Grade/ 9th Grade English Language Arts Honors

Content
Area
Lesson Motivations of the Characters in Of Mice and Men
Title
State Common Core State Standards
Standards:
GLEs/GSEs CCSS Reading Standards 3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with
National multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact
Content with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
Standards:
NCTE/IRA

Context of While students are reading the book, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck,
the Lesson they will be using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to track the progression of the
Where does characters psychological motivation throughout the book. I was asked to
this lesson fit teach a lesson on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to these students, in relation
in the to the book, and quiz students on their understanding of my lesson.
curriculum
and
instructional
context? Is
it the
opening of a
unit or a
series of
lessons?
Opportuni Plans to differentiate instruction:
ties to I decided to have students take notes on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs as I
explain what it is through a talk aloud on the white board. This class is an
Learn
honors class, and they are all extremely motivated. I believed that they could
handle taking notes, without a graphic organizer, but allowed them to
Definition: frequently ask questions throughout my lecture. I provided visual
Materials,
representations on the white board of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, drew
Learners
descriptions of a hypothetical scenario on the board, and provided students
and
Environment with scenarios from popular TV shows and movies in order to check their
s understanding of the content before the quiz.

Accommodations and modifications:

 This class is made up of Honors students. All of the students are very motivated
to learn, and are constantly engaged throughout the entire class. They are not
afraid to ask questions, and they all listen intently. I had students take notes
during my explanation of Maslow’s theory. I drew images on the white board
in order to cater to the visual learners, while the think aloud/talk aloud catered
to the auditory learners. Looking back on this lesson, I probably should have
provided a graphic organizer for students to take notes on. However, my
cooperating teacher wants these students to be prepared for college (even
though they are in 9th grade) so it seemed alright to just have them take notes
freely during the lesson.

Environment factors:
This classroom is set up with the desks in rows all facing the front of the room
where the blackboard and whiteboard are located. There are around 30
students in the classroom, and one student sits at the teacher’s desk because
there are not enough desks for all of the students. About three quarters of the
class is white, while the remainder of the students are African American,
Hispanic, Native American, and Cambodian.

Materials:
For this lesson, I will need Expo Markers, and note taking materials for all of the
students. I will also need copies of the quiz for all students. I will also need
copies of Of Mice and Men for all students.

Objectives The student will be able to fully comprehend Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,
and will complete the quiz with 80% accuracy.
Opening:
“If you woke up on a deserted island what is the first thing you are going to be
looking for? Today, I am going to review Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.”
Instruction
al
Procedure Engagement:
s “Today we are going to learn about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Throughout
the reading of Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, you will be asked to track
the characters progression using this hierarchy. You will write the characters
progression in your reader’s journal. After the think aloud/talk aloud about this
hierarchy, you will complete a quiz to assess your understanding of the content
we just learned.”
Closure:
After my think aloud/talk aloud, students will fill out a quiz. This quiz will be
an informal assessment to assess the students understanding of my lesson.
After the quiz I will wrap up, “Today we learned about Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs and how you will be tracking the progression of the characters within
 Of Mice and Men. Can anyone tell me what the Love and Belongingness stage
is? Can anyone tell me what Self Actualization is?”

“As you continue to read the book, write in your readers journal about the
character’s progression throughout the story. Which stage of Maslow’s
Hierarchy is Lenny at in chapter 1? Which stage of Maslow’s Hierarchy is
George at in chapter 1?”

Assessmen As an informal assessment, after my lesson I will give out a quiz that each
t student will take individually. Students must score at least an 80% on this quiz.
This will be used to assess how well the students understood the content of my
lesson.
Reflection Student Work Sample 1 – Approaching Proficiency:
s
Student Work Sample 2 – Proficient:

Student Work Sample 3 – Exceeds Proficiency:

Lesson Implementation Reflection:
After teaching this lesson, I felt good, but not as great as after the first lesson I
taught. I felt as if I was not quite as prepared content wise as I could have been.
This is because I taught this lesson to the 9th Grade Honors class. I felt as if I
was being “thrown to the sharks”. They were constantly asking questions,
which was awesome, but some of the questions I had to refer to my
cooperating teacher because I wasn’t sure of the answers. I started having
students debate with one another about certain scenarios that students could
not agree on which stage a certain character was at. I was very confident when
teaching this lesson, and my cooperating teacher said I did great. However,
there is such a huge difference between the 12th Grade classes that I taught my
first lesson to compared to this 9th Grade Honors class. The NCTE standards
that I exhibited are NCTE 3. Candidates plan instruction and design assessments
for reading and the study of literature to promote learning for all students. The
RIPTS that I exhibited is 2.5 Represent and use different viewpoints, theories,
and methods of inquiry when teaching concepts and encourage all students to
see, question, and interpret concepts from a variety of perspectives. Also,
RIPTS 9.1 Select and/or design individual and group classroom assessments
based on strengths, limitations, and data provided by the assessments. The
next time I teach a lesson to this group of students, I will be sure to be more
prepared content wise. I also think that I should have planned to differentiate
instruction more. Instead of having students just take notes however they
want, I should have created a graphic organizer to better aid them. Although
it is hard to use technology in this school because of a lack of resources, hence
why I lectured using the white board, I think next time I will try to use a video
or Nearpod to supplement my lesson; if I can track down enough computers for
the students to use. Other than these issues, I think I did well, and I am looking
forward to teaching this group of students Romeo and Juliet in the Spring.