Context:

Course name: EDIS 5400

Grade level: 7th grade
Length of lesson: 70 minutes
Description of setting, students, and curriculum—and any other important contextual
characteristics
7th grade, Language Arts classroom. 23 students. Arranged in two columns in rows of threes.
The students will be starting a new Unit on Reading Strategies. While many of them have
already learned about it in previous years, and have encountered them in previous Units, I will be
specifically teaching a few mini-lessons throughout the Unit to reinforce their knowledge about
Reading Strategies. This lesson is going to be the first lesson taught in a series lessons on
different reading strategies. Students have previously learned about different reading strategies,
so the will be expected to draw off of prior knowledge during today’s lesson.

Objectives (KUD format)

Understand:
1. Students will understand that making predictions about a text requires activating their
prior knowledge and drawing conclusions based on information supplied by the author.
2. Students will understand that activating their prior knowledge on a certain topic will
enhance their comprehension of the text.
3. Students will know that they can have unique interpretations of a text, but that as they
read, this interpretation will change.

Know:
Students will know that they can have unique interpretations of a text, but that as they read, this
interpretation will change.
1. Students will know how to activate prior knowledge by use of anticipation reading
guides.
2. Students will know what the difference between an inference and a prediction is.

Do:
1. Students will be able to use textual features to make predictions by using textual features
and enhance comprehension.
2. Students will be able to make inferences and draw conclusions based on explicit and
implicit information.

SOL’s:

7.5 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of fictional texts, narrative
nonfiction, and poetry.
 e) Make, confirm, and revise predictions.
 f) Use prior and background knowledge as a context for new learning.
 g) Make inferences and draw conclusions based on the text.

7.6 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of nonfiction texts.
 a) Use prior and background knowledge as a context for new learning.
 d) Draw conclusions and make inferences on explicit and implied information.
CCS’s:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1
Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Methods of Assessment:
[How will you know if the intended learning occurred?] Describe all methods of assessment used
in this lesson or which are related to this lesson and come in a future lesson (use the sentence
stems provided). After each assessment, indicate in brackets the number(s) of the related lesson
objectives that the assessment is evaluating.

Diagnostic: Students will demonstrate what they already know by…

 Observations/Mini-lessons/Group workshops
o Students will demonstrate what they already know about reading strategies…???
by having participated in many group workshop activities previously, as well
having had mini-lessons on reading strategies in previous lessons in this unit and
throughout the year. The students will have equally had individualized
conferences with myself and I will have taken notes on their reading abilities and
habits. Having had one-on-one time with each students has allowed me to tailor
this lesson to the recurring needs of the students. (7.5 f. 7.6 a.)

Formative: Students will show their progress toward today's objectives by...
 Group Discussion Feedback
o Student will show their progress towards today’s objectives by The students will
be working in groups for the last 10 minutes of class. I will be spending a couple
minutes with each group listening to them answer the final prompt on their
anticipation reading guide, and giving them feedback on their answers. This will
give me a chance to evaluate their ability to describe their process before, during
and after reading. (7.5 e. 7.6 d)
 Exit Slip
Students will show their progress towards being able to make inferences and predictions, the the
lesson’s objectives by being able to actively describe their reading process on the exit slip that
will be turned in at the end of class. They will have to discuss the differences between what they
thought when making the predictions, and after having read the text. This will help me assess if
they understood what they did in class, were able to describe their personal process and will be
able to reproduce it on their own time. (7.5 e. g. 7.6 d, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1 )

Summative: Students will ultimately be assessed (today or in a future lesson) on these standards
by...
 Reading Log/Journal
Students will ultimately be assessed on these standards at the end of the unit by turning in their
Reading Log. This will consist of them turning in their completed SSR books in which they will
have monitored their reading throughout the book using sticky notes. They will have placed one
sticky note on the cover of the book with a prediction based on the title and book cover. Then at
the beginning of each chapter the students will have made predictions on their sticky notes on
what they think will happen, and at the end of the chapter they have a sticky with what happened
compared to what they were expecting to happen. Finally, at the end of the novel I will be
expecting a brief summary (it can be in the form of a sticky note) on what happened and if this in
line with what they had predicted. (7.5 e. f. g. 7.6 a. d, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.1)

