Millicent Atkins School of Education: Common Lesson Plan Template

Teacher Candidate Name: Hailey Latham

Grade Level: 3rd grade
Subject: Language Arts
Date: 3/7/2021
PLANNING
List the Common Core/State Standard(s) to be addressed in this lesson.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions
contribute to the sequence of events.

List the Rationale (cite theories or theorists):

Benjamin Bloom created what is known as Bloom’s Taxonomy. Bloom’s Taxonomy follows a hierarchical
model that demonstrates different levels of understanding. Each set contains a new learning objective for the
student. Bloom’s Taxonomy focuses on the importance of moving beyond the basics of remembering and
understanding, but instead furthering their knowledge through critical thinking. Through this process
students can go from remembering to understanding, from applying to analyzing, and from evaluating to
creating. It is crucial that students are not just memorizing facts, but instead drawing their own connections.
Students should also be able to use their imagination and create something based off of what they have
learned. When lessons consist of a healthy balance between the building blocks of Bloom’s Taxonomy the
student will gain more from it.
List the learning objective(s) to be addressed in this lesson (specific, measurable, attainable, timebound).
Use the following format: “Students will be able to…”

 Students will be able to complete a graphic organizer describing the characters and sequence of
events (beginning, middle, and end) in the book “The Chocolate Touch.”

Describe how the learning objective(s) and the learning outcomes is/are appropriate for the
age/developmental level of the students.

Students at the 3rd grade level must be able to discuss the sequence of events in a narrative in relation to the
characters traits, motivations, and feelings. The students have primarily focused on character traits and how
the characters respond to major events in earlier grades. Learning how to compare the characters to the
sequence of events in a narrative is the next step in their learning development.

Describe the Classroom Demographics: (e.g., ethnicities; gender ratios; special needs, including those of
gifted students, those of students’ physical needs, and those due to cultural characteristics).
10 girls
6 boys
5 students who have an IEP who go to another classroom for Language Arts
Describe your Knowledge of Students: (in terms of the whole class and individual students)
(e.g., language needs; approaches to learning; prior learning and experiences; academic
proficiencies/behavioral differences; areas of interest).
The students are eager to participate and seem to be very involved in class activities most of the time. The 5
students who have an IEP go to another classroom to complete their work, so I do not get a lot of time with
them. Two students who do not have IEPs get off track very easily and sit in the back of the class, so it is
harder to notice. 3 girls in the front finish their work a lot quicker than the other students and are eager to
help once they are finished. A few students consistently raise their hand to answer questions, which may
intimidate other students who are quieter but still know the answer.

List the materials/resources you will need to teach the lesson.

The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling

The Chocolate Touch graphic organizer (in post-assessment)
No More Tears short story

Create cards with lines from the “No More Tears” short story
Poster with beginning, middle, and end definitions on it

Technology
Describe the instructional and/or assistive technology that you plan to incorporate into the lesson and explain how it
will enhance instruction and student learning.

No technology

Accommodations: Base this on the information you provided for Classroom Demographics and
Knowledge of Students above.
Describe the accommodations/differentiation/modifications you will use to meet the needs of all learners
and accommodate differences in students’ learning, culture, language, etc. *

 I will ensure that I am walking around during the lesson to make sure that the students who get off
task easier are still paying attention and following along.
 For the students who finish quickly I will give them a side task or ask them to help other students so
that they do not lose interest
 I will make sure that the more outgoing students still give a chance to the quieter students to answer
questions.
 I will remind the students who continue to answer questions that they should wait to see if other
students will answer before them.
 The students who have an IEP read a different book than The Chocolate Touch, so they will not
participate in this lesson plan.

Pre-Assessment: Describe the instrument or process you will use to measure students’ level of
understanding toward the learning objective(s) prior to teaching the lesson.

The students will fill out an entrance slip with the following questions:
1. What does “sequence of events” mean?
2. What does “character trait” mean?
3. How does John Midas’ character traits contribute to the sequence of events of the story?

