Lesson Plan Template: EDIS 5400 & 4882

Context:
Course name: Honors English 9
Grade level: 9th
Length of lesson: 35 minutes
Students: 26 9th grade honors students, one of which has an IEP.

Current unit: Students have been working their way through the beginning portion of The
Odyssey, and have thus far mostly been processing information through written
response and peer talk. This lesson is designed to get them questioning the text and
engaging with one another as they near the beginning of the middle portion of the book.

Objectives (KUD format)

SWBAT:
Know:
K1. Students will know the procedures and expectations for a fishbowl discussion
K2. Students will know elements of active listening and participation (making eye contact, building on
the ideas of others, waiting to speak)

Understand:
U3. Students will understand that discussion is a way to deepen their understanding about a topic

Do:
D4. Students will be able to participate actively in a fishbowl
D5. Students will be able to transition between stages quickly and efficiently

SOL’s:

Methods of Assessment:

1. Fishbowl Discussion (K1, K2, D4, D5)

1. Students will show their progress towards active engagement in discussion by
participating in a fishbowl discussion.
2. Criteria: eye contact with group members, contributing individual ideas, building on
the ideas of others, taking notes on content discussed and observations about
discussion strategies.
3. Feedback: provided verbally throughout the process as well as during the debrief
afterwards
2. Reflection (U3, K2, D5)
1. Students will show their progress towards understanding that discussion is a way to
deepen understanding by completing a self and group reflection after the completion of
the discussion
2. Criteria: they will rate them self on their involvement and use of the strategies listed
above. They will reflect on things they did well and areas they can improve, as well as
their understanding of the process as a whole.

Procedures/Instructional Strategies

Beginning Room Arrangement: Room is arranged in usual setup. 3 tables of 4 students

each, 12 individual desks.

[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted in the plan]

1. [2 mins.] Intro/Setup to lesson

Alright, so now that we’ve worked with the content of Book 8 in our character
paragraphs, we’re going to wrap those up and shift our focus over to talking about the
events, themes, and big ideas we seen in Book 8. In order to do this, we’ll be trying out
something new. Raise your hand if you’ve participated in a fishbowl discussion before
[Pause for raised hands] Okay, so some of you, but not very many. It’s a great way to
ease into larger group discussions, and we’ll be using it as a way to look at and practice
good skills of discussion and active listening, as well as a way for all our voices to be
heard. The idea is that we will have a small “fishbowl” circle in the middle that will do the
discussing and the rest of the class will form a larger circle on the outside to peer in and
observe the fishbowl.

2. [6 mins.] Overview of Process

The way this is going to work in here, and please listen very closely, because in order for
it to work with a class this size in the time we have left, everyone has to really do their
part to help things run smoothly. Okay, so the way it will work is we will have 6 people in
the inner circle at a time. Each group will be in the circle for a total of five minutes. It’s a
short amount of time, so don’t worry too much, but it’s also long enough for everyone to
contribute something.

There are specific expectations for being in the inner and outer circles: when you are
inside the fishbowl, I’ll be looking for evidence of active listening [Projected on board,
established earlier in the year] and engagement with the discussion process. When
you’re on the outside of the circle, you’ll be taking notes and staying absolutely silent.
We have to stay quiet to show respect for those in the middle, and also because the air
conditioning is really loud, and we want to be bale to hear everyone. Make sure your
notes are on a piece of paper you can rip out, because I’ll be collecting them at the end.
Go ahead and draw a t-chart on your paper. Label one side with “Notes” and one side
with “Observations.” Make sure you’re paying attention to both what is being said and
how people are going about the discussion.

You all wrote down discussion questions at the beginning of class, and you’ll be getting
a chance to see your questions answered during this process. You’ll be drawing
questions at random, but I’ve gone through all of them already and as long as you read
Book 8 you should have plenty of background info to answer each of the questions.

What questions do you have about this process before we transition? [Pause for
questions. Possible questions include: clarification on procedure, does everyone have to
go in the middle/ (yes), What if I don’t have anything to say (do your best to build on what
others have said and incorporate your ideas), etc.]

3. [2 mins.] Transition to Fishbowl

Alright, please wait to move until I’ve explained exactly how this transition is going to
work. Sam and Nora, your desks will scoot together, Mac and Wyatt yours will turn
sideways, and Nina and Ellen yours will turn around backwards. The rest of the seat
around the tables will move out to form a large circle that fills the open space up at the
front and back in the corner. If you’re sitting in one of the middle desks, please go ahead
and move your backpacks to the edge of the room so that we can all move easily.
Remember that we’ve been working on our transition speed and efficiency—show me
that you can do this quickly! Anyone can take the first six spots in the fishbowl, but if we
have empty chairs I’ll be pulling at random.

4. [20 mins.] Fishbowl Rotations

[Once students are in position, I will offer the basket of questions to be drawn from and
start the 5-minute timer on the board. Students in the circle will discuss the question on
the paper until everyone has spoken or it tapers off. When this happens I will already be
in position to offer another question to another student. This will continue until the 5
minutes is up. When the timer goes off, I will remind students about the expectations for
switching places and instruct the students in the middle to take the seat of someone who
has not yet been in the middle. This will repeat until all students have spent 5 minutes
inside the fishbowl. In a class of 24, it takes 20 min.]

6. [6 mins.] Debrief

Alright, that’s our last round of fishbowl! We did it! Go ahead and move the desks back
into their regular spots, turn in your notes, and be ready to talk about this process in 1
minute and 30 seconds. Go!
Okay, not that we’re all settled, what did you all observe during that discussion process?
[Likely responses include:

people did a nice job of building on other ideas, making eye contact, and not talking over
each other.

Materials Needed (list):

· Student written questions
· Basket for drawing questions
· Expectations for fishbowl
· LCD projector

Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers,

handouts, etc.)

Appendix A: Fishbowl Slides