University of Utah, Department of Special Education: Reason/Example Lesson Plan

Content Area: Language Arts

Grade level: 9th Grade

Name:

Casey Gressmen

Date: 10/2/2015

Core Standard(s):
W. 9.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and
relevant and sufficient evidence
1. Introduce precise claims, distinguish the claims from alternate or opposing claims, and create an
organization that establishes clear relationships among claims, counterclaims, reasons and evidence.
IEP Goal(s):
Actual: Student will write a five paragraph essay including an opening paragraph, three supporting paragraphs and a
concluding paragraph 3 out of 4 trials over a 9 week period.
Revised (SMART): When given a writing prompt in her language arts class, the student will write a five-paragraph
essay including an opening paragraph, three supporting paragraphs and concluding paragraph 3 out of 4 trials over a
9-week period.
Instructional Objective(s):
When given an argumentative writing prompt, the students will make their claim and give supporting reasons to back
up their claim. They will then analyze their reasons to find which reasons give the greatest support and provide
supporting example for each reason they choose in order to distinguish relationships between reasons.
Behavioral Objective(s):
Students will follow directions within five seconds on 9 out of 10 occasions in class.
Content (concepts, information, skills, new vocab, etc.)
Review: claim, reasons, and examples
New skills: Students have been taught basic brainstorming and finding reasons and evidences to back up their claim
by asking themselves why. Students are now being asked to choose which reasons have the best supporting
evidence. Students will be taught to begin to compare their ideas and think critically.
Vocabulary: Claim, Reasons, Evidence, Examples
Instructional Materials Needed:
Student: Graphic Organizer for reasons and reasons + examples (attached), pencil, writing folder
Teacher: Whiteboard, markers

Procedures/Activities (add additional rows of Teacher [T] and Student [S] roles for each activity as needed):
1. Starter:
a. Teacher: Write a claim on the board for the students to support and come up with reasons. Have the students write three
reasons in their notebook and write their best reason on the board making sure that it is different from everyone elses that is
on the board already. For example, the teacher could write: Cell phones should be allowed in class. Instructions on the board
will instruct students to write their reasons in their notebook and on the board.
2. Get students attention:
a. Teacher: Tell students that instruction will begin in five seconds and count down from five.
b. Student: Finish their conversations and begin working on their starter and listening to instruction.
3. Academic review /Gather background knowledge (6 minutes for review, objectives and expectations)
a. T: These last couple weeks we have been learning about what a claim is and how to use it in a paragraph as well as how we
can use reasons to support our claim. Can someone remind me what word we have been using to remember all the parts of a
paragraph?
b. S: TREE if students do not respond teacher will motion over to the wall that has the reminder on it and ask the question
again.
c. T: What are the different parts of TREE
d. S: The T is for topic sentence, the R for reasons
e. T: How many reasons should I have again?
f. S: Three
g. T: Perfect, so in TREE we have already said Topic Sentence and Reasons, what else is there?
h. S: Examples and the Ending
i. T: Great, and the final E stands for Examine meaning that I am going to examine my paragraph to see if I have all the pieces
in the right place.
4. State instructional objectives
a. T: Today we are going to focus on the reasons and examples of TREE. Remember that we learned that the Topic Sentence is
like the trunk of the tree, but the trunk needs its roots in order to be strong. The roots are the reasons and examples that
support it. We are going to brainstorm reasons to support our claim and then see which reasons are the best. Then we will
come up with strong examples to support our reasons so that our claim is strong.
b. S: Answer questions from students or attentive listening
5. Review behavior expectations
a. T: While we are learning today I just want to review our expectations. Remember to raise your hand before speaking and show
respect to others by listening to their ideas. We are going to be doing some work as a class and you should be writing down
what we do on the board.
b. S: Attentive listening
6. Instruction
a. Model (7 minutes)
i.
T: Teacher will use the reasons that the students have written up on the board to demonstrate how they would analyze the
reasons. They will look at each reason and speak aloud what they think about it. For example, a student could have written
look up definitions, check my grades and text my friends for the claim should phones be allowed at school?. The
teacher could say something like I think that it is a good idea to be able to look up definitions of words on my phone
instead of using a dictionary. It will be faster and let me focus on what I am learning instead of trying to figure out what all
the words mean. I think that I will save that reason for later and create some examples with it The teacher circles it among
the other ideas. Lets look at the next one, check my grades. Hmm I think this is a good idea to be able to check my grades
and make sure that I am not forgetting anything. I wouldnt want to do this while my teacher is teaching so it might have to
be saved for when I am completed with my assignments. Lets come back to that one in a minute and see if we can think of

