Lesson Plan Template

EDIS 5882: English Education

Name: Kristi Vandygriff
Context:
Date and time for which lesson will be taught: Tuesday September 27, 2016
Course name: AP Literature and Composition
Grade level: 12th
Length of lesson: 85 minutes
Description of setting, students, and curriculum and any other important contextual characteristics: The
students in this class are all 12th grade AP students. The class is composed of a pretty even split between boys and
girls, and there are 25 students total. It is the third class of the day, and students are coming to class from lunch. For
the most part the students are focused and hardworking each block, and come to class prepared each day. There are
not many issue on a typical day.

Objectives:
Number each objective to reference in the Assessment section
SWBAT:
1.
Cognitive (know/understand):
1.1.
Students will know the plot of Heart of Darkness.
1.2.
Students will know different themes of Heart of Darkness.
1.3.
Students will understand the ways that the plot and themes of Heart of Darkness connect
to what the book and author are trying to say.
2.

Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:

2.1.
Students will value understanding a text through analysis of its themes.

3.

Performance (do):
3.1.
Students will be able to recall plot points from Heart of Darkness.
3.2.
Students will be able to identify themes from Heart of Darkness..
3.3.
Students will be able to support themes from Heart of Darkness with examples, quotes
and analysis.
3.4.
Students will be able to orally present a group project.

4.

SOLs: [List with numbers portrayed in the SOL document]

12.1 The student will make a formal oral presentation in a group or individually.
f) Collaborate and report on small group learning activities.
12.4 The student will read, comprehend, and analyze the development of British literature and literature of other cultures.
h) Analyze how dramatic conventions including character, scene, dialogue, and staging contribute to the theme and
effect.
12.6 The student will develop expository and informational, analyses, and persuasive/argumentative writings
a) Generate, gather, and organize ideas for writing to address a specific audience and purpose.

Assessments: Methods for evaluating each of the specific objectives listed above.
Please use the sentence stems to describe your assessments. In brackets after each assessment note the number of the
objective(s) from above being assessed
Diagnostic: Students will demonstrate what they already know about by

Formative: Students will show their progress towards by

o Students will contribute to posters that will be presented, which will demonstrate their
knowledge of the text and the way it displays the themes. Every student will be participating in group
conversations about the themes at different stations. Through observations of these conversations, I will be
able to analyze which students have a good grasp of the text and how deep their understand is. I will also be
able to identify any misunderstandings about the text.
SWBAT 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, SOL 12.4h

Summative: Students will ultimately be assessed (today or in a future lesson) on by

o Through summary writing and presentations, students will display what they know about
how the text relates to the theme their group worked on. Based on these summaries and presentations, I will
be able to understand how well the students are connecting the text and the themes. I will take this
information and build on it for the students.
SWBAT 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 3.3, 3.4, SOL 12.1f, SOL 12.4h, SOL 12.6a
o Students will eventually be writing essays demonstrating their understanding of the text
and its themes.

Materials Needed:
This is just a list of the materials you will need for this lesson to occur. In the Materials Appendix below, you will include the
actual materials or links to what you will be using.

Heart of Darkness books

Large poster papers - 5
Number cards
Markers
Video
Computer
Projector
Speaker
Beginning Room Arrangement:
[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted in the plan]
The tables with be in their normal locations, and the desks will be arranged to form groups of at least 5. There will be 5
stations set up around the room, and students will sit at the station number that corresponds to the number they were given
when they came in.

Instructional Steps (Procedures): Detail student and teacher actions, discourse, and behaviors.
[Note: Any words that represent what you will say directly to students appear in italics. When students are speaking, indicate
your target response as well as any possible student misconceptions and/or off-the-target responses and how you will
respond to them.]

1.

