Tuesday, February 26th Lesson Plan

Topic:​ ​To Kill a Mockingbird chapters 20 and 21

Subject & Grade Level​: 9th grade honors English ​Time Frame​: 1 class period

Purpose of the Lesson:​ .

● Students will discuss the development of the themes of the novel within these chapters-
specifically prejudices within the town and evil vs innocence.
● Students will practice determining the theme, analyzing this theme throughout the novel, and
discussing their ideas pertaining to how it has been shaped and refined using evidence from
Lee’s text. *Major details added with Tom’s trial.
● Continued discussion of symbolism in novel, specifically the “mockingbird”

Addresses ELA Common Core Anchor Standards

○ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1
○ 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.9-10.2
○ Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the
course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details;
provide an objective summary of the text.
○ CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.3
○ Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations)
develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or
develop the theme.
Essential understandings:
● Students will develop analytical reading skills.
● Students will practice analyzing how the characters interact with the themes in the novel; in other
words- working to understand the characters’ perspectives and opinions on theses themes
(innocence, racism, gossip, etc.)
● Students will work to identify the meaning behind the symbolism in the novel and how these
symbols help progress the storyline.

Objectives for the day:

Quiz ​over chapters 20 and 21 to check reading comprehension.

Group discussion:​Mr. Raymond Dolphus: Why does he do what he does (pretend to be drunk) and how
does this fit in with the context of the story/what we know about the town? Do you think he’s
foolish/cowardly/right in keeping his secret? How does he compare to Atticus?
Whole class discussion​ on the close of the trial scene- read aloud what Atticus says to the jury.
How does Scout foreshadow the verdict?
*symbolism- “when the Mockingbirds were still”
^what’s the point of Scout saying this?
What is the verdict?
Who does this seem to impact the most?
Why do they stand as Atticus leaves?

Do you agree or disagree with the verdict and why?

How does the symbol of a Mockingbird fit into this?

RAFT assignment
Explain the assignment- students must choose a role, audience, format, topic. Topic must be the verdict
of the trial. Try to write in the voice of the role you chose (try to write with their emotion/feelings/etc.)
This takes some inferring on the part of the reader to really know about the character they chose. Who
would they be addressing? What would they be thinking right now?
Can be to/from any of the characters (Tom to his family, Scout to Tom, Jem to Tom, Atticus to his
children, Judge Taylor to Tom, etc).
Share out.

Homework: ​Read 22 and 23 for tomorrow

Modified lesson plan for 5th hour:

This class is moving at a slightly slower pace.
Objectives:
Modified quiz- questions based only on plot to ensure reading comprehension. Some student will be
taking it upstairs.
The class read ch 18 for homework. For review, students will be broken up into their regular groups
(groups specifically chosen by teacher to mix skill levels) and each group is in charge of two-three pages
to summarize and share out to the rest of the class. (This activity adds movement for students with
ADHD).
Popcorn reading chapter 19 (seems to help keep focus in the classroom rather than just having them read
or teacher reading aloud).
Students are responsible for reading chapter 20 for homework. *Students may listen to the book on tape
and follow along.
Evaluating my performance of Domain 3: Instruction

My objectives for the day included the following:

Quiz ​over chapters 20 and 21 to check reading comprehension.

Group discussion (break students into groups of 5/6 to discuss and then share out with
whole-class): ​Mr. Raymond Dolphus: Why does he do what he does (pretend to be drunk) and how does
this fit in with the context of the story/what we know about the town? Do you think he’s
foolish/cowardly/right in keeping his secret? How does he compare to Atticus?
Whole class discussion​ on the close of the trial scene- read aloud what Atticus says to the jury.
Display the following discussion prompts to the class using Google Slides:
How does Scout foreshadow the verdict?
*symbolism- “when the Mockingbirds were still”
^what’s the point of Scout saying this?
What is the verdict?
Who does this seem to impact the most?
Why do they stand as Atticus leaves?
Do you agree or disagree with the verdict and why?
How does the symbol of a Mockingbird fit into this situation?
RAFT assignment
Explain the assignment- students must choose a role, audience, format, topic. Topic must be the verdict
of the trial. Try to write in the voice of the role you chose (try to write with their emotion/feelings/etc.)
This takes some inferring on the part of the reader to really know about the character they chose. Who
would they be addressing? What would they be thinking right now?
Can be to/from any of the characters (Tom to his family, Scout to Tom, Jem to Tom, Atticus to his
children, Judge Taylor to Tom, etc).
(This assignment acts as a formative assessment because from their writing I can not only tell if they’re
keeping up with the reading, but I can also tell if they’re comprehending the material and if they’re able to
trace the development of characters and infer as to what their character would be thinking during this
situation. This students seemed to really excited about this assignment and I received a lot of great
feedback from the students about it!).

