or could not justify ratings.
Student did not participate in class discussion.

MODIFICATIONS:
List specific modifications for students who did not master the objectives. Students would receive more
instruction in grammar and punctuation. Students would review components of a conclusion. Students would
be given more scaffolding for writing including sentence prompts and modeling.
List specific modifications for students who are ready for enrichment activities. Students would be asked to
expand on their conclusion. Students would evaluate more examples of conclusions. Students would be asked
to assist other students who had not mastered objectives. (I would be sure to take into account the relationship
between the students working together. I would also be sure that I rotated enrichment activities so that a
student wasnt regularly helping other students, but was being properly challenged.)