Teacher Education Lesson Plan Template

Teacher: Maria Sutton Date: 3/23/21

Title of Lesson: Analyzing “Falling Girl” Cooperating Teacher: Jennifer Craft

Core Components
Subject, Content Area, or Topic
English, reading, inferences and conclusions
Student Population
Total: 24
● Gender
○ Males: 13
○ Females: 11
● Race
○ African-American: 6
○ Hispanic: 3
○ Caucasian: 15
● 504’s: 6
Learning Objectives
Students will learn how to make inferences and draw conclusions by focusing on explicitly stated
information.
Students will use specific examples or quotes from the text to make inferences and draw
conclusions.

Virginia Essential Knowledge and Skills (SOL)

9.4 The student will read, comprehend, and analyze a variety of fictional texts including narratives,
literary nonfiction, poetry, and drama.
b) explain the relationships between and among elements of literature: characters, plot,
setting, tone, point of view, and theme
j) make inferences and draw conclusions using references from the text(s) for support
l) use reading strategies to monitor comprehension throughout the reading process

VDOE Technology Standards

c) Use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate
their learning in a variety of ways.

English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)

English Language Proficiency Standard 2: English Language Learners communicate information,
ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content of Language Arts.

Materials/Resources
● Chromebooks
○ each student should have their own personal Chromebook, but we have extras in
case anyone forgets or theirs is dead and they have no means to charge it
McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
 ● Google Meet
○ code: craft815
● Google Slides
○ this lesson starts on slide 17
○ https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1U3yoGJ3Hj_q7HtfxIh2NAMXW-
Rwy78Q35sEjgpqDkk0/edit?usp=sharing
● “Falling Girl” Jamboard
○ https://jamboard.google.com/d/1ZsWVZam0F-
6nGrQVsfUzzE5OgU6dl25Iv1YGEqhKoww/edit?usp=sharing
● “Falling Girl” short story
○ available through Schoology
● headphones (optional)

High Yield Instructional Strategies Used (Marzano, 2001)

Check if Used
Strategy Return
✓ Identifying Similarities & Differences 45%
✓ Summarizing & Note Taking 34%
✓ Reinforcing Efforts & Providing Recognition 29%
✓ Homework & Practice 28%
Nonlinguistic Representations 27%
✓ Cooperative Learning 23%
Setting Goals & Providing Feedback 23%
✓ Generating & Testing Hypothesis 23%
✓ Questions, Cues, & Advanced Organizers 22%
DOES YOUR INSTRUCTIONAL INPUT & MODELING YIELD THE POSITIVE RETURNS YOU WANT FOR
YOUR STUDENTS?
Check if Used Strategy Return
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning 95%
✓ Practice by Doing 75%
✓ Discussion 50%
✓ Demonstration 30%
✓ Audio Visual 20%
✓ Reading 10%
✓ Lecture 05%

Time
(min.) Process Components
*Anticipatory Set
7-10 As always, I will welcome students to class by name. I will give them time to talk or share
mins any exciting news before the day begins. Once the majority of students have joined the
meet, we will begin. This lesson will focus on analyzing and discussing the “Falling Girl”
short story we read in class the day before.

The main part of our anticipatory set will involve listening to part of the song “A Thousand
Miles” by Vanessa Carlton. Before playing the song, I will ask students to pay attention to the
sound of the song (what feelings does the song make you feel?). Afterwards, I will ask them to
McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
 express what feelings they felt or what kind of vibe the song had (was it more happy or sad?).
Students can do this by typing in the chat or unmuting themselves and speaking. We will
briefly discuss the similarities and differences in tone between this song
and our short story “Falling Girl”. Both of these works present falling through the sky as
something curious or whimsical, not dangerous like we might typically view it. Yet “Falling Girl”
does have a darker tone than the song because it is presented more matter-of-factly than as a
simple what-if. I will transition into the next part of our lesson by mentioning that the focus for
today will be inferences and conclusions. This basically means that we will learn how to make
educated guesses based on what our short story says.

*State the Objectives (grade-level terms)

n/a I will learn how to make guesses about a story based on facts (what is definitely true).
I will use an example from the story to help me figure out what else could be true.