I will now be reflecting on my performance based on each specific subdomain:

3a: Communicating with Students
I believe I was successful in linking each day’s importance to the unit’s Big Ideas- meaning I try to have
students connect all of the examples in the text that they came across in each specific reading section to
the novel’s main themes. I use Google Slides to help the students and myself stay on track in this
endeavor.
3b: Using questioning and discussion techniques
I try to use a variety of questions, prompts, and discussion techniques to not only engage students but
expand upon their thinking to hopefully help them “connect the dots” on their own and/or in groups. I first
broke the students up in groups to talk about the interaction between Dill and Dolphus Raymond because
I wanted them to think deeper about the situation and I wanted them to figure out what they think about
Mr. Raymond. I think asking them to choose an adjective that would best describe Mr. Raymond really got
them thinking. I travel to each group to try to push them and challenge them on their thinking and to find
out if they need a little help in the process- for example, one group seemed stuck and I simply told them-
Scout calls him “sinful,” do you agree or disagree? I’ve found that phrasing questions in more
specific/pointed way sometimes helps to get groups going when they’re stuck. Additionally, I have
realized that groups around 5 to 6 students works the best- students seem less intimidated by the small
group setting and seem more talkative when we bring discussion back to the whole class.

3c. Engaging students in learning

I purposely design each day to include different types of objectives throughout the class period in order to
keep students on-task and engaged. I try to have every objective align with the overall learning goal.
Today’s main objectives were to analyze the character of Mr. Dolphus Raymond, and analyze Atticus’s
closing argument and to try to fit both of these events into the bigger picture/context of the novel (going
back to the 9th grade CCSS of trying to analyze the development of a theme throughout a novel). I
believe that I move through the objectives at a good pace. Today, I started with a quiz, went to group
discussion, then whole-class discussion, then ended class with a writing activity. I do wish that I gave
more time for the writing activity so that students could share out what they wrote. I use Google Slides to
help keep pace and stay on topic.

3d. Using Assessments in Instruction

In terms of using assessments, I typically start off class with reading quizzes. If students did not
comprehend a section these quizzes can usually highlight that fact. It also helps me to check individual
student comprehension of the text.
In terms of using assessments in instruction, I like to incorporate different types of activities that can be
used as formative assessments. I really love the RAFT writing assignment that we completed today
because it gives students a lot of freedom in their writing (which they love!) and it allows me see if they’re
comprehending the text, if they’re able to make inferences pertaining to characters, and if they
understand the concept of characterization and how to capture a character’s voice/emotions - all of which
we have been working towards while reading this novel.
Additionally, checking in with the groups while they’re discussing and rephrasing questions, trying to elicit
their thinking, and making them think deeper with additional questions all act as assessing while
instructing.
3e. Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness
Demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness comes into play more so in 5th hour. My 5th hour moves at
a bit of a slower pace in terms of the reading and includes many different skill levels as well as students
with IEPs. I find that I make adjustments from my plans for the other hours to fit the needs of this
particular class. I’m continuing to explore new strategies to keep this particular class engaged. I find that
tying the themes and discussion to their real life experiences definitely boosts the class’s engagement.

4. Engaging families
In order to include families in their students’ educational success I consistently update MiStar with grades
and comments that the student and parents can see. Additionally, I consistently update Google
Classroom with a schedule of what we have completed and what we are doing moving forward so that
students (especially those who might have been absent) and parents are in-the-know about what is going
on and what they should be working on.

4. Professional Responsibilities
In terms of professional responsibilities, I attend PLT meetings with the other 9th grade English teachers,
school-wide meetings, and district meetings. The meetings with the other English teachers have been
especially helpful in discussing new activities and bouncing new ideas off of them to hear about what
works best for them/what failed in their classrooms, etc. In terms of school and district meetings, many
have been about standards based grading, which has been a really interesting transition for this district. I
feel lucky to be able to hear these conversations.