Example 1: Identifying Theme in Literature
Lesson Plan
Example of Timeline (Module 3):
Lesson Plan
- Audience: English Language Arts
- Grade Level: 7th
- Concept(s): Identifying and Understanding Literary Theme
- Essential Question: What is the lesson Gary Soto wants readers to learn when reading his poem “Oranges” and why does Soto think is a significant lesson?
- Students will research the life of Gary Soto and create a timeline that includes at least 6 major events.
- Students will read and discuss the poem “Oranges” by Gar Soto in order to determine the theme of the poem.
- Students will collaboratively create a video explaining the theme of the poem/significance of the theme, using evidence from the poem/Soto’s life to support their claim
- Bell Ringer Activity: Students will discuss with their A/B partner a time when they had to make a sacrifice. After 5 minutes, students will be selected at random to share what they said or their partner said about a time that they had to make a sacrifice.
- Students will watch a short video introducing Gary Soto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ur2xdN-Wlc. After watching the video students will discuss the following questions:
- Did Soto excel in school?
- What was Soto scared of?
- What steps did Soto take in order to become a writer?
- Students will independently research Gary Soto’s life and create a timeline using readwritethink.org. The timeline must include at least 6 major events, 4 images, and one sentence describing each event.
- Bell Ringer: Discuss with your A/B partner something interesting that you learned about Gary Soto. After 5 minutes, randomly select students to share what they said or their partner discussed about Soto.
- 1st read: Students will silently read the poem “Oranges” as they read they are to annotate the story identifying any areas, words or phrases that are new, interesting, or thought provoking.
- 2nd read: Students will listen to the poem being read. As they listen, they will look for information that identifies the topic of the poem. After they have finished reading, they will compare their annotations with their A/B partner and modify their annotations as they see fit. Students will ‘whip around’ share what they found.
- Whole class discussion: Are there parts of the poem that make us think this poem is based on Soto’s real life?
- Exit Ticket: Students will write 2-3 sentences explaining what the topic is and why they think it is the topic.
- Bell Ringer: Students will work with their A/B partner to define the word theme and use a real life example to support their response.
- Students will watch the video on theme and take notes on how to identify theme. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGoFbCwDcmk (Module 4)
- Students will implement the three steps to identify theme using the poem “Oranges”. Students work in groups of four, but they will each do their own work. Before moving onto the next step students must show/discuss what they believe the theme is with their instructor.
- Students will go back into the poem, find three pieces of key evidence to support their claim, use the graphic organizer on Padlet to organize the textual evidence, and expand on their claim. Students will create their OWN Padlet, but they will have an example provided to them. Their padlet must include at least one image that represents their theme. Students will continue to work in groups of four, but they will produce individual work.
- Bell Ringer: Students will watch a tutorial on how to create a video using PowToons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzf10hpmK1U
- Students will work in groups of two. One of the partners has to be from the small group they worked in the previous day. Using Powtoons they will create a video that explain what the theme of the poem “Oranges” by Gary Soto is. In the video, they must include 3 pieces of textual evidence that support their claim and relate the theme to something Soto experienced in his real life. Their video must have at minimum 6 slides. Each slide must contain at least 1 image and enough text to sufficiently explain/support their claim. Some form of audio must be used during the video. Once the video is complete, students are to share their link with their instructor.
