Winthrop University

Secondary English Education

Lesson Planning Sheet

Name:____Michelle L Perez______Date/Time_____Day 3_________

Grade level: 11th
Subject: English III School: Northwestern
Lesson Title: Theme and Billie Holiday Mentor: _Mrs. Glibbery
Learning Objective(s)
1. Students will identify and determine
themes in Becoming Billie Holiday.
2. Students will identify and determine
themes in Blue Moon by Billie
Holiday.
3. Students will be able to compare and
contrast themes across mediums.
Essential Question:
How does theme transfer from
medium to medium? Is one
medium more effective at
conveying theme than another?

Assessment of learning objective(s)

1. Students will find at least three themes in Becoming
Billie Holiday. Students will back these three themes up
with direct evidence, and 100% accuracy (3/3).
2. Students will decipher at least one theme in Billie
Holidays Blue Moon with 100% accuracy.
3. Students will compare and contrast how theme
translates between text and music. Students will
complete this with 100% accuracy, including one
highly detailed comparison and contrast.

Connection to Common Core:

Key Details
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2
Determine two or more themes or central
ideas of a text and analyze their
development over the course of the text,
including how they interact and build on
one another to produce a complex account;
provide an objective summary of the text.
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.9
Demonstrate knowledge of eighteenth-,
nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century
foundational works of American literature,
including how two or more texts from the
same period treat similar themes or topics.

Materials
Promethean Board
PowerPoint slideshow, in order to display student-learning objectives and student instructions
22 copies of Becoming Billie Holiday excerpt
YouTube and sound to play Blue Moon by Billie Holiday
Introduction (15 minutes)
There will be a warm-up assignment projected onto the Promethean Board, via laptop. Warm-ups are a
daily occurrence for the students, and a part of their classroom routine. The warm up questions will be the
following: Think about Porscha and Leslie. What do they have in common? What makes them different?
Create a venn diagram to show these differences and similarities. Students will create a class venn diagram.

Modified 12/13

Transition (2 minutes)
The teacher will ask the students if they have anything they need to turn in from the last class. If so, they
can pass those items up to the front of their rows to be collected.
Procedure (48 minutes)
Students will be asked what a theme is? Students will share their answers aloud. (3 minutes)
The teacher will pass out excerpts of Becoming Billie Holiday by Carol Boston. Students will read
Becoming Billie Holiday in a popcorn reading style (15 minutes)
Students will identify at least 3 themes in the excerpt of Becoming Billie Holiday. Students will provide one
piece of textual evidence per theme identified. (15 minutes).
Students will be told to keep their identified themes, but place it off to the side for now.
Students will create a chart in one column: What do you feel while listening? In a separate column:
What do you hear? Students will listen to Billie Holidays Blue Moon. (5 minutes).
Students will then free write a one-page reader response, comparing and contrasting theme in Blue Moon
and Becoming Billie Holiday. (10 minutes)
Transition (2 minutes)
Students will be informed to wrap up their writing. Students will have 2 minutes to finish writing.
Closure (23 minutes)
Student volunteers will share their free writes. Students will also take a poll via a show of hands, as to
which medium they preferred (text or music). (8 minutes)
For the rest of the time remaining, students will have SSR time to read Bronx Masquerade Chapters 7-9, or
a book of their choice. Either way, students will have to complete the reading for these chapters by next
class. (15 minutes)
Modifications
ELL students will be given individualized attention as needed. ELL students will have access to electronic
and hard copy translators. Captions will be turned on YouTube for ELL students. Students will have a print
out of lyrics.
GT students will be required to implement more than one comparison or contrast in theme between
mediums.
Students with vision impairments will be seated in the front row, in order to see the days
agenda/objectives. Students with vision impairments will also be provided with the reading in size 18 font.
Time: 90 minutes
Reflections
I think students will enjoy listening to music in class. The biggest struggle will be ensuring students are
drawing connections between the text and the music. Since the text will be about Billie Holidays life, and
the song will be performed by Billie Holiday, students should find the process of tracing themes across
genres fairly easy to comprehend. This lesson aims to incorporate different learning styles, such as oratory
and music. ELL students will struggle with hearing a different language in verse. I will turn on the captions
for ELL students, and provide them with printed out lyrics. My ultimate goal for this lesson is to enable
students to think about theme across mediums.

Modified 12/13