UMF Secondary Education Lesson Plan Template

Name: Rebecca Long Program: SMED Course: EDU 222 & 223, SED 361

Lesson Topic / Title: “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O'Connor In class explication

Lesson Date: Lesson Length: Grade/Grade Range:

Lesson # 25 80 minutes 11-12

Learning Objectives & Content Standard Alignment - Selects, creates, and sequences learning experiences and performance tasks that support learners in
reaching rigorous curriculum goals based on content standards​ and desired understandings​.

Learning Objective(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

(Write learning objectives that are clear, attainable, measurable, observable
and age/content appropriate. They may be from Stage 1 and/or they may be
more detailed ones specific to this lesson. They must align with targeted
standards and conceptual understandings. If you have any additional
objectives for your focus students related to IEP goals, you can include those
here too.)
(In bulleted form, identify your reasoning or why you chose these objectives. How are they
content, age and lesson topic appropriate?)
- These objectives directly align with the standards, transfer goals,
understandings, essential questions, knowledge, and skills this unit is
comprised of.

1. Students will be able to create a strong thesis statement and
support it with a persuasive analysis using correctly cited
textual evidence in an explication format.
2. Students will be able to use their knowledge of relevant
historical events to analyse “Everything That Rises Must
Converge” and support their thesis statement.
- A goal of this unit is to improve students' close reading skills to prepare
them to write longer essays about more substantial texts. They will do this
in the form of written explications about the short stories they read which
require…
- analysing the use of different figurative language
- analysing the use of different literary elements
- analysing the effect of connotative and denotative language
- analysing the author's use of from and structure
- crafting a strong thesis statement
- arguing persuasively in favor of a thesis using analysis as support
- citing evidence from the text to validate an analysis/argument

- Analysing a text in such depth helps students understand the complexity

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 of literature, the diverse perspectives it offers, how it relates to everyday
life, and how history and literature reflect one another. I’m trying to foster
an appreciation for literature and help students see it through a wider
critical and cultural lense in this unit and this multifaceted analysis helps
with that.

- For the past few weeks students would have been practicing their analysis
in class discussion and learning about the short stories, authors, and
history of the 20th century. These explications are where students begin
to apply all of that knowledge and skill on an individual basis. This is the
next step in their growth towards the end of the year goal of being able to
do expansive, high level analysis independently, without any scaffolding.

- These objectives would also be achievable by my Michael and Kayla with

the necessary accommodations.

Content Standard(s) Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

(Identify the relevant content standards (CCSS, MLR, ISTE, other) and discipline (In bulleted form, why did you choose these standards?)
specific standards (mathematical practice, ELA literacy, anchor, cross-cutting,
other). Align objectives with content- and discipline-specific standards.)
- These standards are those being worked on throughout the unit this
lesson is a part of.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
- These standards align with both objective one and two of this lesson.
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what
the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text,
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.1
including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain
- In their explanation, students will have to support their analysis of
“Everything That Rises Must Converge” using parenthetically cited
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
evidence from the text.
Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop
- Students, with cited textual evidence, will be using the inferences they
and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set,
drew or the explicit text to support their explication’s argument.
how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and
- Students will analyse where “Everything That Rises Must Converge” leaves
developed).
things uncertain to use to support their thesis if relevant.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.3
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the