Pre-Assessment: Describe how the results of the pre-assessment (what the students have demonstrated they
know) will be used to design the lesson objectives, instruction, and post-assessment. (Include charts, graphs
if applicable)

Pre-Assessment

12

10

0
Question 1 Question
Right 2
Wrong Question 3
The students demonstrated that they know a lot about character traits, so I will not spend a lot of time going
over that. I will ask a quick review question such as “Can anyone tell me what a character trait is?” The
students did not know a lot about event sequencing, which is what I figured would happen. I will spend most
of the lesson instructing what comes in the beginning, middle, and end of a story. When doing the chocolate
touch graphic organizer, the students will be able to see how John’s character traits contributed to the
sequence of events in the story.

Classroom Management
Identify the management and motivational strategies you will use to meet student behavioral/developmental needs in
order to keep students on task and actively engaged throughout the lesson.

I will make sure that I am asking questions that will keep the students engaged. The class already has a
number of cues to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to. Such as “The first thing I do is
always the same…” and the kids respond, “I pick up my pencil and I write my name.” I will also make sure
I ask questions in an interesting way to get them excited and involved, such as asking a question I know are
wrong so that they are quick to correct me. I will walk around why they are working so that the students will
not get off topic.

Implementation
“I Do”
(Teacher introduces lesson and models expected outcome(s) of learning objectives)
Describe what instructional strategies you will use to model/explain/demonstrate the knowledge and skills
required of the objective.
1. The goal of this lesson is to teach the students the meaning of “sequence of events” I will mainly
focus on important events in the beginning, middle, and end.
2. Hand out the pretest prior to the lesson and go over their answers before teaching the lesson.
3. Start by asking “Does anyone have an idea what sequence of events means?”
4. After they respond (or don’t respond) say “The definition of sequence of events is the events in a
story in order from first to last. Or in simpler terms what happens in the beginning, middle, and last
of the story.”
5. Write the word “Beginning” on the board
6. State that the beginning of a story typically introduces the character, their traits, and the setting.
7. State that the character’s traits may change throughout the course of the story.
8. Also make note that the setting may not be directly given and that sometimes you have to use context
clues to find the setting.
9. Write “Middle” on the board.
10. State that in the middle of the story the problem is introduced.
11. State that what is happening to the characters also goes under the middle column
12. Remind them how the middle directly relates to the beginning because the characters are being
affected and the setting plays a role
13. Write “End” on the board
14. State that in the end the problem is solved (also known as the solution).
15. Say that we will also talk about what happens at the very end of the book in this section as well.
16. Ask if all parts make sense to the class.
17. Erase the board and place the “beginning, middle, and end” poster that was created prior to class on
the board
18. Say “I am going to read a short story that has a slightly similar theme to the book we have been
reading “The Chocolate Touch.”’
19. Pass out the story and tell them not to read it yet.
 20. Say “The short story is titled “No More Tears” follow along silently as I read it out loud.”
21. Read the story out loud.
22. Move on to “We Do.”

“We Do”
(Teacher engages students in guided practice)
Describe the learning activities you will use to provide students multiple opportunities to practice the skills and
content needed to meet the learning objective(s).
1. Say “Now we are going to practice event sequencing as a class using the story “No More Tears.”’
2. Say “I have already cut out lines from the story and we are going to try and guess if they belong in
the beginning, middle, or end section.”
3. Say “I will ask for volunteers to come up and try and place the line next to the correct section.”
4. Pick up one piece of paper with the text (in materials) and read it aloud.
5. Say “Would anyone like to try and place this in the right spot?”
6. After a student volunteers invite them to the front of the classroom and have them place the line in
the right spot with a magnet.
7. Ask the class if they think the line is in the right spot.
8. If the student does not place it in the right spot, ask where the class thinks it goes.
9. Kindly explain why it goes in that spot instead of the other spot.
10. Repeat steps 4-8 for each premade card.
11. Move onto “I Do”

“You Do”
(Students engage in independent practice)
Describe what the students will do to independently practice the knowledge and skills required by the lesson
objectives?