Materials Needed:
Appendix A: Do Now
Appendix B: The Dancing Plague of 1518
Appendix C: Anticipation Reading Guide
Appendix D: Exit Slip

Procedures/Instructional Strategies
Each step should have bolded heading that identifies the activity, and then is followed by the
teacher scripting, student and teacher actions, and a description of the activity.
[Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students appear in italics.]

Beginning Room Arrangement:

Students will be expected to come in and sit at their assigned seats, like they do everyday. There
will be nothing different for this lesson in terms of seating and students will naturally go where
they always go.The seats are arranged in two columns with four rows of three seats. This is set
up so that they always have an elbow partner to work with, and can easily turn around to talk to
the person behind them for larger group assignments.

1. [_5__mins.] Welcome/greeting/announcements (Clay and Kim)

As students enter the room for their first period of the day, I will be greeting them, giving them a
few minutes to get settled and catch up with their friends after the weekend. I will have already
put the hook on their “Do Now” (See Appendix A—or whatever appendix this do now is
present)on the board and will give them directions on what to do after I greet them as a whole
class.
Hi y’all. How is everyone doing this morning? Did everyone have a good weekend? Before we
get started with today’s lesson, I would love to hear what some of y’all did this weekend if
anyone wants to share. (I’ll give them 2 minutes to share what they did this weekend) Thanks for
sharing y’all, we are now going to start our lesson with a “Do Now”for today. I’m really excited
because we are going to be working on reading strategies, which will help you all become better
and more confident readers. Let’s get started.

2. [_15_mins.] Hook to lesson/ Do Now (Clay)

Alright y’all, I want to take a second to look at what we are going to be doing today. How many
of y’all have looked at a book’s cover and thought “no way am I reading that?” How many of
y’all have read the summary on the back of a book and immediately put the book down and
decided to not give it a chance? Most of us, right? Now, how many of you actually think about
the action of actually “judging the book by its cover” or predicting what the book is going to be
about? No one does, right? That’s because it seems like such a natural, almost automatic thing
to do for us readers. Yet, it is so important for our growth as readers to think about all of the
reading strategies that guide us through our reading. That is why, Today I want us to think
about the things we do before we even begin reading a book, and what we do during our
reading. In order to start thinking about this, for our “Do Now” I would like us to take a look at
the image that is projected on the board make inferences on the image that I projected on the
board (See Appendix A). This image is related to a text we will be reading later. Before I start
the timer for 4 minutes. The first thing we are going to do using this image, is we are going to
make inferences, can anyone tell me what an inference is?
(Here I will give students about 2 minutes to think and respond to my question. Students have
been learning about predictions in previous grades, so this should not be a completely unfamiliar
notion to them.)
Those were some great definitions of what an inference is. I am going to go ahead and write the
definition up on board for y’all to refer back to during our lesson today. Does anyone have any
last minute more questions? Alright, I’m going to setting the timer for 4 minutes, take your time
looking at the image and try to come up with as many inferences about the picture as you can.
You may begin.
(As the students work, on their “Do Now” I will be walking around the room, monitoring the
student's progress and making sure that they are all able to complete their work. I will be helping
out the students that have difficulty with making inferences, but because there is no reading
involved there should be no issues in terms of comprehension. This should activate their prior
knowledge, especially considering they just finished a unit in history on Medieval times, and the
“Dark Ages”, yet for the students that may need a little more differentiation, I plan on stopping
by their desks and checking in one-on-one with them about this activity. Depending on how they
are doing, I will ask them more specific questions about the image such as “What does this
image make you think of?”, “What do you think these people are doing?”, “Do you think this is a
modern picture, or not?”. This is an accessible exercise to all of the students.)
Ok y’all, just go ahead and finish that thought and put your pencils down. What did everyone
think of that exercise? I know I’m looking forward to hearing what everyone’s inferences are.
Before we come back together as a whole class, I would like for y’all, in your groups of three, to
go ahead and take 3 minutes to share what you came up with. Does anyone want to share the
inferences they made about the image on the board? Remember, there are no right or wrong
answers here because we are just making inferences what is going on in the image . (I will give
the students 35 minutes to share their inferences. While they discuss, I will be circulating the
room to make sure they are staying on task.) and what they came up with while doing their “Do
Now”.)
Does anyone want to share the inferences they made about the image on the board? Remember,
there are no right or wrong answers here because we are just making inferences what is going
on in the image. Great job, I am so impressed by all these inferences. I think y’all are going to
like the next part of the lesson as we build off of what we just observed.

