Indiana Wesleyan University

Elementary Education Lesson Plan

Emily Gerycz

Unit Big Idea

Life is a team sport: the individual matters to the group.
Students have been exploring this concept of—Life is a team sport: the individual matters to the group. Collaboration and
empowerment have played major roles in this unit. Each lesson has encouraged all students, from outgoing ones to others
who try to slide under the radar, that their presence matters. In this lesson, students will take what they have learned to
empower someone “on their team,” whether that be someone in their class, on their sports team, in their family… It is the
students turn to take the empowerment they have been impacted by in this unit and extend it to someone they appreciate.

LESSON RATIONALE
Through writing, students are able to communicate their opinions, thoughts, and ideas. It is a communication tool that
extends across disciplines and is an essential skill outside of the classroom walls. In addition, students must learn to write
in a way that keeps their audience engaged. Using rich language is one effective way to engage the reader and clearly
communicate a message. When language is dull, the meaning of the writing loses some of its power; however, rich
language captivates the reader to feel as though they are using their senses to experience exactly what is being described.
In this lesson, students will use rich and powerful word choice to empower someone “on their team” in life.

READINESS
I.Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s)—Students will use rich word choice to describe someone.
B. Objective(s)—Using the form of a letter, newspaper article, or speech, students will use descriptive word choice
to write to encourage someone in close relation to them.
C. Standard: 5.W.4- Apply the writing process to generate a draft by developing, selecting and organizing ideas
relevant to topic, purpose, and genre; revise to improve writing, using appropriate reference materials (e.g.,
quality of ideas, organization, sentence fluency, word choice); and edit writing for format and standard English
conventions.
II. Management Plan-
 Time
o Big Idea/Anticipatory Set- 5 minutes
o Mini-lesson- 20 minutes
o Writing- 30 minutes
o Sharing- 5 minutes
 Space
o For the anticipatory set and mini-lesson, the students will be sitting at their assigned desk. For the
writing portion, students will find a place in the room that is comfortable for them to write. I will
conference with students at the kidney table.
 Materials
o Packs of crayons for anticipatory set
o Come on Rain by Karen Hesse
o My writing sample- newspaper article
o Writing journals
 Behavior
o Students are expected to be engaged and active participants in the lesson. They are expected to ask and
answer questions, and listen intently during whole group instruction time. When writing, students
should find a place in the room where they can work on-task. If I have to talk to students about off-task
behavior, they will receive a verbal warning and be at risk of me moving their location in the room. If
the behavior continues, the student will lose a Dojo point for every time I talk to them. Students who
remain on-task will receive a Dojo point at the end of the lesson.

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

III. Adaptation to Individual Differences and Diverse Learners— Brody and Kalissa are two students with learning
disabilities that have difficulty writing in complete sentences. For these two students, I will give them outlines of the
structure of the form of writing they choose. This way, they can focus on the writing themselves without worrying
about the structure of it. During writing conferences, I will also ask them to talk about some of the qualities of the
individual that they are writing about. I will write some of these qualities as they talk about them. When conferences
are over, I will give the students the paper with what they talked about so they can reference it in their writing.

1 Revision Date: October, 2018

 Finally, I will give the two students a paper of possible sentence starters. All of these adaptations would help remove
barriers, and help me assess what the students are actually being tasked to do: write with rich word choice.

IV.Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)