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text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the
impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words
with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh,
engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5
Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific
parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the
choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its
overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.5
- The elements of a story often reflect the society within which the author
of the story lived. Such is the case with this story as it was written by a
white female activist who lived in the south during the civil rights
movement and has a message heavily influenced by that. This connection
between story and author helps students understand the relationship
between history and literature which is a main goal of this unit. At this
point students will also have to start using all of the historical knowledge
they’ve gathered to analyse a text without scaffolding, and understanding
this connection facilitates such analysis.
- It is also important for students to include the elements of a story that are
pointed out in this standard in their analysis. A goal of this unit is to
improve close reading skills and using a holistic approach that includes
analysing every part of a text does just that.
- Part of close reading is analysing individual words and phrases for their
significance to some larger message.
- Understanding connotative meaning is an important part of analysis that
can significantly impact how a story is understood, so it's important that
students get a grasp of this.
- Analysing how words hold many meanings helps students understand ​the
power of language, which is an essential question from this unit.
- Viewing words or phrases for the pleasure of reading them or their beauty,
​ elps students understand ​the power
which is a part of this standard, also h
of language and see how it's applicable to everyday life.
- Structure is an important, but often overlooked aspect of literary analysis,
so I want to ensure my students include it in their work. Again, this unit is
working towards a holistic approach to analysis so everything down to
form is important.
- The ending of “Everything That Rises Must Converge” offers a particularly
good opportunity for analysis as it holds a lot of meaning and aesthetic
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Assessment - Uses assessment flexibly to expand and deepen understanding of learner performance and determines best supports for continued learner
growth.
Assessments
● In bulleted form, list at least one assessment for each instructional
objective.
● At least one of these assessments should come from your Stage 2.
● Put a brief description of each formative and summative assessment for
this lesson here; full description in teaching & learning sequence.
- The students' explanations will be shared with me at the
beginning of their next class and I will read them and provide
both feedback and a grade.
- In the last ten minutes of class students will do ​a
self-reflection exit ticket​ on their work that day.
impact.
Instructional Decisions / Reasoning
● In bulleted form that aligns with assessments on the left, state whether the assessment is
formative or summative and what type of assessment it is: pre-, self-, peer- or teacher-.
● What are the differentiated ways students can demonstrate their understanding of the
learning objectives?
● What accommodations, modifications, or extensions in assessment are you using? How
does this address your focus learners needs and strengths?
● What data will be gathered (prior knowledge, skill level, potential misconception,...) and
how will it be used to give feedback to students and make decisions about further
teaching?)
- The explications would be formative teacher-assessments that students
would do in class where they could get peer support or ask me questions
and then take home to finish. These explications are about student
improvement, so they would be mainly for the purpose of feedback and
would be graded lightly at first and then more rigorously further in the
unit. The feedback would mainly be about how the student uses various
literary elements in their analysis, how they cite their evidence, how well
they support their thesis, and how they connect the story’s historical
context.
- If students don’t want to write out their explication they can do an audio
recording or a video of themselves conveying the same information that
would have been in the written form.
- Students have to know the explication format, but don't have to use it
beyond the basic form. This means that they can represent their analysis
in any form they want be it a mindmap, vision board, or list anything goes.
As a part of this, students can also use multimedia to support their
analysis, but only so long as it's relevant.
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- Extended time on assignments is something both Micheal and Kayla have
on their accommodations list, so if they needed an extra few days they
would be allowed.

- Since this can be done online Kayla and Michael can also use speech to
text write their responses which would help with Michael’s spelling and
punctuation issues and enable Kayla to give in depth responses. This also
means that both Kayla and Michael can use text to speech to go over their
writing and the story again when needed.

- Michael adds good insight during class discussions which should apply to
his explications as well making this a good medium for him to show off his
skills.

- Kayla has an interest in advocacy and both the format of the explication as
well as this day's story allow for that passion to be brought into class. Her
thesis could be something about advocacy during the civil rights
movement.

- Micheal does well with structured templates and the explication format is
highly structured, so that would help feel more secure in being able to
complete his work.

- The exit ticket would be a formative teacher-assessment that students do

during the last ten minutes of class to reflect on their work. I’m using this
to help the student analyse their own effort and make them self aware
learners. This also acts as a way for me to get feedback on what students
need support and if this lesson format is helping students improve their
skills.

- For those students who prefer writing on paper this exit slip would also be
available offline too.

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Instructional Materials and Resources - Stays current in content knowledge and expands expertise in reviewing instructional materials from the perspectives
of both the discipline and individual learner needs.

