Metro Tech High School

ELA Lesson Plan Template (Rev 3/1/13):

Teacher: Miss Crooks & Miss Knorowksi

Learning Target: As a result of todays class,
students will be able to: I can analyze an
authors use of syntax and its effect on the
storys meaning.

Date: 2/19/15
Course: English 3-4
Per. 1-7
Modifications /Accommodations in Objectives for Struggling Students:
Sub-Objectives: Will the learning target to be
Closed (Guided) Notes
chunked into sub-objective?
Group Discussion (Cooperative Learning)
Define syntax by taking notes on the
Integrated Physical Activity
teachers PowerPoint presentation
Modifications /Accommodations in Objectives for High Achieving Students:
Identify different sentence types by
Provide additional questions that extend and enrich the
CCSS: Analyze how an author
taking notes on the teachers PowerPoint students understanding of the material. Ex. asking the
uses rhetoric to advance their point of view or
presentation
student higher level questions regarding parallel
purpose (910.RI.6), analyze the cumulative
Analyze a passage for its syntax and
structure, repetition, or clauses.
impact of specific word choices on meaning and
diction
tone (910.RI.4)/(9-10.RL.4)
Explain the effect of syntax on an
authors story
Formative Assessment: How will students be expected to demonstrate mastery of the learning target during in-class checks for understanding?
(embedded assessments, checking for understanding activities in order to assess if the students are meeting the stated learning targets (objective) and subobjectives.)
Students will analyze a short passage from Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart and answer questions regarding the authors use of syntax. This question sheet
will be turned in at the end of the period.
Student Self-Assessment: What form of self-assessment and goal-setting will be used?
Students fill out their DEN sheets before and after the lesson. AND/OR
Students hold up 1 finger (know the material and could explain it to somebody else), two fingers (kind of know it, but couldnt explain it), or three fingers (its
new information) before and after the lesson to gauge their understanding. This is a good strategy for the teacher to use because it lets them know who feels
prepared to be called on, rather than calling on students at random.
Probing Questions for Differentiation on ELA Tasks
ELA Practice:

Literacy Practice:

Demonstrate independence.
Build strong content knowledge.
Respond to the varying demands of
audience, talk, purpose and discipline.
Comprehend as well as critique.
Value evidence.
Use technology and digital media.
Come to understand other
perspectives and cultures.

Will ask students to read text

frequently; 505 of which will be
informational
Students will identify explicit
and inferential text to support
analyses or claims in writing or in
discussions
Will give students chance to
wrestle with complex text
Will provide guided reading
strategies for struggling readers

Which student English

Language Arts practice(s) will be targeted for
proficiency development during this lesson?

How will your

lesson improve literacy for students?

What and Academic Vocabulary will

be introduced or reinforced in this
lesson? How will that occur?

Syntax

Rhetorical Question

Parallel Structure

Sentence Types: Short, medium,

long; Simple, Complex,
Compound/Complex

Diction

Vocabulary will be introduced during

the PowerPoint Presentation.

How will students connect learning to

Real-World and Interdisciplinary
applications or experiences?
Students will recognize the importance
and relevance of choosing words
carefully, depending on the varying
situations they may find themselves in.
They will consider the effect of
varying their own sentence
types/lengths.

What misconceptions may need to

be addressed? How will you do so?
One misconception may be the
difference between rhetoric or
rhetorical devices versus a rhetorical
question. This will be cleared up in
the PowerPoint.

Metro Tech High School

What will you be doing?
Activity/Tasks
Beginning of class
routines: Warm-up
activity connecting to prior
knowledge, real-world,
and/or inter-disciplinary
applications.

Anticipatory set- I will

ask students a question
that causes them to think
of syntax and word choice
as it pertains to their own
lives and experiences. Can
be discussed with
tablemates for one minute,
before I call on students

What will you be doing?

Activity/Tasks
Activity/Task 1: How
will the students be
engaged in understanding
and applying the learning
targets?

