COREs ELA Lesson Planning and Preparation Form

Lesson Title: The Early War Years

LITERACY.RH.11-12.2,

Standards: CCSS.ELA11-12.3
11-12.4
11-12.6

Learning Objective(s): Students will be

able to analyze the causes for World
War 1, along with the role of the
United States in the beginning of the
war.
Language Objective for ELs:

Materials: Neutrality Scenario Debate sheet.

Online Discussion Board

Key Vocabulary: Imperialism, Neutrality,

Kaiser, Allies, Central Powers, Nationalism,
Trench Warfare, U-Boat, Zimmerman Note,
Total War

Lesson Source (program, page, etc.): Textbook

Key Background Knowledge: African

Imperialism. Industrialism, Big Stick
and Dollar Diplomacy.

CCSS Instructional Shifts Addressed:

Balance of Informational & Literary Text
Based Answers

Text-

Knowledge in the Disciplines

Sources

Writing from

Staircase of Complexity
Vocabulary

Academic

Depth of Knowledge Levels Addressed:

Level 1: Recall & Reproduction

Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Reasoning

Level 2: Skills &Concepts

Level 4: Extended Thinking

Questions and/or tasks addressing targeted levels:

Students will decide whether the U.S. should have been involved in the war in Europe based on reasoning
from discussion and text.

Formative Assessment How will you and your students know if they have met the objectives of the lesson?
Students will be able to explain whether the United States decision to join the allies was justified and why.

Teacher actions

Student actions

Intro (5minutes) Brief preview/explanation of objective and expectations.

Students will listen

Teacher will explain what it is the class will be doing today.

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COREs ELA Lesson Planning and Preparation Form

Model/Demonstration (15 minutes) Explicit explanations, think-alouds,
visual or worked models, small steps working toward mastery, etc.
During this time the teacher will give a preview of the lesson including background
information. The teacher will then talk about WWI and give a lecture on how it
started in Europe. The teacher will also explain how students are to come up with
opinions about the United States position in the beginning of the war based on
given information and text.

Guided Practice (20 minutes) Checks for understanding/misconceptions,

strategies for engagement, and feedback for extending, confirming, and/or
correcting student responses.
The teacher and class will go over a source or an event that involved the US and
the war.
Together the class will discuss whether or not the US should have gotten involved
and join the war or continue to stay neutral. It is okay for students to have different
opinions.

This a chance for students to

review a bit, and ask questions.
Students are to be listening to
the instructor and taking notes.

Students will listen and

participate in a class wide
discussion. They will form their
opinions and write them down on
their Debate sheet.

Monitor Checks for understanding/formative assessment.

Make sure all students are participating and forming arguments with reasoning

Adjust Instruction/Reteaching Support for students who are not

mastering the concept or skill and/or English language learners or students
needing intensification.
After going over different events that involved the US before they entered the war
(sinking of the Lusitania, The British Blackade, The Zimmerman Note and others)

Repeat Guided Practice/Monitor/Adjust as Needed

The teacher will now ask students to participate in
an online blog, in this blog students will post the
opinion they formed about when the US should
have joined the war.

Students will have a chance to

understand all of the events that
pushed the United States into
war, they then will form an
opinion based on reason on what
event they felt wouldve made
them push for war.
Students will post the opinion
they came up with along with
why they feel that way.

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COREs ELA Lesson Planning and Preparation Form

Independent Practice/Extension/Connections/Tutoring

Practice, extensions, or applications of the skills/concepts

learned. Tutoring for students requiring additional support.

The blog postings will be visible by everyone in the classroom, itll give students a chance to learn from each other and itll also give me an
opportunity to see where everyone is and if they understand the effects of these events.

Closure (5minutes) Explicitly connect ideas, concepts, and skills together, and clearly connect to the lesson objective(s).
Ill go on to explain how although most opinions were similar, everyone had different opinions and thats
why the United States took a while to get involved in the War.