[5 mins.] Opening to lesson:

I will greet students at the door and give them a card with a number 1-5 on it. I will tell them that they should sit
at the station that corresponds to the number on their card.
I will then welcome students to class and ask them to respond to the quote on the board. The quote is If we were
to one day encounter a form of life more powerful and intelligent than our own, and it regard us as we regard fish,
what would be our argument against being eaten? I will ask students to respond on their own quietly, and to think

about what the question is asking. I will tell them that they do not need to provide what their argument would be,
but to instead respond with what they think the idea of the question is.
2. [10 mins.] Journal and Share:
I will give the students about 8 minutes to write their response in their journals. If they are not working quietly, I
will remind them that they should be silently, individually responding to the quote on the board. I will circulate
the room to see what some students are writing, and to make sure that students stay on task.
I will give students a 1 minute warning so that they can wrap up their thoughts. Then, I will ask for volunteers to
share.
3. [10 mins.] Video:
I will tell students that I understand Heart of Darkness can be really hard to understand, and that even the plot line
can be confusing. Ill explain that the plot is really just the bare bones, and we want to make sure we understand
the true meat of the story. I will tell students that before we dig into what the book is really saying, we will have a
quick review of the plot by watching the SparkNotes video on Heart of Darkness.
I will show the video, and then ask students if that helped to clarify what was going on. Ill ask if there were any
questions and clear up any misconceptions.
4. [30 mins.] Graffiti:
Ill tell students that now that we understand the basic plot line of the book, we will dig deeper into what the text
means. To do this, we will do a graffiti activity. At each of the five stations will be a poster with a theme at the
top. The different stations are Man vs. Nature, Belief vs. Reality, Light vs. Dark, Free vs. Constrained, and Noise
vs. Silence. I will tell them that the groups will have 5 minutes at each stations to write down everything they can
about the theme. This can include plot points, symbols, quotes, what the book wants us to think about the theme,
what the author says about it, examples, and more. I will also say that they can add to other comments that are on
there, stars the ones they agree with, write questions about the comments, draw pictures or anything else that
relates to the theme on the poster. Ill explain that they should work and think for the entire five minutes, and if
they cant think of anything more to add then they should be looking for any quotes to write down.
I will ask if there are any questions and clarify the instructions if there are. Ill tell them that I will let them know
when to rotate, and at the end when they get back to their original poster they will work on a summary and then
present to the class.
I will start the timer and have students get to work. During the rotations I will go to the groups and see how they
are doing. If it doesnt seem like they are writing anything down, then I will use prompting questions to get them
thinking about how to take it in a new direction. I will give a one minute warning to wrap up their ideas and
comments each time before we are about to switch.
5. [10 mins] Summarize:
Once students get back to their original stations, I will tell them to read over what everyone else wrote on their
poster and decide on the main and most important parts that are on there. I will tell them to discuss with their
groups what the main idea behind each theme is and to come to a consensus. Once they have figured it out, they
should write a summary on the back of their poster including the main points they came up with. Then I will tell

them to talk in their group about how they plan on sharing their poster; who will read which parts and what they
want to make sure they say.
6. [15 mins] Present:
I will have each group come up and present their posters with their main ideas and summaries. Each group with
have 3 minutes to do so. Once they finish, I will comment on what they shared and add in any important points
that may have been missed to ensure that everyone got the information they needed to.

Attention to Individual Student Needs: (Differentiation):

Detail specific actions/materials you will use to differentiate instruction in this lesson. Use specific student names when
appropriate
For our student with autism, I will make sure that she is in a group with her close friend to make sure that she is comfortable
and can participate. She also likes to draw, so I will ask her to specifically draw representations on each poster as they go
around.

Technology Use:
Detail specific technology being used in the lesson with explanation for why it is being used.
I will use the projector and computer to display a video about Heart of Darkness. This video will give students a detailed yet
general idea of the plot. Its use of images and commentary will be useful for students to understand the basic structure of the
book and the readings they had for class.

Materials Appendix:
Include the actual materials or links to what you will be using. If you are using a handout or a PowerPoint, or giving a quiz,
etc., these documents (or links to them) must be included. (see the list above)

In Retrospect (to be completed after the lesson has been taught):

Reflect on the lesson after you taught it. Was there anything that surprised you? Discuss your students reactions and
behaviors to the activities you planned. Is there anything that you would do differently if you were to teach this again? What
would you do?