Revised February 2018

Lesson Plan Template

For Special Education Teacher Candidates
(& Anyone Else Who Wants to Be Awesome)

Overview

Teacher(s): Lauren Thompson Subject: English Grade: 11

Lesson length: 45 minutes Lesson Topic/Unit: Rhetorical Precis

Learning Objectives:
I. By the end of this lesson, students will know: II. By the end of this lesson, students will be able to: III. I will know that students
have met this objective
The structure of a rhetorical precis Identify each part of a rhetorical precis when:

They are able to identy the

parts of a rhetorical precis
in a small group

IV. Essential question(s) for students to answer

Why do I nee to write a rhetorical precis?

How do I identify the parts of a rhetorical precis?

State Standards:
In this section, identify and list the VA SOLs standards (or other) that are addressed in this lesson.

11.6 The student will write in a variety of forms, with an emphasis on persuasion

a) Generate, gather, plan, and organize ideas for writing to address a specific
audience and purpose.

c) Organize Ideas in a sustained, logical manner

Context for Learning/Background Information

Situating the Lesson: In this section, list/describe topics of previous lessons related to the topic of this lesson that students should be familiar with.
 Revised February 2018

Students should have background knowledge of main idea, audience, tone, and potentially rhetoric

Lesson Content: In this section, briefly list/describe the content of the current lesson. (2-3 sentences)
This is the first lesson with actual content the students will be taught. Students are learning about the structure of a rhetorical precis, so that they can work up to writing their own. Students
will not be writing a rhetorical precis until a couple of weeks later so they can really understand the structure of them first.

Lesson Rationale: In this section, describe why students need this lesson the way you have planned it. What are you offering them? What needs are you addressing? (2-3 sentences)
I am breaking down the structure of the rheotircal precis so students will be able to understand the structure more easily. They are identifying the rhetorical precis before learning how to
write it so they can understand the strcutre before writing it on their own. I am even breaking up the terms rhetorical and precis so that students aren’t overwhelmed by seeing something
that they are not familiar with at all.

Individualized Instruction Commented [TLE(1]: Having IEP Goals/accommodations

at the beginning of my lesson plan, helped me to think
IEP Goals: In this section, list the IEP goals that this lesson addresses. You can list them by student/pseudonym. about how to design my instruction to support both general
education students and students with disabilities.
Student will improve his grade in English by improving his ability to write persuasively. Student will demonstrate improvement if he is able to identify the structure of a rhetorical precis
with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 practices.

IEP Accommodations: In this section, list the classroom & teaching accommodations that must be provided. You can list them as accommodations or by student/pseudonym. This
should include plans for using assistive/instructional technology.

Student will be able to use a word processor to type his rhetorical precis. (Normally these would be written in class, however, this accommodation is already occurring because all students
will be typing them due to the online nature of teaching currently)

Accommodations for Students from Diverse Cultural &/or Linguistic Backgrounds: In this section, list any relevant accommodations or other information that you
will provide given unique student needs arising from their cultural or linguistic backgrounds.

N/A

Instrinsic Load: Given the content being taught, and unique student needs, predict the level and impact of intrinsic cognitive load for the lesson on students. Remember, intrinsic load
is impacted by the inherent complexity of content, interatctivity between content elements being taught, and existing student background knowledge and motivation. Can you make any
instructional decisions at this planning phase to limit the impact of intrinsic load? Commented [TLE(2]: Keeping the intrinsic load minimal is
important because students with disabilities can often
Based on the content being taught, and student needs, I believe the intrinsic load will be somewhere in the middle for students. I think the warmup will help activate background knowledge become frustruated, especially if they demonstrate an area
for students, and they get immediate feedback, so that will help them to start thinking about rhetoric. Students may be overwhelmed because rhetorical precis is a new word that seems very
of need in a subject. I do not want to overload students
complicated and the structure may seem like a lot. To help limit intrinsic load, I am going to break down the words rhetoric and precis so that students know what each word means before
cognitively because that would add to their frustration. In
putting them together. Then, I am going to walk them through sentence by sence on how to write the structure of a rhetorical precis. This way, I am breaking down the material even more to
help reduce the intrinsic load. order to keep this as low as possible, I am proactively
thinking about how to keep their intrinsic load low as I plan
my instruction.
Co-Teaching & Collaboration
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Co-Teaching: In this section, select the co-teaching format that you will be using in this lesson. Grouping: In this section, describe the way(s)
Check one or more. It is possible to use several strategies during a lesson. in which students will be assigned to instructional
groups. Which teacher will lead/instruct each
☐ One Teach, One Support group?
☐ Station Teaching
The main instruction will be given to the whole
☐ Team Teaching group. Once the lesson has been completed,
☐ Alternative Teaching students will be broken up into small groups (3) to
☐ Parallel Teaching discuss the parts of a rhetorical precis in a new
example they will have to help each other identify.
What is each teacher’s role within the model(s) you selected? I will be jumping between two groups in zoom and
Ms. Olson will be leading another group through
discussion.

