Viterbo University

Lesson Plan Template

Effective Fall 2014

This lesson plan template includes all the Viterbo Essential Elements. For full instructions and examples of each
of the lesson plan components, see the Viterbo Essential Elements posted on Moodle in the Education Majors
course. All items below will expand as needed to add text.
Name__Jason Schmidle____________________

Date__02/18/16________________

Lesson Title________________________________________________
Frame_____________

Grade Level ____________ Time

Learner Profile and Contextual Factors:

Our school is made up of 460 students with 20% of that population being African-American and 7% being other
ethnicities. We have about 25% free and reduced lunch but also have extreme wealth at the other end of the
spectrum. For this lesson I will focus on a 5 th grade classroom with 8 boys and 8 girls. There are 5 students with
disabilities in the class (2 EBD, 1 autism, 2 OHI).
Curriculum Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.1.A

Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an

opinion, and create an organizational structure
in which ideas are logically grouped to support
the writer's purpose
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.5.1.C

Link opinion and reasons using words, phrases,

and clauses

Unit Goal/Central Focus

Students will write and defend their opinion
around a given topic
Unit Summative Assessment
A five paragraph essay that supports and
defends their opinion

Resources
Materials: Notebooks, graphic
organizers, assistive technology

People: Classroom teacher, LMC

coordinator and SEAs

Prior Student Knowledge: What previous knowledge is necessary for the students to successfully master the objectives? What knowledge do
students already have that this lesson will build upon? Students brainstormed topics of interest to them. What are areas in their lives they are
passionate about? We created lists of topics that they could use to help them generate topics. The knowledge that the students brought to
the lesson is the passion they have for topics in their lives that impact them or make them want to take action.

Lesson Objectives: Defines what the student will learn, understand, and
be able to do upon completion of the lesson. The instructions for writing
objectives and examples are found in the Viterbo Essential Elements.

1. Students will identify a topic clearly, construct an opinion

and create organizational structure in which ideas are
logically grouped to support the writers purpose.
2. Students will provide and explain logically ordered
reasons that are supported by facts and details.
3. Students will link opinion and reasons using words,
phrases and clauses (transitions).
4. Students will construct a concluding statement related to
their opinion presented

Formative Assessment: How will students demonstrate understanding

of lesson objective(s)? How will you monitor and/or give feedback?
Make sure that each assessment measures the learning expressed in the
objective. Please indicate the tool that you will use and how you will
measure student understanding. (See VU Essential Elements for more info.)
1.
2.

3.

4.

5.

6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Each part of the process is monitored and chunked.

Generating ideasas a class we will come up with topics
that the students can form opinions on. For example,
school, homelessness, crime, animals and sports.
Students will pick a category and then then find opinions
they have about that topic. For example, SchoolDress
code, extracurricular activities, school lunches, length of
day.
Teachers will model what an opinion essay looks like and
students will review, evaluate and score a sample opinion
essay.
Teachers will model, write on unison and release writing
responsibility to the students for each of the 5 paragraphs.
The model, write together, writes independently, will be
followed for each paragraph.
Check-ins/conferences will be required for each student
prior to moving to the next paragraph.
Editing upon completion of 5 paragraphs
Revise their opinion essays
Finalize essays
Each paragraph and opinion essay overall will have a
rubric that explains the requirements and essential
elements needed.

Academic Language:
What is the key language demand/function?
What academic language will you teach and/or develop? What is the key vocabulary and/or symbols?
What opportunities will you provide for students to practice content language and/or vocabulary and develop fluency?
What supports will you provide that will help students understand and successfully uses the academic language?

Key Language demands and

Academic Language
Practice
Support
functions
Reading, speaks and listening
Opinion, argument, conclusion, In their own writing and
Modeling, examples, scaffolding,
introduction, transition,
evaluating other works while
visuals, synonyms, turn and talks
statement, thesis statement,
identifying
persuasion
INSTRUCTION
Lesson procedures reflect best practices that are research-based and have a direct and positive effect on the teaching/learning environment.
You should indicate the time needed for each component of the lesson. Lesson plans should be detailed enough that any teacher could teach the
lesson from the plan.
Time
10mi
n

Intro/Motivation/Anticipatory Set: How will you engage

your students interest and set the purpose and relevance for
the lesson? Use knowledge of students academic, social, and
cultural characteristics.

1. Create a fictional situation in the school that will

dramatically influence the lives of the students.
Tell them this was just brought to your attention
this morning by the principal and will go into
effect immediately unless the principal has reason
not to follow through. EX: The principal has just
decided to take away 5th grade recess so students
can have more academic time.
2. Talk about how they feel about this situation.
What are good/bad/same?
3. Hand out a graphic organizer to help them
organize their thoughts.

