Concept Unit Day One

Writing Lesson, Text as Model

Context:
English 9
Ninth Grade
65 minutes
Description of Setting: Full
Objectives:
Cognitive:
(a) Students will KNOW that self-reflection is a process.
1) Students will KNOW that reflection can be nebulous and
amorphous, but is a process of thinking that has a beginning
point and a series of conclusions.
(b)Students will KNOW that writing is one of the ways we reflect.
1) Students will KNOW that reflection can be captured through
reflective writing.
2) Students will KNOW that reflective writing is a habit that helps
us understand what we learn and think.
3) Students will KNOW what reflective writing looks like.
4) Students will KNOW how to write reflective journal entries.
Affective:
(c) Students will VALUE self-reflection as an endeavor that helps them
think and grow.
(d)Students will VALUE their writing journals as a place of safety where
they can think and reflect.
Performative:
(e) Students will BE ABLE TO compose reflective journal entries.
(f) Students will BE ABLE TO reflect on the importance of metacognitive
writing as a method for self-knowledge.
(g)Students will BE ABLE TO evaluate the way reflective writing helps
or hinders their learning and self-awareness
SOLs:
CCSs:
9-10.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research,
reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or
two) for a range of tasks, purposes and audiences.
Assessments:
Objective
A, C, F

Diagnostic
Students will share their
previous knowledge about
reflection as an endeavor and

Formative
Students
will show
their

Summative
Students will
demonstrate
theyve met

B, D, E, G

as a process in our
discussion. They will also
share how they feel about
reflecting as a practice at
this time.
Students will share some of
their past experiences about
writing down their reflections
and how the writing helps
them think during the
discussion and share portion.
Students will also
demonstrate what they know
about formatting their
reflections during the guided
practice, when they will be
helping me write a reflection
and shape it.

progress
towards our
goals
through
their journal
entry about
journaling.

our objectives
in their final
reflection for
their
reflective
portfolio,
where they
will describe
how they feel
about
reflecting
regularly and
particularly
about their
reflecting
journal (was
it helpful?
Did it extend
thinking?)

Materials needed:
Student Journals
ELMO camera (or maybe projector hooked up to a word document?)
Agenda:
1. Do-Now
2. Mini-Lesson: Journaling [Writing Lesson Plan]
a. Share and Discussion (Why do we journal? How does journal help as a
person and as a learner?)
b. Model a reflective journal entry
c. Guided Practice (ask students where to go when they get stuck, how to
keep pulling apart ideas)
d. Model coming full circle
e. Independent Practice (How does writing down our reflections help us to
think?)
3. Class Discussion
4. Homework: Words that have made an impact on our lives. Select three
quotes to bring to class (in poster form as artistically as possible) and
compose a journal entry about ONE of these quotes)
Beginning Room Arrangement:
Students will be sitting in a horseshoe facing the board.
Instructional Steps:
1. Journal Entry [5 minutes]
Students will be asked to write a short journal entry to answer the following
prompt: Why is it important to reflect about the things we do? This question

will be posted on the board. During this time I will prep whatever technology
were using so its ready to go.
2. Mini-Lesson: Journaling
a. Class Discussion [20 minutes]
Students will be asked to discuss their thoughts on reflections as a process of
thinking. Prompting questions may include:

Do you ever feel yourself thinking about something you did and what
you wish you had done? Why do we do that?
Do you learn from thinking about stuff after its happened?
What are the possible benefits to reflecting as an endeavor? As in, all by
itself?
Are there drawbacks?
What about as it concerns literature? Would we catch everything if we
just read it and didnt think about it after?
Does it help to have specific things to think about when we reflect, or do
we prefer to just have meandering thoughts? Is there a time and place
for one or the other?
What do reflections look like? Are they ever written down?

b. Model Journal Entry Composition [20 minutes]

I will go to our ELMO cam or computer hooked up to a projector and describe
how we will be thinking about reflections for the purposes of this class. As we
talked about, reflecting can take many shapes and have many mediums, but in
our class our reflections go in our journals, and are written in paragraph form,
even if theyre not the very best paragraphs ever. Its geared to being a
thinking exercise, and as such I want us to not pressure ourselves to keep to
form too much, but rather to make sure we think about the prompt.
To start off I will write down the prompt on the first line, the
hand upper corner, and my name because this is loose-leafI
dont have to do this if its in their journals, which it always
also describe that every new day should start a new page,
entries in the same day can share a page.

date in the right

will explain they
should be. I will
though multiple

I will write in that days prompt and think aloud what I notice. So I will start
out with my definition of reflecting, and write a few sentences about what I
think reflecting is. I will make sure to just do stream of consciousness, so that
my grammar isnt perfect. When I stop, I will say describe having exhausted
that and coming up with my next ideaI will work with something someone
brought up, for example, it helps to not make future mistakes. I will follow this
train of thought for a few sentences, then describe that Ive exhausted what I
was thinking, and say I need to start a new paragraph.

