UNT Lesson Plan Template

Pre-service Teacher: Grade(s): ​1st School/Mentor Teacher (if applicable):

Katie Weaver Stockton, Peters Colony

Subject area(s): Unit Lesson Title: ​All About Me

ELA Topic/Theme:
Writing

Relevant TEKS: Relevant ELPS: Relevant TX CCRS:

​§110.14.(b)​(11)(A) plan a §74.4.​(c)(5) I. Writing
first draft by generating ideas (C) spell familiar A. 1. Determine effective approaches,
for writing such as by English words forms, and rhetorical techniques that
drawing and brainstorming; with increasing demonstrate understanding of the
accuracy, and writer’s purpose and audience.
employ English
spelling patterns
and rules with
increasing
accuracy as
more English is
acquired;

Lesson Objective(s)/Performance Outcomes

● The student will be able to draw a labeled picture that shows what they did this weekend.
● The student will be able to write a paragraph with at least 4 sentences that explains the
picture they drew and what they did this weekend.

Assessment (Description/Criteria)
After the students complete their paragraphs, the teacher will use the following rubric to
assess the writing of the student:

Unsatisfactory Developing Proficient Outstanding

Length The student did The student The student The student
not write a wrote at least 1 wrote 2-3 wrote 4 or
complete complete complete more complete
sentence. sentence. sentences sentences

Grammar There are 8 or There are 5-7 There are 2-4 There are 0-2
more grammatical grammatical grammatical
grammatical errors, such as errors, such as errors, such as
errors, such as spelling, spelling, spelling,
spelling, punctuation, or punctuation, or punctuation, or
punctuation, or parts of speech, parts of parts of
parts of speech, within speech,within speech, within
within paragraph. the paragraph. the letter.
paragraph

Brainstorm Drawing There is no The drawing is The drawing is The drawing is

drawing created incomplete or complete and complete and
by the student has very detailed, but details and
minimal details contains no contains labels
labels

Topic The paragraph The paragraph The paragraph The paragraph

does not follow mentions briefly mostly focuses focuses on
the guidelines characteristics on only
of writing about of the student, characteristics characteristics
themselves but focuses on of the student, of the student
another topic but contains
other
unrelated
topics

Materials and Resources

1. Pencil
2. Crayons
3. Blank Construction paper
4. Lined Paper
5. SmartBoard
6. iPad
 Management of the Instructional Environment
​The students will be in a small group of 2 or 3 with the teacher. The teacher will begin by
talking with the students in a small group at a round table asking about what they did last
weekend. The teacher will create a mind map on the smartboard and have the students give
examples of different characteristics of themselves. The teacher will then give the students
construction paper and have them work independently at the round table. After the students
finish their drawings, the teacher will give the students lined paper and have the students work
at their desks independently writing their paragraph using their drawing as a guide.

Technology Integration
​ The teacher will use a smartboard to create a brainstorming map for the students to share
different characteristics of themselves. This allows students to see the creation of a
brainstorming mind map being created on the board, rather than writing down by the teacher
in front of them.
Students will also be given the choice to brainstorm by using a drawing app on the iPads to
create a picture of themselves doing activities they like to do, rather than drawing on a piece
of construction paper.
Students will also be able to use the “talk-to-text” feature on the ipad to help with the spelling
on specific words.

Diversity and Equity (Accommodations, Modifications, Adaptations)

● Give students the opportunity to work with a partner so the students who need extra
support get it from their peers.
● The student who are English Learners may need extra help with vocabulary words. They
make have the words written on the board.
● English Learners may have more confidence writing in the native language therefore will
get that opportunity.
● Students may need extra support if they don’t have the fine motor skills to write therefore
they may use their IPad or other technology to to do speech to text.
● Students who need extra support to guide them in the format of the a paragraph using
sentence stems such as “My name is...” and “I like to…”

Activities/Procedures

Anticipatory Set:
The teacher will begin by asking the students “What is a way we can brainstorm ideas for our
writing?” Give wait time for the students to answer. The students should have background
knowledge of brainstorming since it has been done in class before. As the students begin to
answer different ways to brainstorm for their writing, write each of the examples on the board.
After the students are done answering, explain to the students that they will be creating a mind
map and drawing a picture to help them brainstorm for their writing.

Input
The students will then work with the teacher to create a mind map to brainstorm different
activities they like to do and characteristics of themselves.

Model:
The teacher will then choose an activity and characteristics that describe them and model a
drawing with labels of the different objects in the picture of them with their characteristics and
doing activities they like to do. The teacher will then show the students how she will start her
writing. Using the sentence stems “My name is…” “I like to... “ and other sentence examples,
such as “I have brown eyes and long hair”.

Check for Understanding:

The teacher will then ask the students “What is something I need to do before writing my
paragraph?” “What are some different things I need to have in my picture?”

Guided Practice:
Similar to the modeling section students will now work with the teacher to create a drawing,
either on an iPad or on construction paper, using the different characteristics and activities they
listed previously. The students will then label the different parts of the picture they drew to help
them brainstorm what they are going to write about themselves.

