Michael Thomas

10/12/16

Comprehension Lesson Plan

Title: Reading with a Purpose
Level: 11th Grade
Purpose: To have students be able to identify a primary source document, what
makes it a primary source, and to discuss the authors purpose and bias. To
understand who the audience of the work is. What is it trying to promote? What is it
leaving out? What is it not saying?
Standards:
History Content Standard:
11.7 Students analyze Americas participation in World War II.
2. Explain U.S. and Allied wartime strategy, including the major battles of
Midway, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the Battle of the Bulge.
California Common Core Standard:
3. Analyze a complex set of ideas or sequence of events and explain how specific
individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop over the course of the
text.

California Common Core ELD Standard:

Part I: Interacting in Meaningful Ways
B. Interpretive
8. Analyzing how writers and speakers use vocabulary and other language
resources for specific purposes (to explain, persuade, entertain, etc.)
depending on modality, text type, purpose, audience, topic, and content area
Materials and Resources:
1. Primary source document attained from CSULB library. (Instructor will
provide copies to students)
2. Projector
3. Computer
4. Necessary A/V cables to play video in classroom
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2DJWWKJ8tDM&list=PLqqqqZrD37h5aphoS_vQtha80Tqq94YTz
6. http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.library.csulb.edu/hnplatimes/docview/1
65392601/pageviewPDF/1EB6721BCC274AE1PQ/9?accountid=10351 (An
example of 1 of 8 newspaper articles)
7. Handout to evaluate the authors perspective
8. CSULB Library Account to access archived LA Times articles
Background Knowledge/Experience:
- Prior lesson that I completed on vocabulary.
- This comprehension lesson will take place at the end of the World War II
section. This is to ensure the students know who the actors were, their roles,
and allegiances.

Teaching Sequence:
1. As a class we will review a prior vocab lesson to ensure that all students were
fully aware what a source is, the difference between a primary and secondary
source is, and understanding an authors bias and why they wrote what they
did.
2. Following this I will play the video attached above which is a news reel clip
from 1941 about America mobilizing for war in Europe.
3. I would ask students to identify what type of source this was, primary or
secondary and what makes it a primary source.
4. What is the intent behind the creators of this video?
5. Is there any bias behind the video?
6. Then I would have the students write down how this video made them feel.
Proud? Scared? Angry? Collect this.
7. Students would then be grouped in to threes and each group handed a copy
of the front page of the LA Times Newspaper from 1941 or 1942 and a
worksheet that I have created.
8. Students will then be asked to work in the groups to complete the task.
9. The following day in class each of the groups, approximately 8, will present
their findings. As laid out in the worksheet one student will discuss the
historical events around the publishing of the source, another will discuss the
intended audience, and the final student will discuss the purpose behind the
article.
10.After all students have presented pass back their original response to the
video.
11.Discuss in their groups, did the author of the video succeed in making you
feel a certain way? Did you think about the current events that were going on
at the time of the video? Did you think of the authors bias? Did you
understand there message?
Outcomes and Evaluation:
The outcome of this lesson will be to ensure that students understand that
behind all writing there is a purpose or message to be delivered. Also, that it is
important to understand the items that are left out of sources as much as the items
placed into sources. Students will be evaluated based off of the worksheet they
complete and brief in class presentation on their findings.