3. [_30_mins.] Mini-lesson on Predictions and Group Practice

Now that we have warmed up a little and have started thinking about inferencing and how to do
it, can anyone tell me what a prediction is? (Give students about 2 minutes to respond, chose a
couple of volunteers to answer.) As I call on you to give me your definition, I’m going to write
them down on the board so that we can all have it as a reference during our next exercise. Those
are some great definitions. So now that we all know what an inference and a prediction is, can
one person quickly sum up the difference between the two? (Give the students another 2 minutes
to brainstorm and answer the question. As the class just worked on an inferencing activity and
defined both terms, this should be very quick and I will choose one or two volunteers to describe
the differences.) Again, as I call on you to answer, I’m going to jot the answers down on the
board.
Wonderful, so now that everyone knows what inferences and predictions are, and how the two
differ, we are going to go ahead and start the next part of our activity. Everyone ready? Alright,
we are going to practice making predictions based on a short text that I am going to hand out. I
am also going to hand out a reading guide that will help you keep track of your predictions
before, during and after your reading. (See Appendix B) Can I have two volunteers to help me
pass out the handouts? Thanks y’all. Does everyone have a handout and a reading guide?
Perfect. So for this first activity I want everyone to take a look at the handout that you just
received. You’ll see that there is the image from you “Do Now”y’all made inferences about, as
well as a title. This is the title of the text you are about to read. Can anyone read the title out
loud for me? (Here I will call on one student to read aloud.) Does everyone understand the title?
Can anyone explain it to us briefly? (I will call on one person to briefly explain the title. This
will provide extra scaffolding for the students that need it or have comprehension difficulties
when reading.)
Alright, using the inferences you made in your previous exercise and the title of the text you are
about to read, I want everyone to take 5 minutes to make predictions on what the text could be
about. I want everyone to write the predictions on you reading guide, in the column that says
“What I thought before I read the text.” Please don’t peek ahead at the next page, it’ll take the
fun out of our whole activity. Does anyone have any questions before I set the timer? Alright let’s
get started!

(Kim takes over)

