English Proteach Lesson Plan Format

(Adapted Fall 2016)

Teacher Name: Kalie Weiland

Lesson Title: Analyzing Character in Lord of the Flies
Purpose:
The close reading and color coding of a section of the text well help students gain experience with deeply
engaging and interpreting a book that is packed with meaning in every sentence. From what I have
observed with my students so far, at times the choppy dialogue, extended descriptions, and repetition can
be confusing. It is my hope that students will be more aware of the fact that there is a purpose and a
meaning behind the words. I plan to place emphasis on characters and characterization in the section that
we discuss, since this is a major focus of the unit and will be the focus of one of the final assessments in
the future. The characters in the novel are closely linked to the themes and in several cases serve as
symbols themselves, which also highlights our other main areas of focus for the unit. The close reading
and color coding will also serve as a bridge to the next activity: character social media profiles. This will
serve as an excellent way for students to analyze characters within the novel, not just at a singular
moment, but as complex figures that evolve and develop throughout the storys arc. It also allows students
to be creative and can be tailored to each students interests or strengths since they will have a great deal
of freedom regarding how they complete the assignment. Additionally, the group sharing activity will
allow students to teach other students about the different characters in the book; if a student is having
difficulty understanding one character, viewing a social media profile that another students has created for
that character might serve to clarify certain aspects.

Lesson Sequence:
Going through a close reading strategy like color marking connects to future lessons by giving students a
way to engage with the text in a more thoughtful and purposeful way than they might have been thus far.
Ideally this lesson will give them a concrete way to navigate the text in the future should they wish to try
it. The close reading will also allow them to decode some of the main focuses of the unit: character,
themes, and symbols. The social media profile activity is an interesting and engaging way for students to
analyze characters in a modern way which also correlates with their interests. This particular form
assessment also can be built upon in the future, when students will add additional entries to their
characters social media profile based on the changes that they observe in their characters and as the plot
progresses. This assignment will also be a scaffold toward a later assignment that will heavily involve
characterization and analysis of the major characters of the book. In the prior lesson, we did some basic
work with characterization; students discussed their initial reactions to several characters within the book
(Ralph, Piggy, Jack), and came up with a list of traits that they would use to describe the characters based
on their knowledge so far. This served as a brainstorming/preparation activity for the activities in todays
lesson. Students feedback on the exit slip will also allow me to adjust my teaching and lessons I have
planned to cater toward areas students are struggling with or are particularly interested in.

Essential Question(s):
How do writers show us what characters are like, directly or indirectly?
What can we infer about a character based on clues within the text?
How does an author use very specific word choices to build layered meanings within a text?
What are the most important traits or values of the characters within Lord of the Flies?
How do the characters descriptions, actions, etc relate to larger themes of the book?

Objective(s): Assessment(s):
Students will be able to deduce ways in which This will be assessed through the students
specific character traits and actions can be different modes (discussion, observation,
linked to a books themes and build meaning physical handout) of work on the close
within a text. reading/color marking text selection.
Students will be able to use color marking as a This will be assessed through the students
close reading strategy to comprehend and different modes (discussion, observation,
interpret a text. physical handout) of work on the close
reading/color marking text selection.
Students will be able to identify details in This will be formatively assessed both through
literature which develop character and make the close reading and the social media profile.
inferences about the characters based on This will eventually serve as a summative
evidence within the novel. assessment as they continue to add posts and
track the characters development throughout
the novel.
Materials:
Bellwork journals
Copies of Lord of the Flies
Printouts of close reading sections and instructions
Different colored highlighters
Prepared PowerPoint presentation
Colored pencils
Character social media profile handouts
Exit Slips

Organization:
During the close reading and color marking modeling, students will be arranged in rows on either side of
the classroom and working as a whole group. Students will work with partners in the second phase and
independently in the last phase. During the social media profile activity, students will be working
independently, though they may move desks together to share supplies and such. Before the end of class,
students will get into small groups and share their work.
Activities and Time:

Bellwork 5-10 minutes

Close Reading/Color Marking (30-45 minutes) students will deeply engage with a section of Lord
of the Flies and analyze the dialogue/prose to find meaning. This will be done through a gradual
release of responsibility process; first we will do a section of the text together, then students will
work with a partner to do another section, and finally they will do a section independently. One of our
areas of focus will be on character development, which will aid students for the next activity.
Character Analysis: Social Media Profiles (30-45 minutes) based on their reading of Lord of the
Flies thus far, students will create social media profiles for a character of their choice. This will
include a brief bio of the character, a visual photograph that the character might have posted, a
caption for the photo and appropriate hashtags that expresses accurate characterization. Additionally,
students will write at least two comments on the post that other characters from the book might
leave. Students will come back to this assignment in the future as their character continues to
develop.
Group Sharing (10 minutes) In small, informal groups, students will share the character profiles
they created and explain some of the choices that they made.
Exit Ticket (3-5 minutes) In the final minutes of class, students will complete an exit ticket that
asks them for their overall opinions about the activity and the book as a whole. I will use this as a
way to assess what about the book people are finding enjoyable or engaging as well as areas in which
they might be struggling. Additionally, since this will be an assignment we come back to as we read, I
 want feedback on the activity; if many students dislike I may alter my upcoming plans.

