UMU Lesson Plan Template

2015-2016

Name: Laura Buchanan

Date: 3-24-16
Grade Level: 3rd
Class Period: 10:10-10:55
Subject: Reading Comprehension
Lesson # & Title: #2 Defend Your Position
Big Idea/Lesson Focus: To defend their position or a characters position in a book.
Function of the Lesson (check all that apply):
X Introduce New Skill or Content
Practice
Review
Remediation/Re-teaching
Context for Learning:
This lesson will be taught to a small group of two third grade girls. They are both at risk for not passing the coming AIR test
in April. They are both about 50 points away from passing. One of the girls has met the requirement to pass the Third Grade
Reading Guarantee, while the other girl has not yes. This means for the first girl I need to work on her writing skills. Both
girls are reading about 81 words per minute, which is below grade level. Both girls have also shown significant growth in
their iReady scores, but they are not at grade level yet.
Learning Objectives (aligned to assessment plan):
After reading the book I Wanna Iguana, the students will be able to defend their characters position they were given, by
correctly identifying and describing their position and finding five out of the nine supporting details from the book.
Academic Language (Academic Language Demands and/or Academic Language Objectives):
Defend
Prove
Elaborate
Criticize

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Assessment Plan (aligned to learning objectives)

Formative Assessment:
o Explicit: To assess the students during explicit instruction, I will ask them if they have any questions. I will
also be watching their actions, body language, and expressions to see how engaged in the lesson they are,
or if they are showing signs of confusion. I will also be listening to the students responses and discussions
to see if they are grasping the concepts.
o Structured: To assess the students during structured practice, I incorporated a fist to five to assess how
well they understand the concepts. I also will listen to their instruction and watch their body language and
expressions to assess if they are engaged and comprehending the lesson.
o Guided: During the guided practice to assess the students, I will look at their activities they are doing to
see if they are able to apply the concepts and are applying them correctly. I also incorporated a feelings
meter to self assess how comfortable they are with the concepts. I will also be listening to their responses
and their debate to see if they know how to support their position. I will finally be watching the students
body language and expression to see if they are engaged and involved in the lesson.
Summative Assessment:
o After reading the book I Wanna Iguana, the students will be able to defend their characters position they
were given, by correctly identifying and describing their position and finding five out of the nine
supporting details from the book. These details will have to be ones that support their positions. I will also
be informally assessing their writing and grammar to see what I will need to work on with them.
Procedures: Lesson Introduction
Say: You know what I love to do? I love to fight! To argue and defend my argument.
Say: What do you do during an argument?
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Say: Today we are going to talk about defending our position, whether that is defending what our opinion is,
or what the characters position on topic or opinion is.
Procedures: Lesson Body
Presentation/Explicit Instruction (I do: 100% teacher, 0% student):
o Ask: Do you know what defend means?
It means that you act or speak in favor for something.
o When you defend your position, you have to know what you believe in, or what side you agree with. To do
this you have to criticize (think hard) about both sides and which one you agree with, you have to prove
your point, so find evidence that supports your belief. You finally have to be able to elaborate (talk about in
detail) about your side and why you are right.
o Give an example of defending a positing
Ex. A kid staying up late vs. the mom wanting him to go to bed.
o Ask the students if they have any questions.

Structured Practice/Exploration (We do: 75% teacher, 25% student):

o Ask the students why it would be important to defend our position on a topic and why it is important to
have evidence to support our position.
o Discuss this question. Make sure to understand how important it is to support your position.
o Fist to five: How well do you understand the importance of supporting your position.
o Give an example of different perspectives in a book and how you can find evidence in the book to support
your position.
Use Doctor DeSoto by William Steig to demonstrate this
Make sure that throughout the book you demonstrate how you are criticizing the characters and
seeing which one you agree with, how you are elaborating on your position and why, and what I
found to prove my position.
o Ask the students if they noticed how I found evidence throughout story to defend my position.
Guided Practice/Checking for Understanding (We do: 25% teacher, 75% student):
o Play Would You Rather
See attached sheet for the questions
Make sure the students give a least two reasons why they chose that option.
o Students will read The Stolen Bike
o After reading, one student will be told to defend the position that the boy should have pressed charges,
while the other students will have to defend the choice to not press charges
They will have to highlight the text that supports their argument.
o The students will then debate their sides.
o Have the students do a feelings meter on how comfortable they feel with defending their position using text
to support their position.
Independent Practice/Application (They do: 0% teacher, 100% student):
o They students will independently read I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman Orloff
o I will assign the students to either defend the sons position or the moms positions.
o After they read they book they will have to write down what position they are defending, and describe at
least five out of the nine reasons why the boy should or should not get an iguana.
o The students will then debate their positions and defend their position by using the supporting details.
o They will turn in this sheet to see if they correctly identified their position, and if they chose evidence from
the book that does support their position.
Procedures: Lesson Closure:
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Have the students tell you what they did that day.
Have them tell you their favorite thing they did today
Tell them that the next time we meet, we are going to work on pizza things.
Differentiation, Individualized Instruction, and Assessment:
For higher level students I would have them use a harder book than I Wanna Iguana. This book clearly identifies the
two positions and what their arguments would be to support their position. I would choose a book that is not as
obvious. I would also have them do a full debate on their positions use details from the text to support their
argument. I would also have them do outside research to gather more supporting details for their debates. For the
guided practice, I would use a book and not a short reading passage to challenge them more and give them more
practice with using a book. For the summative assessment, I would also have them find more supporting details than
five if applicable.
For lower level students, I would give more small practice on defending a position and the sub elements needed to
do this. I would also provide a graphic organizer for the independent practice to help them organize their thoughts
and the text. If needed I could also provide sentence starters to help them start writing and figuring out the
supporting details would be. This could also be done to help form their defense for the debate. This lesson is already
tailored towards lower level students, but these are additional acts that I could do to help the students even more if
needed.
Instructional Materials and Support:
The Stolen Bike Reading Passage
http://files.havefunteaching.com/fre
e-worksheets/readingcomprehension/the-stolen-bicyclethird-grade-readingcomprehension-worksheet.pdf
White Board

Dry Erase Markers

Pencils
Paper
Would You Rather Questions (See
Below)
I Wanna Iguana by Karen Kaufman
Orloff
Doctor DeSoto by William Steig

Revised 11/2015