CBUP Lesson Plan Template: EDIS 5401

Unit Working Title: “The Danger of a Single Story”: Confronting Stereotypes Through
Reading and Writing Personal Narratives

Unit “Big Idea” (Concept/Theme): Confronting stereotypes

Unit Primary Skill focus: Personal narrative and reflection

Week _3_ of 4; Plan #_7_ of 12; [90 mins.]

Plan type: ____Full-Detail __x__Summary

Content Requirement Satisfied: instruction that uses text as a mentor text

Unit Learning Objectives (numbered) [from my Backwards Design Unit Document],

followed by Specific lesson objectives (lettered) being taught in this lesson:

Cognitive (know/understand):
1.Students will understand that they have a unique story to tell.
b. Students will reflect on what stereotypes get imposed on them.

3.Students will know how to show respect in a community and to their peers.
b. Students will know how to listen actively to show respect

Performance (do):
4. Students will be able to tell a personal story that shows how multifaceted they are.
d. Students will be able see how specific diction helps craft unique voice in writing

SOL’s: [List with numbers portrayed in the SOL document]

10.4 The student will read, comprehend, and analyze literary texts of different cultures and eras.
m) Use reading strategies to monitor comprehension throughout the reading process.

CCS’s: [List with numbers portrayed in the CCS document]

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.6
Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from
outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature.

Methods of Assessment:
[How will you know if the intended learning occurred?] List all methods of assessment used in
this lesson or which are related to this lesson and come in a future lesson. After each assessment,
indicate in brackets the number(s) and letter(s) of the unit objective and the related lesson
objectives that the assessment is evaluating.

Formative

Title of assessment tool: Literature Circles

Students will show their progress towards being able see how specific diction helps craft
unique voice in writing by participating in small group literature circles (objective 4d)
 Criteria: Clear identification of specific diction from the text that helps craft unique
voice

How data will be used: To see how students are progressing towards the learning target.
During base group debriefs if I notice many students are missing the mark, I will provide
additional opportunities to focus in on diction/voice circles during the next class period.

How students will receive feedback: Verbal feedback during literature circles and during
whole class debrief.

Title of assessment tool: Literature Circles

Students will show their progress towards knowing how to listen actively to show respect
by participating in small group literature circles (objective 3b)

Criteria: the tenets of good active listening, including pay attention, eye contact, head
nodding, quiet/not interrupting, have an open mind. After listening, can ask the previous
speaker questions, reflect on what they said or add to it, provide a different reading or
rebuttal, or bring up a new point.

How data will be used: To see if more modeling and practice is needed before the next
small group discussion.

How students will receive feedback: I will write down feedback on the group observation
form to share during whole class debrief.

Differentiated Instruction to accommodate one or more of my profiled students:

(This is where you identify specific aspects of this lesson which have been differentiated in order
to address the needs of one or more of your profiled students—identify them by name)

What have you done (visible in the lesson plan procedures) that differentiates for the a)
readiness, b) interests, and/or c) learning environment for your profile students.

Student Name Readiness Interest Learning

Environment
Tyler Tyler loves group
work so the literature
circles will be a place
for him to shine.
Jessica Jessica reads and writes
below grade level. The
guiding question will
help scaffold her reading
and I will individually
conference with her as
well.
Jose I included texts about
language and accent
stereotypes to increase
 relevance of lesson for
Jose.
Sarah The literature circle
format provides
differentiation for Sarah
to maximize her
autonomy and learning.

Procedures/Instructional Strategies

Beginning Room Arrangement:

Students will be seated in their lit circle groups (directions to do so on the slides and name tents
on the tables). The slides for the day are projected up on the board.

1. [4 mins.] Welcome, essential question and agenda

As students enter the room, I greet them by name and exchange a few pleasantries. I will ask
them to find their lit circle groups (versus sitting with their base groups today).

I will read off and remind students of our essential questions that we are working towards: How
do we confront and overcome stereotypes? How do I express my unique story?

Agenda:
- Mini lesson on craft – diction and strong voice
- Literature circles
- Written reflection/brainstorm

2. [4 mins.] Review what we have learned so far about personal narrative genre

To review what we learned so far about the personal narrative genre, I will ask a student to read
off the running list we created the class before (on the board):

Components of the personal narrative genre (what good writers should do when writing personal
narrative):
1. Write in the first person. Since it is YOUR story, use “I”
2. Reflect on a significant event, moment, or experiences in your life.
3. Develop a powerful so what or theme
4. Use diction—specific word and vocabulary choice—to show your unique voice and
create an emotional impact on the reader
5. Use a mixture of summary (events related quickly) and scene (where the writer slows
things down, with description or dialogue) to engage the reader

I will also remind students of the trajectory of the week: today we will have a mini-lesson and
then students will read/watch a personal narrative and have a lit circle discussion, and Friday will
be majority writing workshop time to draft their own personal narrative based on the summative
assessment task and rubric I outlined last Thursday. So by Friday, they need to have chosen their
topics. And next Tuesday is when the first draft is due for teacher feedback.
 3. [18 mins.] Mini-lesson on voice and diction

I will start this mini-lesson on voice and diction by asking students to look back at the personal
narrative “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan which we read on Monday and ask them to try to define
her “voice.” Students will think, pair, share and I will walk around. I will ask students to share
with the whole class and ask them why they think certain adjectives describe her voice, what
lines point to their assessment?