Differentiation for All / Multiple Pathways/Alternative Teaching

Approaches
1.Flexible grouping
2. Modeling
3. Individual and group work
4. Visuals

Instructional Procedures/Developmental Lesson/Universal

Core: See the VU Essential Elements for a List of Best
Teaching Practices to consider as you plan. Also, consider the
questions and/or activities that you will use to engage your
students in higher order thinking.
60mi
n

1. Model the graphic organizer showing students

how to properly organize their thoughts(5min)
2. Create flexible groups keeping in mind that you
want students of varying ability levels
together(2min)
3. Have the group select a recorder to write down all
their idea so time is not wasted waiting for (1min)
students to writer all the information down.
4. Tell them they must all work together and that
each person in the group must have an idea on the
graphic organizer (20min).
5. After time is up, have groups share out what their
opinions and reason on the recess topic are.
Teacher should record their opinions and reasons
on overheard or other way. (15 min)
6. Still in groups; From the class list recorded,
groups should then focus on the reasons (5) they
feel are the most influential and discuss with
group(10-15min)
7. Once students have their reasons have all students
record them on their graphic organizers
Closure: Verbalize or demonstrate learning or skill one more
time. Connect to next steps or future learning.
Summarize what an opinion is and how we need reasons to
support. Review what each student needs to be completed with
by the end of class (graphic organizer with opinion and 5
reasons)

IEP Requirements
In this lesson on opinion writing and reasons, I have asked students to organize their thoughts and ideas onto a graphic organizer. It is important for
them to know how to properly organize their thoughts and to have valid reasons for their opinion. The pace of the lesson is one that the teacher
needs to keep the activity moving and avoid interruptions to the activity flow by using good pacing (Emmer and Gerwals, 2006). I have asked
student to use higher level thinking by asking them to analyze their reason and those of their classmates and then condense them into a top 5 list. I
have created enthusiasm/motivation by making sure it is a topic that they can relate to and one that directly affects their day to day lives. At the
least, content must be accurate and timely. However, content also should be relevant and useful to the student in his
or her life. Olson (1997) notes that student motivation depends on the extent to which the teacher is able to satisfy
the students need for (1) feeling in control of their learning, (2) feeling competent, and (3) feeling connected to
others. As such, content also must be included to satisfy each of these student needs. I have also modeled all of the work
that I will expect the students to complete.

Rationale/Theoretical Reasoning/ Research: What research or theory supports instructional strategies you are using with your students? Select a
strategy and justify with research or theory.
o
Creating enthusiasm and passion for learning: Marzano 2009

Identifying Similarities and Differences - Learning to classify and discern differences and similarities
prepares students for employing metaphor, analogy, and higher-order thinking skills.

Summarizing and Note Taking - Effective summarizing requires analysis that leads to deeper
understanding. Students benefit from taking notes in both linguistic and visual forms.

Reinforcing Effort - Student attitudes and beliefs have a significant effect on success in school.
Achievement can increase when teachers show the connection between effort and success.

Homework and Practice - Homework can increase student understanding when assignments provide
the opportunities needed to practice and apply new learning.

Nonlinguistic Representation - We store knowledge in two forms: linguistic and nonlinguistic. The
more students use both systems, the better they are able to think about and recall knowledge.

Cooperative Grouping - Grouping can promote student learning and build interpersonal skills when
done wisely and support structures are in place.

Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback - Teachers communicate learning goals to students every
day. Focus students on meeting those goals and greatly improve their chances of success.

Providing Feedback - Criteria for success and specific, timely feedback can help increase students
understanding and improve learning.

Generating and Testing Hypothesis - generating hypotheses and applying knowledge when testing
requires careful orchestration of experience. Technology tools add authenticity to the learning experience.

Cues, Questions and Advanced Organizers Increase students readiness for learning with cues and

questions that connect new ideas to existing knowledge.

Management/Safety Issues: What management and safety issues need to be considered when teaching this lesson?

Classroom Management: Groups will be based ability levels so we have students of varying abilities n each group. There
will not be 2 students with disabilities in a group. Each group will also consist of boys and girls. Teacher must be floating from
group to group to ensure that they are on topic and that all members are actively involved and being heard.
Safety: The only issue is students being accountable for their own work and not relying on their partners to complete it all for
them. There might be concern that not all opinions and reasons are being heard.

Analysis: Include quantitative (numerical) and qualitative (descriptive) data which address the questions: Did the students attain each objective?
How do you know? What is your evidence?

Reflection/Future Modifications: Provide specific, evidence-based example, not generalizations.

To what extent did the class learn what you intended them to learn? Provide specific, evidence-based examples of
student learning?
What did you learn about your students as learners?
What will be your next instructional steps?
The next steps would be to model the writing process on how their opinions and reasons on paper turn into paragraphs with
transitions and examplesgradual release of responsibility. Furthermore, students will then compile a list of opinions of their
own and then narrow down that list into one passionate opinion and do the same process on their own. Each paragraph (5 total)
will be model and supported 1 at a time.
What have you learned about yourself as a teacher?