Literacy Lesson Plan Johnson 2019
Literacy Lesson Plan Johnson 2019
Lesson, Learning Segment and/or Unit Topic: Instruction Time: 1:50 - 2:50 PM
Poems
Classroom Context:
A majority of the students in this class are level with where they should be for their age. However,
there are a few students who are behind, and struggle more than the rest. There are a few students
with IEPs and some who lack the ability to focus for long periods of time. For these individual
students, we have to ensure we give them the attention that they need without singling them out, or
hurting the other students around them.
information prior to the start of the lesson, and ask for a fist-to-five to gauge their prior knowledge
on the topic before we read.
Formative Assessment:
One formative assessment we will complete is the fist-to-five. This will be asked before and after
the lesson, to gauge their prior knowledge to the topic and again to gauge their understanding and
comprehension of the lesson / activities completed.
We will also conduct a think-pair-share during the lesson. Throughout the reading of the poetry
book, there are several instances where the words of the author may need to be pointed out and
talked about. At this time, students will think-pair-share their thoughts to themselves, their partners,
then their tables while the student teachers walk around and gauge their understanding.
Summative Assessment:
There are four different summative assessments created for this lesson, and the students will be
grouped into three groups to complete the assessments.
● The first assessment is Acrostic Poems. The students will work with one student teacher to
make an acrostic poem using their name. The student teacher will walk them through what
an acrostic poem is, an example of one, demonstrate how to create it, and then the students
will make one for themselves.
● The second assessment is the Concrete Poems. Students will be placed in a small group and,
similar to that of the Acrostic Poems, will be explained what a concrete poem is, an
example of one, demonstrate how to create it, and then the students will make one for
themselves.
● The third assessment is the Analysis of Miscues. Students in a small group will read aloud a
variety of poems. The student teacher will complete the analysis of miscues for specific
students as they read their poem. The book “Love That Dog” provides four poems in the
back of the book that the students will take turns reading aloud.
● A fourth assessment will be completed with 3 students, post-activity. During the reading,
the student teachers will choose students to focus on. That student will be brought back
post-activity, and asked to retell the story we read from start to finish, including as much
information as they can.
Part 3b: Planned Supports THIS SECTION WILL NOT BE PART OF THE LESSON PLAN
REQUIRED FOR CIED 321!!!! It will be included in the lesson plans you write next semester in
CIED 311: Differentiated Instruction, as well as other methods courses. Planned supports
differentiate literacy instruction assessment plans and teaching-learning sequences for all learners.
They are also specified to meet the needs of students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs);
plans based upon Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (504 Plans); plans for
English language learners (ELL Plans); and plans for other diverse learning needs that are tied to
lesson objectives.
● Pasture: land covered with grass and other low plants suitable for grazing animals,
especially cattle or sheep.
● Poem: a piece of writing that partakes of the nature of both speech and song that is nearly
always rhythmical, usually metaphorical, and often exhibits such formal elements as meter,
rhyme, and stanzaic structure.
● Shelter: an animal sanctuary.
● Rhythm: a strong, regular, repeated pattern of movement or sound.
● Anonymous: (of a person) not identified by name; of unknown name.
Text Structure:
● Description: Students used describing words when they created their poems. They applied
certain characteristics to give their poems more descriptive details. (Ex: colors, shape,
adjectives, etc.)
● Question-answer: Before we began our lesson, we asked questions to the students for them
to answer. These questions asked students to give examples of poetry that they could
remember and examples of books that they have read with poetry. As we continued to teach
our lesson, we continued asking the students questions which they were able to give an
answer for.
Syntax Demands:
● The majority of our lesson dealt with simple sentences with one independent clause. This
came about as we discussed different poems. The example story we read followed the same
pattern. As we continued on with our lesson, students started to create their own examples
of poems.
Introduction
● First we will introduce poetry. Reading off of a pre-made slide show (the students will not
see the presentation, only used as a guide for student teachers), we will discuss what poetry
is, what makes a poem, some examples of poems / poets, and answer any immediate
questions students may have.
Development
● We will then gauge student’s prior knowledge by completing a fist-to-five summative
assessment.
● We will ask some pre-lesson questions, such as:
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○ Can we name any poems that we know of? Any books that have poems in them? Or
a poet / author of a poem’s name?
○ What can a poem be written about?