Multilevel and/or Multisensory Materials, Resources, and / or Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

Technology (In bulleted form, describe how these materials, resources, and technology are relevant,
(What teacher and student materials are necessary for this lesson to be accurate, appropriate and accessible to the learners. Include how you addressed students
implementation ready? In bulleted form, list handouts, types of manipulatives, with disabilities, language needs or giftedness. Must address your two focus learners here.)
varied texts, models etc. Describe how technology augments learning or
assists in planning this lesson and what specific technology is necessary for - “Everything That Rises Must Converge” by Flannery O'Connor is a 20th
this lesson, when applicable.) century short story published right in the middle of the civil rights
movement. It has a rich historical context for students to use in their
- “​Everything That Rises Must Converge​” by Flannery O'Connor analysis as well as a lot going on formally to analyse. It’a a good text for
(1965) students to use all of the knowledge they've gained up to this point about
- Historical Context Reading history and critical analysis on. It's also not a super long read nor is the
- Author Context Reading language overly complex so it should be manageable for homework
- Teacher laptop reading and not be a challenge for Michael who reads at a slightly lower
- Student’s laptops level. For Kayla, Michael, and any other students who need or want an
- Student’s Informal text annotations audio copy of the text I found ​a video of Estelle Parson reading the story​.
- Paper There is also ​a digital text​ available that can be used with text to speech
- Writing utensils software.
- Smartboard
- JoinME - Since this lesson is mostly in class writing, to make sure students know the
- Agenda/goals of the day historical context of the story and the author, I’ve listed two short
- Phone alarm readings that would have been given as homework to prepare the
- Music students to be ready to write right away in class. These would be the
- Speaker historical context reading​ ​and the ​author context reading​ both of which
could be used with text to speech software for Kayla and Michael.

- My laptop would be used if a student asked me a question that I couldn’t

answer, and to do some grading while students are working.

- Students would have the choice to do their explication on paper with

whatever writing utensil they want or on a word processor on their laptop
ideally google docs for easy sharing.

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- To make doing their in class explications easier students should be doing
some sort of informal text annotations. Recording some of their ideas
beforehand will make their writing go much smoother and help remind
them of their thoughts. Michael, who has trouble recalling and locating
information he has read, would benefit from taking Informal notes like
these to help with his explanation. Using laptops in class means text to
speech and speech to text are also available for all students but are
especially helpful for Kayla and Micheal.

- The paper and writing utensils are in case students want to do their
explication or exit ticket on paper instead of online.

- The smartboard is used to write all the directions as well as the

agenda/goals of the day down for the class to see. Talking about the
agenda and putting the goals and directions of the lesson up on the board
provides clear expectations for the class which is something Michael
benefits from as well as most students. In general, having visual reminders
of what we’re doing during the day helps students stay on track.

- JoinME is a screen sharing software that Kayla and other students can use
to sync their laptops, phones, or ipads to have what's on the smartboard
on their screen.

- The phone alarm will be used to make sure we stop the explication writing
with enough time to do the exit slip. I could also choose to ask a student
to do this if one wanted to.

- Since we're doing a lot of individual quiet work in this lesson I would give
students the option for music to be playing from a speaker during class. I
would let them vote on the type of music they want if they decided they
wanted some playing. Having music would make asking questions or doing
speech to text less awkward because there would be background noise

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 instead of a silent classroom. Hopefully it would also help students
concentrate, keep things low stress, and limit any anxiety they feel about
making noise. I think the benefits listed here would also particularly help
Michael and Kayla.

Instructional Methods: Selects, creates, and sequences learning experiences and performance tasks by using a variety of instructional approaches,
strategies, and technologies that make learning accessible to all learners and support learners in reaching rigorous curriculum goals.
(Include any documents associated with the plan: graphic organizers, sets of questions, sample problems, activity directions, content knowledge reference notes, etc.)

