During Reading Lesson Plans:
Subject: English Grade level: 10th grade
Unit: Julius Caesar Day/periods: 4/18/12, 50 minutes
Topic: Julius Caesar, Act II
Content Standards:
Reading Standard for Literature:
1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Writing Standard:
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Speaking and Listening Standard:
1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Learning Experience Outcomes
Students will:
Demonstrate their reading of Act II.
Work collaboratively in groups.
Cite specific parts of Act II to explain their bookmark.
Use questions and reflections in order to help them understand text better.
Learning Experience Assessments
Completion and submission of their bookmark pertaining to Act II.
Active participation and sharing with their classmates and class as a whole.
Addition of textual evidence on their bookmark (i.e. page and paragraph number) to support their explanations.
Evaluation of five questions students create pertaining to Act III.
Differentiation
Approaching: Teacher will scaffold students into creating their bookmark and understanding Act II by using multiple methods of presenting information. To do the homework, students are given the option to use the prompt questions/reflections.
On-level: Students will be working in groups so that they can either be helped and help other students depending on their level of understanding. If one student is confused on the reading, hopefully one of the other three students will grasp the concept.
Beyond: These students can help others in their groups. Also, for homework they will be required to come up with their own questions and reflections instead of using the prompts given in class.
Curriculum Integration: Art, Literacy, Social Studies
Procedures/Strategies: Students will enter the room and pick up their materials and complete the do now, then groups will read their section of Act II aloud, students will then individually create their own bookmark and share them with their group, teacher will close the lesson by leading a class discussion on how these strategies can help make students a better reader. To reinforce this idea, students will practice reflecting/questioning text on Act III for homework.
Materials/Resources
Scissors
Construction paper
Markers
String
Hole puncher
White board
Content Area Reading by Maureen McLaughlin (bookmarks)
Day 1
Sponge Activity (activity that will be done as students enter the room to get them into the mindset of the concept to be learned) Students will be asked to grab one of every material from the front desk and bring them to their seat at their table:
1. Scissors
2. Piece of construction paper
3. String
4. Markers
(One hole punch will be provided at each table)
Anticipatory Set (focus question/s that will be used to get students thinking about the day’s lesson)
Written the board to help focus the lesson and assist the students in understanding the importance of this lesson will be:
How can reflecting and questioning the material we are reading make us better readers and help us to understand more?
(This question will be discussed and answered at the end of class.)
Activating Prior Knowledge (what information will be shared with/among students to connect to prior knowledge/experience)
To get the students to begin thinking about bookmarks, students will be asked to complete a do now when they get into their seats and then share their responses with the rest of the class.
Do now: Have you ever used bookmarks to keep your place in a text? If so, what have they looked like?
Direct Instruction (input, modeling, check for understanding)
Students will have read Act II of Julius Caesar for homework the previous couple of nights and today’s lesson will be based off of that.
1. Students will be working in their table groups of four.
2. The teacher will split the act into five sections (one section for each group). Each group will then be assigned one specific section.
3. As a group, students will need to assign parts and read out the play to one another. If there aren’t enough characters in a group’s section of the act, then the group members can switch of characters. For example, the first section is mostly just Brutus and Lucius, but both characters have long speeches. Two students could go back and forth with Brutus and two students could do the same with Lucius.
4. After groups are completed with their reading, each group will be asked to give a quick plot synopsis to the entire class.
5. Once all groups have completed, teacher will explain the guided practice. Individually, students will be asked to create their own personal bookmark.
6. To do this, students will be asked to scan through the specific section of Act II that their group was given and find something pertaining to these 4 bookmarks:
· The most interesting part was…
· A vocabulary word I think the whole class needs to discuss is…
· Something that confused me was…
· I think this will happen next…
7. On the bookmark the student will be told they must include one of the four statements, their response to the statement, the page number, paragraph number and any other graphics or symbols to decorate.