○ The title is “Love That Dog”, what do we think about this title?
○ We’ve talked about poetry and we’ve introduced the title of the book, what do we
think the book is going to be about?
● Then we will begin reading the poetry book, “Love That Dog” by Sharon Creech. We
tabbed individual pages / poems to read in order to save time and only hit the important
pieces of the story. Some pages also have thoughts to think aloud or questions to ask in
order to ensure students are actively engaged. Some of the questions throughout the story
include:
○ P. 3, “Just have to make short lines”. Poems can be anything, any words can make a
poem, the way it is written helps decide if it is a poem or not.
○ P. 4, Why might Jack not want his poem to be read out loud or placed up on the
board?
○ P.8, The poem on this page is the same as the one we just read, only the student
rewrote it to make it similar to the Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright poem.
○ P. 9, Why did Jack compare the poem his teacher read to that of a drum “beat-beat-
beating”?
○ P. 11, What does anonymous mean?
○ P. 22, Sometimes a poem does not sound like a poem, but when it is written our is
looks like a poem.
○ P. 43, What has changed about Jack’s relationship with poetry from the beginning of
the story to now?
○ P. 49, Why might Walter Dean Myers be upset about Jack using his words? *Think-
pair-share*
○ P. 54, Why wouldn’t Jack want to be the one to write and send a letter to Walter
Dean Myers?
○ P. 79, Why is Jack so worried about upsetting Walter Dean Myers?
● Once the story is complete, we will ask the students post-lesson questions. Some of which
include:
○ Why doesn’t Jack want to write poetry in the beginning?
○ What are Jack’s feelings towards Mr. Walter Dean Myers at the beginning of the
book?
○ What are Jack’s feelings towards Mr. Walter Dean Myers at the end of the book?
○ Why did his feelings change?
○ Why do you think Jack loves Mr. Walter Dean Myers?
○ Who was Sky?
○ What was Jack’s feelings towards Sky?
○ Why is the blue car important to Jack?
○ *We left out the part of the story where Jack’s dog, Sky, was hit by a car. However,
once the story is over, we will explain this fact and that the blue car was important to
Jack because he saw the blue car hit his dog Sky.
Closurel
● Students will complete the four assessments as listed previously. Once the assessments have
been completed, we will bring back the whole group for a final discussion and answer any
lingering questions.
● A final fist-to-five formative assessment will take place to ensure the objective has been
met.
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Learning Extensions
This lesson will provide the students with new insight, and hopefully gain their interest into the
various types of poetry. After our lesson, students may find an interest in learning about different
types of poems, and may try to make their own poems based on their favorite type. Students will be
able to use this information to help them in school, and also help them become better writers.
Commentary
1. Analysis of Teaching Effectiveness Using Self, Peer, and Professional Feedback:
A. After completing the miscues assessment with the students, there were a total of three
students that were the focus of our commentary. For this question, however, I am going to
focus on the student who was below where they needed to be for this particular assessment.
The student in question is a new transfer student. Even without any prior knowledge of the
student themselves, it is easy to tell that the student is falling behind in class. This student
had about the same amount of miscues as the other students, and was able to read the poem,
but still struggled with comprehension of what was read and some of the basic words that
other students did not particularly struggle with (McAndrews, 2008 p. 70). One of these words
that really stuck out was when the student said the phrase “You come too”, however instead
of the word come, the student said came. It is a simple misunderstanding, however the
student was reading slow enough that it could have been caught. The student showed
obvious struggle while reading aloud, as well as discomfort. One way to combat this would
be to pose a question about the text, prior to them reading. Have the student look for the
answer within the text or of the text as a whole while they read, this will prompt them to
B. Some parts of the lesson we found effective were the poem activities and the reading of the
literature. The students really enjoyed the poem activities, and we felt it helped them
identify how a poem looks, as well as the structure of poetry. They asked a lot of questions
and were very involved. I believe by having the students create their own special poems is a
way to get them involved and interested, and by allowing them to see how unique a poem is
and how they can easily create them themselves, it got the students interested in going on to
the next station. One downfall of the activity was the time restraint, it felt very rushed and
the students mostly did not get to complete their final poems. I feel that one way this could
be adjusted for next time would be to split the lesson up over a few days. Had we been able
to read the book aloud and introduce poetry on day one, on day two we could refresh
ourselves with what poetry is, and complete the activity as a whole. Doing so would be