o Mini-lesson (Whole Group)
 Big Idea Connection- “We have been working on this idea of ‘Life is a team sport: the individual
matters to the group.’ We’ve been discovering how we are an essential part of the groups we’re
in and learning how others are essential parts of the groups they’re in. Today, I’m really excited,
because we’re going to talk about some of the people that are on your team in life.”
 Anticipatory Set- “One of my good friends, who I consider someone on my team in life, is an
artist. She is making me a picture as long as I provide my own materials. I want her to draw me
a picture with a sunset over the ocean. I want her to capture that moment when the golden
yellow sun is setting, making the clouds cotton-candy pink over the ocean that sits still like glass.
I have two options for materials.” Pull out two boxes of crayons (one 24 pack and one 64 pack).
“If I want all of these elements in my picture, which materials should I give her to work with?
Why?” Call on one student to respond. When the student says the 64 pack because there are
more options for colors , say: “Exactly! When I have more options, I have a lot more creativity
and I can make something even more accurate.”
 Purpose Statement- “Today, we’re going to practice using descriptive and powerful words, so
that we describe our friend, someone who doesn’t know them can imagine exactly what they are
like.”
 Introduce Trait- “Just like when we have more color options we can make a more accurate
picture, the same is true with words. When we use more words, our “picture” of what we’re
describing, our story, is more accurate.”
 I will write the following sentence on the board: The student was happy about it
being a snow day, so she put on her coat and went out to play in the snow.
 “Now, do we have a lot of detail in this sentence? No, we don’t! I want you to take two
minutes and write down a revision of this sentence. Use powerful language—when you
read it to me, I want to be able to close my eyes and picture exactly what is going on.”
Give students two minutes to write a sentence revision. Ask for a few students to
share what they would change and change the sentence on the board as they share
ideas.
 When there is a revised sentence: “Does this sentence give you more detail into what
is going on than the other sentence? Why?” Call on one student to share their
response. “Because we are using more tools, our words!”
 Children’s Literature- “This book does a great job of using descriptive and powerful word choice.
As I read this story, I want you to jot down as many powerful words as you can—any words that
help you picture exactly what is going on, or help you know exactly what they are talking about.”
Read Come on Rain By Karen Hesse.
 “Today, we’re going to write about someone who is on our team in life. This could be a family
member, friend, teammate, band member… I want you to encourage them. Tell them why you are
glad they are there for you, what makes them special, and anything you think is extraordinary
about them. Let me show you what I did.” Put my writing up on the board for students to see (a
newspaper article talking about my artist friend who I mentioned before). “I decided to write
my piece in the form of a newspaper article—like this will be published for the world to know
how much I appreciate my friend Grace.”
o Writing
 Students will write a piece on someone in their life whom they want to empower. This piece
can be in the form of a speech, newspaper article, or letter. The students must specify their
audience and their form as a part of the prewrite.
 Students will find a comfortable spot in the room where they are focused to write.
 After students have had time to start the writing process, I will start conferencing with
students at the kidney table. I will meet with three groups, each with five students in them. I
will ask them to share what form they have chosen for their writing, who they are writing to,
why they chose that individual. I will ask the students to jot down some ways to describe that
person using descriptive language.
 As students are talking to me about these questions and anything else they want to talk with
me about, I will be taking anecdotal notes on their thoughts and progress.
o Sharing (Whole Group)
 During writing conferences, I will ask if anyone is interested in sharing at the end of class. With the
volunteers I get, I will take down a list of names. Towards the end of the writing time, I will circulate around

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 the room and choose three of the students who were previously interested. I will choose one speech, one
newspaper article, and one letter. Before I choose, I will read over the pieces to ensure they are appropriate.
 When the sharing takes place, the students will stand at their seat, share the form and the individual, and
read their piece.

V. Check for understanding.

 During writing conferences, I am checking to see the progress that students are making in relation to their
understanding.
 Students choose a form to write about someone “on their team” in life, using rich language and powerful word
choice.

VIII. Review learning outcomes / Closure

 Selected students will share their writing with the class.
 Ask the students: “What was your favorite part about today’s lesson?” After students responses, connect to the Big
Idea. “How are other ways in your life you can empower the people that you interact with daily?”

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

Formative
 During the mini-lesson, I will see which students are jotting down descriptive words and which students are
struggling to identify them.”
 During conferences, I will take anecdotal notes about what students are understanding, their progress, and what
they seem to be struggling with.
 Students will write about a person who is on their “team” in life. They will be assessed using a word choice
rubric.

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS.

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective? For those who did not, why not?
2. Did the adaptations for my students with learning disabilities seem to help them meet the learning objective?
3. Would I have changed the sizes and groupings of my writing conferences?
4. Were students engaged participants in the lesson?
5. How did students choosing a seat in the room work? Were they distracted or was this helpful for them?
6. How did I cater to different multiple intelligences and learning styles?

3 Revision Date: October, 2018