8. Teacher will show the class the sample (see below) to give them an example to reference, if needed.
Guided Practice (how students will demonstrate their grasp of new learning)
1. Once the student determines the part they want to work on, they can begin their bookmark.
2. The students will be given the option to make the bookmark look however they so choose, but it needs to be big enough to fit all of the text.
3. Once the shape is cut out, the student needs to punch a hole in the top of the bookmark in order to tie the string around the hole.
4. After the student finishes creating the bookmark, they must include one of the four statements above and complete the saying. Also included on the bookmark must be the name of the text (Julius Caesar), Act II, and at the bottom: the page number and the paragraph number on that page.
5. While other students are finishing up, students can decorate their bookmark in any way, as long as it is not distracting from the text.
6. Once everyone has completed the text, students will share their bookmarks with their group.
Closure (action/statement by teacher designed to bring lesson presentation to an appropriate close)
To close the lesson, students will pin their bookmarks on the cork board and the teacher will lead a closing discussion pertaining to the focus question: How can reflecting and questioning the material we are reading make us better readers and help us to understand more? Teacher will pose the question and guide student responses if necessary.
Expected student response: Reflecting and questioning can help us take time to analyze the text more clearly instead of skipping over information that may have confused us. Questioning the material can help us gain a better insight into the text and see things from new perspectives.
Independent Practice (what students will do to reinforce learning of the lesson) For homework, students will be asked to read the next 20 pages of Act III. While reading, they need to come up with five questions or reflections from the text. They may use any four of the bookmark example prompts or come up with their own. These will be shared at the beginning of the next class period.
Example of Student Bookmark:
Julius Caesar
The Life of Julius Caesar
The most interesting part was…
When Julius Caesar had to go into hiding. I never knew that the Roman dictator at the time, Sulla, ordered Caesar to divorce his new wide, Cornelia. When he refused, he was forced to hide.
Page 1 Paragraph # 3
Lauren Hill
(This is an example using a different reading material, but it is the same premise. Also, student’s bookmarks will be much more creative and colorful, but this is just to give an idea of what it would look like.)
Unit: Julius Caesar Day/periods: 4/18/12, 50 minutes
Topic: Julius Caesar, Act II
Content Standards:
Reading Standard for Literature:
1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Writing Standard:
4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
Speaking and Listening Standard:
1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
Learning Experience Outcomes
Students will:
Demonstrate their reading of Act II.
Work collaboratively in groups.
Cite specific parts of Act II to explain their bookmark.
Use questions and reflections in order to help them understand text better.
Learning Experience Assessments
Completion and submission of their bookmark pertaining to Act II.
Active participation and sharing with their classmates and class as a whole.
Addition of textual evidence on their bookmark (i.e. page and paragraph number) to support their explanations.
Evaluation of five questions students create pertaining to Act III.
Differentiation
Approaching: Teacher will scaffold students into creating their bookmark and understanding Act II by using multiple methods of presenting information. To do the homework, students are given the option to use the prompt questions/reflections.
On-level: Students will be working in groups so that they can either be helped and help other students depending on their level of understanding. If one student is confused on the reading, hopefully one of the other three students will grasp the concept.
Beyond: These students can help others in their groups. Also, for homework they will be required to come up with their own questions and reflections instead of using the prompts given in class.
Curriculum Integration: Art, Literacy, Social Studies
Procedures/Strategies: Students will enter the room and pick up their materials and complete the do now, then groups will read their section of Act II aloud, students will then individually create their own bookmark and share them with their group, teacher will close the lesson by leading a class discussion on how these strategies can help make students a better reader. To reinforce this idea, students will practice reflecting/questioning text on Act III for homework.
Materials/Resources
Scissors
Construction paper
Markers
String
Hole puncher
White board
Content Area Reading by Maureen McLaughlin (bookmarks)
Day 1
Sponge Activity (activity that will be done as students enter the room to get them into the mindset of the concept to be learned) Students will be asked to grab one of every material from the front desk and bring them to their seat at their table:
1. Scissors
2. Piece of construction paper
3. String
4. Markers
(One hole punch will be provided at each table)
Anticipatory Set (focus question/s that will be used to get students thinking about the day’s lesson)
Written the board to help focus the lesson and assist the students in understanding the importance of this lesson will be:
How can reflecting and questioning the material we are reading make us better readers and help us to understand more?
