INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY MINILESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

PRELIMINARY INFORMATION
Teacher-Learner(s) name(s): Minilesson Title:

Emily Moseley and Samantha Lange Front Loading with Images: The Great Gatsby
Date developed: Content area and discipline:

February 17, 2017 English/Language Arts

Targeted Grade Level:
Period/time/estimated duration: 15-20 minutes
10th Grade

**USE COMPLETE SENTENCES IN RESPONDING TO ALL OF THE FOLLOWING MINILESSON PLAN ELEMENTS**

RESOURCES, MATERIALS, TECHNOLOGY, EQUIPMENT FOR THE MINILESSON [Simply list all materials you/students will
use.]

For this lesson, The Great Gatsby book is needed, as well as a computer and projector to show the students different
images.

CENTRAL FOCUS [What is the big LITERACY idea being taught through your content area? Which standards-based cognitive or
critical literacy strategy will you explain and demonstrate? What will you be guiding the students to do? What thinking strategy will
students practice together and alone? Explain.)

The big literary idea is visualizing and understanding images, which can be taught before reading but will be used
throughout one's life. In this mini-lesson, images will be used to help students understand the setting, people, and context
of the book. We will look at the images as a class, then students will get in small groups and discuss the images, and alone
students will write down a question or statement they have about an image.

JUSTIFICATION/RATIONALE for your plan [Why are you teaching this minilesson to this group of learners? How is the central
focus of the minilesson (above) related to the content area/discipline? How is it justified by the academic standards?]

Using visuals is a way to build background knowledge and evoke curiosity so that a better transition can be made once we
move to the printed material. Its also a way all learners can be more involved-such as ELLs who may struggle with
printed, whole class activities (Daniels 100).

PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF STUDENTS [What do they already know about the subject? What do you expect them to know and be
able to do before the minilesson?]

This can be used as an introduction to The Great Gatsby, so specifically about the book they may not know a lot. I expect
them to be familiar with the 1920s time period and should have a knowledge about some of the imagery.

LEARNING OBJECTIVE(S)** [What will children KNOW and BE ABLE TO DO IN LITERACY that is observable/measurable at the
end of the minilesson?]

[Teacher version]: The students will (active verb) . . . by performing/demonstrating/writing . . .

The students will view images of Long Island and people of the 1920s, talk in small groups about these images, and write
down a question they have about the image or time period. By doing this, the students will have a better knowledge of the
time period and what is happening in the world during the time the book is set.

[Students version]: I CAN (active verb) . . .

I can view, talk, and question the images shown and in turn, when I read the book, I will be able to understand the setting
 and visualize events occurring in the book.

**Please limit objectives to no more than 2 and ONLY include ones that are absolutely essential, which means you are providing
EXPLICIT INSTRUCTION to support knowledge and skills articulated in the selected standard.

ACADEMIC STANDARD [List strand, grade, standard number, and write out the complete standard. Or, copy and paste the
standard directly.]

Grade 10 Reading CCR Standard #7 (Common Core)

Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as
well as in words.*

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING [How will you know and document students progress toward the
objective(s)?]

Diagnostic/pre-assessment:

I will ask students what they know about the setting of The Great Gatsby? What do they know about the 1920s, the way
people dressed/acted/believed?

Formative assessment/feedback to learners:

I will give the students an image not yet seen by them from the 1920s to see if they can properly evaluate the content
presented.

PROCEDURES FOR THE MINILESSON [Describe with EXPLICIT DETAILS every step of the Guided Release of Responsibility
Framework so that another teacher could replicate your minilesson plan exactly!]:

I DO [How will you introduce the cognitive/critical literacy strategy? What will you say? What is the strategy? How does it work? Why
is it important? How will you demonstrate the strategy (reading aloud, thinking aloud, with overhead projector, whiteboard, shared
text)? What will you say as you demonstrate the strategy by reading and thinking aloud?

A projector will be used for the class to view the images based off the 1920s Great Gatsby time period.
I will talk about the significance of imagery in texts. (What an image can say, even though it might not have any words.)
Not only is it important to understand the context The Great Gatsby, but being able to analyze imagery can be used
throughout all of life. Talking about the 1920s is a lesson of history in an English class. This lesson will teach students to
understand the setting, people, and context of the book, which can be used for any other book as well.
I will ask questions, such as What do you see in this image? Why is every piece of this image important? Is there
something that stands out to you when you first look at this image? Why was this image made? Who do you think the
audience is for this image? Do you see any words? If so, what do they say? Etc.

WE DO TOGETHER [How will you guide students to collaboratively respond to the text? How will students respond to the text? In
small groups? With partners? Explain in detail what is happening.]

Students will talk in small groups about these images from the Great Gatsby era , and write down questions they have
about the image or time period.

YOU DO [How will you prompt students to apply the cognitive/critical literacy strategy? What will you say to encourage students to
apply the strategy independently?]

I will have students write their previous knowledge, if any, about the 1920s or The Great Gatsby, their predictions about
what could happen in the novel, and questions they might have about a certain image or fact of history from the 1920s.
I will suggest the students to take some time to truly look at an image and not just skim over it. You dont just analyze an
image and receive all the information you would ever need. I will encourage them by telling them to be patient and keep an
open mind when working independently with various images.
DIFFERENTIATION/EXTENSION [How will you ensure students at their various ability levels can access the key concepts in the
minilesson?]

Supporting students with special needs (accommodations/modifications required by the IEPs/504 plans and other ways youll
address diverse needs):

ELL students will be accommodated with the written text in their own language. Given that this minilesson is mostly about
analyzing imagery to understand the context of the novel, most of the reading will be about characteristics of the 1920s.

Challenging experienced learners:

Experienced readers could give suggestions of images that they think would go along with the context of the novel.

Facilitating a classroom environment that supports student learning:

The teacher will provide images on the board and throughout the classroom that will cause students to think creatively.

Extension:

As we read the book, students can bring their own images for the class to look at that they think relate to the book.

WHAT IFs [Be proactive; consider what might not go as planned with the minilesson. What will you do about it?]

What if students . . .

What if students do not know anything about the 1920s? As the teacher, I will use the images to inform them as much as
possible about the 1920s, and make sure that I always refer back to the images so the student will eventually be able to
understand the setting, context, characters, etc. by themselves.

What if students have a hard time analyzing imagery? I will thoroughly go over each image, pointing out important
symbols, to make sure that the student knows how to notice every small idea that might be implied or concrete.

What if students cannot . . .

What if students cannot fully grasp the idea of analyzing imagery to understanding the context surrounding the era? I will,
to the best of my ability, work through the issues that arise. Hopefully, with group discussion, the students will be able to
make the connection.

REFERENCES [Provide an APA-formatted citation for the complex text excerpt used in this minilesson. Cite all sources you used in
the creation of this minilesson including URLs, journals, book chapters etc.]

Daniels, H. & Zemelman, S. (2014). Subjects matter: Exceeding standards through powerful content-area
reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann

Developed in part from the work of Dr. D. Johnson & Dr. E. Stevens, Roberts Wesleyan College, Teacher Education Dept.