ii.

any examples that could support it. The teacher can circle it and move on to the next one. I think that if I am using my
phone to text my friends at school then I am not following the rules and could have my phone taken away. I think that if I
was trying to persuade my teacher to let me have my phone in class I would not choose this reason because my teacher
wouldnt want me to text my friends while class is going on. I think that I am not going to choose this reason because I do
not think that it backs up my claim this time. The teacher will go through all of the reasons and then have the class vote
on the best four that were circled to move on to creating examples.
S: Attentive listening. Students vote on best examples.

b. Guided Practice (7 mintues)

i.
T: Can anyone remind me how many reasons we are going to need to write our paragraph using TREE?
ii.
S: Three
iii.
T: Youre correct. We are going to need three. Since we are choosing our best reasons and examples to put in our paper.
We are going to take all of our reasons and choose the best four. That way when we come up with examples we can decide
which ones have the best examples and narrow our choices down from four to three. We just voted on the best four so now
we are going to need examples for each of these four. The teacher will write the four chosen reasons on a separate board
with room for the students to write their examples on the board. Please come up and write an example up on the board to
support a reason. You only have to write one, but make sure that each reason has a least three examples to back it up. You
have three minutes.
iv.
S: Come up to the board and write an example on the board for a reason. When the three minutes is up the students are
instructed to return to their seats.
v.
T: Great now we have examples to support our reasons. Remember that we need to choose the reasons with the strongest
evidence and examples to put in our paragraph. Lets look at the first reason. Teacher reads the reason and the
surrounding examples. After reading each example they ask the students if the example supports the reason.
vi.
S: Raise their hand and answer whether or not the example supports the claim.
vii.
T: The teacher will ask them to explain their choice if they did not in their original response. If the student refuses to
respond or simply says I dont know the teacher will prompt the class for help on clarifying the choice and then ask the
student who didnt know if they could explain why. The student will respond with the answer that their peer gave or
something similar.
viii.
S: Respond with an explanation on how it matches the claim.
ix.
T: The teacher will go through each reason with the students and erase the examples that do not support the reasons so
that the students can get an idea of how many they have available to them. Sometimes the students will realize the
reasons they chose were similar and choose to combine them. The teacher explains that this is why they chose more
reasons than they needed just in case one of them didnt work like they though it might.
c. Guided Group Practice (16 minutes)
i.
T: Now that we have practiced on the board I want you to work on it in a group. You will use this graphic organizer first. Put
your claim in the middle and each reason along the side. When you have finished all six reasons, choose your best four and
put a star by them. Next, rewrite your four best reasons on the next graphic organizer and write three examples for each
one. Use this question as your topic: Should schools have a dress code? Remember that when we work in partnerships
that you only speak to your partner and if you have any questions you can raise your hand so that I can help you. You may
choose your own partners but remember to find them and begin quickly. You will have eight seconds to find a partner and
begin working and eight minutes to complete the first graphic organizer. Ready begin Teacher will count down from
eight.
ii.
S: Students will find a partner and begin working on the graphic organizer.
iii.
T: Walk to each group asking them what they chose as their claim and the reasons they are using to back themselves up.
The teacher will prompt them for more information and remind them how to choose the best or strongest reason. When the
eight minutes are up the teacher will prompt them to move their best four to the other sheet and begin their examples,
giving them another eight minutes.

iv.

