Lesson Plan Template

Subject: ______________________Social Studies________________________ Grade: ______9________

Teacher: ________________Tiffany Izzo______________________

Thinking About Planning:

1. Pre Planning Information: The student has already spent some time practicing close reading in order to find meaning. The student should also be able to determine central ideas and information from a text. This was the objective of the previous lesson. This will be beneficial in this lesson has two different viewpoints will be analyzed in the reading. The text addresses two views on the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan in 1945. For the purposes of this lesson, the student will need to be provided with some background knowledge. There is information provided in the text, but some will be provided before the lesson begins.

2. Common Core Learning Standard(s) Addressed: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.5 Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.8 Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claims. (And to some degree) CCSS.ELA-Literacy.WHST.9-10.1 Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.

3. Learning Target(s): Objective: Identify the key points made in each argument and assess each author’s reasoning. Reflect on each viewpoint. Goal: Use a Notes/Thinking T-chart to analyze two points of view about the decision to drop the atomic bomb. Afterwards, express a personal opinion on the issue by using sentence frames and referencing the notes made.

4. Content Information: This lesson will help the student to compare and contrast two points of view. The use of the t-chart will encourage the student to formulate his own ideas about the text. The prior lesson asked the student to identify key points and synthesize them to figure out the author’s meaning. This lesson help the student deepen his understanding by expressing his own opinion on the text. While reflecting on the last lesson, the student expressed that he would like help with his writing. This lesson is designed to help him organize his thinking and express it in writing.

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RH/9-10/5/http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RH/9-10/8/http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/WHST/9-10/1/

5. Language Information:

This text is taken from a publication called the New York Times Upfront geared for adolescent students and intended for classroom use. The language is not as difficult as the primary texts used in the prior lesson. However, there is some content-area specific language such as “conflict”, “invasion”, and “diplomatic risks” that the student may have difficulty with.

The student will be asked to identify key points and analyze an argument. He will also be asked to form an opinion and support it from the evidence

found in the text. This will be explained at the beginning of the lesson.

An article from New York Times Upfront that presents two viewpoints about the dropping of the atomic bomb and a notes/thinking t-chart will be

provided to the student. Also, a sheet will be provided containing some sentence frames for the student to use in filling out the chart as well as to aid

in his writing afterwards.

Thinking About Instruction

6. Engagement/Motivation The student has spent time performing a close reading in the prior lesson and this will provide an opportunity to apply that further. He also expressed that he would like help with writing. This lesson will connect the strategy that he learned through close reading and organizing his writing. He has been able to display appropriate levels of comprehension and expressed his thinking verbally. This lesson is designed to encourage the student to apply this to his writing. The topic of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was chosen both for the fact that it is widely known as a historical event and the topic is also something that the student may be able to form a personal opinion on despite a lack of background knowledge.

7. Explicit Instruction Direct Instruction:

I will start the lesson by setting the purpose through saying, “Last week we learned a strategy that helped us annotate a primary source to find meaning. In this lesson, we will take that strategy a step further by using sentence frames to help us express our thinking in writing. We will also be using a t-chart to help us analyze the text”

I will present the t-chart to the student and explain, “Last time we used the left margin for notes on the text and the right margin for our thinking. We can use the t-chart in the same way. On the left side we will write a quote or an idea from the article and then on the right side we will write a sentence expressing our thought on this quote or idea. This will be helpful for texts that you might not be able to write on. It will also give us much more space to write as we will be focusing on our writing in this lesson.”

Next, I will explain what sentence frames are and show the student the examples I put together for this lesson. I will say, “Sometimes it may be helpful to work with sentence frames in order to help us write out our thinking. I have brought a list for us to work with today. We will use these when we are filling out the “My Thinking” column. It will take some practice, but the goal is that these can become part of your writing.”

Before we begin reading, we can go through the sentence frames and I will say, “The first list of sentence frames under ‘As We Read’ will help us point out information we found in the text. The second list under ‘Evaluating’ will help us express our thinking on that information. There are also some words under ‘Starters’ we can use at the beginning of our sentences. This will be helpful when we write paragraphs”

Next, we will read through the sentence frames together. I will confirm understanding from the student before moving to the article.

I will introduce the article, “During World War II, we were fighting against Japan. In 1945, President Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan in order to bring the war to an end. There has been a lot of debate over this decision and this article shows two different answers to the question, ‘Was it necessary to drop the atom bomb on Japan?’ We will read each opinion and evaluate the each author’s argument. Afterwards, we will write a 3 sentence paragraph expressing our opinion.”

I will read the title out loud and read the first paragraph. I will think aloud as I write, “Japanese leaders knew they could not win,” on the left side of the t-chart and write, “This phrase stands out to me because it means that Japan was losing the war.” I will think aloud as I pick “This phrase stands out to me because…” from the sentence frame list.

I will read the next paragraph and write on the left side, “President Truman wanted to convince Japan to quit the war” and “What this means to me is Truman wanted to end the war” on the right side.

I will read the third paragraph and make note “More than 55,000 Americans had already died” and “An invasion was certain to very costly in American lives.” Under thinking, I will write “The evidence shows that many more people could die if the war continued.”