Assessment of Student Learning

Assessment Procedures: In this section, describe the assessment procedures that will be used to measure learning of the objective(s). Assessment procedure must be concrete and
tangible, and teacher observation (without a record of it) is unacceptable. Attach assessment probe or checklist to lesson plan. Multiple forms of assessment are strongly encouraged.

Assessment Type(s): In this section, describe how you will assess Assessment Criteria: In this section, describe how students will Feedback: In this
students. demonstrate mastery on your assessment(s). section, describe what
feedback from the
Warm-up Students will demonstrate mastery by answer the 5 warmup questions assessment(s) you will give
correctly. students and how you will
Peardeck Questions give it to them.
Students will demonstrate mastery by answering all questions correctly in
Group Discussion the peardeck. Students will be given a a
few multiple choice
**During the week, the general ed teacher is going to give students additional Students will demonstrate mastery by identify the parts of a rhetorical precis questions to answer. Once
practice on identifying the parts of a rhetorical precis so these are not the only as a group and having a group member tell either myself or Ms. Olson what they submit, they will
assessments being given** their group discussed (The structures of sentences 1-4). receive immediate feedback
that explains each incorrect
answer as well as the
correct answer.

If students don’t remember

the structure, I will remind
them of one of one of the
sententece structures to help
anchor them back to what
we talked about. If they still
don’t remember, I will
 Revised February 2018

review the sentence

structure with them.

In the peardeck questions, I

am able to see student’s
answers live, so if students
are confused I will go back
to the previous slides and
re-explain content in
connection to their
responses.

For Group discussions,

myself and Ms. Olson will
give verbal feedback. We
will help anchor students
back to the material that
was taught if they are still
confused.

Materials & Resources

Teacher Materials (I need): Attach teacher instructional materials to lesson plan submission. If you are using a SMARTBoard Student Materials (They need): Attach
during lesson, include a file with materials (saved as a pdf). If you are using external websites, videos, etc, list the links below. ALL student instructional materials to lesson plan
(i.e., worksheet, graphic organizer, test/quiz, etc).
• Zoom/internet access
• Peardeck: • Zoom/internet access
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1v9DGzrkH4RUk_fiscr0yLRsVlL7QpzAJjBX6NVNlty8/edit? • peardeck
usp=sharing • warmup link (linked in
• access to warmup answers peardeck)

Behavior Management

General Concerns: What routines are already in place to help you
manage student behavior/keep students focused & on task?
Virtual learning is completely different, so behavior management is a work in
progress. There have not been disruptions or unexpected behaviors in class.
We are also transitioning to a different English teachers so this could change
as well.
Specific Concerns: Are there any specific antecedents, unique Feedback: How will you
situations, or other student behavior concerns that may impact this lesson? provide feedback to
Indicate how you are planning to confront those concerns. students about their
behavior during this
My concern is that students will not be engaged. They don’t have to have lesson?
their cameras on, and the only thing that can be done is try to get them to
answer questions, but you also can’t make a student answer questions who
you can’t even see. I am not sure how to confront those concerns. I am
 Revised February 2018

going to try to make the lesson interactive both with the peardeck and I will be encouraging to
discussion to try and get students engaged and not just lectured at. students who are actively
participating.

“I really like the answer X

gave because…”

“All of you are doing

awesome participating and
answer the peardeck
questions, it really seems
like everyone is getting the
hang of rhetorical precis.”

Preparing Students for Instructional Content

Estimated time: 5
Review of prerequisite skills: In this section, identify any skills or content that you will review with students prior to new Student-Friendly Objective: Re-state the
instruction. This could be the warm-up, “do now”, or other introductory part of lesson that reviews prior learning. lesson’s learning objective in student-friendly
language.
Students will be given a google form with the following questions to get them thinking about elements of a rhetorical precis before we
talk about it. Today we are going to learn the structure of a
rhetorical precis so we can learn to write one.
1) What is the main idea of a passage
**After explaining rhetorical precis I am going to
2) True/False Author’s use supporting details to support their claims talk about why it is important**