Teaching and Learning Sequence Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

● Describe the plan and sequence of your lesson that is connected to the (In bulleted form, provide any additional information pertaining to your teaching and
objectives. learning sequence including details such as specific strategies or instructional formats used,
● Clearly identify the timeframe. instructional dialogue and potential teacher and student questions.)
● Describe the introduction (and hook) and closure of the lesson.
● What homework, if any, will students have following this lesson? - I’m using flexible seating to make students feel more comfortable in the
● Describe student groupings and room arrangement.
● Show where in the sequence technology is used to engage learners in classroom and therefore more focused. I’m also allowing students to leave
meeting learning objectives when appropriate. the classroom and work in whatever space is most constructive to them.
● The sequence should include processes for monitoring student progress. I’ve also decided to have a chair set up next to my desk so that students
can come sit in to ask questions. I hope this would be an unobtrusive way
Before Lesson:
for students to ask for help, but they could still raise their hands or call out
- Write Agenda/goals of the day on the board
if they’re more comfortable with that. I think this non-verbal,
non-attention-grabbing option would be helpful for Michael and other
Introduction/hook (10 minutes):
students who can feel targeted when they’re the object of attention.
- Settling in/Agenda for the day (5 minutes)
- Students will come in, sit down, and get out their
- I’m targeting verbal-linguistic learners with explication writing.
materials for today's class. I’ll then make any
- I’m targeting bodily-kinesthetic learners with the stand and share activity.
necessary announcements before going over the
- I’m targeting interpersonal learners with the stand and share activity.
agenda and goals of the day that are on the board.
- I’m targeting intrapersonal learners with self-reflection exit ticket.
- Stand and share activity (5 minutes)
- Students will do a stand and share activity to start
- I’m targeting all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy by…
class off where every student will share one thought
- creating a unique argument about the story they’ve read
about the short story of the day with the whole
- evaluating the story for ways to justify their argument
class.
- analyzing the different elements of the story to connect them
under one argument
Lesson (60 minutes):

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 - Explication writing (60 minutes) - applying knowledge they know from previous lessons about
- Students will be given class time to analyse and history and critical analysis to a new story
write about a piece of text they’ve chosen from the - understanding the story they’ve read and various literary
reading. They’ll be expected to use this class time to elements enough to discuss them in analysis
ask questions and get any necessary support. After - remembering various historical facts and literary elements
30 minutes of writing, students will be asked to relevant to this story
either turn and share their progress with a peer or
take a short break and then reread what they’ve - I’m using the flipped learning strategy so students do their reading and
done so far. By the end of the period they should preparation outside of class and then do their learning activity (their
have the bulk of their writing done, but they’ll have explication) in the classroom where they can engage with their peers and
until the next class to hand their work in. have teacher support at hand. This makes good use of students time in
class and allows them to prepare for lessons outside of class in whatever
Class closure (10 minutes): way works for them for however much time they need.
- What's due next class/Exit Ticket (10 minutes)
- Around ten minutes before class ends we’ll wrap up
the explication work and move on to what is due for
the next class. In this case, homework would be
finishing their explication and reading the next short
story and associated background texts. After the
homework announcement, the students will do ​a
self-reflection exit ticket​ to finish out the class.

Student groupings and room arrangement:

- The students can sit wherever they want in the classroom or
if there are study spaces around the school they can use
them. The desks will be arranged circularly facing the board,
but can be moved anywhere in the room so long as they’re
put back at the end of class. Kayla has preferential seating,
and there are no seating arrangements so Michael can sit
next to his preferred peers. There will also be a chair set up
next to my desk that students can come sit in to ask
questions.

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Processes for monitoring student progress:
- The students will be doing multiple explications that will be
handed in and used to judge their growth from assignment to
assignment as they receive feedback. This specific explication
would be no different as they would turn it in and I would
use it to gauge where they are in their critical analysis
abilities and how well they use their knowledge of historical
events in their analysis.
- The end of class exit ticket is also a way for me to monitor
student progress because it asks if they need more support
and where they’re struggling. It gives me feedback on how
well the students are feeling about their work and if they
think they’re improving too.

