EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN STANDARDS-BASED LESSON PLAN

Elements of the Lesson

Evidence that Documents the Elements

Standard

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.3
Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text,
including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

Objectives/Targets and I can statements

I can
The students will identify the historical elements in the setting of the The Other Side.
I CAN find parts of the story that actually happened in our countrys history.
The students will describe ways in which the setting in The Other Side affected the
behavior of the characters.
I CAN explain how the storys setting affects the characters actions.
The students will compare how characters act in the setting of the story and the setting
of the students school to understand the important impact setting has in a story.
I CAN describe why the setting of a story is important.

Lesson Management: Focus and Organization

Formative Assessment
Students will receive a graphic organizer about the setting of the story and how it affects
characters. After filling out some of the boxes as a class, students will complete the rest
of the boxes on their own.
Lesson Management
Draw students in with the pictures of different environments, relating to students own
personal motives and emotions.
Engage students in a conversation about the storys setting, allowing everyone to share.
Give each student a chance to express their individual thoughts about the setting of the
story and how it impacts the character by completing a graphic organizer.
Student Management
Students will be intentionally placed in a specific sitting arrangement so that they feel
comfortable and willing to participate next to the peers they are placed by.

Active Student Participation

Students will be drawn into the lesson through the discussion of the pictures of different
environments and the opportunity to share about their own personal experiences.
Students will remain engaged when discussing the importance of setting in The Other
Side through comparing what it would be like if the characters were to walk into Palmer
Elementary. Students will continue to actively participate as a class when we begin to
complete a graphic organizer about the storys setting and then wrap up as students
finish the organizer independently.
Classroom Management
Students will be rewarded for quietly raising their hands by being called on to take part in
the class discussion.
Students will respond to a call and response cheer if the noise level gets too high.
Students will be expected to remain in their seats, listen to the individuals talking and
refrain from insulting others. If these known expectations are violated, the student will
receive a behavior expectation reminder. If the behavior persists, the student will have
their name written on the board, which signals a clip drop on their behavior chart once
they return to their home room.
Introduction: Creating Excitement and Focus for the
Lesson Target

The teacher will generate interest by asking the students if their behavior changes based
on their environment. The teacher will then show pictures of different environments the
students might find themselves in and ask how they might behave in each environment.
The teacher will ask why the students behavior changes in different environments. The
teacher will then ask students to think of a past story theyve read and question whether
the environment at some point during the story affected how the character behaved.
The teacher will offer an example from a story the class read last week, What Jo Did,
and will then ask students to share any examples they might have from prior knowledge.
The teacher will review that the environment that characters find themselves in is called
the setting. The setting is the time and place in which the story takes place.

Input: Setting up the Lesson for Student Success

Prior to starting the lesson, students will have The Other Side by Jacqueline
Woodson read to them.
Show pictures of different environments. Ask how students behavior changes in
the different environments and why.
Connect impact environment has on students to impact setting has on
characters. Give example from What Jo Did and ask for more.
Review that the environment characters are in is called the storys setting.
Reference The Other Side. Before asking about the setting of the book, state
that there is something students should know about the setting. Introduce
historical fiction. Discuss that sometimes the setting in a story is based on
history; the characters arent real, but the setting and events might be.
Discuss the setting in The Other Side: in the South in the 1950s.
Ask how this setting affected what the main characters, Clover and Annie, did
and how they interacted.
Introduce the Does the Story Have to Be Set There, and Then? strategy. Ask
If the story were to happen at a different time or in a different place, would the
story be different?
To further students thinking ask students to image the story in a different place,
specifically Palmer Elementary in 2016. How would the characters react to
each other and their new setting?
Prompt students to compare how different the characters lives would be if the
setting changed to Palmer instead of in the South in the 50s; lead into the
importance of setting.
Introduce tree chart, history is rooted in story. Historic elements in roots and
their effects on the characters will be in the branches.
Complete the chart through gradual release model. Teacher will write the first
piece of information in the setting and the character behavior boxes. Teacher
will then ask for help from the students and complete one more box together.
Then students will complete last boxes on own.
Ask about the importance of the setting again, specifically the fence. Ask
students Why is the fence so important in the setting of this story? Could it be
symbolic? What might it symbolize and why?
Discuss the tensions between Caucasians and African Americans and the divide