I will confirm understanding by asking, “Do you understand how we are using the t-chart in this example so far?” Guided Practice-

I will say to the student, “Let’s try the next paragraph together” and ask him to read it out loud.

I will ask the student, “What is the main idea in this paragraph?” This paragraph is short and the main point is that the bomb would end the war as soon as possible. If he picks up on this, we will write it on the right side. If he does not get it yet, I will ask him probing questions to help him understand what the author might be saying.

Next, I will say, “So what is your thinking on this?” and I will confirm that I understand is response.

I will ask, “Do you see a sentence frame that might help you write that thinking out?” If he cannot pick out one yet, I will help him find one. We will use this to write our thinking in the right column.

We will continue through the rest of this opinion. There are two paragraphs left and the main ideas to note would be, “Emperor Hirohito was persuaded to surrender” and “The bomb was necessary to save American lives.”

I will say, “So in using the t-chart, I think we were able to analyze this author’s opinion. Now, let’s try to look at the other opinion. We will use a new t-chart for this.”

I will hand the student a blank t-chart and ask him to read the first paragraph out loud. I will instruct him in filling out the columns. From this point, he will be doing the writing. If needed, I will do the second paragraph with him as well in order to make sure he is comfortable using the t-chart and sentence frames on his own.

Independent practice

I will ask the student to read the last two paragraphs to himself and fill out the chart as we had been doing. I will ask him to try to find at least 3 more quotes or ideas that he found interesting. I will also remind him to use the sentence frames and point out that it is okay to use ones that we already used.

Afterwards, I will ask the student to read his notes back to me and explain his thinking using the sentence frames.

This will allow the student to demonstrate his understanding of this strategy.

To further confirm his understanding, I will ask him questions such as “Why did you think that was important to note?” and “How did you choose that sentence frame?”

Secondary Instruction (Time allowing) (If there is not time, I may expand on this for next week’s lesson.)

We will use the writings in the thinking column two write a 3 sentence paragraph. As this is new to the student, I will return to direct instruction.

I will say, “Now let’s try to put together our thinking in order to write a few sentences expressing our thoughts. We will use the sentence frames as we did before and use the ‘starters’ to connect the thoughts.

I will demonstrate this by writing and thinking aloud from our first t-chart. I will pull the first two sentences directly from the t-chart. I will explain that to be clear, we will use the author’s name found at bottom of the article. I will write, (parts in bold are from chart) “J Samuel Walker said, ‘more than 55,000 Americans had already died’ and the evidence shows that many more people could die if the war continued. Walker is trying to make me see that using the bombs would save lives.” I will explain to the student that I will use an evaluating sentence frame as well as a ‘starter word’ to express my opinion and write, “However, I disagree with the author’s point that the bomb was the best way to end the war because Japan was already losing the war.”

I will confirm that the student understood by asking, “Do you see how I was able to put the information together in order to express my opinion?”

Next, I will ask him to do this with his t-chart and the second author’s opinion. Depending on his understand, he may or may not be able to do this independently. If necessary, I will guide him through it.

Closure:

I will review the strategy with the student and confirm his understanding. The final paragraph that he produces will provide a summary of what he learned as well as demonstrate his ability to apply the strategy.

I will ask the student, “Do you think you will be able to use this strategy to help improve your writing?”

Thinking About Assessment:

8. Type of assessment The assessment for this lesson will be a combination of formative and summative. The student’s understanding of the strategy will be evaluated throughout the lesson, but there will also be a final product (a paragraph) from which to evaluate his application of the strategy. If the student is successful in using the t-chart, it will be filled out with relevant notes and the sentence frames will be used appropriately in the right column. This will allow him to pull sentences from this right column to write his opinion paragraph. The format of the paragraph will require him to pull two sentences from the chart and create a third one that expresses his opinion. If done correctly, the evidence that he drew from the article will support his opinion.

4. Resources/Materials: (What texts, digital resources, & materials will be used in this lesson?)

“Was it necessary to drop the atom bomb on Japan?” in the New York Times Upfront (May 9, 2005) written by J Samuel Walker and Gar Alperovitz

Blank copies of a notes/ thinking T-chart

A “Sentence Frame” sheet

6. Reflection:

Though this lesson was designed for the student I had been working with, [Student A], he did not come to the program the day of the lesson. Instead, I worked with a new student, [Student B], for this lesson. At first, I had concerns about the lesson because it relied partially on the ability of the student to pull information from the text and I was not sure of the student’s abilities yet. Also, he seemed a little less inclined to cooperate at first. However, he had some experiences with t-charts before and eventually became engaged in the lesson.

