Eric Rosenthal SCED 694 Internship II Professor Moos Sample Lesson Plan and Reflection 1

Crime and Punishment: What’s fair?

Grade Level: 7 Number of students: 12 Time: 80 minutes Topic: This lesson is a pre-reading lesson for the Greek myth: Prometheus. The lesson is

designed to prepare students for the reading of the myth and to activate schemata related to

the major themes of the myth. Rationale: Themes present in Greek mythology still resonate with us today and the reading of

mythology provides an ideal structure to investigate some major questions that humans have

pondered since the dawn of civilization. Prometheus-The Fire Bringer investigates the

justifications of crime and punishment, evaluates what is right and wrong and explores the

notion of sacrificing for the greater good. These are ideals that students my class are frequently

faced with and an investigation will serve to clarify their opinions and deepen their

understandings of the concepts. It is especially important for students to understand that their

ideas can and will change as they develop. In this lesson, students will evaluate various

statements related to these themes and have an opportunity to present their opinions to

partners and later, to the class at large. Students are expected to attempt to clarify their

opinions and will be prompted to do so by the teacher during the discussion. The purpose of

the mini-grammar lesson which covers coordinating conjunctions and the decoding of

vocabulary containing Greek and Latin roots is for students to have explicit instruction in areas

that are often difficult for ELLs. Clear instruction will be given to the student on how and when

to use appropriate coordinating conjunctions in speaking and writing. Since this skill is

necessary in so many facets of expressive communication, it will aid students when they

compose original sentences using newly acquired vocabulary later in the lesson. Knowledge of

Greek and Latin roots is important for students when they encounter unknown vocabulary and

will aid them throughout their reading of Prometheus. The vocabulary hunt activity presents

numerous effective strategies for decoding and remembering unknown vocabulary. When

trying to decode the meaning of new vocabulary, students are prompted to utilize context clues

in example sentences to ascertain meaning. Students are asked to create their own visual

representations of the vocabulary which aids in their understanding and retention of new

vocabulary. Finally students produce original sentences attempting to use the vocabulary

correctly and will be guided to the proper usage. The strength of this activity is the variety of

vocabulary learning strategies that it includes. Prior Knowledge: Students have been studying myths for the past two weeks. They are familiar

with the Orpheus and Icarus myths. Students have brainstormed and discussed common

themes that are often present in mythology, such as Gods/Goddesses, tragedy, explanations of

natural phenomena, creation stories, magical creatures and magical powers. Some of the

students are more familiar with Greek/Roman mythology than others but most have

demonstrated an understanding of these major themes and purposes of mythology.

Furthermore, the value survey in this lesson is worded generally to make sure that students are

able to connect with the statements and draw on some experience that will inform their

judgments. For example, one statement is “All punishments are fair”. I can reasonably venture

to say that nearly all students are familiar with the concepts of punishment and fairness but

what I want to know is whether they agree that all punishments are fair. In this sense, the

major activity of this lesson serves to draw out student’s opinions which are formed from their

prior knowledge to help them evaluate their validity. The content of the lesson appeals to

student’s imaginations because I will be intentionally questioning them in a manner that makes

them imagine a situation where there opinion about a statement might change. For example,

when discussing the statement “Stealing is wrong” I am going pose a situation where one might

be forced to steal in order to provide for their starving family. I will attempt to elicit from the

students, situations that will challenge their beliefs about a particular statement. Pre-Class Assignments: Students have two homework assignments due for this lesson that are

not related specifically to myths. They are vocabulary and grammar development components

that the cooperating teacher has implemented as a mini lesson at the start of each block.

Today the students will hand in a packet of exercises related to five Greek/Latin roots and a

grammar exercise on subject/verb identification.

Seating Arrangement: The students will sit in 4 rows of 3 students. Throughout the lesson there

will be a combination of teacher to individual student interaction, student to student

interaction and pair to teacher interaction. Because I am still learning about individual student’s

abilities, the cooperating teacher will be assisting in seating developing students with more able

peers so that students will have opportunities to learn from one another.

New Jersey Core Standards:

Language:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 7 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.4.B Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., belligerent, bellicose, rebel).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases; gather vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

Speaking and Listening

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Behavioral Objectives Assessments

To activate student’s prior knowledge and During student discussion the teacher will

values related to the themes of the Greek listen for student’s opinions and connections Myth Prometheus; specifically: justice,

with prior experiences or knowledge.

fairness, punishment and human

development.