Hyperlink to Activity:
- Self-reflection exit ticket

Meeting students’ needs (differentiation, extensions, modifications, Instructional Decisions / Reasoning

accommodations)
● Describe how you met the needs of students who were missing prior
knowledge needed for success in this lesson.
The ​historical context reading​ ​and the ​author context reading​ ​are
meant to fill in any gaps in knowledge about the time period or author
that the students have. Otherwise, there isn’t much prior knowledge
required for this lesson that wouldn’t have already been gone over
earlier in the unit if it was missing. This explanation falls in the middle
of the close reading section of the unit, so the students would be
pretty familiar with this form of assessment. However, if any
questions did come up, the point of having students do their writing in
class is that they have me as a resource to help them.
● Describe the adaptation/ scaffolding/ enriching/ extended learning needs
of a specific student based on their profile. Describe aspects of your lesson
that accommodated the needs of this student.
● In bulleted form, discuss your reasoning for including specific activities or strategies.
● Identify any misconceptions and how you are providing scaffolds and differentiated
instruction.
● Describe how your lesson shows implementation of Universal Design for Learning and
how you specifically addressed your two focus learners needs. How did you...
● Engage a range of learner preferences and abilities
● Plan for learner choice/ interest that results in variation of pace, process, product
and/or environment
● Challenge students
● Incorporate Multiple Means of Representation (Strategies to Deliver Content)
● Incorporate Multiple Means of Engagement (Strategies to Facilitate the Process of
Learning)
● Incorporate Multiple Means of Expression (Strategies to Assess Student Learning)
● Consider the social and physical environment (i.e. room arrangement,
positive/humanistic behavior supports, use of space, facilitation of peer
interaction)
- I chose the stand and share activity specifically to get students thinking
and give them some different perspectives on the reading before starting

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One of Kayla’s accommodations is having extended time to complete
classwork, homework, and tests. In this lesson, that means she can
hand in her explication a few days later than everyone else and she
can turn in her exit ticket at the start of the next class.
Kayla also requires speech to text for any written work which in this
lesson would be available for her to write her explication and exit
ticket with.
A digital text version on “​Everything That Rises Must Converge​” would
also be made available to Kayla as per her accommodations list. There
would also be ​an audio version​ for her to listen to if she prefers.
All of the directions and the agenda/goals for the day would be said
out loud and written on the smartboard which would be synced to
Kayla’s iPad using JoinME, so that she could listen to all of the agenda
for the day and any directions whenever she needed. An aide, me, or
a peer could also be asked to repeat the directions if she wanted.
There would always be an online list of assignments with all of the
online resources for the day on there available for all students. Kayla
could use this in her digital assignment book to keep track of
assignments and resources. Having all of the lesson resources
available digitally, either through this page or through JoinME, means
that Kayla could also zoom in on print or have pre-changed papers
with enlarged font size to make things large print as necessary.
their explications. I also wanted them to do something somewhat active
before having to settle in and write for an hour.
- I chose to have students do explications because they leave room for
many levels of accomplishment. This means that students like Kayla, who
perform above grade level, can challenge themselves by explicating a
shorter piece of text or by doing a more in-depth analysis. It also means
that students who perform at a lower level can still fulfil the assignments
requirements to their ability but also have plenty of to grow. I also chose
to let students decide what they want to write about instead of giving
them prompts so that they could engage even more with their writing and
possibly challenge themselves with the argument they choose.
- I allowed students to do their explication in any format because I want
students to play to their strengths and preferences and not be stuck in a
very prescriptive writing format unless that is what they prefer. The point
of these explications is more to practice their critical analysis more than
learning the explication form.
- These explications are also scaffolding for the essays the students will
have to do later in the year analysing a book they’ll read. These
explications also are scaffolding for a summative assessment where
students will have to connect multiple stories under one thesis at the end
of the unit.
I am differentiating my instruction by...
- giving students multiple means to access materials (physical,
digital, audio) to give learner choice in process.
- allowing students to take notes/annotate in any format that suits
them (sticky notes, sketch notes, highlighting, mind maps, etc) to
give learner choice in process.
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 - letting the explication be written in any form students want (a
list, a drawing, a flow chart, etc) to allow for learner choice in
product.
- letting students choose their explication’s argument to give
learner choice in content.
- letting students do their work in whatever environment is most
productive to them.
- giving students who require more time to complete tasks a later
due date than others.
- targeting multiple intelligence types.
- targeting multiple levels of Bloom’s taxonomy
- giving students a way to reflect on their own learning through the
exit slip.