really beneficial to ensuring the students understand what poetry is and how to create it. If I
could change one thing, I would like to allow enough time to ensure the students understood
a variety of types of poetry, to which they could choose the type of poetry to make a poem
for themselves. With this, students can share theirs aloud or anonymously share them by
having the teacher read the rest aloud. I also believe that the way we spent time reading the
book and pointing out specifics of poetry in the story was helpful to the students. They
enjoyed and extremely benefitted from stopping and asking questions and doing a think-
pair-share. For a part of the story where they seemed to be confused and lost, we stopped
and I asked a question, and asked the students to first think to themselves, then talk with a
shoulder partner, and finally I asked for volunteers to share their responses (McAndrews,
2008 p. 154). This helped the students a lot, and it was obvious as they were each
brainstorming and coming up with their ideas, and then getting new ideas as they were
sharing with each other. Doing this helped me understand their thought processed and gauge
C. Some of the events that happened during the lesson were not necessarily as effective as
hoped. One of the events that was not as effective as intended was the introduction to the
lesson. The attempt to introduce poetry was meant to explain what poetry is, how it is used,
and the different types of poetry. I felt that due to the lesson being short on time, and
because we didn’t have our fourth member, we were unable to give the introduction the
attention that it needed for it to be an effective part of the lesson. As stated previously, for
future instruction, I feel the way the students would most benefit from the introduction and
explanation would be to break up the entire lesson into two days. This would not only be
beneficial for ensuring all of the information gets relayed correctly to the students but the
students will also not feel as overwhelmed with the amount of work and information given
within that time period (McAndrews, 2008 p. 134). Another portion of the lesson that I
found not as effectful for the students’ learning was completing the third assessment, the
analysis of miscues. I find that the assessment itself can be an extremely helpful tool to use,
when done correctly, I felt that we were unable to gain any major benefit from completing it
with our students. The students were not initially planned to read individually for this lesson
and activity, but rather than as a whole group. There was no real way to assess them with
the given miscues assessment this way, so we had to revamp our plans, and change it;
instead of doing three different types of poems in small groups that rotate, we did two
different poems and the assessment in rotations. The final lesson turned out quite well, and
the students were able to work with us through the bumps as we went. However, if one
thing were to change, I feel that choosing a different type of assessment would have been
assessment that matches the lesson being taught and activities being completed is much
easier, less stressful, and more beneficial to teacher understanding than working a lesson
around a given assessment strategy. The final piece of the lesson that could be changed to
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improve, would be the book that we read. I feel that the book we read was very fun and
entertaining to the students, and that they were able to follow along for the most part.
However, I feel that for this particular lesson it should be a shorter, simpler book to explain
poetry (McAndrews, 2008 p. 134). This book would be more helpful and beneficial if used
later on, after the students have a good understanding of poetry. For the lesson given, I feel
that a Dr. Seuss book would have been a more acceptable choice.
D. As stated above there are a lot of pieces to the lesson that could be changed to make the
information come across easier, make assessing the students easier, and overall improve the
lesson. The next time I teach a lesson like this, I will ensure the information is easier fit into
the time period given. I will also have to gauge more of the student’s prior knowledge to the
subject before creating the lesson (McAndrews, 2008 p. 134). After being told that the
students had completed a sort of intro to poetry unit a few weeks back, I assumed the basics
were understood. However, towards the end of the lesson, it seemed as though a lot of the
information was new to them. This could simply be because we are re-teaching a lesson that
they did not understand well to begin with, or because we practically were starting from
scratch.
what this book might infer based off of the title and asking the students what kind
be about?” what we already know. of events we think we might
see in this story, based off the
title.
“Why doesn’t Jack want to Ms. Carson was attempting to Ms. Carson could ask the
write poetry in the get the students to think about students to think-pair-share in
beginning?” what reasons Jack would have order for them to get new
as to why poetry is for girls ideas and share the ones that
and why he doesn’t like it. they have. This is beneficial
for students who really want to
share their thoughts but may
not get called on to do so
when it is time.
