Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Teachers: Subject:
Paige Haagen English (Language Arts) Grade 9
Symbolism in Major works
Common Core State Standards:
 9-10.RL.2 - Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze
in detail its development over the course of the text, including how
it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an
objective summary of the text.
 9-10 RL 4- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are
used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings;
analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning
and tone.
 9-10 RL 10- By the end of the year, proficiently and independently
read and comprehend literature, including stories, drama, and
poetry, in a text complexity range determined by qualitative and
quantitative measures appropriate to grade 9.
 ISTE Teacher 1-a -Promote, support, and model creative and
innovative thinking and inventiveness
 ISTE Students 6b- create original works or responsibly
repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
 Workplace- the students will learn critical thinking and to grant
meaning to previously meaningless aspects of life.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L.5-
Demonstrate understanding of figurative
language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

Objective (Explicit):
Students will identify what color archetypes that perpetuate through literature symbolically represent in
order to gain another perspective while reading classic works through drawing and presenting a given
symbol to research.

Evidence of Mastery (Measurable):

 Include a copy of the lesson assessment.
 Provide exemplar student responses with the level of detail you expect to see.
 Assign value to each portion of the response.
At the end of the semester, the students will choose a novel that was covered in class and write an
essay on the color archetypes utilized in the novel. They will discuss which color archetype is used, what
it means in general, how it is utilized in the text, why the author chose to do so, and then discuss if the
archetype, in their opinion, was used effectively. With this, the students will apply what they know about
color archetypes to a text, and broaden their view on it by adding their personal opinion. In order to
confirm that there is an understanding amongst students, the teacher will expect to have 70% of the
students earn at least an 80% on their term paper on color archetypes.
Sub-objectives, SWBAT (Sequenced from basic to complex):
 How will you review past learning and make connections to previous lessons?
 What skills and content are needed to ultimately master this lesson objective?
 How is this objective relevant to students, their lives, and/or the real world?

Key vocabulary: Materials:

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Opening (state objectives, connect to previous learning, and make relevant to real life)
 How will you activate student interest?
 How will you connect to past learning?
 How will you present the objective in an engaging and student-friendly way?
 How will you communicate its importance and make the content relevant to your students?
The students will become engaged in discussion on the symbolic representations of colors in
literature by first relating this to their personal life. When the students arrive to the classroom, I
will ask them to pull out a piece of paper, and free write on the topic I have written on the board.
This topic would be: What color symbolically represents you? Why? I would allow them about 5
minutes to write, then have them discuss how they answered the question with a couple of
people who are sitting around them. After 1 minute of discussion, I would open up the
discussion to the entire class, first explaining which color I believe symbolically represents me,
then picking on random people to share which color they picked and why. To begin the lesson
presentation, I would mention several texts that they are familiar with (from class or popular pop
culture novels) and reference parts of those texts that are relevant to symbolism of colors in
text. By employing an activity that relates literature to reality, the students will find personal
interest in the lesson that is going to follow.

Teacher Will: Student Will:

 How will you model/explain/demonstrate all  What will students be doing to actively capture and
knowledge/skills required of the objective? process the new material?
 What types of visuals will you use?  How will students be engaged?
 How will you address misunderstandings or
common student errors?
 How will you check for understanding?
 How will you explain and model behavioral
expectations?
 Is there enough detail in this section so that
another person could teach it?
After the opening, the students will then be
introduced to the topic of color archetypes.
For this, the teacher will present a
PowerPoint. The students will take notes on the definition that
the teacher supplies to them.
What is an archetype?
Instructional Input

How could this be applied to colors?
Why would this be effective to readers?
After asking students these leading questions,
a true definition of archetype will be presented
to the students. Next, the teacher will present
students with a majority of short examples of
uses of color archetypes including lines of
poetry, short sentences, and short excerpts
from novels.
The student will also participate by answering the
leading questions about the archetypes, and how
this can be effective to writing. This will assess
their critical thinking skills. They were already
exposed to the idea of symbolism in the opener.
The students will participate in active discussion
on the quotes presented to them, and brainstorm
together what the color archetype might mean in
the context of the quotes. This will

What does this quote mean? What is There will be an emphasis on what they mean
happening in the text? What is the color AND how it can be applied to the overall meaning
archetype? How does this enhance the text? of text.