- Assessment(s): monitoring partner, small group, whole group discussions, exit ticket, Padlet graphic organizer, Powtoon video
- Guided Practice Activities: Close Read, Partner/Whole Group Discussion,
- Independent Practice Activities: Annotate, Close Read, Identify Theme, Organize Textual Evidence, Powtoon Creation
- Assessment(s): monitoring partner, small group, whole group discussions, exit ticket, Padlet graphic organizer, Powtoon video
- Guided Practice Activities: Close Read, Partner/Whole Group Discussion,
- Independent Practice Activities: Annotate, Close Read, Identify Theme, Organize Textual Evidence, Powtoon Creation
Example of Timeline (Module 3):
| gary_soto_timeline.pdf |
Lesson Rationale:
I am using the poem “Oranges” by Gary Soto to teach students about theme and how to identify it in literature. The tools that I used for this lesson are YouTube, ReadWriteThink Timeline Creator, Padlet, and Powtoon. The lesson on theme and how to identify it in literature takes about 5 days to complete in an ideal classroom setting, but realistically about 6 or 7 depending on how comfortable students are using technology and are grasping the concept. I choose to upload my instruction videos onto YouTube because students can access them anytime. This ensures that if a student does not understand the steps to identifying theme the first time, they can go back and watch the video at their own pace. This is especially important because many of my students are English Language Learners and perform better when visuals are provided and can be accessed at will. Students can also use the site ss.youtube.com to download those videos in order to view them even when they do not have internet access. The ReadWriteThink Timeline Creator is simple and easy to use, which for this activity is preferred because I really want to students to focus on learning about Gary Soto’s life as opposed to learning how to use the timeline creator. I also appreciate that there is a limited amount of space on the timeline because it forces the students to be selective about what events significantly shaped Soto’s life; students will not fill the timeline with frivolous information. Having something visual to refer to when thinking about Soto’s life and how it shows up in the poem will make it easier to determine if his life experiences are parallel to the poem. I decided to use Padlet to help students organize their textual evidence and connect their findings to the theme because having them create their own graphic organizer instead of filling out a handout gives them ownership over their work. At this level, students are most engaged when creating something. Padlet transforms this portion of the lesson from a ‘boring’ assignment into an opportunity for artistry. They can upload images, change the background, add links, etc… For the same reason, I choose to have students create a Powtoon video as the summative assessment for this lesson. Powtoon may take students slightly more time to understand than the other tools, but once students understand how to use it they are fully engaged. Moving away from the usual pen to paper assignment gives their mind a chance to experience the information in a new light and when this happens, they start to understand the poem from a new perspective. It activates a part of their brain otherwise left dormant. When you are dealing with poetry, you want students to have their creative side engaged because it becomes easier to see the poem from the poet’s perspective. Furthermore, once the Powtoon is created it is something they can shared with me, as well as their peers. Students can receive immediate feedback from their peers, which taps into their desire for instant gratification. Instead of taking a week to have their teacher grade a paper, they can show their video to as many people as they like to hear both positive and constructive criticism. The tools that this lesson include are things that the students will be able to use in any of their classes. Therefore integrating them into this lesson will have long-term benefits because the next time they have a project in their History or Math class they can move away from the poster board and closer to technology.
I am using the poem “Oranges” by Gary Soto to teach students about theme and how to identify it in literature. The tools that I used for this lesson are YouTube, ReadWriteThink Timeline Creator, Padlet, and Powtoon. The lesson on theme and how to identify it in literature takes about 5 days to complete in an ideal classroom setting, but realistically about 6 or 7 depending on how comfortable students are using technology and are grasping the concept. I choose to upload my instruction videos onto YouTube because students can access them anytime. This ensures that if a student does not understand the steps to identifying theme the first time, they can go back and watch the video at their own pace. This is especially important because many of my students are English Language Learners and perform better when visuals are provided and can be accessed at will. Students can also use the site ss.youtube.com to download those videos in order to view them even when they do not have internet access. The ReadWriteThink Timeline Creator is simple and easy to use, which for this activity is preferred because I really want to students to focus on learning about Gary Soto’s life as opposed to learning how to use the timeline creator. I also appreciate that there is a limited amount of space on the timeline because it forces the students to be selective about what events significantly shaped Soto’s life; students will not fill the timeline with frivolous information. Having something visual to refer to when thinking about Soto’s life and how it shows up in the poem will make it easier to determine if his life experiences are parallel to the poem. I decided to use Padlet to help students organize their textual evidence and connect their findings to the theme because having them create their own graphic organizer instead of filling out a handout gives them ownership over their work. At this level, students are most engaged when creating something. Padlet transforms this portion of the lesson from a ‘boring’ assignment into an opportunity for artistry. They can upload images, change the background, add links, etc… For the same reason, I choose to have students create a Powtoon video as the summative assessment for this lesson. Powtoon may take students slightly more time to understand than the other tools, but once students understand how to use it they are fully engaged. Moving away from the usual pen to paper assignment gives their mind a chance to experience the information in a new light and when this happens, they start to understand the poem from a new perspective. It activates a part of their brain otherwise left dormant. When you are dealing with poetry, you want students to have their creative side engaged because it becomes easier to see the poem from the poet’s perspective. Furthermore, once the Powtoon is created it is something they can shared with me, as well as their peers. Students can receive immediate feedback from their peers, which taps into their desire for instant gratification. Instead of taking a week to have their teacher grade a paper, they can show their video to as many people as they like to hear both positive and constructive criticism. The tools that this lesson include are things that the students will be able to use in any of their classes. Therefore integrating them into this lesson will have long-term benefits because the next time they have a project in their History or Math class they can move away from the poster board and closer to technology.
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