At the start of the lesson, I questioned [Student B] about his knowledge of World War II and the dropping of the atomic bomb in an attempt to gain his interest. He did have some background knowledge and I was at least able to get him interested enough to explain the lesson. As I started to set out the pieces of the lesson, I was able to get him to sit down and look at the material. As I brought out the t-chart, he quickly recognized it and this seemed to at least reassure him that this might be relevant. Next, I began to show him the sheet of sentence frames so that he could see that we would be doing something further with the t-chart. I explained the purpose of the sentence frames and that we would be using them to fill out the thinking side of the t-chart. At this point, we relocated to the computer room as I had to record the lesson. This created a brief break in the lesson, but we recovered quickly and [Student B] seemed committed to at least seeing the lesson through. Unfortunately, I realized later in the lesson that we had not read through each of the sentence frames. This turned out to be okay, though, as I had at least explained the purpose of them and we read through them as I was choosing an appropriate frame in filling out the t-chart. His familiarity with the t-chart definitely helped as he contributed early in the lesson (during the planned direct instruction). This changed the lesson in a few ways. [Student B] quickly pulled notes and ideas from the article for the notes-side of the t-chart and only needed two examples of the sentence frames before choosing an appropriate one on his own. This meant that we moved into the guided practice sooner than expected. It also meant some technical changes to what was written on my instructional t-chart, but that ultimately had no effect on the overall lesson. He contributed much of the information that I wrote on the first t-chart. While finishing the first opinion in the article in the guided instruction, [Student B]’s mother, who is an aid at the school, provided another interruption. She scolded him a bit and told him to be home by a certain time. Then, she told him to make sure he paid attention, read the article and do the work. This took some time away from the lesson, but did not have a lasting effect. In fact, it possibly even motivated the student to pay attention. We were able to resume where we had left off and the incident almost contributed in a way later in the lesson. When [Student B] was reading the second opinion out loud, he stumbled on the word “bluntly” and asked me if he had said it correctly. I assured him that he had, but used the opportunity to ask him if he knew what the word meant. He gave an answer related to his prior knowledge that was not totally off-base, but would confuse the meaning of the sentence. The sentence was referring to how quote had been said by Eisenhower. [Student B] said he thought the word meant “not sharp” and referred to a blunt instrument. I explained that this was a meaning of “blunt,” but when it is being used in this sentence the author meant that Eisenhower was saying something succinctly. I explained that a person who speaks bluntly does not use flowery language to make his or her point. He made the connection and said, “Like my mom.” I laughed at this as it was unexpected, but the fact is that he was able to make a concrete connection. [Student B]’s comprehension and analysis of the article was successful. He was able to fill out the t-chart on the second opinion relatively independently. He would ask questions when he needed, but seemed to understand the strategy well. This ultimately helped when he wrote his paragraph at the end of the lesson. He was partial to the frame “The evidence shows,” which was also one of the shorter/easier frames to use. I believe this may have been indication of a lapse in his engagement. The t-chart section of the lesson could have been done with only one t-chart, but I think the two varying opinions were important to the lesson as well. The direct instruction for the writing of the paragraph went smoothly and [Student B] was quick to apply it using the t-chart he had developed. This really pulled the lesson together towards its eventual purpose. Time ended after he wrote the paragraph, but I am glad we were able to complete it. I briefly went over it with him. He did not use any of the starters to transition his thinking. Perhaps, this was something outside of his comfort zone. Also, in his last sentence, he did use some “table-talk” language and I explained why this should be avoided in writing and pointed out a sentence

frame he could have used. Also, he had some confusion about which author he was agreeing/disagreeing with. I think part of the difficulty in writing the paragraph may have been that he had loss some interest and was more focused on the social activities after with his friends that his mom had come to speak to him about. Overall, this lesson was successful in that it was completed smoothly with most expectations being met. Where [Student A] had needed more direct and guided instruction, [Student B] pushed the lesson to a faster pace. On the other hand, his engagement required some maintaining through the lesson and [Student A] was consistently focused. Having the students separately helped me see how differences between students can affect the lesson. It is something that can be kept in mind when I eventually have to plan lessons for a range of students. In retrospect, while I adjusted for the student’s ability by shortening the direct instruction, the lesson could have been successful based only on the first t-chart. Next lesson I will try to incorporate a way to shorten (or lengthen) parts of the lesson according to the student’s understanding. In the end, this lesson taught me to expect some uncontrollable factors and adjust. From a change in student, to an unexpected interruption, it always helps to have the lesson soundly prepared so that I can have that at least to fall back on.

Sentence Frames

As We Read

The author is arguing that…

The evidence shows that….

This fact is important to me because it shows…

I think this represents…

What this means to me is….

One question that this text addresses is….

Specifically, the author is making the point that…

The author is trying to make me see/feel/know that…

The main point here is…

This idea is different because it implies…

I am getting a different picture here because….

This does not make sense to me because….

One thing that is important to note is that….

Evaluating

I agree/disagree with the author’s point that…

At first, it seemed that______, but now the evidence

shows….

This argument is effective/ineffective because….

On big difference between _____ and _____ is…..

This argument is relevant to me because….

The author gave evidence to support….

This could be more effective if….

This author’s point is unclear in that it…

A conclusion that can be drawn is…

The most important message here is…

Something that I did not understand is…

Starters

(Confirm)

In addition,

Specifically,

Furthermore,

After all,

Similarly,

(Contradict)

However,

On the contrary,

Conversely,

Still,

On the other hand,

(Neutral)

Considering this,

As an example,

For instance,