UNIT PLAN: YVONNE BOESKOOL

Lesson 2

Teacher: Yvonne Boeskool

Date: October 23, 2017 Subject/ Topic/ Theme: Finding the main idea in informational text Grade: 3

I. Objectives
How does this lesson connect to the unit plan?
This is the second lesson in the unit entitled Features of Informational Text.
cognitive- physical socio-
Learners will be able to: R U Ap An E C* development emotional
Use keywords to identify the topic of a body of text R, An
Summarize an article paragraph by paragraph R, U, An, E
Construct a sentence that states the main idea of the article R, U, Ap, X
Understand the importance of this strategy for future testing (M-STEP) and careers An, E, C
U, Ap X
Common Core standards (or GLCEs if not available in Common Core) addressed:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.2
Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
(Note: Write as many as needed. Indicate taxonomy levels and connections to applicable national or state standards. If an
objective applies to particular learners write the name(s) of the learner(s) to whom it applies.)
*remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create

II. Before you start

Students have lots of experience with reading and have been introduced to larger bodies of text. They
Identify prerequisite
know the difference between fiction/literature and nonfiction/information writing. They have the
knowledge and skills.
skills and strategies to break down any vocabulary words they may not be familiar with.

Pre-assessment (for learning): Pretest included at the beginning of the unit.

Outline assessment
activities
(applicable to this lesson)
Formative (for learning): Students will be provided activities in which they together answer the
teachers questions and work through finding the topic and main idea of an article as a class. There
answers will give the teacher feedback of assessment.
Formative (as learning): Students work through sample test questions about main idea with a partner
and build on the knowledge that was just presented by the teacher. They then participate in class votes
on additional questions. This allows students to self-evaluate their learning.

Summative (of learning): Students read, examine, and answer questions independently with partners
and hand in their work to the teacher to evaluate for understanding.

Provide Multiple Means of Provide Multiple Means of Provide Multiple Means of

What barriers might this
lesson present?
What will it take
neurodevelopmentally,
experientially,
emotionally, etc., for your
students to do this lesson?
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Representation
Provide options for perception-
making information perceptible
. interaction
Provide options for language,
mathematical expressions, and
symbols- clarify & connect
language
Students will be provided
Action and Expression
Provide options for physical
action- increase options for
Students will work with
partners collaboratively to
complete a task.
Provide options for expression
and communication- increase
medium of expression
Students will have to
collaborate with their partner
Engagement
Provide options for recruiting
interest- choice, relevance,
value, authenticity, minimize
threats
Provide options for sustaining
effort and persistence- optimize
challenge, collaboration,
mastery-oriented feedback
 UNIT PLAN: YVONNE BOESKOOL
options in which they express fairly as to not give away the
what theyve learned by answer or let the partner to the
constructing and work.
communicating ideas.
Provide options for Provide options for executive Provide options for self-
comprehension- activate, apply functions- coordinate short & regulation- expectations,
& highlight long term goals, monitor personal skills and strategies,
progress, and modify strategies self-assessment & reflection
The teacher will encourage
motivation in the students by
clearly stating the expectation
of each task, but allowing them
to be responsible for their own
learning and work toward the
goal of independence in this
subject.
Computer and projector set up with pre-chosen article from Newsela
Materials-what materials
https://newsela.com/read/elem-sci-landforms-mountains/id/35337/
(books, handouts, etc) do
Print copies of Newsela article for students
you need for this lesson
Worksheets for partner work - These questions are taken from M-STEP Sample Test: English
and are they ready to
Language Arts 2015.
use?
Name sticks

In table groups providing many spots for partner work. A large area at the front of the room where
How will your classroom students can gather and listen to the teacher while following along with whats being projected on the
be set up for this lesson? screen.

