Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Grade Level/Subject: 3rd/English/

Central Focus: Students will be developing their
Language Arts
comprehension skills by determining the main idea in a
given text.
Essential Standard/Common Core Objective: R.L.3.1 Ask and
Date submitted: 3/7/15
answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text,
Date taught: 3/10/15
referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
Daily Lesson Objective: Students will be able to explain the main idea of their individualized daily
reading text during the IDR conference. This assessment will be completed independently with
the teacher. The student must explain the important ideas in the story using evidence from the
text in their answers to earn a check +(full credit); a check (partial credit) would indicate a vague
response with some supporting evidence in their answer all, and no credit would be given if
response does not include evidence and is incorrect.
21st Century Skills: Critical Thinking Academic Language Demand (Language Function and
and problem solving to make
Vocabulary):
judgments and decisions will be
used as students interpret
Explain: Students will explain the main idea using
information in the text and draw
important details in a given text.
conclusions based on the readings.
Main idea, important, details
Communication and collaboration
skills will be used in the
Students will be using reading, writing, and speaking skills
assessment and collaboration with
throughout this lesson.
others will be used as well in the
partner activities in this lesson.
Prior Knowledge: Students must have previously read pages 1-20 in the story Keepers by Jeri
Watts and Felicia Marshall. Students must be able to understand the context of the story that
they are reading.
Activity
1. Focus and Review

Description of Activities and Setting

Today we will discuss what we read yesterday in the first part
of Keepers. I want you to turn and talk to your partner and
discuss something important that happened in the first part of
the story. The teacher will ask If you dont understand your
partner, what are some questions you can ask to help you
understand what he/she is saying? Have two or three students
share their thinking with the class. Students can ask their
partner questions like can you tell me more about that? What
did you mean when you said? Can you give me an example
of what you mean? Then ask students, what is something
that happened in the first part of the story that you think is
important? Why do you think that is important? Have
students think-pair-share to discuss this question and have a

Time
5 min

few students share their ideas with the class.

2. Statement of
Objective
for Student

3. Teacher Input

4. Guided Practice

Explain to students that you will read the rest of the story
today. Tell students, while I am reading the story, listen for
important things that happen in the rest of the story. We will
use this as practice to explain the main idea in a given part in
a story and you can use this strategy as you find the main
idea in your own book during IDR (individualized daily
reading).
Reread the passage from Keepers on page 13 aloud. Tell
students, there were many important points made on this
page, one detail that I found to be important is that we
discovered that keepers keep stories and legends until they
pass it along to the next keeper. Ask students, what are some
other important details mentioned in the text on this page?
Allow students to share their thinking, then share other
important details (unless students already stated these
answers): Little Dolly is a keeper and she does not know who
will be the next Keeper, Kenyon wants to be a keeper, Little
Dolly wants the keeper to be a girl. These are some of the
important details of this part in the story; using these
examples I can explain what the main idea is in this part of
the story. The main idea or the most important part of this
passage is that Little Dolly is the keeper of the stories for now,
but she does not know who to pass the keeper of the stories
on to.
The teacher will read pages 20-32 of Keepers aloud, showing
illustrations and stopping periodically throughout the story.
Stop after page 27 The stories. That was it. He could give her
something. Then ask students to think-pair-share, what do
you think Kenyon is going to give her? Have a few pairs share
their ideas with the class. Reread the last page and continue
reading to the end of the book. Facilitate a discussion about
how the characters changed in the story and ask the following
questions, How does Kenyon change in the story? How does
Little Dolly change in the story? After students share their
answers, the teacher will then ask students about the main
idea in this section of the story. As students respond, the
teacher can scaffold as necessary. Then the teacher will ask,
how does the title of this story Keepers relate to the main
idea of the entire story? The teacher will allow students to
respond and scaffold them in the direction of the correct
answer.