Activity/Task 2: How
will the task develop
student sense-making and
reasoning? What literacy
or higher-order cognitive
strategies will be
employed?

I will be giving a
lecture/PowerPoint
presentation on syntax,
sentence types, sentence
structures, etc.

I will give students three

colored notecard, and read
aloud a short passage
from chapter 1 of Things
Fall Apart by Chinua
Achebe. After I read each

ELA Lesson Plan Template (Rev 3/1/13):

What will the students be doing? How will you differentiate?

Middle Level
Struggling or Higher
Achieving?
Students will discuss the question If I notice a student struggling
with their tablemates, and be
while discussing with their
prepared to share if called on
groups, I will facilitate the
discussion at their table or give
them more time to discuss. I
would not call on these
students in case they do not
feel comfortable sharing.
For higher achieving students, I
may extend their discussion by
asking them to come up with a
specific situation or example
for why syntax matters.
What will the students be doing? How will you differentiate?
Middle Level
Struggling or Higher
Achieving?
Students will stay actively
For struggling students, the
engaged in the lecture by
notes will be modified by
completing closed notes as they
adding definitions to difficult
listen.
words and lessening the
amount of notes on certain
slides.
High achieving students may
be paired with a struggling
student, and asked to
summarize the concepts.
Students will listen and participate Students who have physical
in the physical motions (raising
limitations may verbalize their
notecards) that match the sentence answer instead of raising their
type: a pink notecard for short
notecards. When students are
(simple) sentences, an orange
partnering up, students who
notecard for medium (complex
have limitations may remain

What assessing or advancing

questions will you ask?
Questions:
Why does word choice matter?
Why does the way you choose to
say something make a difference?
What are situations where your
word choice would matter?

What assessing or advancing

questions will you ask?
Can someone summarize for me
what syntax is? Diction? Etc.
Can someone think of an example
of a short sentence? How could we
make it longer? How would it
change the meaning of the
sentence?

What do you notice about syntax

as it is spoken, versus on the page?
Did you notice any patterns or
repetition as I read?

Metro Tech High School

Activity/Task 3: How
will the task require
student conjectures and
communication in a
collaborative structure that
promotes individual and
group responsibility for
quality work?

Student-led closure
and checking for
understanding of the
learning target.

sentence, students will

raise a colored notecard
correlating to the sentence
type. At the end of the
passage, I will ask
students to raise a
notecard for the most
frequently used type of
sentence, and will find a
discussion partner based
on what color they held
up.
I will ask students to
complete the questions on
the handout, and then I
will walk around the
classroom to check for
understanding as they
complete the questions.

I will ask students to stand

up/move to different parts
of the room based on their
answers to my questions.

ELA Lesson Plan Template (Rev 3/1/13):

OR compound) sentences, and a

yellow notecard for long
(compound complex) sentences.
At the end of the passage, students
will find a discussion partner, and
will discuss for 1-2 minutes. They
will remain with these partners
during Activity/Task 3 below.

seated while their partner

comes to them.

What type of sentence was most

frequent?

Students will analyze the passage,

and answer the questions on their
handout.

Students who are struggling

can discuss the questions with
their partner/ group before
writing down their answers.
Students who are high
achieving can answer
enrichment questions
pertaining to parallel structure,
clauses, repetition, etc.

What evidence supports the

answers you gave?

Students will participate in

physical activity to answer
questions.

Materials Needed: Syntax Activity Handout, Closed Notes, PowerPoint,

Projector, Projector Remote, Colored Notecards

Student who have physical

limitations can remain sitting
during physical portion. They
can explain the answer they
have chosen while sitting
down.
Technology Tips: N/A

Do you think the syntax in this

passage is consistent with the rest
of the book up until this point?
Do you notice any instance of
repetition? What about parallel
structure?

Metro Tech High School

ELA Lesson Plan Template (Rev 3/1/13):