To determine or clarify the meaning of The teacher will monitor student’s progress unknown and multiple-meaning words using a while determining the meaning of the range of strategies. vocabulary and it will be assessed when as

homework assignment.

To determine or clarify the meaning of The Greek/Latin root homework packet will be unknown and multiple meaning words using collected and assessed one week after this

knowledge of Greek/Latin roots. block.

To engage in a collaborative discussion as During student discussion the teacher will group and to express ideas clearly and listen for the clarity of student’s explanations effectively. of their opinions.

Big Ideas: In Prometheus we see an example of a person rebelling against authority to serve the greater good. Prometheus, however, acted impulsively and paid an immense price for the gift he gave to mankind. Zeus may have punished Prometheus unfairly, but his law was clearly set out and Prometheus transgressed. The concepts of rebellion, sacrifice and fairness are ones that middle school students are wrestling with on a day to day basis. We are able to explore these concepts with a close reading of the Prometheus myth. Students will be able to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts, their consequences and their own personal perspectives through a multi-layered investigation of this myth. Essential Questions: How does this myth explore the idea of rebelling against authority? Does Prometheus think before he acts? What can we learn from this myth about acting on impulse? Are punishments always fair? Why or why not? Materials: Whiteboard, markers and erasers, computer, power point presentation, handouts, opinion statement markers (posted around the room). Pre-Class Assignments/ Prior Knowledge:

Students have been studying myths for the past two weeks. They are familiar with the

Orpheus and Icarus myths. Students have brainstormed and discussed common themes that

are often present in mythology, such as Gods/Goddesses, tragedy, explanations of natural

phenomena, creation stories, magical creatures and magical powers.

Students have two homework assignments due for this lesson that are not related specifically

to myths. They are vocabulary and grammar development components that the cooperating

teacher has implemented as a mini lesson at the start of each block. Today the students will

hand in a packet of exercises related to five Greek/Latin roots and a grammar exercise on

subject/verb identification.

Lesson Beginning: (5 minutes)

The teacher will greet the class and collect their homework. (5 minutes) Main Body of the Lesson:

1. Mini-grammar lesson– The teacher will direct the student’s attention to the front of the room to view a presentation. The presentation is a mini-grammar lesson on compound sentences and coordinating conjunctions. The students will review independent clauses and the teacher will elicit various responses from the students. Students will be introduced to the acronym FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so) which is a good way to remember coordinating conjunctions. After the mini-grammar component, the teacher will review the week’s upcoming Greek/Latin roots homework assignment. The teacher will post three sentences on the screen that contain a similar root. Students will guess the common root and guess the meaning of the roots in Greek or Latin. There are five roots that are covered in the presentation and these are the five that will be explored in the week’s homework packet. 15-20 minutes

2. Prometheus Preparation Activity # 1: Value Judgments –Students will complete a value

judgment survey with seven statements that relate to themes of next myth that the students will read. The teacher will inform the students that they will not be informed of the title of the myth just yet. Students will read each statement and decide to what

extent they agree or disagree with the statement. The teacher will be careful to explain that there isn’t a right or wrong response but that students should be prepared to share their viewpoints and give reasons for their position. Prior to the exercise the teacher will clarify the meaning of the words ignorant and harshly. Students will be given 4-5 minutes to complete the survey before sharing their opinions with the person sitting directly next to them for 3-4 minutes. After each student has had an opportunity to finish the survey and speak briefly with their partner, the teacher will give further directions. The teacher will read each statement and students will move to the section of the room corresponding to their opinion on the particular statement. Posted in each corner of the room will be number that correlates with a degree of agreement (1-Strongly agree2- Somewhat Agree 3- Somewhat Disagree 4- Strongly Disagree). The teacher will take a moment or two for each statement to discuss student’s reasons for their opinions. Throughout the duration of the activity the teacher will elicit a response from each student in the class. (30 minutes in total)

3. Vocabulary Hunt – The teacher will inform the students that before reading Prometheus,

there are some vocabulary words that should be clarified first. Students are given a blank

vocabulary template and informed how to participate in the activity with the person

sitting next to them. The teacher will put the directions for the activity on the white board