S: Collaborate and discuss examples for each reason.

d. Independent practice (10 minutes)

i.
T: Now that you have completed your graphic organizer in partners, take your ideas and put them onto our paragraph
organizer by yourself. Remember that in our paragraph we only need our strongest three reasons and at least one example
to back them up. So choose from your four strongest reasons which ones you are going to choose and which examples will
support them.
ii.
S: Begin working on transferring their ideas from partners into their own organizer.
e. Error Correction Procedures
i.
T: Students may choose reasons that do not support their claims. Ask the students to explain why they chose the reason
they did and explain to them how the reason contradicts the claim they are trying to support. Ask for another reason that
supports the claim giving background information and prompting.
ii.
S: Gives reason that is appropriate to claim and is praised by the teacher.
7. Wrap up (2 minutes)
a. Review key concepts/ Check for understanding
i. T: Ask several students what their strongest reason and examples for the claim were to share with the class.
ii. S: Students will give their strongest reason and examples
b. Review objectives
i. T: Today we learned how to choose which reasons would support our claims the best.Tomorrow we are going to get another
chance to do it by ourselves. You did a great job at raising your hand before speaking and following directions the first time
asked. Remember to do your self ratings and put your papers in the basket when the bell rings.
c. Clean up

Adaptations/Modifications/Accommodations: Students who are struggling will be helped by those students who
understand the information, or grouped with them when we are split up into groups. A simpler graphic organizer will
be used to help them follow along and write their paragraph. The graphic organizer will require them to come up with
less reasons and examples for each reason. These students may also require more time to do the assignment. This
extra time can be provided in the study skills class environment or allow them to take it home to finish instead of
turning it in at the end of the period.
Reinforcement Procedures: Reinforce behavioral expectations and give specific praise for following directions and
staying on task. In order to help when students get off task I will move around to be in a closer proximity and restate
my expectations to the class.
Daily Evaluation
a. Before lesson: Previous work on similar subject and last weeks progress monitoring for their paragraph writing
to see what the student is struggling with at the time. Students will complete their starter and place the reason
they thought was the best on the board. The teacher can judge their understanding by what they write on the
board and in their notebooks.
b. During lesson: While walking around and helping students, the teacher will check for understanding by asking
students to explain their choices and examples.

Post Evaluation (data-based decision making): Every Friday the students will be progressed monitored on their ability
to write a paragraph with a topic sentence, supporting reasons, examples and a concluding sentence. They will be
given a topic and five minutes of think time. At the end of the think time they will be given fifteen minutes to write
their paragraph. They paragraphs are progressed monitored checking for correct content (Topic sentence, reasons
supporting the topic sentence and conclusion), correct structure (complete sentences, complex sentences,
capitalization and punctuation), and how effective the students ideas were in connecting with the topic sentence. The
weeks results will be evaluated by the teacher to help decide what the next weeks instruction will focus on. For
example, if the teacher notices that a majority of the students in a specific class are struggling with claim then it
would be beneficial to include a focus or mini lesson on claim to reinforce or reteach.
The teacher will focus on a one paragraph argumentative essay with a topic sentence, supporting reasons and
concluding sentence until about 85% of the students can get at least 85% on the rubric scoring. This would indicate
that the students have the correct content, but may be struggling with creating complex sentences or need to
develop ideas that further support their topic sentences. A copy of the rubric is included for your enjoyment and
review. When the students have grasped the concept based on the numbers above the teacher will begin to work on
breaking up the paragraph to focus on specific parts of a five-paragraph essay. If after three data points or three
weeks the students are following below the line the teacher will pull those students in during iFlight (biweekly 35
minute intervention periods) to provide extra practice and reteach. If the majority of students are falling below the
goal, the teacher will reteach during class time going back to the basics of TREE and making a claim.
Follow-up Activities: We will continue to work on the TREE model for writing a paragraph as we go through the parts of
an essay. Students who finish early will be assigned to work with students who are struggling to get their idea from
their graphic organizer to their paper.