KUTZTOWN

UNIVERSITY
ELEMENTARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
PROFESSIONAL SEMESTER PROGRAM
LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Teacher Candidate: Paige Halligan




Cooperating Teacher: Claire Kempes




Group Size: 21 Students

Allotted Time: 45 minutes
Subject or Topic: Social Studies Ruby Bridges

Date: 02/23/15
Coop. Initials: ________________
Grade Level: 1st Grade

Section: EEU 390-045

STANDARD: (PA Common Core):
5.1.1.C: Define equality and the need to treat everyone equally.
8.3.1.A: Identify Americans who played a significant role in American history.

I. Performance Objectives (Learning Outcomes)

The students will identify character traits of Ruby Bridges by engaging in a class discussion of the
actions and feelings Ruby displayed in The Story of Ruby Bridges and fill out the character traits on a
class web chart.



II. Instructional Materials
Digital projector
MacBook Pro
Speakers
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles and illustrated by George Ford Picture Book on DVD
Character Traits web on chart paper
Package of color marker
Character Trait Card deck

III. Subject Matter/ Content (prerequisite skills, key vocabulary, big idea)

Prerequisite skills
o Listening to a read-aloud
o Class discussion skills
o Identifying feelings and actions of a character in a story


Key Vocabulary
o Prejudice - Judging someone or having an idea about them before actually knowing them
o Segregation - The enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or
establishment.
o Mob - A large crowd of people


Big Idea
o Ruby Bridges was the first African American student to go to an all-white public school and
had many honorable character traits.

IV. Implementation


A. Introduction
1. The teacher will begin the lesson by explaining to students that the first individual that they
will be learning about in the Black History Month Unit will be Ruby Bridges.
2. The teacher will explain that Ruby Bridges was a 1st grade student, just like the students
being taught in this lesson, and did something that changed history.
3. The teacher will explain to students that they will be listening to The Story of Ruby Bridges by
Robert Coles in a different way then the teacher reading the book. The students will be
viewing and listening to the picture book digitally through a projection of the book via DVD
on the screen.
4. Prior to playing the book, the teacher will remind students to keep in mind what Ruby did
that was so different than most students her age and how she might feel in her situation.

B. Development
1. The teacher will monitor students as the students watch and listen the picture book. The
picture book will take 12 minutes to play completely.
2. Upon completion of the picture book, the teacher will guide students to the back of the room
where students will sit to face the white board. On the white board, a Character Traits web
on chart paper will be hung up.
3. The teacher will ask what happened in the beginning, middle, and end of the story while
asking for students responses.
4. After the saying the events that happened in the book, the teacher will explain some of the
vocabulary that was in the story.
5. The teacher will explain that in New Orleans, where Ruby went to school, there was
prejudice against African Americans during the 1960s. Having prejudice is judging someone
or having an idea about him or her before actually knowing them. Prejudice existed because
of segregation at the time. This meant that there was separation of different racial groups in
the United States. Because of all the disagreements of separating people because of their
race, sometimes mobs (large crowds of people) would stand with signs and shout because
they didnt think African Americans should be allowed to go into places that were only for
white people. The teacher will explain that not all white people were for segregation. Other
white people were kind and wanted equal chances for everyone.
6. After the discussion on vocabulary in the book, the teacher will guide the students focus up
on the Character Traits chart.
7. The teacher will ask a few students to ask how they would feel if they were in Ruby Bridges
position. The teacher will instruct students to Turn-&-Talk about how they would feel being
her.
8. The teacher will ask a few students to share their thoughts and feelings.
9. After a few student responses, the teacher will ask students to remember what happened in
the book and tell how Ruby felt in the book.


Now that we know how you might feel, what can we remember (from the story) how


Ruby felt? What did she do and how did she act that told us she felt this way?
10. The teacher will call on students to give a trait and explain their evidence or reason behind
why they said Ruby displays that trait. The teacher will repeat this process three more times
and write students thoughts on the chart for all the students to see.
C. Closure
1. The teacher will begin to end the lesson by challenging the students knowledge of Ruby and
her traits.
2. The teacher will take out Character Trait Cards and ask each student to say whether or not
Ruby displayed this character trait.
3. After each student has the chance to say if Ruby had a trait or not, the teacher will explain
that now that they know a lot about Ruby, the class will be writing a friendly letter to her.

