Name: Ishmael Pluton

Date: 03/30/16

EDSE 457
Reading Lesson Plan Rationale Template
Complete this template and submit it with your lesson plan.
Be detailed and specific about each topic.
Your Content Area:
What were student
assigned to read?
The grade level this text
would be used with
Describe the content of
the text (What is the text
about? How is it
organized?)

Explain why students

might struggle with this
text
List the strategy/
strategies you chose to
use (jigsaw, guided notes,
cloze activity, graphic
organizer, etc.)

Social Science-History
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen
10th grade Modern World History Class
The text is a lengthy document full of legal jargon. It is also
translated from its original language of French which may add
a degree of difficulty in comprehension due to the fact that it is
a translated text. That being said, the text follows the same
structure as the Declaration of Independence: an introduction
followed by a list of grievances. The grievances are being
directed toward the monarchy of France and the issues
inherent in the monarchys implantation of power and
governance.
The legal jargon alone may turn students away from reading
the document. It is also 2 pages long in size 11 font.
I used background knowledge, modeling, close reading
annotation, a jigsaw technique, and a microtheme in order to
help students work to understand the reading. I decided to
break the document down into 2 parts so that students could
tackle much more manageable sections of a document full of

Name: Ishmael Pluton

Date: 03/30/16

Explain why you chose

your strategies; how will
these activities help
students with this
particular text?

political jargon. After modeling both how to annotate a

document and how to complete the microtheme using the
document camera, I had students complete the microtheme
close reading of the document in their groups.
I chose to begin the lesson with a quick-write question that
engaged the students prior/background knowledge about
revolution. Since the text is full of jargon that is sometimes
difficult to follow, I broke the document into parts that students
could tackle and not feel as overwhelmed. In addition to that, I
chose to model how to fill out the microtheme with a thinkaloud so that students could see how a historian tackles a
difficult to read document. The fact that the microtheme
requires students to listen to other students findings helps
them better understand what they read in the document. The
idea being that academic conversations are promoted via the
microtheme.

Your teaching context: Be specific about how your lesson plan meets the
developmental needs of the class:
The class is interested in
The microtheme will be stamped at the end of class as an exit
your content area and
slip. This allows students a chance to not only write down their
they learn well when they
can apply their knowledge interpretations of the document, but also engage in academic
in a concrete manner.
conversations while doing so.
They can be talkative and
The microtheme jig-saw is how I am planning to use the
unfocused, but they are
talkative nature of my students to my advantage. I plan to
respectful and respond
make the time filling out the microtheme in groups very
well to redirection.

Name: Ishmael Pluton

Date: 03/30/16

structured along with constant roving of the room so that

academic conversations are encouraged.
Your students: Be specific about how your lesson plan meets the needs of the
students in the class with additional academic needs:
4 Intermediate ELLs
Warm-up:
(Explain why you chose
I chose the quick-write not only to get students ready to
your strategies; how will
engage in historical and academic thinking, but also so that
these activities help
students with this
they could start to draw connections from the French
particular text?_
Revolution to the American Revolution. Accessing prior
knowledge learned in the class can definitely help ELL students
contextualize and understand the text we are covering. The
think-pair-share structure of the warm-up also lowers
students affective filters, thus helping them feel more
comfortable engaging in academic conversations.
Modeling Close Reading Annotations:
This is especially helpful to ELL students because it is in the
form of a think-aloud. This demonstrates to students how to
think academically and annotate a challenging document.
Modeling Microtheme:
I modeled the microtheme so that there was no room for
confusion on how to complete it. This is not only helpful for ELL
students, but all other students as well.
Jig-Saw Microtheme of Reading:
This allows students to practice their oral language skills in an
academic setting, thus helping improve their literacy and

Name: Ishmael Pluton

Date: 03/30/16
4 IEP students (2 ADHD; 2
high-functioning ASD)
[Explain why you chose
your strategies; how will
these activities help
students with this
particular text?]

10 below-grade level
readers (2-4 years below
grade level) [Explain why
you chose your strategies;
how will these activities

fluency.
Warm-up:
I included a warm-up quick-write because that is the standard
structure of almost every lessons beginning. This allows
students with ASD to have a structured schedule to expect in
my class, and also gives students with ADHD a chance to shift
modes and begin to focus on the task of engaging with the
content of the class.
Modeling Close Reading Annotations:
By breaking down the close reading process into chunks and
modelling it for students, the information is not as daunting.
Students with ADHD have a more focused look at the
document, and students with ASD have a structure and plan to
follow when tackling primary source documents.
Modeling Microtheme:
Simply giving instructions without modelling would not result in
the desired results for all students, but would pose more
challenges for students with ASD and ADHD. Therefore, I chose
to model how to complete the activity.
Jig-Saw Microtheme of Reading:
This section breaks down the text into smaller focus areas for
the students with ADHD and gives students with ASD practice
engaging in social and academic conversations.
Warm-up:
Students that are below-grade-level readers need as many
opportunities as possible to engage in literacy. Therefore,

Name: Ishmael Pluton

Date: 03/30/16
help students with this
particular text?]

having students start the day with a writing task is incredibly

beneficial and helpful for students who read below grade level.
Modeling Close Reading Annotations:
This is necessary so that students have a strategy that they
cannot only use within the content area of history, but across
academic disciplines.
Modeling Microtheme:
Modeling the microtheme is just beneficial to instruction in
general because it leaves little to no doubt that students will
understand how to complete the task they have been
assigned.
Jig-Saw Microtheme of Reading:
This helps fill in the gaps for students who may not have
understood their portion of the document in its entirety. By
working with a partner on the same section, and then with the
group for the whole document, students that read below grade
level can understand almost the same amount of information
in the document as other students. In addition to improving
comprehension in that particular class period, students have a
chance to learn from their peers on how to approach difficult to
read documents.