(While the students are working I will be circulating the room, keeping everyone focused and on
task. For the students that need differentiated teaching, I will be stopping by their desks to make
sure that they are able to get through this part of the lesson. I will be making sure that the
explanation was understood by all of them.)
Ok everyone that’s the time. Go ahead and finish that thought and we can all get together to
discuss the predictions you made. Does anyone want to go ahead and share what they came up
with? (I’m going to take about 5 minutes to let students share their answers. I am going to have
them do a class discussion for this one, because there is going to be a group activity for the next
part of the lesson, and I want the students to stay focused on the task as a whole class. If they do
too much group discussion, I worry that some students that require more attention may get off
task, and I would like to minimize that.) Great job y’all. I’m impressed, those are some great
predictions and I hope this has gotten you all excited or at least curious to read the whole text.
Now, I want y’all to turn to the text, and I am going to read it aloud going to give you 10 minutes
to read the text. While I am reading, I want everyone to be following along, if it helps you, you
can jot down some notes, but I really want y’all to listen and pay attention to the text. (Here I
will read the text aloud.) Alright, does anyone have any questions about the text? (I will give the
students about 5 minutes to ask questions, I am not anticipating too many content questions,
mainly just some vocabulary clarifications. There are definitions provided for some of the
tougher words, but some students may need some additional help.)
First I want y’all to just read the text. Don’t take any notes just take to time to take in the
information you are being provided by the text. Now, for this second part, I want you to go ahead
and go back and read the text a second time and complete the second part of your anticipation
reading guide. The column is called “What is the text about? What did I learn?” Does anyone
have any questions? Alright, I’m setting the time for 10 minutes, you may begin.
(While the students are reading I will be circulating the room to help the students with
comprehension if needed. The text is fairly short and simple. For the vocabulary words I
believed to be a little more challenging, I included footnotes with the definitions of these
words.)

4. [ 15 mins] Group Practice (Kim)

Alright everyone, wrap up that last thought, we are about to come back together to discuss our
discoveries. This text wasn’t really what you were expecting, was it? I know I was pretty
surprised when I found out what it really was about. So now instead of sharing your findings
with the whole class, we are going to get into our table groups. I want everyone in their groups
to discuss what they discovered the text really was about. Then I want y’all to fill out the last
column of the reading guide called “How was the reading different from my predictions?” You
will have about 10 minutes to discuss before we wrap this class up. Any questions before we
begin? Alright, let’s start.
(I will set the timer for 10 minutes, and once again be circulating the room. In this exercise
though, I will be spending about 2 minutes with each group and take notes on the student’s
findings. This will give me an opportunity to briefly assess if the students understood the reading
strategy and are able to describe their thought process to their peers. I will be giving each group
brief feedback based on their answers.)
Times up y’all, but as I was walking around I got to hear some great answers from each group. I
can tell that y’all really thought about what happens in your heads while you read and I’m
looking forward to seeing y’all put that into practice in your personal reading lives.
Alright before we wrap up I’m going to have y’all complete a brief Exit Slip (See Appendix D).

4. [_5__mins] Closure: (Clay and Kim)

Can I have one students pass out the notecards while I write the Exit Slip prompt on the board?
Thank you! Alright, you have about 3 minutes to complete this. I want everyone to answer the
prompt “How can I apply inferencing, prediction and reflection to my personal reading?” When
you are done you may pack up and turn the Exit Slip in on my desk. Don’t forget to put your
names on it! Great job today and have a wonderful rest of your day!

Differentiated Instruction to accommodate one or more of my profiled students:

One of the ways in which I attempted to accommodate all of the different students is by making
sure that I took plenty of time to define the prompts and all of the specific reading strategies that
we were going to be learning. I wanted all of the students to be able to understand as much as
possible what was being asked of them. I equally made sure the text was short and readable to all
students. I equally defined all the vocabulary words that could be challenging for students. The
bulk of the differentiation will also take place when I circulate the room, as students work
individually this will give me an opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with the students
that are having difficulty working through the prompt or comprehending the text. I will be able
to conduct mini-conferences with those students to touch base with where they are and how
much more additional scaffolding I will need to provide them after this lesson is done, before
they are able to implement this reading strategy on their own.
For the student that is identified as having behavioral issues, he is seated at the front of the class,
with his desk closest to mine. I will be keeping a close on him as I teach and monitoring his
behavior. We have had many discussions during which I told him he could walk around the class
silently, without disrupting the students if need be, and he could fidget, as long as it doesn’t
impede on his learning or his peer’s learning. It various points during the lesson, I will be
stopping by his desk to make sure he is focused and on task, and if he acts up, I will make sure to
have a discussion with him, after having given the other students directions on what to do next.
Finally, for the three students that struggle with comprehension, I will be writing important
details on the board, the text has footnotes with definitions, and I will be closely monitoring their
work, by checking in individually with the students throughout the lesson. The students are very
comfortable telling me when they do not understand, so I will always be giving the class
opportunities to ask questions and ask for help.