3) What is the tone in a text “Learning to write a rhetorical precis is important

because it can help us understand someone’s main
4) True/False: One reason an author writes is to persuade the audience argument better by being able to summarize it. By
summarizing another person’s argument, we can
5) Why do you think English class is important (Added this question to try and get to know the students and their attitudes towards the learn how to argue against them, or use their
class) argument to support our own opinion.” Commented [TLE(3]: It can be important to activate
background knowledge for student’s with disabilities. The
Essential Vocabulary rhetorical precis was a new topic for all students, so getting
Estimated time: 5 minutes them to think about basic literary elements such as main
idea, supporting details, and persuasion, can help students
connect the lesson to what they already know. If they didn’t
already know these things, they would get immediate
feedback to fill in any gaps in their background knowledge.
Commented [TLE(4R3]:
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Reviewing vocabulary: In this section, identify any vocabulary that must be reviewed or re-taught. Pre-teaching vocabulary: In this section,
identify any vocabulary you need to introduce or
Main idea: author’s message about a topic pre-teach ahead of the main lesson. If this is a
vocabulary-centered lesson, skip this section.
Tone: Writer’s attitude or feelings towards the subject and audience
Rhetoric: Used to persuade or impress

Precis: four sentence paragraph that records and

analyzes the essential elements of an essay

Estimated time: 30
Direct Instruction (I DO): In this section, describe the direct instruction that
will be provided. How will you model/demonstrate ideas? How will you use
“think aloud” and cognitive modeling?
Instruction
Guided Practice (WE DO): In this section,
describe the practice that students will be provided with.
Include how you will determine that students are ready to
independently practice.
Commented [TLE(7]: Student are broken up into groups
based on skill level. Students have already had some
Independent Practice (YOU DO): Inpractice with the rhetorical precis, so groups were
this section, describe the independent practice
determined by skills students needed more help with. For
students will complete.
example, some students sill needed help with

Students will go out into breakout rooms (3). I will be

I am using peardeck present rhetorical precis. I am breaking down each of the
sentences structures, and then I am giving them example, and by the end the
entire paragraph will be put together.
For example:
Senentence 1:
• Name of the author
• Title and date of work
• Rhetorically active verb (assert, argue, deny, prove, disprove,
insist)
• “THAT clause” containing the main idea
My example: Thomas Jefferson, in The Declaration of Independence
(1776), argues that the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness entitle the colonists to freedom from the British
government and guarantee them the right to declare independence.
I am showing students what to look for in a text. I am doing this throughout
the entire powerpoint adding in questions to monitor their understanding, so I
am not talking at them the entire time. When we get to sentences like
sentence two I am going to talk about the main idea. How do I know that this
is the main idea the author is getting across? When looking for the main idea,
I am looking for ideas the author has that repeats throughout the entire texts.
In this case, the repeating idea is that Thomas Jefferson believes the colonists
have the right to gain freedom from the British government.
going between 2 and Ms. Olson will be leading one.
The students will have an example of a rhetorical precis
and will discuss the structure as a group. They will first
read it om their own, and then discuss it together.
Students will be ready to move on if there are only a
couple of questions as a whole about the structure. If the
group is able to quickly identify the structure, they are
ready to move on to independent practice. I will be
taking notes of students who have questions (i.e. does X
keep asking questions about the structure, what
questions are being asked, what do we need to review
before we move on.)
When students are ready to move intounderstanding the structure of the rhetorical precis, so they
independent practice, they will start to
practice writing their own.
were put in my group.
Commented [TLE(8]: Choice is one aspect of
differentiation. When student practice writing their
rhetorical precis, they will be allowed to have a choice of
what they use to write their rhetorical precis on including:
Vanessa Bryant’s eulogy for her husband Kobe Bryant, The I
have a Dream Speech, Beyonce’s commencement speech,
Oprah’s Golden Globe acceptace speech. By giving choice,
students can have the option to find something that is
interesting and will help them create a better rhetorical
precis. Each specch could also be found on youtube, so
students also had the option to watch youtube with closed
captions if that option would help them to better write a
rhetorical precis.
Commented [TLE(5]: History and English are a fusion
class, so both have to have elements and pacing inline with
the other, which is why a history example was used. To help
support students with disabilities, I am explicitly teaching
the structure of a rhetorical precis. It is being broken down
into chunks so both general education students and special
education students feel supported. Each sentence will have
an explaination and an example, to lower the cognitive load
for students. Then, at the end, there will be an example of
the entire paragraph so students can see the paragraph
looks together.
 Revised February 2018

In sentence 2 I am using an image of a table to help anchor students to the

difference between the main idea and supporting details. The main idea is like Commented [TLE(6]: I am also adding in images to ensure
the top of the table: It is important, it is what people notice the most. The there are not too many words on one slide, and also to add
supporting details are like the legs of the table. They support the table (main a visual component to help make learning more concrete.
idea). If you can’t support your idea, then you don’t have a good argument This can also be very beneficial to students with disabilities,
(table won’t stand), so it is important to always identify the things the author
so they are not overwelmed with words, but everything on
uses to support their argument. (again this will be followed by a textual
the slide aids in learning.
example about the Declaration of Independence).
In sentence three I will introduce the author’s purpose with an in order to
phrase. I will again explain as a reminder what author’s purpose is. In the
case of anything with rhetoric, the author is going to try to convince you of
something (care about an issue, take action to do something, etc.) so we need
to figure out the purpose: what is the author trying to persuade us to
do/believe/etc. (followed by another example).
Finally, we end with a description of the audience/the author’s relationship to
the audience. I will talk about tone (was in the warm up) to get students to
think about how tone can help us understand the relationship of the author
with the audience. (i.e. is the author angry and trying to anger the audience,
trying to excite the audience. How does the author feel and how does he want
his audience to feel. (I will end with an example, and then the finished
paragraph).