*Instructional Input or Procedure + Modeling + CfU

15 I will provide direct instruction on inferences and conclusions by explaining what each of
mins these terms mean. Making inferences is when you use facts to figure out other facts;
drawing conclusions is where you use both facts and inferences to figure out the next
logical event or the thing that is most likely to happen next. By highlighting the differences
between these two terms, students will see that inferences need to be made before
conclusions because the second one is hard to do without the first. I will point this out
directly as well if students do not realize this right away.

After explaining the difference between these two terms, we will look at the process of making
inferences and drawing conclusions. I will model the difference between these two terms by
walking though examples of each with the students. We will look at a group of pictures and
either infer or draw conclusions based on these pictures (What do they have in common?).
Once students know how to make inferences and draw conclusions based on the “Falling Girl”
story, we will begin our guided practice by analyzing “Falling Girl”. Here is a quick guide to
inferencing and drawing conclusions:

How to Inference
- collect clues
- consider: What seems to be true based on the other things that happen in the story?

How to Draw Conclusions

- look for/focus on previous inferences
- consider: After this event, what would make the most sense if it happened?

As we finish looking at what we can infer from the pictures, I will ask students to work
together to provide a quick summary of the processes used in inferencing and drawing
conclusions. One student will offer one step or action and others will add on until they
have summarized how to inference and draw conclusions.
*Guided/Independent Practice
____ I will invite students to join a Jamboard by asking them to click on the link in the chat that
mins automatically pops up when I start the Jamboard. Once I see that most or all students are
there, I will explain how to add text through a text box or sticky note. This is when I will set
the ground rules for the activity (see Classroom Management section for more
information). Here is an overview of the questions/prompts for our Jamboard:
Questions for “Falling Girl” guided practice include:
● What are the facts?
○ What do we know about Marta (the main character)?
● What can we infer (based on the facts)?
McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
 ○ What seems to be true?
● What can we conclude (based on the facts and our inferences)?
○ What makes sense based on the facts and our inferences?

Once students know how to add their thoughts, I will direct their attention to the first thing
we will focus on: the facts. Before we can make inferences, we need to know the facts
from the story. Students are allowed to copy and paste direct quotes from the text in order
to gather facts. They can organize them based on the category they belong to. We will
look for facts that tell us the main character’s age, her actions, and her feelings. There is
an “other” category available as well. If I notice that the majority of students are adding to
the same section, I will direct those who have yet to add something towards the empty
categories. I will also remind students that they can add more than one thing, so students
who have already “finished” will have that to focus on.

3-5 *Closure
mins I will inform students that there is no homework because they showed me that they can
inference and draw conclusions in class. With that being said, we will get more practice the
next day. The last announcement will be that they will have a test on Thursday (in two days
time). I will remind them that it is on our short story unit; it will focus on the literary elements
we have learned and discussed in class over the past few weeks. I will also reassure them by
letting them know that the next day’s live session will be review for the test as we read one
last short story. Apart from goodbyes and a reminder to contact me if there are any questions,
this will conclude the live session for the day.

Differentiation Strategies (enrichment, accommodations, remediation, or by learning style).

Block 2 (and sometimes Block 4) needs more guidance and direction, so I will allow them extra
time to think and answer questions. I will also focus on clearly communicating one question at a
time so students do not get confused as far as what question they are supposed to answer.
Classroom Management Issues (optional)
General: If students do not participate when called upon, I will take note by writing their names
down on a scrap of paper off to the side. I will then continue by asking another student to respond
and the class as a whole if the second student doesn’t respond either.
Specific: I will remind students that the Jamboard activity is to be taken seriously. Before beginning
the Jamboard, I will explain the ground rules to students. They can have fun and use sticky notes
instead of regular text boxes (they can choose the color of the sticky note). With that being said,
they should be responsible and focus on the questions/elements we are discussing. I will tell them
that I know they can do this (“I have faith in you guys, so show me how awesome you are”). If
students began to mess around with the Jamboard by drawing or moving other people’s sticky
notes, I will address them by reminding them that I need them to focus and stop doing whatever it
is they are doing. As always, I will monitor the chat as I teach so I can see any distractions or
disturbances that might be going on.

*Denotes Madeline Hunter lesson plan elements.

McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015