Okay, so, lets see. Ive already got the date, and the prompt, and my name, so
now Im going to start my entry. I could start with the very first stuff that
comes into my head and then build from that, or I could spend a minute
thinking about what I want to say. I think Im going to start by just gathering
my thoughts. Im going to start with reflection, and Im going to write,
Reflection involves thinking back to things that have already happened and
trying to process what as important, or good, or back, or significant about our
experience. Thats a start, right? But thats huge: I have to be more specific.
So, lets see, I can think of examples, maybe. For instance, when we make
mistakes, we take time to reflect as to what happened, what might have made
it happen, and how we could prevent from doing it in the future. Thinking
about our actions and their repercussionsrepercussions are things that
happen as a result of things that we do, so like if I kick the ball, the
repercussion is that it moves. Does that make sense? Okay, so where was I,
right, here we go: in order to prevent the same thing from happening again.
So theres that. Okay, thats short, but thats one whole thought. What else?
So besides not doing bad stuff again, theres those times when were
confused, and were not sure what happened. I can talk about that a little bit.
So how about, Reflection is just as important when were not sure what
happened. Taking the time to remember, to think back to the event and what
might have been happening from the eyes of others can help us discover
things we missed. As a child, my mom always told me not to touch the stove,
and it annoyed me, but I never thought about why she said I shouldnt do it.
When I think back, I think it must have been because she was thinking about
my safety, and my ageI was really smallbut I guess I resented her saying
this because she touched the stove all the time. I wish she had taught me to
do it like she did it, so that now I wouldnt get my fingers burnt. Does
everyone see what I did there? So weve got examples, weve got a new line of
thinkingnot just mistakes but also trying to understand multiple
perspectivesand I shared an example from my life. These are all things you
can do when you write a reflective entry. The goal is to think about multiple
aspects of an issue.
Now, keep in mind that these entries are not intended to be perfectour
grammar isnt always the best when were just thinking about stuff, just like it
isnt always perfect when were just thinking aloud. Thats okaywhat Im
looking for in these entries is that you guys tell me what youre thinking and
tie your thinking to examples so that I can understand where you get your
thoughts. Theres definitely much more I could write about this, but now that
Ive given you guys a taste of what it looks like, Im going to call on you to
help me out a little. Just to tell me what else I could write about in this entry.
Who wants to lend a hand?
Note: I would probably write much more, but this is just a snippet for
demonstration purposes.
c. Guided Practice [15 minutes]
At this point I will take volunteers about where I should go next. I will pick a
direction and ask that student to share some of their thinking, turning it into

sentences. I will ask other students to pitch in until I have five or so volunteers
and have added a bit of all of their thoughts.
T: Who wants to lend a hand?
Nadia: You could discuss how reflection can involve experiences we
havent hadlike when we think about issues like war.
T: Absolutely! Okay, so lets write down one sentence here: Sometimes
we reflect about things we havent experienced. Tell me more about
that.
N: Well, in some classes we think about what it must have been like to,
like, live in the trenches.
T: Yes, and what about that do we consider? What do we draw upon, to
write these reflections?
N: You mean like stuff other people have said? Or more like where the
trenches were and stuff?
T: Actually, I think youve thought both through all at once. So lets see:
weve got things others have said, which helps us put ourselves in the
shoes of others. And then theres just facts, right? So like if we know its
winter, I can infer that its cold. And they probably wish they were home
with their families. Or had heating. Or that it didnt rain so much. So
what would you tell me in your entry about that?
N: I would probably say that we think about the experiences of others
based on what we knowlike facts and like, testimonies that tell us
about what it was like to be there. We try and think of how they thought
about things.
T: Absolutely! Great work, Nadia. Who wants to share? What about you,
Izzie, would you like to share something from your entry?
d. Model Coming Full-Circle [10 min]
At the end, I will describe what I want them to do when theyve exhausted
their thinking: to go back and read what they wrote and think of what their
final feelings about the question is, and to put that into one clear sentence
that describes what they think and why. I will ask students to all write down a
sentence under their own journal entries that they feel represent what we
talked about and the entry we wrote together. Once theyre done, I will go
around the room and ask everyone to share their sentences to check their
understanding.
Okay, so now that weve seen one example from every corner of the room, Im
going to go back and see what weve come up with altogether. We have
reflections about mistakes, reflections about experiences that we havent had,
we have reflections about what made things work, reflections about not
understanding stuff, reflections aboutwow, weve got so many! So now that
weve got all the ideas we think we need, were going to add a last paragraph
that tells our reader what to think about all this thinking. So, lets see, I could
that, maybe reflection is just thinking about ourselves and others in the past
to build our future, to improve ourselves. I might say that good, bad, ours or