Accommodations: Think about how you can assist every learner, including second language learners, in
meeting your objectives and long-term goal.
Students Who Need Extra Students Whose First Students Who are Advanced or
Support: Language is not English: Gifted:
Guiding questions could be For the closer reading/color Advanced students might choose to
given to give struggling marking, ELLs may benefit add additional elements to color mark
students more direction or a from having a modified version in the close reading, or they might be
more solid focus for the close of the text that includes given more advanced sections of the
read. The lesson could be pictures, a graphic organizer, text to work with. All students will
altered so that different guided sentence frames to use have the freedom to complete the
students/groups are given for analysis, and pre-taught character profile in a creative way;
different texts to close read and vocabulary. Strategic partnering for example, they might choose to
color mark as a way to is another option. Though the depict a longer conversation between
gradually scaffold them until process will be modeled, a copy characters, create multiple entries,
they are comfortable working of the focus text with some
on the more advanced sections annotation and marking
of text. Strategic partnering is throughout may help to even
another option. more thoroughly model. For
both portions of this lesson, an
ELL may opt to use their home
language for some portions of
the assignments.
Standards:
LAFS.8.RL.1.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text
says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
LAFS.8.RL.1.3 Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel
the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
LAFS.RL.2.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including
figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and
tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.
LAFS.8.SL.1.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on
others ideas and expressing their own clearly
 English Proteach Lesson Plan Format
(Adapted Fall 2016)

Teacher Name: Kalie Weiland

Lesson Title: Lord of the Flies Blackout Poems
Purpose:
The central purpose of this lesson is to have students engage with some of the most significant symbols
that have been presented within Lord of the Flies thus far. As we have read, discussed, and analyzed the
novel through various activities, students have been quick to pick up on some of these core symbols
depicted in the novel, such as Piggys glasses, the conch shell, fire, face paint, and clothing. I thought it
would be a fascinating activity to have students capture their perceptions of these major symbols at this
stage of the novel; later, once they have finished the novel, they will reflect on this assignment and other
activities we have done to see if their ideas have changed based on how the novel progressed. The
lesson will also allow students to engage with other genres of texts, in this case poetry, which has
mainly been left out of their curriculum thus far. Furthermore, the lesson will introduce students to a
type of alternative creative poetry writing and the idea that writing can come from anywhere.

Lesson Sequence:
This lesson will take place around the midpoint of our unit on Lord of the Flies. As we are reaching the
middle stages of the novel, we have begun to more carefully consider themes that are emerging as the
characters, motivations, and relationships on the island have begun to evolve. As they have completed
activities involving characterization and character development as well as during dialogue journals,
students have begun engaging with more clearly developing symbols in the novel. In this lesson, they
will engage with the symbols they have been given enough exposure to thus far by creating unique,
creative blackout poems based around one of the emerging symbols they have identified from a page of
the text. Additionally, this lessons introduction to poetry and the concept of blackout poetry will also
serve as a scaffold for students in some ways. Later in the unit they may be tasked with writing
completely original poems. Thus far, the class has rarely been exposed to poetry and is potentially
unfamiliar with poetry as a genre, therefore the review of poetry and reading of a poem that relates to
Lord of the Flies will be beneficial to them.

Essential Question(s):
What is poetry?
What makes a poem a poem?
What does poetry look like?
What are some of the most significant symbols in the text thus far?
What do these symbols (fire, the conch, clothing, face paint, and Piggys glasses) represent?
How can an original poem be created from an already existing text?

Objective(s):
Students will be able to identify important
characteristics of poetry.
Students will be able to identify significant
symbols from the novel and express their
interpretation of their meaning within the
novel through their own original blackout
poems.
Students will be able to explain the choices
they made when creating their poems and
how they relate to the novel in a short
paragraph that discusses their reasoning,
Assessment(s):
This will be assessed through students
brainstorming and discussion.
This will be formatively assessed through the
blackout poems that students produce; since we
have not finished the novel, students perceptions of
symbols might not be completely accurate, but it is
important for them to begin thinking about big
ideas that are emerging.
This will be assessed through the paragraph that
students write and the group discussion after their
poem creation.
and to a small group of peers.
Materials:
Bellwork journals
PowerPoint Slideshow
There Will Come Soft Rains by Sara Teasdale copies
Blackout poem examples
Markers, Pens, Crayons, Pencils
Lord of the Flies printed pages (several selections for students to choose from)

Organization: During the blackout poem creation and brainstorming, students will be arranged in rows
on either side of the classroom and working individually. During portions of the poetry review in which
students consider the questions such as What is poetry?, they will work with a partner. During group
sharing, students will be working with a small group already seated near them.

Activities and Time:

Bellwork (5-10 minutes)
Symbolism Review discussion (15 minutes)
Poetry Review what is poetry? What makes a poem a poem? (25 minutes)
Introduce blackout poem activity and instructions (10 minutes)
Blackout poem brainstorm (5 minutes)
Blackout poem creation (30-45 minutes)
Group sharing (10 minutes)
Closing comments and exit ticket (5 minutes)

Accommodations:
Students Who Need Extra Students Whose First Students Who are Advanced or
Support: Language is not English: Gifted:
Struggling students could ELLs could concentrate more If students want to challenge
benefit from a blackout poem on the visual part of blackout themselves, they may attempt to create
page with some words poetry and create an image a specific form of poetry, poetry with a
already boxed out, which that captures an important specific rhyme scheme, or a series of
they can then build on. The idea from the text. Graphic poems around the same concepts. The
assignment could also be organizers could be provided creative, open-ended nature of the
adapted into a found poem if to help them keep track of assignment should be conducive to a
students struggle with the their thought processes or variety of learning styles and ability
concept of removing words. create lists of words that could levels.
Graphic organizers or go together.
brainstorming charts might
help struggling students keep
track of their main ideas.
Standards:
LAFS.8.RL.1.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the
course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective
summary of the text.

LAFS.8.W.2.4 - Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style
are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

LAFS.8.SL.1.1 - Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and

teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and
expressing their own clearly.