Quotes: Formative assessment: The students are

“"A rose by any other name would smell as
sweet" Romeo and Juliet
“Compared to the great distance that had
separated him from Daisy it had seemed very
expected to answer red, green, and black, and
use the quotes to attempt to conclude what the
color means and why. The teacher will not give
any answers, so we are looking at how the
students are processing the quote, the color, and
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near to her, almost touching her. It had the information presented together.
seemed as close as a star to the moon. Now it
was again a green light on a dock. His count
of enchanted objects had diminished by one”
Great Gatsby

“Meg looked. The dark shadow was still there.

It had not lessened or dispersed with the
coming of night. And where the shadow was
the stars were not visible.

What could there be about a shadow that was

so terrible that she knew that there had never
been before or ever would be again, anything
that would chill her with a fear that was
beyond shuddering, beyond crying or
screaming, beyond the possibility of comfort?”
A Wrinkle in Time

These questions would be asked for each

quote that references a different color
archetype. After this presentation, students
will have an understanding of the purpose and
examples of how these color archetypes work
in literature.
Co-Teaching Strategy
 Which co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Questioning
What is an archetype?
How could this be applied to color?
Why would this be effective to readers?
What does this quote mean?
What is happening in the text?
What is the color archetype displayed in this quote?
What does it mean literally?
What does it mean figuratively?
How does this enhance the text?

Group Questions:
How does the color make you feel?
What do you think of when you see the color?
Why/how could this color represent emotion?
What emotion/theme do you think it could represent based on your previous knowledge?
What does your color archetype mean?
What are some things that your color archetype represents?
Can you create a sentence that accurately uses your color archetype?

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 Teacher Will:
 How will you ensure that all students have multiple
opportunities to practice new content and skills?
 What types of questions can you ask students as
you are observing them practice?
 How/when will you check for understanding?
 How will you provide guidance to all students as
they practice?
 How will you explain and model behavioral
expectations?
 Is there enough detail in this section so that
another person could facilitate this practice?
Student Will:
 How will students practice all knowledge/skills required
of the objective, with your support, such that they
continue to internalize the sub-objectives?
 How will students be engaged?
 How will you elicit student-to-student interaction?
 How are students practicing in ways that align to
independent practice?

The teacher will instruct the students to get

into groups by counting the class off by
numbers. This means that they will not choose
their own groups. There should be
approximately 12 groups, so all of the color
archetypes will be covered (red, green, black,
white, yellow, violet, blue, gold, silver, pink,
orange, and brown).
The teacher will then assign each small group
a color from the list above. Without any
outside information (i.e. phones, computers,
books, etc.), the teacher will instruct the
Guided Practice
Students will discuss what they think their color
archetype symbolically represents for 5-10
minutes without any outside technology or other
resources.
With guidance from the teacher, they will take
input and consider altering their view to fit the
correct definition of their own color archetype.
The student will then look up their color archetype
and discuss the real definition and symbolic
meaning of their given color archetype.

students to discuss what they think their color

archetype symbolically represents.

How does the color make you feel? What do

you think of when you see the color?
Why/how could this color represent emotion?
What emotion/theme do you think it could
represent based on your previous knowledge?

The teacher will ask the students to

brainstorm and write all they can think of down
on a sheet of paper.

The teacher will walk around the classroom

and facilitate discussion and guide students in
the correct direction if it is needed.

The teacher will then allow students to look up

their specific color archetype using
technology.

Co-Teaching Strategy
 Which co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

Differentiation Strategy (first two sections)

For struggling students, a set of notes will be printed out for them to review as class continues so
they can reference it if they are confused. This will also help them focus on the lesson that the
teacher is teaching rather than quickly scratching down notes. The printed notes will have several
fill-in-the-blanks for students to fill in as the lesson continues so they understand where we are at

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 all time. They also will be encouraged to utilize highlighters and different color pens when
discussing different colors so they can remember what definition goes with what color.

Students who are advanced learners will be asked questions throughout class discussion and
group work that will challenge their critical thinking skills at a higher level than the rest of the
students. They may also be encouraged to find more quotes or examples that show their color
archetype in action through text.
Teacher Will: Student Will:
 How will you plan to coach and correct during this  How will students independently practice the knowledge and
practice? skills required by the objective?
 How will you provide opportunities for remediation and  How will students be engaged?
extension?  How are students practicing in ways that align to
 How will you clearly state and model academic and assessment?
behavioral expectations?  How are students using self-assessment to guide their own
 Did you provide enough detail so that another person
learning?
could facilitate the practice?
 How are you supporting students giving feedback to one
another?