“Why was the blue car so Ms. Carson was getting the The part of the story that
important to Jack?” students to think about the really shows the emphasis of
blue car that was talked about the blue car (the car that hit
many times throughout the the main character Jack’s dog)
story. was left out due to time
restraints. I feel that this piece
was too beneficial, now that
the lesson has concluded. For
future instruction it is
important to ensure you think
of all misconceptions and the
problems you could face by
not including the entire story
line in a lesson.
3. Analysis of Two (3) Students’ Learning of the Lesson Objective During the Lesson
Poem Read:
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Student number one, the “above average” student, showed that they understood the material
given. When working on creating their own acrostic poem, the student did so with ease (pictured
below). When reading aloud from the story, there were several instances where this specific student
openly participated in answering questions and giving feedback. When looking over their analysis
of miscues, this student showed to have some struggle with unknown or uncommon words. There
was one situation where the student added in an additional word, however the student was reading
at a faster pace which would explain how that occurred. The other words that the student showed
problems with were words that they had not seen yet, including a contraction that they had not
heard of. All of the miscues counted during the assessment are deemed acceptable based on their
current level of reading. To verify that we were completing the assessment correctly, we checked
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over the reading with my cooperating teacher. We did this to ensure the reading would not be too
Our lesson objective was “Second grade students will understand how the structure of the
words and phrases within the story supply meaning and context to what is being read by creating
their own concrete and acrostic poems, as well as read through a poem with precise understanding
of what is being read.” I believe that this particular student met all of the criteria for this objective.
The student showed their understanding by creating an acrostic poem with the words and phrases
where requested, and although not pictured the student also created their concrete poem and was
able to use the proper descriptive words for the poem without being prompted to do so
(McAndrews, 2008 p. 134). For the last part of the objective, the student was able to read through a
poem, even if the poem chosen was not necessarily fitting for this group of students. I believe as a
teacher that I would not mark down the student for this, as it is not their fault. The important thing
is that the student was able to read through the poem with miscues that are understood and
validated.
For this student, I would have to construct specific feedback that could be helpful for the
student. I would explain to the student that they did a great job creating their acrostic and concrete
poems, chose great words for each poem that made sense and fit where they were suppose to, and
gave very good responses to all of the questions asked during the reading. I would also tell them
that we should practice reading more poems, and that during AR time would be the best time to
read more poetry, and see if they can find books with poems in it.
The second student to focus on is the student that was below average. Initially we knew that
this student is one that struggles in the classroom, and this was still evident throughout our poetry
lesson. As stated before, the miscues assessment was not necessarily helpful for our specific lesson.
However, it still showed us information about this student to help us understand where they are
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with reading a new piece of material. This student had several miscues that could have been
avoided. The student second guessed themselves throughout the reading, as well as came across a
few words that would not normally be difficult for a student his age, but still confused them.
The student participated in, but did not complete, the concrete and acrostic poems. For the
acrostic poem, the student showed no real understanding as to what the objective or goal was. Even
after explaining, again, the steps of an acrostic poem the student did not complete the poem. For the
concrete poem, this specific student did not actively participate. It took several minutes for the
student to gather the materials they should have had prior to beginning the activity, they were
unable to draw a heart to replicate the apple as the other students were, and they did not participate
The lesson objective was “Second grade students will understand how the structure of the
words and phrases within the story supply meaning and context to what is being read by creating
their own concrete and acrostic poems, as well as read through a poem with precise understanding
of what is being read.” I do not believe this student met the objective. This student did not use the
correct form to create their concrete poem, nor were they prepared to do so. This student also used
only one descriptive word that was given to create their concrete poem, as well as not completing
their acrostic poem at all (McAndrews, 2008 p. 70). For this student, giving feedback would be
difficult due to where the student already was within the class. However, it would be important to
tell them that we loved the way they created their concrete poem and the word used to describe an
apple, as well as how they read the poem so well for Mr. Sharrow. For next time, we need to make
sure we have all the materials ready to go before we begin an activity, like their pencil sharpened.
We also need to make sure we listen to directions, so that we complete the activity altogether.
I believe that completing a different assessment for this student would have been beneficial.
Due to the known prior issues this student has had, it would be more beneficial to complete a
formative assessment for them that may be different from the other students. This could be
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something as simple as giving them a Dr. Suess book and asking them to read it aloud, keeping
track of the miscues, and asking them to point out specific things within the book that match the
criteria of a poem.
Acrostic Poems:
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Concrete Poems:
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26
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