- My lesson shows the implementation of the Universal Design for Learning

system in the way it and all the activities done within it are directly
tailored to the summative and formative assessments of the unit. Also, the
lessons' content is aimed to help students meet the standards, accomplish
the transfer goals, gain the understandings, answer the essential
questions, and use the knowledge and skills of the unit.

​Student Profiles for Practicum Lesson Plans

Focus Student # 2: Michael

Disability Label/s: ​Specific Learning Disability in Reading and Writing; Other Health Impairment (anxiety and ADHD)
Special Education Services Provided under IEP

Present Levels of Performance (PLOP)

Michael benefits from a structured classroom environment and clear expectations. He benefits from a seat near preferred peers, to minimize
anxiety. The use of structured templates or visual organizers helps Michael so he feels more confident in completing work. Positive
Reinforcement from teachers and peers is beneficial for Michael’s anxiety. Non-verbal cues are significantly more effective than verbal cues,

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because he does not feel embarrassed or targeted (i.e. a simple touch on the shoulder often works best to get Michael back on task. He is very
good at picking up gestural cues and will redirect quickly.)

Subject Specific Information

Reading: ​Michael's reading performance ranges two to three grade levels below his current grade level. Michael has difficulty recalling
information he has read and can have difficulty locating information within the text to answer questions. He benefits from speech to text and
audit texts when reading grade level texts and during class discussion of texts, he adds excellent insight.
​Writing: ​Michael's written expression skills are estimated to fall one to two grade levels below his current grade. He benefits from prompts and
scaffolded organizers to support his writing. His ideas are often concrete. He has difficulty spelling and frequently leaves out ending
punctuation marks. Handwriting is legible but his writing is much stronger when provided a word processor. He often enables text to speech to
read his writing back to him, helping him to create more complete and clear work.
Math: ​Michaels's math performance is on grade level. His computational and mathematical reasoning skills are strong. He enjoys working with
partners and groups, and benefits when he can explain mathematical concepts to a peer. He benefits from directions read aloud (peer, or text to
speech).

Accommodations & Modifications

· ​Extended time on classwork, homework and tests
· Language in directions simplified, when needed
· Word processing and text to speech for writing
· Audio texts and speech to text for reading

Focus Student #4: Kayla

Disability label/s: ​Visual Impairment including Blindness and Other Health Impairment (physical disabilities undisclosed by parent)
Accommodations provided under 504 plan

Present Levels of Performance:

Kayla performs on or above grade level in all content areas when provided appropriate accommodations under her 504 Plan. She has had many
health issues and surgeries in her lifetime due to her physical disabilities. Because of her experiences she is interested in working in the medical
field or working as an advocate for individuals with disabilities. She often presents about disability awareness and advocacy in her community,
and has presented in her school too. Currently, child development, math, and science are her favorite subjects. Kayla is conscientious and
invested in her education. Given extended time, she will complete all of her assignments with high scores.
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Accommodations
· ​Service animal
· ​Speech to text available for any written work (she prefers Dragon)
· ​Digital texts available for all content areas
· ​Text read (texts to speech, aide, teacher, or peer)
· ​Large print as necessary
· ​Digital assignment book allowed
· ​JoinME synced between teacher smartboard and her iPad in all classes
· ​Additional minutes between classes for transition
· ​Extended time on classwork, homework, tests
· ​Preferential seating

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