* Students will be introduced to Friendly Letter writing earlier in Writers Workshop
D. Accommodations / Differentiation -
v For students with visual impairments, an enlarged copy of the Character Traits web chart
will be provided for the student to see and the teacher will have it previously filled out with
intended traits and evidence prior to teaching the lesson. Also, preferential seating close to
the white board and screen during the projection of the picture book will ensure optimal
visual ability for the student throughout the lesson.
v For students that have difficulty focusing during lessons, a guided sticky note with questions
on it will be provided to ensure focus of an end result after watching and listening to the
story.

E. Assessment/Evaluation plan


1. Formative
Character Trait Cards To see if students understood Rubys character
traits from the story, the character trait card activity will serve as a basis if
students understood what qualities Ruby had based of their answer of the
card they draw. A check-list will serve as a guide for the teacher to see if
students are understand the kind of person Ruby is based of the evidence in
the story and after the review on the Character Traits web.

2. Authentic Assessment
Letter to Ruby Students will be completing a letter to Ruby Bridge during
the period of Writers Workshop. After learning about Ruby, what
character traits she possessed, and the actions she performed, students will
write a rough draft and then a final draft of a friendly letter to her. This
friendly letter will further teacher the principles and components that are
needed within writing a friendly letter and will be able to demonstration
students knowledge of the actions and traits Ruby Bridges possessed.
More on this assessment, rubric, and more information will be in the lesson
plan Writers Workshop Letters to Ruby Bridges located in the Authentic
Assessment section of the Weebly.

V. Reflective Response

A. Report of Students Performance in Terms of States Objectives
This was the first lesson in my unit of Black History focusing on Ruby Bridges and her experience entering an all
white school during the time of segregation. Because my formative assessment was one that was observed and
noted later, it was clear that all the students, after learning about Ruby and her character traits, understood how
to accurately identify which traits suited her and which didnt. Only one student seemed to have difficulty
identifying correct character traits with Ruby because of the nature of his reading and vocabulary abilities. He
was shown the word optimistic and said that Ruby was not optimistic. When the term was defined for him, he
accurately was able to realize that Ruby was optimistic because she still had hope that the crowd outside her
school would one day stop yelling at her.

B. Personal Reflection

Did I pace myself well during instruction? Yes. During my lesson, I allow students enough

time to process questions posed to them after the reading of the book, time to read the

character trait cards, and end reflection of the unit. I made sure to keep a close watch of my

timing between parts of my lesson and didnt end early or run over late on time.


Were students comprehending the concept of segregation? Since my cooperating teacher

taught a lesson on Dr. Martin Luther King, students were already familiar with the basic

idea of what segregation was. It was further explained that in many cases, like Ruby Bridges,

even though laws were starting to change, people still treated Black Americans unfairly at

times. I emphasized the feeling of empathy throughout this lesson and told students to take

the perspective of Ruby. How did she feel? What do you think it would be like to be disliked

before someone knew you? Student understood and could recognize segregation.


Reflection:

I began my unit starting off by teaching the students about Ruby Bridges and her

experiences she faced at school during a time of segregation. I chose to allow students to

watch the book (DVD version of a Read-Aloud) rather than myself reading it because

everyday during this weeks unit, I read a story focusing on Black Americans during the

Read-Aloud period earlier in the day. Also, I wanted to find a way to grab their attention

using technology and hearing the story with sound effects (crowd yelling, smooth music in

the background, etc.) to have students to experience the book by feeling and seeing and

hearing more of the story. After the story, I had students identify character charts and give

me evidence on that trait on the overhead. The students responded well to this task. Then, I

led students to the back of the room of the character trait cards portion of the lesson.

Students were excited that each of them had a chance to respond to a trait and give evidence

from the story. This end portion of the lesson was a great lead into my authentic assessment.

I brought up that earlier, during Language Arts, we learned how to write a Friendly Letter

and that we would be writing them to Ruby Bridges. The students became very excited and

motivated to complete this task the next following days during Writers Workshop period of

Language Arts.

VI. Resources
Coles, R., & Ford, G. (1995). The story of Ruby Bridges. New York: Scholastic.

Plous, S. (2010). UnderstandingPrejudice.org: Tips for Elementary School Teachers. Retrieved from
http://www.understandingprejudice.org/teach/elemtips.htm