Elementary Education Lesson Plan Template

Student Name: Courtney Goodloe

Grade Level: 1st
School and Mentor Teacher Name: Venable - Mrs. Hunter
Date of Lesson Enactment: 2/25
Will your university supervisor observe this lesson? No
Topic: Reading Group (M)
Required for 4881 - Rationale: (Why are you teaching these objectives? Why did you select the
instructional strategies that you did?)
-

Reading structure and graphic organizer are part of a larger biography unit that students
are already studying.

Enduring Understandings: (What big idea(s) will students understand as a result of this
lesson?)
Effective readers use strategies to construct meaning from the texts they read.
People of the past made important contributions to the present.
Essential Questions: (What question(s) will students grapple with as they learn through this
lesson?)
How do I collect and organize information from non-fiction texts?
Why are people from the past important?
Primary Content Objectives:
Students will know: (facts/information)
-

Helen Keller made significant contributions to the blind/deaf community by overcoming

challenges to learn language and communication skills.
Biographies provide factual information about an important persons life.

Non-fiction texts are a reliable source of information.

Students will be able to do: (skills and behaviors)

-

Collect, organize and record information about Helen Kellers life.

Identify important contributions of Helen Keller.
State a purpose for reading non-fiction texts.

Related state or national standards: (Examples include State Standards of Learning, Common
Core State Standards, Next Generation Science Standards or National Curriculum Standards for
Social Studies)
VA History SOL 2.11 The student will identify George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Susan B.
Anthony, Helen Keller, Jackie Robinson, and Martin Luther King, Jr., as Americans whose
contributions improved the lives of other Americans.
VA English SOL 1.10 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of
nonfiction texts. c) Set a purpose for reading.
Assessment: (How (and when) will students be assessed? What evidence will you collect to
determine whether students have met the lesson objectives? Will the assessment(s) be a preassessment (diagnostic), formative (ongoing feedback) or summative?)
-

Formative: Questioning before reading

o Ask Do you know what a biography is?
o Ask Why do we read books about people? What famous people have you been
reading about lately?
o Ask Do you know who Helen Keller is? Do you know why she is important?
Formative: Questioning during reading
Summative: Graphic Organizer after reading
o Gathers facts from the book refers back to the text
o Organizes at least two other facts about Helen Keller on graphic organizer
o Describes an important contribution from reading about Helen Keller

Materials and Resources: (List here all materials that you will need in order to successfully
teach this lesson. Include technology and website links, texts, graphic organizers, student
handouts, physical manipulatives, etc.)
-

Helen Keller: Courage in the Dark

Biography Graphic Organizer
Students should bring their pencil

Key Vocabulary and Definitions:

-

Biography: A book about a famous persons life

Braille: raised dot patterns that stand for letters of the alphabet refer to back page
of the book that shows the Braille alphabet
Insisted: someone demands that something has to happen
Typewriter: the old version of a computer it allowed people to type stories
Determined: when you really want something to happen
charge of electricity: she was passionate, excited and hardworking

Lesson Procedures:
1. Introduction and goal orientation:
- Students will be sitting at their desks after morning meeting. I will call the two students
in my group to the rug or kidney bean table, depending on what is available. I will ask
them to bring their pencil with them when they come. I will have the books and
biography graphic organizer with me.
- Teacher will remind students to sit in a comfortable position to read. Teacher will provide
students with the book (Helen Keller: Courage in the Dark by Johanna Hurwitz) and
biography graphic organizer.
- Teacher says You all have been reading about important people. Today we will read
another biography story. After we are done reading, we are going to fill out another
graphic organizer to help us remember what we learn from reading our book.
2. Connecting to prior knowledge and experiences: (Questions or activities that help
students make links)
- Do you know anyone who is deaf or blind? How do you think they communicate
differently than you?
- We are going to read about Helen Keller, who is a woman who was deaf and blind. I bet
not being able to hear and see made it difficult for her, but she had teachers, friends and
family who helped her overcome those challenges. What do you already know about
Helen Keller?
- I want you to look for new facts about Helen Keller that you learn while reading. You
can read silently or aloud. I will stop you at a few places to ask you questions about what
you are reading. At the end, we will fill out our biography sheet so that we can remember
all of the new information we learned about Helen Keller.
3. Tasks and activities: (What challenging tasks and activities will students engage in as
they construct knowledge, learn new skills or behaviors and develop understandings?)
- Before: So we know that biographies are stories about a famous persons life, so what do
you think we might learn about Helen Keller by reading her biography? Students may
respond that we will learn about what she did or why she is famous. There is an
interesting illustration on the front cover. After looking at it, what do you think our book
might be about? Students may respond that it is about a water fountain or about Helen
Keller feeling the water. Before we start reading, there are a few words that you need to

understand to be able to read this book. Ask students if they know what Braille, insisted,
typewriter, and determined mean. If students understand, move on to the next word. If
students are unfamiliar with the word, provide the student-friendly definition. Show them
the word in the text, explaining its meaning in context.
- During:
o Page 10/11 Predict the role of Annie
o Page 16 What does it mean to teach Helen to understand words?
o Page 20/21 How do you think the water experience changed Helens life? Do
you think this was an important event in her life? What do you think happens
next?
o Page 25 Have you ever seen braille anywhere?
o Page 33 Did you think Helen would be able to go to college? Why or why not?
o Page 40 What do you think it means that she was like a charge of electricity?
- After: What new information did you learn about Helen Keller? Why do you think
someone wanted to write a biography about Helen Keller? We are going to fill out our
graphic organizer with the most important facts about her life! You can use this later to
write a story about Helen Keller.
4. Closure: (How will you wrap up the lesson and reinforce key ideas? Closure may include
some form of assessment or exit slip)
- After: Guide students through biography graphic organizer.
o Teacher says, Please write your name at the top of your graphic organizer first.
Next, fill in Helen Keller for the name of the person that we read about. Use your
book to find three important facts about Helen Keller. Then, think about one
lesson that you can learn from Helen Keller. Record that in the bottom boxed
titled lessons we can learn.
o Encourage students to refer back to the book while they find facts about Helen
Keller. If they are not referring back to the book, instruct them to write the page
number of the information from the book in the box along with their fact about
Helen Keller.
o Ask students to share their lessons learned section.
o Please put your graphic organizer in the completed work bin. Return to your seat
quietly to finish your writing and word work.
Accommodations for individual differences: (How will the lesson be differentiated to support
diverse learners? Describe additional supports that can be used for re-teaching if needed, and a
challenging extension for students for demonstrate mastery quickly or show evidence of a lot of
prior knowledge.)
-

This lesson is for the M+ reading group, which is reading above grade level with
proficiency, so these students can read silently or aloud.
The graphic organizer has less structure because these students can handle the higher
cognitive load of reading and considering the content in a more abstract form.

The entire class is reading non-fiction biographies of famous people, but this groups
book is matched to their reading ability in structure and length.

Behavioral and organizational strategies: (What behaviors will you model or discuss with
students? What do you want to remember about organizing the lesson and materials? Use this
section for reminders to yourself about behavioral and organizational strategies. For example, do
you want to explicitly model how to work with partners in this lesson? Or demonstrate how to
use mathematical tools?)
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Call students over to reading time once they are quietly seated.
Ask students to bring their pencil with them to reading time.
Remind students to sit in a comfortable position to read.
Print biography graphic organizers before class.
Add sticky notes to text where teacher asks questions during reading.