How this lesson incorporates specific insights from course readings and/or class discussion:
My lesson plan incorporates reading strategies from the Beers reading, mostly because while
reading I was so drawn to the pre-reading strategies. I particularly thought that the anticipation
guide was a great tool to teach students how to apply predictions to their readings. I also
incorporated Beers during and after reading strategies, having the students continue to make
predictions and alter them throughout their reading, as well as reflecting on how their predictions
matched up with what they actually read.

Technology Use:
Overhead projector: To project the “Do Now”inferencing “Hook” image on the board.

Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers,

handouts, etc.)
Appendix A
Appendix B

The Dancing Plague of 1518

For no apparent reason, she just started to dance.

In July of 1518, in full view of her neighbors, Frau Troffea began to violently dance in the streets
of the city of Strasbourg, France. There was no music and her face betrayed no expression of joy.
She appeared unable to stop herself from her frenzy.

Had this remained an isolated[1] incident, the city elders may have put it down to madness or
demonic possession, but soon after Troffea began her dancing, a neighbor joined in. And then
another.

By the end of a week more than 30 people were dancing night and day on the streets of the city.
And it didn’t stop there. By the time a month had passed, at least 400 citizens of Strasbourg were
swept up in the phenomenon[2].

Medical and civic authorities were called in once some of the dancers began dying from heart
attacks, exhaustion, or strokes. For some inexplicable[3] reason, these men believed that the cure
for the dancing was more dancing, so they erected a wooden stage for the dancers and musicians
were called in.

This all sounds like some archaic[4] bit of folklore, but the dancing plague of 1518 is clearly
chronicled[5] in medical, civic, and religious notes of the time. Modern researchers pour over
those notes to develop theories as to what caused this bizarre incident.

One of those theories postulates[6] that the dancers were the victims of mass hysteria[7]:
instances when more than one person believes they are afflicted[8] by an identical malady[9]—
often during times of extreme stress within the affected community. The Strasbourg incident
occurred during a time of rampant[10] famine and malnutrition[11] and subsequent deaths. But
400 people? A well-known recent incident generally seen as an example of mass hysteria is
1962’s “The Tanganyika Laughter Epidemic” which affected only 95 people.

A second theory is in the realm of agriculture. The condition called Ergotism occurs when
grains of rye are attacked by a specific mold. Eating the infected rye can lead to seizures,
although the movements of Strasbourg’s afflicted looked much more like traditional dancing
than seizures of any sort.
A final school of thought states that the dancing was in result of some kind of religious
ecstasy[12] caused by veneration[13] of Saint Vitus, the patron saint of epilepsy.
None of the theories completely explain the 1518 dancing. Bit by bit the dancers stopped, and the
dancing would end as mysteriously as it began.

[1] Isolated: far away from other places or people; remote

[2] Phenomenon: a fact or question whose explanation is in question or a mystery
[3] Inexplicable: unable to be explained
[4] archaic: very old or old fashioned
[5] chronicle: to record in a factual or detailed way
[6] postulates: to suggest or assume
[7] mass hysteria: collective fear
[8] afflicted: to cause pain of suffering
[9] malady: an illness or disease
[10] rampant: spreading unstopped
[11] malnutrition: lack of proper nutrition caused by lack of food, or proper food
[12] ecstasy: an overwhelming feeling of great happiness
[13] veneration: great respect; worship
Appendix C:
Anticipation Reading Guide
What I thought before I What is the text about? How was the reading different
read the text... What did I learn? from my predictions?
Appendix D
Exit slip: How can I apply inferencing, prediction and reflection to my
personal reading?