Independent Practice:
At this time the teacher will have the students work independently to create their writing on their
paper. The teacher will provide sentence stems for the students to follow and encourage the
students to look back on their drawing to gain more ideas of what to write about themselves.

Closure:
Once the lesson time has come to an end you will come back together as a whole group and
discuss the activity. The teacher may ask, “Why do you think we drew a picture before we did
our writing?” and “Did you think having a drawing of what you were going to write made it easier
to think of what to write on your paper?” After the discussion, allow the students to share their
pictures and writings with the class and share the different characteristics of themselves with
their peers.
Reflections and Documentation/Evidence of Lesson Effectiveness
After teaching this lesson, I notice the students were overall able to produce more sentences
within their writing. If I was to make a change to this lesson, I would have the lesson begin
with whole group instruction and then work one-on-one with the students as they are thinking
of specific characteristics of themselves, to avoid repeated ideas and have genuine responses
from the students.

Pre Lesson:
Student 1 Strengths:
Can spell phonetically
Uses punctuation at ends of sentences
Can write legibly
Usually has spaces between words
Often writes complete sentences
Student 1 Weaknesses:
Often uses a mixture of capital and lowercase letters in words
Does not write more than one or two sentences in their writing
Often writes about topics other than the one given
Often misspells words
Does not use capital letters at beginning of sentences

Student 2 Strengths:
Uses capital and lowercase letters appropriately
Leaves spaces between words
Usually stays on topic within their writing
Usually writes more than 3 sentences in their writing samples
Is able to write on the lines given on the paper

Student 2 Weaknesses:
Spells words in English using Spanish phonetics
Writing is often illegible due to letter formation
Does not write using complete sentences
There is rarely punctuation present in their writing
Often uses the wrong parts of speech, including verbs and pronouns

Student 3 Strengths:
Can legibly write letters in their writing samples
Uses punctuation at the end of their sentences
Is able to write on the lines on their paper
Is able to write the beginning letter sound for each word
Often writes more than three sentences on a writing sample.

Student 3 Weaknesses:
Words are often misspelled
Usually only writes the initial and ending consonant sounds for words
Uses a mixture of capital and lowercase letters
Often no spaces between words
Often writes about other topics than the topic given
Post Lesson:
Student 1 Strengths:
Can spell phonetically
Uses punctuation at ends of sentences
Stays on topic throughout the writing
Puts spaces between words
Wrote complete sentences

Student 1 Weaknesses:
Often uses a mixture of capital and lowercase letters in words
Only wrote two sentences
Only wrote sentences that had a provided sentence stem
Does not use capital letters at beginning of sentences
Was not able to write on the lines on the paper

Student 2 Strengths:
Uses capital and lowercase letters appropriately
Leaves spaces between words
Stays on topic within their writing
Wrote 4 sentences in their writing samples
Was able to produce original sentences

Student 2 Weaknesses:
Spells words in English using Spanish phonetics
Could not spell correctly without use of iPad
Does not write using complete sentences
There is rarely punctuation present in their writing
Often uses the wrong parts of speech, including verbs and pronouns

Student 3 Strengths:
Can legibly write letters in their writing samples
Uses punctuation at the end of their sentences
Is able to write on the lines on their paper
Is able to write the beginning letter sound for each word
Was able to stay on the topic given

Student 3 Weaknesses:
Words are incompletely written, although they used the iPad
Usually only writes the initial and ending consonant sounds for words
Uses a mixture of capital and lowercase letters
Often no spaces between words
Writing is not able to be read by teacher or student

Reflection​:

As I was writing this lesson plan, I learned about the challenges that come along

with writing developmentally appropriate lessons for younger students, especially in the

first grade. Since I could be in the classroom for a few weeks before teaching this

lesson, I was able to see the strengths and needs of the students within the classroom.

Since many of the students were developmentally behind from most first graders, due to

being English language learners and not having a strong grasp on the language. I also

wrote my lesson around the different strategies my mentor implements in her

classroom, such as different brainstorming techniques. I learned how you need to

properly assess your students before beginning a lesson to see the academic

capabilities the students may have, which is important in teaching an effective lesson.

As I was teaching my lesson my mentor teacher was working with other students

within reading and writing stations. My mentor would walk over to my small group of

three students and look at the progress being made, starting with the brainstorming

strategy of drawing a picture and labeling the different elements. The students were

encouraged to spell words phonetically to the best of their ability, but were offered the

opportunity to use the iPads to look up certain words, using the talk-to-text feature. My

mentor later let me know in the classroom she likes to assess their phonetic spelling

ability without the use of iPads, which is a change I would make in my lesson, if it were
to be taught again. I would want students to write only using their phonetic knowledge,

rather than being given the opportunity to look up a specific word.

Other than changing the iPad feature, I think the lesson went well overall. The

students that were in my small group, unfortunately were not on the same level of

writing ability, which may have affected the overall lesson, therefore in the future I would

want to work with students that are on the same level academically to better meet the

needs of those students. I noticed the students that were struggling with staying on topic

within their writing improved their skills, as the students who didn’t show any issue with

staying on topic remained the same. I believe this lesson made it clear to the students

what topic they were going to be writing about and kept them interested and on task.