III. The Plan

Describe teacher activities AND student activities
Time Components for each component of the lesson. Include important higher order thinking questions and/or
prompts.
5 Teacher gathers students to front carpet. Have Come to front carpet.
min. students discuss questions with partners when they
no one gives an answer right away. 1. Informational/nonfiction
2. Title, author name, headings, pictures,
1. What kind of text did we talk about bold words, captions, charts, maps,
yesterday? sidebars, etc.
2. What are some of the elements of an 3. The meat of the article. In sections
informational article that we talked called paragraphs. There are sometimes
about? headings.
Motivation
3. How about the body of the text? What is 4. What the article is about
(opening/
that? How is it set up? 5. The title
introduction/
Today we will be focusing on the body of the text. 6. Look for keywords?
engagement)
In order to understand what were reading, we
have to be able to identify the theme of the text as
well as the main idea being talked about.
4. What is the theme?
5. Lets look at a news article. What is one
text feature that we talked about yesterday
that might tell us the theme?
6. What if we didnt have the title? How
might we know the theme? How would we
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 UNIT PLAN: YVONNE BOESKOOL
know what the article is about?
12 Open article: Landforms: Mountains and hide the
min. title.

1. Lets pretend we cant see the title of this 1. Skim the article for words used often.
article. How would we know what its 2. Mountains, landforms, volcanoes, earth,
about? Lets take a moment to look for etc.
keywords in the text. 3. Mountains
2. What words do you see appearing over 4. What the text is trying to tell you
and over again? 5. Read in unison.
3. So looking at this article and skimming
over the paragraphs and pictures, what
does it look like this article is about?
4. Now, lets talk about the main idea. What
do you think that means? What do you
think the main idea of a paragraph is?
5. The main idea is something that the author
is trying to tell you about the topic. Lets
look at the first section. Read it with me.

Read slowly so students can follow along and make

sure every student is reading aloud. Mountains are tall landforms. What are
After reading that, what do you think the author is mountains?
trying to tell you about the topic? What question
Development does this section answer?
(the largest Some mountains were formed from volcanoes and
component or Read next section: How Mountains Were Formed some were formed from tectonic plates moving.
main body of What is the section MAINLY about?
the lesson) Mountains are cloudy and rainy on one side and
Read next section: "Mountain Climate" dry and sunny on the other.
What is the section MAINLY about?
It is hard to live in the mountains but people like to
Read next section: Living In Mountain Lands visit.
What is the section MAINLY about?
So putting all of these main ideas together, what is Mountains are interesting landforms?
the whole article MAINLY about? What is it trying
to tell us?

12 Pass out worksheet and allow students to choose a Complete 1 and 2 on worksheet.
min. partner. Instruct students to split the reading work
and answer the questions first in their head and then
compare answers and discuss. HAVE THEM
ONLY COMPLETE THE FIRST PAGE (1 and 2) Get help when needed.
IN PARTNERS. If a pair finishes way before the
others, allow them to start on the second page.

Circulate through partner groups and aid anyone

who needs it.
Follow along and vote on the answers.
8 Gather students back to the front of the classroom.
min. Go through the first page together as a class, calling
on students by picking sticks. Work through the
second page of the worksheet together as a class.

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 UNIT PLAN: YVONNE BOESKOOL
Have students raise their hands to vote on the Hand in first page.
answers.

Collect the first page as an assessment for teacher

reference.
4 Ask students:
min.
1. What kind of text did we study today? 1. Informational/nonfiction article
Closure 2. What is the theme of an article? 2. What the article is about
(conclusion, 3. What if we didnt have the title? How 3. Keywords
culmination, might we know the theme? What do we 4. What the article is trying to tell you
wrap-up) look for? 5. Read the article and summarize
4. What is the main idea of a paragraph? Of 6. It helps us understand the text
a whole article? 7. (Answers vary)
5. How do we find it?
6. Why do you think this might help us read?
7. Why might we need to read informational
texts like this?