(via Power Point) and have the students read them before receiving the vocabulary

packet. The directions are as follow:

a. Read the vocabulary words and count the syllables. Write the vocabulary word

and syllables on your paper. The teacher will monitor students during this step and

clarify pronunciation.

b. Describe each picture.

c. Read the example sentences.

d. Match the words to the pictures. Write the definition on your paper.

e. Draw a picture for each word.

f. Create a sentence for each word. Try to be creative! The teacher will monitor and check to see the students perform the activity correctly. At the

end of the activity the teacher will review the definitions with the class and elicit original

sentences. This will be finished during class but there is a homework assignment on the back in

which students are required to write a paragraph with a central idea using the new

vocabulary. 30 minutes

Closure Activity:

For the final activity, the teacher will act out a charade of the new vocabulary words

and vocabulary from the previous two myths and students will have to guess the appropriate

word. The teacher will also close the lesson with a review of the due dates for the homework

assignments. (5 minutes) Homework:

On the back of their vocabulary sheet students are required to write a paragraph with a central idea using the new vocabulary. It is due for the class meeting block.

Teaching Reflection

To begin with I’d like to say that I’m generally satisfied with the planning of this lesson

and its execution. I’m still learning a lot about the school, the classes and the content for this

course but I found this lesson to be a quality, possibly a little safe, start. Although I am a

student teacher, I am not new to teaching. Going into the lesson I felt reasonably comfortable

and a little anxious. I know that when I teach a lesson there will be aspects that work well and

aspects that need improvement. The students are primarily Vietnamese English Language

Learners. Many of them have been studying in an International School all of their lives so the

exhibit English fluency. Aside from the learning objectives for this lesson, my personal goals

were to establish rapport with my students and to give clear, concise directions.

I’ll look first at some of the areas that I overlooked when planning this lesson. I was

quite excited to include two pre reading activities originally. I wanted to have a student survey

and walk around discussion as well as a story box writing activity to predict the contents of our

next reading. What I didn’t expect, and learned while teaching the first block of the day, was

that I needed more than 80 minutes to properly run through these activities. So I changed the

plan after the first block and spent a little extra time on all three of the learning activities

described above. The result was a more relaxed, manageable lesson. I simply rearranged the

next lesson plan to include the story box writing activity and reading of Prometheus.

Another area that I overlooked when planning the lesson was how explicitly I needed to

direct students that they would be asked to share their opinions about the value judgment

statements. Students were generally willing to express themselves, and some were very

enthusiastic, but others were reluctant to speak before the group. As a scaffold, I told reluctant

students that I would be asking their opinion in a few moments and to prepare their thoughts

while another student shared his/her ideas. This worked fairly well but some of the students

simply echoed the ideas of more confident speakers in the classroom. The next time I do an

activity like this I am going to be clearer about my expectations for participation and emphasize

that students should prepare themselves to speak briefly about the topic.

I think that the strength of this lesson was its focus on the students and their own

ideas/prior experiences. This was a good opportunity for me, while I am still new in the

classroom, to get better acquainted with the students, their learning styles and personalities.

For the value survey, I purposely tried to include a range of statements that would evoke strong

feelings and a few others that would challenge students to think critically. For example “All

punishments are fair” is the type of statement that is obviously difficult to agree with. This is

true especially for middle school aged students who are often the recipients of punishments

they may not believe are fair. On the other hand, “Fire is the most important human discovery”

requires an engagement with prior knowledge across science and social studies domains and

opens up solid debate. This question lead to a good discussion in the observed lesson and I was

excited to see the students engage in the debate. During the lesson I made an adjustment

which I thought was helpful for the shy students in the room. After completing the survey, I

asked them to share their ideas with a partner before the class wide discussion. This gave

students a chance to vocalize their ideas in a relatively safe (private) setting before being put

on the spot in front of the entire group.

There are two reasons that I felt this was a ‘safe’ lesson. Firstly, I followed the same

format that my cooperating teacher uses. She starts each lesson with a mini-grammar

component followed by the main lesson. I liked this style and I wanted the students to

experience consistency throughout their language arts class experience so I did not deviate

from this. Secondly, I used my cooperating teacher’s ‘vocabulary hunt’ with a sight

modification. In my cooperating teacher’s version of this activity, students walk around the

room finding pictures, vocabulary words, meanings and sample sentences. It is literally a hunt

for meaning. In my version, I printed packets for pairs of students to work on at their desks. I

did this because the previous activity, the value survey required students to move about the

classroom and I wanted to give them a chance to settle back into their seats for the vocabulary

hunt. This was a safe approach because I had already observed it working well when my

cooperating teacher used it with her classes. One thing I did to differentiate instruction was to

post the procedure of the vocabulary hunt on the board via power point so that students who

had difficulty listening to the directions or remembering them could have a visual reminder.

