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Literacy Lesson Plan

Part 1: Lesson Overview

Teacher Candidate Cooperating Teacher/School/District Date Grade

Radeana, Nick, Maggie Ms. Goebel’s Staunton Elementary 4/25/2019 2nd

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.

Part 2a: Common Core State Standards for ELA-Literacy

CCSS.ELA- Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes,
LITERACY.RL.2.4
repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

Part 2b: Lesson Objectives

Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) /
supply rhythm / and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
1. 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.
2. ABC Criteria
a. Second grade students
b. Understand how structure…
c. By creating their own poems and reading another poem.

Part 2c: Foundational Skills Related to Objectives

● Students should understand what poetry is and be able to provide basic examples of
common poems and poets, prior to the start of the lesson.
● There was a mini poetry unit completed prior to this, several weeks earlier. However, this
unit was completed by a substitute teacher, so our cooperating teacher is unsure of how
much of the information was retained and how much they can apply to this lesson.

Part 3a: Assessment Plan

Pre-Assessment:
Prior to the start of the lesson, we will ask the students a variety of questions to gauge their
knowledge on poetry as a whole. Questions asked to the students are listed below
We will also ask students to raise their hands if they have any favorite poems or poets (authors),
based on their responses to the previous questions. We will give them some background
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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.

List of Possible Misconceptions

● Idea that poetry HAS to rhyme.
● Poems are always short.
● Poetry is only for females.

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.

Part 4: Identifying Language Demands- Ways academic language is used by students.

General academic words:
● Main Character: the lead person in a novel, play, or movie.
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● 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.

Subject- Specific words:

● Acrostic: a poem, word puzzle, or other composition in which certain letters in each line
form a word or words.
● Concrete Poem: poetry in which the meaning or effect is conveyed partly or wholly by
visual means, using patterns of words or letters and other typographical devices.
● Stanza: a group of lines forming the basic recurring metrical unit in a poem; a verse.

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.

Part 5: Teaching/Learning Sequence

Elementary students should apply all literacy modalities during the lesson:
_X_ reading, _X_ writing, _X_ listening, _X_speaking, ___viewing, _X_ visually representing

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.

Part 6: Instructional Materials and Resources

“Love That Dog” by Sharon Creech
Final poem, “The Pasture” by Robert Frost
Acrostic Name Poem Worksheet (Maggie Created)
Blank sheets of paper
Crayons
Pencils
Print out Analysis of Miscues (26 copies) and Oral / Written Story Retelling (26 copies)

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

read for a purpose (McAndrews, 2008 p. 154).

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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

where they were at in the story.

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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

much more beneficial to student learning, and to us as student teachers. Picking an

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.

2. Analysis of Peers’ Teaching

What I saw and heard What it means Instructional Alternatives with

References
“Now that we know a little bit Mr. Sharrow was asking the Mr. Sharrow could have given
more about poetry, can students to name other poems them more examples of poems
someone name an author or a or poets. He was checking / poets such as Dr. Seuss or
book that has poetry?” their prior knowledge. reading a nursery rhyme in
order to help the students get
an understanding for what a
poem / poet looks like and
help get them thinking.
“With the title of the Mr. Sharrow was intending to Mr. Sharrow may have
poem, can we guess ask the students what we can benefited more from this
question by rephrasing, and
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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 1: Above Average

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Student 2: Where Desired

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Student 3: Below Average

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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

much for them to comprehend.

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

in the discussion of descriptive words.

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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Example Concrete Poem:

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Concrete Poems:
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Literacy Lesson Plan and Commentary Scoring Guide: ____/200 points

Points
GROUP ASSIGNMENT TOPIC:
Team Teaching Members:
Lesson Plan
1. The lesson overview, objectives, standards, strategies and assessment are directly related ______/40
to each other and match the developmental level of the students being taught. (10 points)
2. Formative and/or Summative Assessments, Planned Supports, and Language Demands
have descriptive titles, are described, and align with evaluation criteria (10 points)
3. Teaching/learning sequences included detailed steps of introduction, development,
assessment and closure. Strategy Instruction included modeling, realistic dialogue, and
expected specific teacher and student responses (10 points)
4. Six Traits of Writing (10 points) It is expected that your documents are revised and
edited to reflect all six traits. Organization: Correctly used template format and all
elements clearly identified. References were in APA format. Sentence Fluency:
Procedure ideas were clear and flowed from one to another. Writing was concise, precise
and included complex sentence structures. Voice: Written for educational audience. The
teacher’s and student voice was clearly evident. Word Choice and Academic
Language: Used specific academic language and explained terms and acronyms.
Conventions: Correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization and spelling
Assessment and Instruction Materials Appendix: List all instructional materials in lesson _____/10
plan with specific titles and APA references. Upload documents or images of all instructional
materials including teacher written/created materials, student work samples, and assessment
instruments. Upload electronic pictures two (2) student work samples with your written
feedback and/or notes from oral feedback Upload electronic pictures of miscue and
“comprehension question-response” analysis assessment tools you used.
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT: Teacher Candidate Commentary
Commentary ______/150
All elements of the commentary combined should include:
1. Miscue and “comprehension question-response” analysis prior to instruction (20)
2. Analysis of Your Teaching Effectiveness (20)
3. Analysis of Peers’ Teaching (20)
4. Analysis of 3 Students’ Learning of Each Objective: (60)
Describe how you used formative and/or summative assessment to analyze students’ learning of
objectives, students’ language use, feedback provided and student use of feedback.
Provide specific examples from student work samples and instruction.
5. Describe how assessment informed instruction and suggestions for future learning (10)
6. Six Traits of Writing (20) It is expected that all of your documentation is revised and
edited to reflect all six traits. Organization: Correctly used template format and all
elements clearly identified. References were in APA format. Sentence Fluency:
Commentary ideas were clear and flowed from one to another. Writing was concise and
precise that included complex sentence structures. Voice: Written for educational
audience. The teacher’s and student voice was clearly evident. Word Choice and
Academic Language: Used specific academic language and explained terms and
acronyms. Conventions: Correct grammar, punctuation, capitalization and spelling.
Total ____/200