Your reflection about the lesson, including evidence(s) of student learning and engagement, as well as ideas for improvement
for next time. (Write this after teaching the lesson, if you had a chance to teach it. If you did not teach this lesson, focus on the
process of preparing the lesson.)
PEER TEACHING REFLECTION (10/30/17) (This lesson has been revised since this reflection.):
Im proud of how this lesson turned out and proud of the work I put into it. The act of peer teaching went very smoothly. My
peer editors seemed to be impressed by the amount of thought I put into it by listing so many specific questions to ask students and
how well I organized the lesson. They were also impressed that I covered all of the UDL boxes, but that was mostly because I didnt
know we could pick and choose!
The Common Core State Standard I was aiming for was CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.2. This is one of two standards
addressed in my unit requested by my mentor teacher. Since I was planning on using this as one of my introductory lessons, I chose
to address the less specific standard of the two. The other one will focus on text features and will be addressed by the next few
lessons in the unit. Although this was meant to be the first lesson of the unit, Im now considering making it the second. My editors
seemed to think that was a good idea since my motivation and development portions of the lesson sort of jumped right into things.
They seemed to think that I should start with a more general and fun introductory lesson. This sounds like a very good idea to me
since this lesson is a little bit nitty-gritty! This one is very straightforward and demands a lot of focus from the students. Having a
lesson before this would give me a chance to engage students with a more interactive and creative activity while guiding them to
review what they already know that would serve as helpful background/prior knowledge. But before I make this decision final, I
need to talk to my teacher to get her opinion on how to divide the unit into 5(+) lessons since it is her class.
Time is a big concern for this lesson. Before peer teaching, I forgot to fill out the time slots. And to be frank, Im not sure my
time allotments are going to work. This lesson is going to take a lot of time. Like my peer editors pointed out, I might be asking
students too many questions. If I shorten this discourse time, it may help cut to the actual content of the lesson. The issue I have
with this is that I think my students will need this thorough discussion. They generally take a lot of prompting to grasp a concept, so
I think all the questions are necessary. I could, however, move some of this lesson to a different lesson. I think that while writing it,
I was so focused on introducing the concept, then giving guided class practice, partner work, and individual work respectively that I
lost the concept of time. Therefore, Im now planning to shift some things around to other lessons to cut this one down on time.
This will be easier on students ability to focus as well. This unit will be a lot of reading for them!
Lastly, I am struggling with the assessment portion of the lesson. I dont have any form of pre-assessment for my unit yet, so
that is holding be back. Im also struggling a bit with the formative and summative assessments for this lesson. My editors both
commented that my assessments should be more engaging. In our discussion after my lesson, they said that the partner worksheet is
a bit boring. I definitely see this as being true, but Im not sure how to make it more engaging. Those questions come directly from
a sample M-STEP test. I know that my teacher is entirely focused on that test for this unit and also frequently uses actual test
material in the classroom for practice. I think this is necessary for that purpose, but I am working on making it more creative and
interactive rather than just a boring quiz on paper.

11/25/17
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 UNIT PLAN: YVONNE BOESKOOL

Im overall pretty happy with how I revised this lesson. I drew upon what what said by my peers to make it stronger. I will not be
teaching this lesson, but I think it will be a good one to have on hand as a teacher. I actually got to teach/lead a lesson very similar to
this a few weeks ago, though. Something that I noticed worked really well for students was to use highlighters. It is also important
with my particular class that the teacher is very intentional about inclusion. Picking sticks is important for students to pay attention.
Reading together is also important. As tedious as it can get to read slow with a whole chorus of voices, it is so beneficial for
attention and reading fluency. It also helps many students to comprehend what theyre reading.

I addressed earlier the issue of the amount of questions I wrote out for this lesson. Im glad I didnt take any away because I think it
sets the standard for how discussions in the following lessons should proceed. Not all of these questions will get asked, but they are
important to consider. This is not meant to be a script for the teacher to latch onto and lecture from, but a guide of information to try
and get students to think about however the conversation may flow.

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