The teacher will assign the last 20 minutes of
class for groups to create a poster that
accurately represents their color archetype.
This will include:
 Their color written in bold letters in the
middle of the poster IN their color
 One quote from literature with the color
archetype
 Several words/phrases defining the
symbolic meaning scattered
Independent Practice
The students, in groups, will apply their learned
knowledge of their color archetype and create a
poster that will prove to the teacher that it has
been learned, as well as share all the color
archetypes to the rest of the class when the
posters are hung
The students will use technology to look up a
quote from literature that references their
assigned color archetype and add it to the poster.

 Their own sentence, poem, phrase

(etc.) proving to the teacher that they The student will add several words and phrases to
can apply it creatively the poster that help define their color archetype.

The teacher will walk around the classroom The student will express their creativity and
and engage students in discussion based on understanding by forming their own sentence,
their color archetype. phrase, or poem with their given color archetype.

After class, the teacher will grade these Formative assessment:

posters, and hang them around the classroom The students will conclude that each color
to allow students to see them daily to represents:
remember them. Also, it will allow for Red- dramatic, dangerous, passion
reference during discussions that this may be Green- fresh, loyal, gentle, envy
applied to. This will act as an assessment to Black- mourning/death
clarify that the students will understand at White- pure, innocent, good
least the color archetype that they were Yellow- cheerful, excited, creative
assigned. Violet- rich, powerful, mysterious
Blue- peace, calm, harmony
Gold- wisdom/wealth
Silver- modern/futuristic
Pink- sensitive, friendly, caring
Orange- enthusiasm, determination, attraction
Brown- reliable/organic

Co-Teaching Strategy
 Which co-teaching approach will you use to maximize student achievement?

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 Differentiation Strategy
Struggling students will be given addition time to complete their poster. They will be able to complete them at
home over one to several days depending on the student. If the student has trouble with time management,
this will be helpful to them. The extra time will allow them to execute the assignment fully, so they will learn
more and be more proud of their work. The teacher will not take off point for the work being a little late, as
long it is in before the extended deadline set. Also, the students will be monitored throughout class to make
sure that they are working during the entirety of the 20 min given to complete the simple poster. My inputting
several short reminders to stay focused may help when the students are distracted.

Closing/Student Reflection/Real-life connections:

 How will students summarize and state the significance of what they learned?
 Why will students be engaged?
To close, the students will have 30 seconds each (per poster) to present to the class what their color
archetype is and what it means symbolically. Only one student will do this per group in order to make
sure that every group has a chance. Every group will stand up and present what they have created to
the class, so everyone will have a chance to be engaged in discussion, as well as actively listening to
the other groups present their colors. By the end of the presentations, theoretically, the students should
have a strong grasp on what each color archetype symbolically represents.

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Who we teach: I was placed with a teacher that primarily teaches honors and AP English classes. Although I was
convinced that this meant that there was no differentiation, I was convinced otherwise when I asked my teaching mentor
about it. Although a majority of the students have no trouble with learning and applying that learning, there are some
students that have to work extra hard in the class. In one of his classes, he has three students that struggle with ADD or
ADHD, so he has to rope in the attention of students that have a hard time focusing. Other than that, with Honors and AP
students, several of the students are always begging to be constantly be challenged by the teacher. They are high
achieving students all the time.

Where we teach: I am at Boulder Creek High School at Anthem, Arizona, which is a pretty wealthy upper-middle class
suburb in Arizona. In a small city of 21,700 people, around 89% of all people are white Americans, with the only close
race following is Hispanic or Latino at 9%. The median income of family who live there is $85,893, and there is a very low
poverty rate of 2.88% (Data USA). Given all of this information, it is clear that a majority of the students who go to this
school are pretty well off. Several of the students choose to work, but not for their family income.

What we teach: This lesson teaches students how to analyze literary work through the lens of color archetypes. I hope to
broaden their viewpoint of literature by allowing them to think critically, and apply the color archetypes to famous literary
works. My goal would be for students to understand all twelve of the color archetypes to be quizzed on them at a later
date.

How we teach: This lesson is designed for a majority of different students to use their strengths to succeed. It begins with
a short lecture that facilitates discussion based on texts that the students already know. Then it allows students to talk to
their fellow classmates in attempt to discover the color archetype they were given based on critical thinking. Because the
groups were given by the teacher, they will be placed with students that have different learning strengths. They will
challenge each other as well as help each other. Also, the final activity (the poster) allow creative students who think
visually to execute their strengths. In addition to that, students who think more analytically to respond to the quotes for
understanding. Also, by challenging the students to formulate their own sentence using the archetype, they will express
their understanding through application.