Universal Lesson Design Features

Overarching Principles
1.
Multiple means of presentation of information to students (e.g., audio, video, text, speech,
Braille, still photos, or images)
2.
Multiple means of expression by students (e.g., writing, speaking, drawing, video
recording)
3.
Multiple means of engagement for students (e.g., to meet differing needs for
predictability, novelty, or group interaction)

Rose & Meyer (2002)

Applying Universal Design to Curricula

1.
Big ideas. Curricula emphasize major concepts, principles, categories, rules, techniques,
and hierarchical structures related to critical ideas and themes.
2.
Conspicuous strategies. Curricula include explicit instruction on steps to complete
required tasks.
3.
Mediated scaffolding. Curricula include questioning, feedback, and prompts.
4.
Strategic integration. Big ideas are explicitly linked within and across curricula.
5.
Judicious review. Previously taught content is reviewed and linked to applications.
6.
Primed background knowledge. New content is linked to and builds on students'
background knowledge.
Simmons & Kame'enui (1996)

Webbs Depth of Knowledge

Depth of Knowledge (DOK) supports the creation and/or analysis of the expectation or cognitive
demand (the complexity) expected by curricular activities, assessment tasks, and standards. Reading
examples:

LEVEL 1: Recall & Reproduction

Requires students to use simple skills or abilities to recall or locate facts from the

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arrange, define, draw,

identify, illustrate, label,
list, match, memorize,

COREs ELA Lesson Planning and Preparation Form

name, quote, recall,
recite, recognize, repeat,
state, tell, use, who,
what, when, where, why

text, describe/explain who, what, where, when, or how

Focus on basic initial comprehension, not on analysis or interpretation
Items require shallow/literal understanding of text presented and often consist of
verbatim recall from text or simple understanding of a single word or phrase

LEVEL 2: Skills & Concepts

Requires both initial comprehension and subsequent processing of text or
portion of text

Important concepts are covered but not in a complex way

Items at this level may include words such as paraphrase, summarize,

interpret, infer, classify, organize, collect, display, and compare

Items may require students to apply skills and concepts that are covered
in level 1

LEVEL 3: Strategic Thinking & Reasoning

categorize, cause/effect,
classify, compare,
construct, distinguish,
interpret, modify,
predict, organize, relate,
show, summarize, use
content clues
apprise, assess,
compare, construct, cite
evidence, critique,
develop a logical
argument, differentiate,
draw conclusions,
hypothesize, investigate,
revise

Requires deep knowledge

Students encouraged to go beyond text

Students asked to explain, generalize, or connect ideas

Students must be able to support their thinking, citing references from the text
or other sources

Items may involve abstract theme identification, inferences between or across

passages, application of prior knowledge, or text support for analytical
judgment about a text

LEVEL 4: Extended Thinking

Requires complex reasoning, planning, developing, and thinking, most likely

over an extended period of time, such as multiple works by the same author or
from the same time period.

Students take information from at least one passage and are asked to apply
this information to a new task.

They may also be asked to develop hypotheses and perform complex analyses
of the connections among texts. Some examples that represent but do not
constitute all of Level 4 performance are

Analyze and synthesize information from multiple sources.

Examine and explain alternative perspectives across a variety of sources.

Describe and illustrate how common themes are found across texts from
different cultures.

analyze, apply concepts,

connect, create, critique,
design, prove

Effective Lesson Format

1. Purpose or Learning Objective: Carefully formulated, clearly stated
2. Introduction: Brief preview or explanation of why that objective is worth learning and
of particular importancehow it will be assessed

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COREs ELA Lesson Planning and Preparation Form

3. Modeling/Demonstrating: Teachers not only explain but explicitly show students, in
very small, deliberately calibrated steps, how to do the working and thinking necessary
to succeed on the assessment
4. Monitor: To ensure that every student is attentive and engaged
5. Guided Practice: Recursive cycle that starts with students applying or practicing each
small step that the teacher has just modeled
6. Monitor: Check for understanding/formative assessment
7. Adjust Instruction: By reteaching or enlisting students' expertise by having them
work in pairs to help each other
8. Repeat Steps 57: Until all or almost all students are ready to complete the
assignment, project, or assessment by themselves
9. Independent practice and/or tutor students needing additional support
Schmoker (2013)

CCSS ELA Instructional Shifts

1 Balance of Informational & Literary Text

Knowledge in the Disciplines

Students engage in rich and rigorous evidence-based conversations about

text.

Writing from Sources

Students read the central, grade-appropriate text around which instruction

is centered. Teachers are patient, and create more time and space and
support in the curriculum for close reading.

Text-Based Answers

Students build knowledge about the world (domains/content areas)

through text rather than the teacher or activities.

Staircase of Complexity

Students read a true balance of informational and literary texts.

Writing emphasizes use of evidence from sources to inform or make an

argument.

Academic Vocabulary

Students constantly build the transferable vocabulary they need to access

grade-level complex texts. This can be done effectively by spiraling like
content in increasingly complex text.
www.engageNY.com

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