University of North Alabama Lesson Plan Template

Lesson Reliable vs. Unreliable: Analyzing the Narrator in Edgar Allan Grade: 8 (ELA)
Title: Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart” Date: 11/2/2022
CCRS Standard(s):
8c: Write an argument to defend a position by introducing and supporting a claim, distinguishing the claim
from opposing claims, presenting counterclaims and reasons, and citing accurate, relevant textual evidence
from credible sources (Alabama, ELA, Grade 8, 2021)

Individual Education Plan/504 Goal(s) and Benchmarks specific to this lesson (as directly indicated on
the plan):
This mini lesson is intended to strengthen student reading comprehension by analyzing the narrator’s
credibility of view in Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart.” As the lesson would ideally be implemented after
reading the story, the potential modifications/accommodations for students with IEPs or 504 plans are as
follows:
 A translated version of the text for English language learners
 An audio recording of the text for English language learners or auditory learners
 Access to a copy of the PowerPoint used during instruction (digital or print)
 Transition of the Think-Pair-Share activity from a one-on-one partner discussion to a small-group
discussion to support English language learners and students with diverse learning needs
 A copy of the rubric to support students as they complete the writing task (assessment)

Existing supports for IEP/504 learners (within the lesson):

 A guided worksheet to scaffold learners through each component of the lesson
 Small group work when discussing the text and locating textual evidence

Strategies
Daily Lesson
Objective(s) The student will be able to justify their interpretation of Poe’s narrator in “The Tell-
Objectives are Tale Heart” using textual evidence.
measurable and
aligned with the
standard.

Introduction to
Lesson/
Activating Thinking 1. Introduce the standards/objectives associated with the lesson (PowerPoint
***Use knowledge of slide 2)
students’ academic, 2. In their notebooks, students will copy notes from slides 3 and 4 to define a
social, and cultural “reliable” vs. “unreliable” narrator.
characteristics to meet
diverse needs.

Body of
Lesson/Teaching 1. Find the Reliable Narrator (Slide 5): Students will be presented with three
Strategies sentences. One of the sentences represents a “reliable” narrator, while the
Body of Lesson/ remaining two represent an “unreliable” narrator. As a class, students must
Teaching Strategies discuss the sentences and use their notes to determine which sentence
represents the “reliable” narrator. (Slide 5)

2. Think-Pair-Share (Slide 6): Students will participate in a one-on-one partner

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 discussion to answer the following questions on their guided notes sheets:
a. Is the narrator attached to the story in any way?
b. Does the narrator have a personal conflict that might make them “pick
a side”?
c. Can the narrator be trusted to tell the story truthfully?
d. Is Poe’s narrator reliable or unreliable? Why?

3. Textual Evidence (Slide 7): Students will work with their small groups to find
evidence from the story which supports their answers to the Think-Pair-Share
discussion questions. Textual evidence should be recorded on the guided
notes sheet.

Materials/Technology  Teacher Materials:

o Lesson PowerPoint presentation: https://1drv.ms/p/s!
AhtA4uMGlMePklts5VZE4FeB8val?e=eOj5go
 Student Materials:
o Students will need a notebook/paper and writing utensils to copy
notes from slides 3 and 4 of the PowerPoint.
o Students should use a digital or printed copy of this worksheet to
record their answers to the Think-Pair-Share activity, record the
textual evidence they find in support of their opinion of Poe’s narrator,
and to write their one-paragraph response to the writing task
(assessment): https://1drv.ms/w/s!
AhtA4uMGlMePklxHljMSSyFLGIKn?e=sPkFw9
Closure/
Summarizing 1. Share-Out (Slide 8): As a whole-group, students will share their answers to
Strategies: the Think-Pair-Share discussion, including the textual evidence they found to
support their answers.

Assessment/
Evaluation 1. Writing Task (Slide 9): Students will use their notes, discussion answers, and
textual evidence to write a one-paragraph explanation of whether or not they
believe Poe’s narrator in “The Tell Tale Heart” is reliable or unreliable.
Students will be required to include an in-text citation for direct quotes/textual
evidence in their writing. Students will also be required to write a full
paragraph which includes a topic sentence, claim sentence, evidence
sentence, commentary sentence, and conclusion sentence. Students must
use correct grammar, capitalization, spelling, and punctuation in their writing.
Students will submit their work to the teacher on paper (or digitally). Student
writing will be assessed using the following rubric:

RUBRIC (15 points possible)

Exemplary 6 points: The student’s writing follows a clear organizational
(15 points) pattern (Topic, Claim, Evidence, Commentary, Conclusion).

6 points: The student’s writing contains at least one piece of

textual evidence with an in-text citation. There are NO errors
across either the evidence or in-text citation.

3 points: The student’s writing contains NO errors in spelling,

grammar, punctuation, or capitalization.

Achieved (10 4 points: The student’s writing follows a clear organizational

pts) pattern (Topic, Claim, Evidence, Commentary, Conclusion).

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 4 points: The student’s writing includes textual evidence to
support their answer, with perhaps one error between both the
evidence and the in-text citation.

2 points: The student’s writing has no more than 2 errors total

in spelling, grammar, punctuation, or capitalization.

Developing 2 points: The student’s writing follows a somewhat clear

(5 pts) organizational pattern, but does not include all of the required
elements (Topic, Claim, Evidence, Commentary, Conclusion)

2 points: The student’s writing includes textual evidence to

support their answer. There is either NO in-text citation, or there
are 2+ errors between the evidence and citation.

1 point: The student’s writing has no more than 4 total errors in

spelling, grammar, punctuation, or capitalization.

Not 0 points: The student did not submit their work.

Achieved (0
pts) 0 points: The student’s writing does not follow a clear
organizational pattern (Topic, Claim, Evidence, Commentary,
Conclusion)

0 points: The student’s writing does not include textual

evidence with an in-text citation.

0 points: The student’s writing has 5+ errors in spelling,

grammar, punctuation, or capitalization.

Reflection The standard associated with this lesson asks students to write an argument to
defend their position and to cite relevant textual evidence which supports their
argument. The objective for the lesson asks students to justify their interpretation of
the narrator in Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart” using textual evidence. The lesson helps
students to understand the difference between a reliable and an unreliable narrator,
before considering the narrator in the story. Through partner work, students discuss
the text and locate textual evidence to support their answers to guided discussion
questions. This sequence scaffolds the practices of forming an opinion and locating
evidence from a source to support the opinion, prior to a writing task. As students
already have their opinion of the narrator and the evidence to support their opinion,
students will be assessed through a writing task which asks them to compile the
information they have found as a clear, cohesive paragraph to explain their opinion
of Poe’s narrator. As the writing task asks students to support an argument using
textual evidence, the assessment effectively meets the objective and standard
outlined for the lesson. The lesson – as a whole – serves as a scaffold for the
assessment, ensuring that learning goals are effectively met.

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