that was felt between the two races at that time. Did that aspect of the setting
impact how the two main characters acted?
- Give students time to write a sentence or two about the symbolism of the fence
in the box under the tree diagram.
- Collect the graphic organizers/Closure
* If a student finishes early, they can create a tree graphic organizer for another story
theyve previously read on the back of the worksheet.
Questions to Engage Different Thinking Levels from Webbs Depth of
Knowledge
Skills/Concepts
- Can you explain how your environment affects your behavior?
- Can you explain how the setting affects the characters behavior?
Strategic Thinking
- What would happen if the characters in The Other Side came to Palmer
Elementary today? How might their behaviors change?
- Can you elaborate on how behaviors change based on a persons environment?
- What conclusions can you draw about why the setting is important?
- Can you formulate a theory for what the fence in the storys setting might
symbolize?
Accommodations
Remediation
- If a student is struggling to develop ways in which a characters behavior is
influenced by the storys setting, they can focus on coming up with two good
examples, rather than struggling to fill in all four boxes on the graphic organizer.
Extension
- Highly motivated students can create additional boxes on the graphic organizer
if they can come up with more ways in which the characters behavior is affected
by the setting. If they cant come up with more ways for characters in The
Other Side, they can create a tree graphic organizer for another story theyve
previously read on the back of the worksheet.

Methods, Materials and Integrated Technology

Instructional Techniques
- Gradual Release Method
- Group discussions
Materials
- The Other Side
- Pictures of different environments
- Whiteboard
- Expo Markers
- Pencil
- Tree Graphic Organizer
Integrated Technology
- Projector
- Document Camera
Modeling: I Do

Checking for Understanding

Explain how I would behave in one of the environment pictures shown during
the introduction.
- Offer an example of how Jos behavior changed when she was in a new
environment in the story What Jo Did.
- Demonstrate how to fill in the boxes on the graphic organizer under the
document camera.
Sample Questions:
- Can you explain how your environment affects your behavior?
- Can you explain how setting affects a characters behavior?
- What would happen if the characters in The Other Side came to Palmer
Elementary today? How might their behaviors change?
- Can you elaborate on how behaviors change based on a persons environment?
- What conclusions can you draw about why the setting is important?
- Can you formulate a theory for what the fence in the storys setting might
symbolize?
Forms of Engagement/Formative Assessment:
- Individual sharing as well as sharing with the group

Ask for examples; students who can give examples understand the concept
Thumbs up, thumbs down sporadically to check for understanding, how
comfortable students feel with topic

Guided Practice: We Do

Students will discuss ways in which the setting of The Other Side affects how the
characters behave while the teacher guides the conversation and clarifies/questions
responses as needed. The teacher will also ask for help filling out the graphic organizer
so the class can do some of it together under the document camera before students do
the rest on their own.

Collaborative (You Do Together) and/or Independent

Practice (You Do)

Collaborative
As a whole class group, students will discuss and develop what the fence in the setting
symbolizes.
Independent Practice
Students will come up with additional ways in which the setting influences characters
behavior by completing the rest of the graphic organizer on their own.
Teacher will restate the I Can statements.
Students will share parts of their graphic organizers to prove the I Can statements
have been covered.
Teacher will indicate how lesson emphasizes importance of setting in a book. Encourage
students to pay more attention to the setting of a story from now on and how the setting
impacts the characters in the book.
If students graphic organizers include at least two historical elements in the setting, at
least two ways that those elements influenced the characters behavior and one idea for
what the fence in the setting symbolizes, the lesson objectives have been met.

Closure

Assessment

Based on students ability to convey the information above, future instruction may either
reemphasize how setting affects characters in the context of another story, or, if students
demonstrate a proficient understanding, future instruction will build off of this
understanding to delve into additional story elements.
Reflection

To be completed once lesson has been taught.

NAME ________________________________

Characters Behavior

From The Other Side

by Jacqueline Woodson

Historic Elements in Setting

Symbolism in the Setting?

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