This was effective as I had to remind students to follow the steps simply by asking them if they

had completed a particular step. After looking through their work I’m going to spend more

time clarifying the meaning of the vocabulary directly to the whole class. The students

produced accurate work but some of them failed to fully use the new words correctly. In the

future I might give a few more example sentences or elicit particular sentences from students

who are confident with their work to help students who are unclear.

I’m thankful that my cooperating teacher is very organized and clear with her

methods because it gives me a good idea about how to manage a grade 7 ELA class. Prior to

starting my internship I had plenty of ideas about what to teach and activities to accomplish

learning objectives but this is my first experience seeing it put into practice. It is very

beneficial for me and ‘demystifies’ teaching ELA at the middle school level for me.

Overall, I feel that I’ve established an introductory rapport with many students and

have some knowledge of them to work with in the future. I think that this lesson served to

educate me about the student’s learning preferences and abilities and to see a few areas

where I need work on. I’m going to give a bit more consideration to the length of my activities

and give more thought to support that shy students will require for classroom discussions.

aptitude natural ability

infinitely extremely; greatly

vengeance the infliction of punishment in return for an

offense

ignorance lacking in knowledge or training;

unlearned

His ignorance of computers made it hard to get work done.

She has a special aptitude for mathematics.

Smart phones are infinitely more advanced than original cell

phones.

After the dog’s attack, the cat took its vengeance.

Prometheus, the Fire bringer

Directions: Read the statement and decide whether you agree or disagree with it.

1- Strongly agree 2- Somewhat Agree 3- Somewhat Disagree 4- Strongly Disagree

1. All punishments are fair. 1 2 3 4

2. Stealing is always wrong. 1 2 3 4

3. Zeus is a fair god. 1 2 3 4

4. I would be angry if my friend stole my Christmas present.

1 2 3 4

5. Fire is the most important human discovery. 1 2 3 4

6. Thieves should be punished very harshly. 1 2 3 4

7. It is better to be dumb and happy than smart and sad. 1 2 3 4

Prometheus, the Fire Bringer

Vocabulary

Below is a list of common suffixed derived from Latin, along with their meanings. Record at least two words that use each suffix.

1. – graph, meaning “something written or drawn” ________________________________________________

2. - meter, meaning “measuring device” ________________________________________________________

3. - ous, meaning “full of, having” _____________________________________________________________

4. -nomy, meaning “law” ____________________________________________________________________

5. -logy, meaning “study of, story” _____________________________________________________________

Vocabulary Word Short Definition Picture An original sentence

Summarizing a Myth Note from Your Reading

Title

Author

Main Characters

Conflict

Main Events

Resolution

Summary (20 - 25 words)

Make a Judgment: Is Zeus fair to Prometheus? Explain.

STOP at page 648. Based on the conversation between the two gods, what aspect of the natural world do you think this myth will explain? Make a prediction.

Look at the picture on page 649. Record at least 3 observations about the picture. Make an interpretation. What do you think this means? Details:

Interpretation:

Your Choice -- draw a scene from any part of the story. Write a short description of that scene.

Make a connection. Even though Prometheus tried to help mankind, he received a cruel punishment from Zeus. Do this remind you of another story, or an event in your own life?

Prometheus means ‘foresight’ in Greek. Foresight is the ability to predict what will happen in the future. What does the title of this myth tell us about its message?

Relate this to something that has happened to one of you or another story.

How does this myth explore the idea of rebelling against authority?

Relate this to something that has happened to one of you or another story.

“Do you THINK before you act?” Imagine you could ask Prometheus this question. Write the answer you think he would give on the basis of his experiences. Relate this to something that has happened to one of you or another story.

Create a dialog between Zeus and Prometheus after Zeus finds out what Prometheus did. Base your dialog on what you know about their relationship from the text.

Relate this to something that has happened to one of you or another story.