Student Teaching edTPA Lesson Plan Template

Subject: Reading Central Focus: Informational Text

Essential Standard/Common Core Objective:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.10
By the end of year, read and comprehend
informational texts, including history/social studies,
Date submitted: 4/11/2018 Date taught: 3/31/2018
science, and technical texts, in the grades 4-5 text
complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as
needed at the high end of the range.

Daily Lesson Objective: Students will read informational texts regarding the history of two items and strengthen
comprehension by drawing on background knowledge to build connections.

21st Century Skills: Academic Language Demand (Language Function and

Vocabulary):
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
-Use Systems Thinking Acquisition of Key Information
Information Literacy Using the article
-Access and Evaluate Information Using Chromebooks to research lingering questions
-Use and Manage Information Defining unknown terms
Information Literacy
-Access Information Efficiently Vocabulary:
Key Details
Key Words
Background Knowledge

Prior Knowledge:
Students will need to have had prior experience reading informational texts. They will need to know what background
knowledge is and how it can help their understanding.

Activity Description of Activities and Setting Time

1. Focus and Review
Picture of zoopraxiscope is presented on the overhead. I will ask students, 10 mins
“What do you think this is?” (A projector, etc.) “What do you think this is
used for?” (Seeing pictures, etc).
The classroom will participate in presenting ideas about what they think the
item is and what it does using clues within the picture itself.
After discussion, I will say. A zoopraxiscope is kind of like a projector
because it does project an image on the screen. However, it was the first
version of a “motion picture” which worked by showing a sequence of still
photographs in rapid succession. Does anyone know another work for motion
picture? (Movie). Have any of you guys seen or used flip books? (We will
have a discussion on flip books and how they are similar to a zoopraxiscope.

Today, we are going to read about the History of Movies and one of the ways
we’re going to strengthen our understanding of the article is by drawing on the
background knowledge we already have to build connections.

Similar to the way we tried to guess what this image was based on what we
saw and what we already knew, we are going to make sure we understand
what we read by using some background knowledge.
 Students will read informational texts regarding the history of two items and 5 mins
2. Statement of Objective
strengthen comprehension by drawing on background knowledge to build
for Student
connections.
Students will each be given an article on the History of Movies. 20 mins
Comprehension strategies are steps that you use to make sense of a text. They
help you to be a more active reader and help you to monitor whether or not
you really understand something you’ve just read. The one strategy that I want
to focus on today involves using background knowledge.

Background knowledge what I know already, information I’ve already known,

or something I’ve already experienced, etc.
Background knowledge is one of the first and most fundamental parts of
understanding.

Today, each of you have an article on the History of Movies and we acquired
background knowledge together as a class through our little warm up. We’ve
just learned what a zoopraxiscope is and what it does. The title of the passage
tells us a lot about what we’re actually going to be reading about. I’m going to
try to come up with some more background knowledge using what I know
3. Teacher Input
about the title.

Hmm, what do I know already know about movies? (I will be constructing a

bubble map in the front of the class.)
The Bubble Map of Movies: There are several ways to watch movies (on
laptop, tv, phone, tablet, etc.) There are different types of movies. You can
watch movies in a movie theatre. Movies can be on a DVD player or video
cassette or blu-ray, etc.

Now that I’ve taken some time to think about and gather background
knowledge about the article I am ready to read.

(I will read the article out-loud to the class and as I read I will model to
students new background information that I remember along the way. I will
display a picture of the Goldwyn-Meyer lion that I envision as I read about it
and I will articulate other previous knowledge as I go.)
10 mins
Now, as a class, we are going to do a similar reading activity with an article
on the History of Fireworks.

What background knowledge do we have on fireworks or the history of

fireworks?
(Students will likely answer: we know what they look like, what they sound
like, they are usually used for celebrations, where we might see them, etc.)
(I will construct a bubble map as students call out information they have.)
4. Guided Practice
Now, there is something that is different about this article we have together.
This article has comprehension questions that follow. In a way,
comprehension questions help us to see, what we know and what we don’t
know, and what we need to learn. Let’s see if we can come up with some
background knowledge for these questions specifically.
(We will pre-read question by question and come up with background
knowledge for the things we already know. We will likely talk about
gunpowder, monks, fireworks for celebrations, the fourth of July, etc.)
 Some background knowledge we have about this article already is what we
need to pay most attention to when we read. So let’s underline when we hear
something familiar from the questions.

(I will read the article aloud to students and scaffold when there might be
background knowledge about a particular piece of information.)

Independently, you guys are going to read about the History of Chocolate. 15 mins
Before you read, I would like you guys to personally draw a bubble map on
the back that includes information you already know about chocolate or the
history of chocolate. I would also like for you guys (before you start reading)
to read the comprehension questions and think about what you already know
about what the question is asking. Then when you read something that
pertains to something you already know you need to look for, underline it so
5. Independent Practice that when you start to answer the questions you know exactly where to look.

(Students will read the worksheet independently. I will award 1 point for the
bubble map of background knowledge on the back and 1 point for each
question they answer correctly. There is a total of 5 possible points available.
Mastery of the objective is a final percentage of 80% or at least 4/5.)

Students will read the worksheet independently. I will award 1 point for the bubble map of
6. Assessment Methods of background knowledge on the back and 1 point for each question they answer correctly.
all objectives/skills: There is a total of 5 possible points available. Mastery of the objective is a final percentage
of 80% or at least 4/5.
15 mins
I will engage students in a quick discussion on what they learned about
background knowledge. I will ask questions like: What is background
knowledge? How does background knowledge help you understand new
information?
7. Closure I will remind students that there are several comprehension strategies that they
can use but using background knowledge is usually the first strategy they can
use and it usually helps build a foundation for new information. We will
discuss some other possible strategies that can be used to build
comprehension.

5/5 – 11 students
4/5 – 4 students
8. Assessment Results of 3/5 – 2 student
all objectives/skills: 2/5 – 1 student

Targeted Students Modifications/Accommodations Student/Small Group Modifications/Accommodations

There are some students in the class that are ELLS. One
of the ways that I can accommodate this lesson for
them is by reading the passages and comprehension
questions to them personally. A modification that I can
use for them as well could be to include a shorter
If I were going to have this lesson include an ELL small group
I would have each student in the group answer one question. If
there was a writing aspect involved in answering the
comprehension questions I would have them draw out their
answers instead of writing them.
 passage with only one comprehension question to
answer.

Materials/Technology: A computer, a projector, an image of a zoopraxiscope, an image of the Goldwyn Meyer Lion, an
image of Mayan civilization, images of chocolate in several forms. Individual articles for the students to read the History
of Movies, and the History of Chocolate, computer paper, expo board, expo marker.
Reflection on lesson:
15 students showed mastery of the objective while 3 did not. Looking at the results of the assessment I am somewhat
pleased because I know that if I were the active teacher of this group I could assemble the group of 3 and work with them
either independently or together to build their comprehension. Apart from the results of the assessment, I do still think
that my lesson could have used improvement. I don’t not know that there is an actual way to “grade” background
knowledge as a strategy in and of itself. Looking back, I think this lesson should have been partnered with strategies to
answer comprehension questions.

CT signature: ________________________ Date: ______ US signature: ____________________________Date: ______