1. Introduce the graphic organizer by saying “Now that we know so much about event sequencing, we
are all going to try doing it on our own with the book we just finished “The Chocolate Touch.”
2. Tell the students that they will fill out each box.
3. They will answer the two questions in each category in two sentences.
4. The students will then draw a picture representing each box (beginning, middle, and end)
5. Walk around and help as needed.
6. When all the students are finished with their drawings and sentences bring their attention back to the
front
7. Tell the students that they are going to share what they have written down.
8. Ask for volunteers for each box.
9. Students can also share their drawings if they volunteer to do so.
10. Move on to lesson closing.

Lesson Closing
Describe how you will reemphasize the lesson objective(s) and any skills/content that were taught in an
interactive manner (whole/small group, etc.).

When the students are finished with their graphic organizers there is a section for them to complete a short
summary from beginning, middle, and end. I will provide them with sentence starters for their summary so
that they can see the important part in each sequence of events.
Post-Assessment: APPENDIX: Include a blank copy of the lesson post-assessment you will use to measure
students’ level of understanding toward the learning objectives after teaching the lesson.

Analyze
Post Assessment: Based on the results of the Pre and Post-Assessment, to what extent did students achieve the
learning goals/objective of the lesson? Cite examples from the lesson plan, assessments, and/or video.
If applicable, insert a table/chart/graph before your explanation.
 Class Average

22%

78%

Pre-Assessment Post-Assessment

All of the students did extremely well on the graphic organizer and filled out all the boxes correctly. They
were able to relate the beginning, middle, and end to one another. They were also able to state the order in
which the events happened in the book “The Chocolate Touch.” Each student was also able to state how
John Midas’s character traits contributed to the events that took place in the story. Every student completed
the graphic organizer on time, which was the objective of the lesson.

Reflect
Reflect on your instructional strategies, interactions with students, and classroom management strategies. Describe
what went well and what areas you need to revise in the future. Cite examples (from video) that support your
conclusions.
Describe revisions that you could make if you were to teach this lesson again. Why would you make each revision?
Cite examples from the lesson plan, video and/or student work that would prompt revisions.

I had the opportunity to teach my lesson twice. The original lesson I created did not involve the “We Do”
part that this lesson has. I instead went through and asked the students where they could find the beginning,
middle, and end in “No More Tears.” This seemed very boring while I was teaching it, and there was too
much of me writing, and not enough engagement from the students. I did the same with he “Chocolate
Touch” graphic organizer. I asked questions and they would write down the answers. I felt that this was a
horrible way to gauge if they actually learned what event sequencing is. I also did not have them draw a
picture for each section. I added this because I felt that after learning and writing it would be nice to be able
to create something. The original video I had was very boring and the children did not seem involved. I
decided that I would use the same concept but completely change how I taught it.

The second time around the new students seemed extremely engaged and had fun with the “We Do” part of
the lesson. I also think they enjoyed drawing the pictures and then sharing them with their classmates. I saw
a lot more smiles teaching the lesson the second time. All of the students answered each section correctly,
besides one student who was absent throughout the whole reading of “The Chocolate Touch” so I feel like
the lesson did a good job teaching them about the beginning, middle, and end.

If I was to reteach this lesson, I would make the poster in front of the class, instead of writing on the board
and then putting the poster up. It did not make a lot of sense looking back at it. I also would not ask the class
if they think their classmate put the story line in the right spot. I feel like it would be better coming from me
if the student was wrong, and I felt bad looking back at the video when two of the students had it wrong. I
would also change the pre-test for the lesson to be something that went more along the lines of the graphic
organizer. I probably would change the questions to “What is John’s character trait?”, “What happens in the
middle?”, “What happens at the end?” to get an understanding if they know to talk about the problem and
how the problem is solved.