(This question will be discussed and answered at the end of class.)
Activating Prior Knowledge (what information will be shared with/among students to connect to prior knowledge/experience)
To get the students to begin thinking about bookmarks, students will be asked to complete a do now when they get into their seats and then share their responses with the rest of the class.
Do now: Have you ever used bookmarks to keep your place in a text? If so, what have they looked like?
Direct Instruction (input, modeling, check for understanding)
Students will have read Act II of Julius Caesar for homework the previous couple of nights and today’s lesson will be based off of that.
1. Students will be working in their table groups of four.
2. The teacher will split the act into five sections (one section for each group). Each group will then be assigned one specific section.
3. As a group, students will need to assign parts and read out the play to one another. If there aren’t enough characters in a group’s section of the act, then the group members can switch of characters. For example, the first section is mostly just Brutus and Lucius, but both characters have long speeches. Two students could go back and forth with Brutus and two students could do the same with Lucius.
4. After groups are completed with their reading, each group will be asked to give a quick plot synopsis to the entire class.
5. Once all groups have completed, teacher will explain the guided practice. Individually, students will be asked to create their own personal bookmark.
6. To do this, students will be asked to scan through the specific section of Act II that their group was given and find something pertaining to these 4 bookmarks:
· The most interesting part was…
· A vocabulary word I think the whole class needs to discuss is…
· Something that confused me was…
· I think this will happen next…
7. On the bookmark the student will be told they must include one of the four statements, their response to the statement, the page number, paragraph number and any other graphics or symbols to decorate.
8. Teacher will show the class the sample (see below) to give them an example to reference, if needed.
Guided Practice (how students will demonstrate their grasp of new learning)
1. Once the student determines the part they want to work on, they can begin their bookmark.
2. The students will be given the option to make the bookmark look however they so choose, but it needs to be big enough to fit all of the text.
3. Once the shape is cut out, the student needs to punch a hole in the top of the bookmark in order to tie the string around the hole.
4. After the student finishes creating the bookmark, they must include one of the four statements above and complete the saying. Also included on the bookmark must be the name of the text (Julius Caesar), Act II, and at the bottom: the page number and the paragraph number on that page.
5. While other students are finishing up, students can decorate their bookmark in any way, as long as it is not distracting from the text.
6. Once everyone has completed the text, students will share their bookmarks with their group.
Closure (action/statement by teacher designed to bring lesson presentation to an appropriate close)
To close the lesson, students will pin their bookmarks on the cork board and the teacher will lead a closing discussion pertaining to the focus question: How can reflecting and questioning the material we are reading make us better readers and help us to understand more? Teacher will pose the question and guide student responses if necessary.
Expected student response: Reflecting and questioning can help us take time to analyze the text more clearly instead of skipping over information that may have confused us. Questioning the material can help us gain a better insight into the text and see things from new perspectives.
Independent Practice (what students will do to reinforce learning of the lesson) For homework, students will be asked to read the next 20 pages of Act III. While reading, they need to come up with five questions or reflections from the text. They may use any four of the bookmark example prompts or come up with their own. These will be shared at the beginning of the next class period.
Example of Student Bookmark:
Julius Caesar
The Life of Julius Caesar
The most interesting part was…
When Julius Caesar had to go into hiding. I never knew that the Roman dictator at the time, Sulla, ordered Caesar to divorce his new wide, Cornelia. When he refused, he was forced to hide.
Page 1 Paragraph # 3
Lauren Hill
(This is an example using a different reading material, but it is the same premise. Also, student’s bookmarks will be much more creative and colorful, but this is just to give an idea of what it would look like.)