I will then ask students to pull out their writer’s notebook and turn to the next clean page of their
craft section. And I talk about voice and diction and give them key definitions and important
information, modeling my own notetaking using the Elmo document camera.

Voice and diction

- Good writing has voice—the unique, individual writing style of the author.
- A writing voice starts with diction
- Diction is the specific word and vocabulary choices a writer makes. Writers strive to find
the best words for their writing, including tangible nouns, sensory verbs, evocative
adjectives, which bring the writing to life for the reader and can create an emotional
impact on the reader

Although voice can seem illusive to students and is hard to define and show definitive examples
of, I will tell students that I should be able almost hear their voice—their distinct personality,
style, point of view—when I read their writing. I will show students two drafts of a poem
created by a former student—one is her first draft without clear diction and a distinct voice and
the other a revised version with much more developed of both.

4. [4 mins.] Explain lit circles and pass out materials

I will explain that today students will be independently reading a personal narrative of their
choice (they selected it yesterday). For the first 20ish minutes, students will read/watch with the
purpose of looking for the so what and getting an overall impression of the author’s voice. They
should also feel free to annotate as much as they want and make notes of what the author does
that they may want to mimic in their own personal narratives. Then, they will have 20 minutes
to have a lit circle with their group (ranges from 3-5 students in each). I will have guiding
questions to help guide their discussions.

I will then pass out the materials or direct them to the link via Google Classrooms:
- language stereotype – Obituary by Lois Ann Yamanaka
- language stereotype – Mother Tongue by Amy Tan
- gender and sexual orientation stereotype – Excerpt from Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in
Transition
- gender stereotype – Excerpt from Tomboy: A Graphic Memoir by Liz Prince
- disability stereotype – Excerpt from Riding the Bus with my Sister by Rachel Simon

5. [20 mins.] Independent reading

I will ask students to read their text independently for the next 20 minutes. I will project the
reading purpose up on the board:

Reading purposes
 - What is the so what of the piece?
- What is your overall impression of the author’s voice? How do you know?
- Please annotate!

I will walk around to help and provide additional scaffolding to students.

6. [ 3 mins.] Three-minute break

Students have 3-minute break to stretch legs, use restroom, get water, chit-chat. Play a student’s
favorite song.

7. [ 5 mins.] How to show respect during collaboration/discussion: active listening

Although students have had discussions in their base groups, I want to build on our classroom
norms and respecting everyone’s voices in the classroom by modeling how to invite voices into
discussions. I will ask a student to help me model. They will talk and I will model “bad”
listening then good active listening. I will then ask students to brainstorm the tenets of good
active listening, including pay attention, eye contact, head nodding, quiet/not interrupting, have
an open mind. After listening, you can then ask the previous speaker questions, reflect on what
they said or add to it, provide a different reading or rebuttal, or bring up a new point. Just
remember to follow our classroom norms during this discussion.

8. [ 15 mins.] Lit circle discussions

I will give each group a set of general guiding questions to kick off their lit circle discussions.
Before they begin, I will also ask them to formulate and write down their own discussion
question for the group. I will join 3-4 groups during this time to mostly observe the discussions
but also to help facilitate thoughtful discussions if necessary (use group observation form to
drive whole class debrief).

Guiding questions:
- Why do you think the author chose to write this piece?
- When do you see personal reflection in the writing?
- What is the so what or theme?
- What is your overall impression of the author’s voice? How do you know?
- How do you feel after reading? What specific diction (word choices or vocabulary) made
you feel this way?
- Did the writer create a movie in your mind at any point?

9. [5 mins.] Whole class debriefs

I will debrief on insightful discussion points and positive adherence to the classroom
norms/active listening. I will also comment on areas for improvement for next time. I will ask
students if they had any key insights or takeaways they wanted to share with the whole class.

10. [10 mins.] Quickwrite brainstorm

Now that they have had a chance to read a few personal narratives based on common
stereotypes, I want them to do a quickwrite reflection on what they are thinking about writing
about for their own personal narratives. They need to make a final decision about their topic by
next class (Friday) because the majority of the class with be writing workshop time. This is their
opportunity to start brainstorming ideas and narrowing down their focus. I will guide them to
write down as much as they can to help them work through the writing process. I will also
conference with individual students who need help narrowing down their focus or have
questions.

11. [2 mins] Closure and homework

For homework instead of reading their choice book for 30 minutes, they are assigned to choose
another personal narrative from the lit circle list to read. They don’t have to annotate it or
answer any guiding questions, but they should be prepared to respond to a response prompt on
Friday at the beginning of class. The list and corresponding links to read are on Google
Classrooms. I will also give students a final reminder that they need to choose their topic by
next class so they can participate in writing workshop time.

Materials Needed (list):

Slides
Lit circle texts
Lit circle guiding questions
Group observation form