Revised Literacy Lesson Plan

Monday, November 14
Jin Xie
Goals & Objectives
SWBAT cite evidence from an informational text, make inferences from the textual evidence,
and compare and contrast evidence from two different pieces of text.
My objective for this lesson, as a teacher, is to use multimodal forms of instruction to engage
all learners and encourage a wide array of different forms of participation. Throughout this
lesson, I am going to use video components, visual supports, large group discussion, partner
pair-share, and individual reading.
Standards (and Assessment Anchors, if applicable)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1
Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing
inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.5
Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect,
problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.9
Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the
subject knowledgeably.
Materials and preparation
Glo-Germ & UV light
Classroom norms poster
Chart Paper
Video & laptop to play video
Drawing Evidence Visual Support (Poster)
Readings (4 copies)
Venn Diagrams with Yellow Fever & American Plague evidence pasted on right side
Markers
Texts for reference:
Yellow Fever by Laurie Halse Anderson
American Plague by Jim Murphy
Classroom arrangement and management issues
1. Briefly describe the physical arrangement of the class with respect to managing your plans
in the particular space:
Gurol: In the library, one single table with 6 students sitting in a U shape. White board
and markers readily available.
JX: In the copy room at PAS. The students will be sitting at a circle table on which the
Glo-Germ will also be spread.
2. Describe how students will get the materials needed.

 Handouts, chart paper, and markers will be distributed by teacher when appropriate. (See
outline of lesson for specific times of distribution)
3.Anticipate management concerns likely to arise and describe steps you will or have taken
into address them.
Side conversations: Emphasize the one voice, but allow students to talk as long as they
are on task. If you notice on task chatter, bring them into the group conversation.
Ensuring that only one student is talking during group discussions without interruptions
could be tricky. I will set up the classroom norms before the lesson starts by explaining
that we listen to other people when they speak because if we were the one speaking, we
would want to be heard and listened to.
Lesson Plan
Task
Glo-Germ Hook

Pacing What I Am Doing

4 min Prep: Before students enter the classroom, infect
the table with Glo-Germ. When the students are
seated at the table, reference the disease unit they
have been working with, and then shine the UV
light on the table to show how different diseases
can spread.
Classroom Norms 2 min Introduce the lesson by referring to their prior
knowledge of germs, diseases, and the Yellow
Fever epidemic in Philadelphia 1793.
What is a germ?
5 min Today we are going to think about what exactly a
germ is. Later in the class, we will look at how
different germs may cause different diseases,
which we will compare and contrast.

Zombie Video

2 min

(1 min) Individual free-write

(2 min) Partner turn & talk: What do you
think a germ is? You can bring in examples
from your life.
(3 min) Whole group discussion

Possible prompting questions:

How big do you think germs are?
How do you think germs go from one person to
the next?
What happens when germs get into your
system?
Introduce video: You all came up with interesting
traits and questions about germs. I came across a
video the other day that talked about a zombie
apocalypse, and I was wondering if a zombie
apocalypse could be started by the spread of a

Students Are Doing

Individual free
write
Partner turn & talk
Whole group
discussion

Watching video
Actively thinking
about connection
between germ and

certain germ. What I want you all to do is, as

youre watching this video, think about what we
talked about germs can be, and whether you
believe in a zombie apocalypse started by a
disease or germ.
Modeling how to
cite evidence and
make inferences

7 min

zombie apocalypse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXgxuW9h_i8
On my Venn Diagram at the front of the board:
Watching modeling
Im going to think about what does a germ
means. Can a zombie virus be a germ? How does
Asking questions
it spread? For this case, Im going to use Yellow
Fever and American Plague to look for pieces of
evidence to support what I think a germ is.
(see below for evidence and inference modeling
examples used)
(*Point to evidence visual support chart of what to
look for*)

Read Zombie
article

7 min

I want you all to watch me find quotes to support

my inferences about germs and how they spread.
Then, you all will do the same thing with an
article I will give you.
Read first half of zombie article out loud while
students follow along, then have students read last
half independently.
First half: As Im reading out loud, I want you to
underline things that answer the questions on my
poster about finding evidence.

Model
4 min
Compare/Contrast
with evidence

Second half: Read independently while

continuing to underline anything that answers one
of the questions on our poster.
Were going to start to fill in the other half of the
chart together, then you are going to finish it on
your own.

Partner work for

compare/contrast

It spreads through our food supply: It attacks the

cows spinal cord and brain, turning it into a
stumbling, mindless attack cow.
This is different from YF, so Im not going to fill
anything in the middle, and place this on the left
side of my Venn Diagram.
Now, with your partner, you look through the
article and see if you can find similarities or

Following along
Underlining
evidence
Reading
independently for
the last half of the
article
Watching modeling

Partner work

differences between this and Fever or American

Plague. Make sure you support your inferences
with a quote!
Questions:
How did you know that?
How did you decide to include that in the
similarities column?
Whole Group
Share

3 min

Closure

5 min

Prompting Questions:
What things did you find surprising about the
two diseases?
What things reinforced what you already knew?
How likely do you think a zombie apocalypse is
given what we know about real-life germs, the
spread of diseases, and what we compared and
contrasted with Yellow Fever?
With your partner, act out a skit, draw a picture, or
write about a difference or similarity between the
two diseases.

Whole group
discussion
contribution

Act out a skit, draw

picture, write about
difference/similarity
between two
diseases

Modeling how to cite evidence and make inferences with Yellow Fever and American Plague
quotes:
1. The symptoms of YF are severe and scary: Mother flew off the pillows and was
violently ill, vomiting blood all over the bed and floor. Her eyes rolled back in her head
(Fever, 1793).
2. YF causes hallucinations: The fever had taken hold of her senses, and she wept, calling
my fathers name (Fever, 1793 66).
3. YF spreads quickly: Eight deaths in the space of a week in two houses on the same
street (American Plague).
4. YF caused a lot of panic and fear: Yellow fever was one of the most vicious diseases
in the world and could create panic anywhere (American Plague).
5. The spread of YF showed that many people fled the city out of fear, leaving many
poor and disadvantaged people to fend for themselves. There were few upstanders:
Historians now estimate that as many as 20,000 people abandoned the city during the
fever (American Plague).

Assessment of the goals/objectives listed above

I will review the annotations on their readings, their Venn Diagram work, observe their selfselected closure activity, listen in on partner talk, and listen to whole group student contributions
to assess their ability to cite evidence, compare and contrast, and make inferences.
Anticipating students responses and your possible responses
Student Response

Teacher Response

Not able to work independently

on chart paper

Facilitate with sentence starters on chart paper or small

slips of paper with sentence starters

Accommodations
a) Accommodations for students who may find the material too challenging
Sentence starters for students that may need extra support in getting their thoughts on
paper
Guided read-alouds for kids whose reading proficiency may need more support
Students can draw pictures about similarities/differences if writing it out may need more
scaffolding
b) Accommodations for students who may need greater challenge and/or finish early
Re-watch the video and draw pieces of evidence and inferences to support their Venn
diagram.
Have them form an opinion on the likelihood of a zombie apocalypse and support their
opinion with evidence from both texts and infer from their evidence.