others, ultimately its all about learning from what happened. Or maybe we
could take it in a different direction and say, well, its so important to reflect
that I wonder we dont do it more often. Weve now shown how it can be
important to reflect, so weve got to make sure we make time. Also, it doesnt
have to be written down all the time, but as a teacher Im glad you guys are
writing your reflections because then I can see you grow. I know its cheesy,
but hear me out: a lot of the time the year ends, and we dont feel any
different, but then we look back at what we did before and go, wow, I wrote
that? Really? So its nice, having it here, kept forever. So these are my
possible thoughts. Lets take a minute and just write down a sentence or two
about this entry weve written together, your own kind of final paragraph that
brings in all the things we talked about. Ill be coming around to read over
your shoulders, and then well share around the room so everybody gets to
hear what awesome thoughts you had. Ready?
e. Independent Practice: Journal Entry [15 min]
At this point I will ask them to write a new entry to the following prompt:
How does writing down our reflections help us reflect? In this entry our goal
will be to stretch our thinking as far as possible, to explore every avenue we
can think of just like we did together. Once students get to work, I will walk
around to check student progress and see if they get stuck or struggle and the
degree to which they implement our journaling practices. I will also provide a
five-minute and one-minute warning to students to wrap up their thoughts.
3. Class Discussion [15 min]
During this time I will ask students to share what they thought about this new
approach to journaling and how the format helped them to think about the
purpose of reflective writing. Possible questions will include:

How does this new format help you think or develop your ideas? Is it
helpful? Is it cumbersome?
In what ways does this new format differ from formats youve used in
the past? Do you prefer it, or a previous format?
What kinds of things did this format help you explore? Do you feel you
went deeper into ideas than you would otherwise have done? Why or
why not?
In which ways could we improve on this format to make it more
effective?

4. Homework [10 min]

Once we wrap up our discussion I will ask students to get started on their
homework for next class. This assignment will entail thinking about words that
have affected them personally as people or that they feel powerfully aboutit
could be things their families say, words by famous people, quotes from
movies or books or magazines, anything they can think to. I will draw
attention to posters on our walls that have quotes that matter a great deal to

me and describe how their choice should be something personal for them. I
will ask students to select three such quotes and bring them in to our next
class (in A4 poster form as artistically as possible) and compose a journal
entry about ONE of these quotes so that I can know the significance of these
words to them as individuals.
Materials:
Student Journals
ELMO camera
PowerPoint slide with questions
Projector (for PowerPoint slides)
Accommodations:
Despite our informal classroom discussion format, I want to make sure the
questions are up for Rebecca so she can see them and follow them in case the
oral aspect gets too fast for her and she feels left behind. I might also make
small syntheses of the comments of others in slow and careful language, e.g.
So what youre telling me is that its helpful because it helps us to keep track
of our thoughts for when we need them later? so that she can follow the
conversation and feel encouraged to join in. Because this is our first, I dont
want to call on her to join us in case she wants to just sit back and watch to
get used to it, build up her confidence level, but if she does contribute, I want
to make sure to congratulate her for her response.
Because I know Rebecca struggles with the writing aspect of my class, I will
make sure, when students are working on their independent entries, to take
her aside to my desk and ask her if she has any questions, and if she needs
any support. During this time I will ask if I can look over her journal entries
quickly and show her examples of moments when shes done what were all
going to be practicing together so that she can see shes been doing some of it
all along, and I will remind her that were all learning to do this together, so
that she doesnt feel the pressure to compare her own work to that of her
peers. I want to make sure to provide plenty of encouragement.
Also, when I go around the room and read over students shoulders, I want to
make sure to check in with Simon and see what hes writing. Its important
that I know hes taking the thinking seriously, but just as important that he
feels free to share his thoughts, even if theyre random. Ill probably make a
small mention to him, something like I like this thought! so that he sees Im
appreciating his efforts.
If Nadia finishes writing her entry before the other students, I might stop by
her desk and read it, then offer her more questions to help keep her going. So
for instance if she mostly writes about being able to track her growth, Ill ask
her about whether all growth is shown in writing, or if maybe the format
means that we do lots of reflecting but it doesnt show our grammar skills
because its all just flow of consciousness. Is that still representative? My goal

will be to keep her working till the last minute, and I know she often feels
unchallenged, so I want to make sure she keeps pushing.