1-2 min

5-7 min

10-15
min

Have students read independently for up to 30 minutes. Tell

students to record a few notes regarding important
details/main idea in their story as they are reading. At the end
5. Independent
of the independent reading, have partners share important
30 min
Practice
messages or ideas they inferred from their reading. The
teacher will walk around and listen to each pair and observe
the details that they noted in their journals.
After students have read their story, the teacher will use the IDR
6. Assessment
Conference Notes record sheet to conduct and document individual
Methods of
conferences. Students must explain important ideas/aspects of the part
all
that they have read in their book using the main idea strategy. Focus on
objectives/skills:
questions 1, 3, and 5 from IDR Conference Notes in this assessment.
Relate the concept of the book Keepers with people who keep
stories about their family/culture and pass them on from one
generation to the next. Ask students to share a story that has
7. Closure
3-5 min
been passed down to them. Then have students who did not
share briefly describe the main idea of the story about their
classmates family/culture.
8. Assessment
I completed the IDR conference sheet with four students. Three of these
Results of
students were able to obtain full credit while the other student obtained
all
partial credit due to the lack of details about the main idea of their story
objectives/skills:
in their answer.
Targeted Students
Student/Small Group
Modifications/Accommodations:
Modifications/Accommodations:
For hearing impaired students, I will allow
For students struggling to comprehend the text
them to sit in the front during the read
and find the main idea, I will make sure that their
aloud to ensure they can hear the book
individualized daily reading text is on their
more easily. For ELL students, I can pause
instructional level by having them read a short
during the reading and explain a term or
passage to me as I ask them comprehension
saying that may be confusing in the text to
questions. I will also gather the group and conduct
help them comprehend the story.
a mini-lesson with these students regarding
identifying important details to find the main idea
in a passage.
Materials/Technology:
Keepers, Student Response Book, IDR journal section
References:
Making meaning (2nd ed., Vol. 2). (2008). Oakland, California: Developmental Studies Center.
Watts, J., & Marshall, F. (1997). Keepers. New York: Lee & Low Books.

Reflection on lesson:
I learned so much from my experience in teaching a whole group reading lesson. I discovered
how much planning goes into teaching and executing a lesson plan efficiently. Although this
lesson had many successes, it was challenging for me to turn the scripted lesson that I was given
into a direct instruction lesson plan. My CT teaches literacy through a making meaning teachers

manual textbook. Each lesson builds off of the last; so I had to not only keep the content and
structure of the given lesson, but I had to modify and adapt it to incorporate a teacher input
section. The lessons from the making meaning book are geared towards balanced literacy. I liked
the idea of incorporating multiple English/Language Arts standards into my lesson, but it was
challenging for me to only choose one focus for the lesson when the questions I was required to
ask incorporated multiple comprehension skills at once. I really enjoyed reading the book
Keepers aloud to the kids. One thing that I would have liked to change would be implementing a
more efficient way of pausing at the right point in the story to ask questions. I should have
placed post-it notes on the pages where a question should be asked because I kept losing track
of where I should stop to ask a question while I was reading a story. Another instructional
strategy that I used during the story was the think-pair-share response from the students when
they were directed to answer a question. Reflecting back on my lesson, I dont think that this was
the best strategy to use because it was difficult for me to ensure the students were actually
discussing their thoughts to their partners. The students were very chatty and often times
conversed about other things besides the questions that were asked. I think this problem could
have been solved if students were instructed to write down their thoughts on a post-it note in
their journal first, and then share with a partner what they wrote about. The highlight of my
lesson involved conferring with students about their IDR texts. The IDR conference sheet helped
me determine whether or not students were able to comprehend the main idea or recall
important details within their books. Having the opportunity to complete mini-conferences with
students was a great learning experience for me. I have a better understanding now of
realistically how long a conference takes in addition to how many students one can confer with
during a 30 minute timeframe. Overall, I would say that teaching this literacy lesson has given
me a greater amount of confidence in teaching comprehension standards within the ELA
Common Core curriculum.

CT signature/confirmation_______________________________________ Date:
___________________
*Document used in assessment on next page