Closure
Estimated time: 5 Minutes
Lesson Review: In this section, review the learning that occurred during Forward Look: In this section, link this lesson to future learning. State Homework: Describe
the lesson. Be specific and ask students to review in a way that refelects what how this lesson is related to the next lesson or future learning. any homework assignments.
they learned, rather than what the topic was or what activities were used to Use N/A if there is no
facilitate learning. This week we will continue to review and work on identifying rhetorical homework assignment.
precis before we start to write them on our own.
To review student’s learning without additional hints or Watch: Native vs
prompting I have a slide on the peardeck that students are going English
to answer that asks them “what did you already know (if it was
new that’s okay), what did you learn, what was easy, what Finish answering the
questions do you have. That way students have an opportunity questions on the
of sharing without being worried about what their peers might peardeck if you didn’t
think. in class
 Revised February 2018

Complete the warmup

if you didn’t do so in
class.

Extraneous Load: Explain how the instructional approach and materials you plan to use will keep students’ extraneous load as low as possible. Remember, extraneous load is
increased when teachers talk too fast, use text-laden slides or other modes of teaching that are not a match for how students have the best chance to learn.

How does your instructional approach provide a match for lessening the impact of intrinsic load noted above?

This week was more text heavy on the slides, however, this is so students can see what they are learning about and not just listen to me talk. I think the text does help anchor students to
what I am talking about, but I also tried to have images, so they didn’t have to focus as heavily on the words on the slides initially. I also tried to speak clearly and not too fast to help keep
the extraneous load low.

How will your instructional materials help manage your own intrinsic and extraneous load as a teacher?

The questions I am putting in the slide deck will help me continue to check for understanding during the lesson. Sometimes I can get too into the topic and not questions students enough, so
it takes some of the load off of me by already having the questions in the slides. Also, already having the examples in the slides helps because it would be very difficult to try and think of
examples for this off the top of my head.

Preparation for CLASS Scoring (For Dimensions Not Already Explicitly Included Above)

What steps will you take to ensure the lesson will occur within a positive climate, show sensitivity to students and demonstrate regard for student perspectives?

I will ensure a positive climate occurs by making sure to monitor the breakout rooms to ensure students are being respectful to each other. I may have to remind them that not everyone
learns at the same pace, and that’s okay so we have to remember to be respectful of others who are learning at their own pace. I also will not show the peardeck answers to the group. This
will help because (high school) students can often be cautious to respond because they don’t want their peers to judge them. By doing this, I can praise good answers while being respectful
to students who still don’t get the material. This way I can check for understanding and still go back, without the group knowing who needs more help.

How will you maximize instructional time and keep distractions and non-instructional time to a minimum to ensure productivity?

I am maximizing instructional time by asking questions throughout my lesson so that students stay engaged. Many students keep their camera’s off, so by adding in these questions, I can
see which students are participating during the lesson and brainstorm ideas on how to keep students engaged who aren’t following along/participating.

Are your instructional learning formats organized to facilitate active engagement and clear learning?

My learning formats are organized to facilitate active engagement and clear learning. The group is going to be following the same structure that I used when I was identifying parts of a
rhetorical precis

Are you planning to help students utilize higher order thinking skills? And apply their knowledge in some unique way?

I am going to show students why learning to write a rhetorical precis is important. They can learn the structure, but learning why is an important question to get them thinking more
critically.
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What are you planning to do to support content understanding and clear up misconceptions?

I can use the questions to clear up misconceptions. The questions in the peardeck will help me identify the areas that are being confused, so that I can go back and review in a more
clear/concise way.

How will you promote active dialog between you and your students, and among the students? (As appropriate)

During the groups, I will ask students guiding questions to get them talking about the rhetorical precis. “Do you remember the structure of the first sentence” *Have the group discuss incase
they don’t remember all of the details* I would continue with questions like this to help facilitate discussion.

What explicit steps can you take to keep students engaged throughout the lesson?

I will be monitoring the classroom to check for understanding. I will make sure not to continue if students don’t feel comfortable with the information.

References, Notes & Other Information

In this section, list any references for lesson plans, resources, or other ideas you used that are not primarily yours. This is also where you will list the APA citations for the articles that
were referenced.

In this section, include any other helpful information that is relevant for the lesson plan.