The Other Side: Read-a-loud Lesson Plan

Kenzie Teel

Lesson Rational/ Injustice Confronted:

 This reasoning behind this lesson is to have students confront the difficult topic of
separation between African-Americans and Caucasians in past years, and the
separation of people groups based on differences in today’s society. Students will
learn how to confront and impact social change.

Readiness:
I. Goals/ Objectives/ Standards:
a. Goal(s):
i. Students will understand the differences between separation and
inclusion and be able to implement inclusion of all people into daily
activities.
b. Objectives:
i. Students will be able to explain the meaning of how to be inclusive based
off Sandra’s actions and how it impacted the people around her
throughout the story; then they will create a bumper sticker with a
slogan or drawing to explain how to be inclusive.
c. Standards:
i. 4.RL.2.3 Describe a character, setting, or event in a story or play, drawing
on specific details in the text, and how that impacts the plot.

II. Materials:
a. Picture of segregation and pictures of inclusion
b. The Other Side book
c. Paper (slips of paper and bumper car sticker size paper)
d. Colored pencils/ crayons
e. Pencils
f. Wall made from boxes (in the middle of the carpet area)

III. Anticipatory Set:

Students will be randomly divided into two groups. There will be a wall
made out of boxes to divide the carpeted area; each group of students will sit on
one side of the wall. I will have each side of students spilt into two groups, so
there will be a total of four groups in the classroom. Once the groups are
formed, I will give each group a picture of a separated group of people and ask
them to discuss the picture.
“Now class, I would like you to spilt into two groups with the people on
your side of the wall, so there should be four groups total.”
Allow wait time for the groups to form.
“Fantastic, now I am going to give each group a picture, and I want you to
look at the picture and each person will write down ONE word to describe how
 they are feelings. Once you have written down the word you are feelings, flip the
piece of paper over and sit quietly until everyone is done.”
The teacher will allow time for the students to think and write down their
ONE-word responses.
“When I look at this picture, I feel disturbed that someone would think it
is okay to not allow someone to hang out with them. Now, I am going to read
you a book call The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson.”

IV. Purpose:
a. “The purpose of this lesson is to recognize and describe the impacts of separation
and inclusion based off the character Sandra’s actions throughout the story”

Plan for Instruction:

 Foundational Theory:
o Reader-response criticism is a school of literacy theory that focuses on the
reader (or audience) and their experiences of a literary work, in contrast to
other schools and theories that focus on attention primarily on the author or
the content and form of the work.
 Adaption to Diverse Students:
o Shealyen struggles to keep up on course work with the other students. I will
pay more attention to her throughout the project to make sure she is
understanding the task assigned and putting in effort to complete the task.
o I will have the students who finish first (quicker students) discuss other areas
of social injustices they can relate to inclusive and separation events.
o There is a group of students who like to finish early with little to no effort put
into the task. I will create a thought process students have to go through to
make sure they are complete done and did their best work.
 Lesson Presentation (Input/ Output):
Input:
Teacher will read the book called The Other Side.
The teacher will use Grand Conversation questions to start the conversation and
allow students time to respond and time to think about the responses they want to say.
“What did you think of this book?”
Allow wait time for the students to think.
“Solomon, what did you think?”
Allow Solomon time to think and respond.
“Who else would like to add their opinion?”
“Yes, Jamie, what did you think of the book?”
Allow Jamie time to respond.
“Now, what do you think the main point of the book was?”
Allow students time to think about their responses.
“Cari, what do you think the main point of the book was?”
Allow Cari time to think and respond.
 “Yes, the main point was the fence and how it divided the two girls. Now
everyone look up here, this word is Separation which means putting things or people into groups
based on similar things or different characteristics. How were the people separated in the
book?”
Allow students time to think and formulate a response.
“Sarah, what was the separation you saw.”
Allow Sarah to respond.
“Yes, they were separated by the color of their skin. Not that long ago, people
thought that if people had different colors of skin besides White that those people were not
supposed to be treated like real people. Do you think that should be happening to people?”
Allow students to think about the response.
“Juliana, what do you think?”
Allow Juliana to respond.
“I agree that people should not be judged on something they cannot control like
their skin color. So, now I want us to look at another word, this word is Inclusion. Inclusion is
when everyone is allowed to be in the group no matter their differences. This is how we should
all be trying to act like, it allows everyone to participate in the activity. I would like you to spilt
back into the group that you formed when you were looking at the first picture. Now, I am going
to pass out a second picture to each group, you are going to look at it as a group and think of
how you are feeling looking at the picture. Once you have how you are feeling, you are going to
take the paper that you wrote on before and write ONE word about how you are feeling on the
back and then sit quietly until everyone else is done.”
Allow students time to look at the picture and think about how they are feeling
without pressure to hurry along.
“Who would like to share how they felt on the first picture and then how they felt
on the second picture? Jackson, would you like to share?”
Allow Jackson time to share how he felt, and anyone one else who want to share
how they felt.
At the very end, I will remove the wall that has been dividing the students,
creating an inclusive environment on the rug during the next part of the lesson.

Output:
“Now, please listen to the directions before doing anything. I want you to quietly
think about some ways the characters showed inclusion of people into a group or activity as it is
shown at the end of the book when all the girls were playing together. Think about how the
different situations throughout the story made you feel. Specifically think of Sandra’s response
when the other girls asked to jump rope with her; which activities you would want to be
involved with? Once you have your idea, I would like you to come up to the Graffiti Wall Paper
and write down how the different characters affect the plot by their actions. Then I would like
you to take a piece of paper from the pile and go back to your seat. We are going to become the
“characters” in our own story and see how we can be inclusive in our world. We are going to be
creating Car Bumper Stickers with a phrase about inclusion or you could draw a picture to
represent the idea. So, it could be something like, “Everyone is Equal” or a picture of a group of
friends jumping rope at recess. Does anyone have any questions? Now you may quietly start
thinking about your idea.”
Students will sit on the rug thinking about a way to include people into a group
or activity. Students can also think about how the situations in the book made them feel and
how they would want to improve those specific situations .
Once they have their idea, I will have placed a Graffiti Wall Paper on the
whiteboard along with a marker cup so students can come up when they have their idea
and write down what action they want to accomplish.
Then they will grab a piece of paper and walk back to their seats to begin the
task of creating their slogan or picture bumper stickers.
(While I am taking about the instructions, I will demonstrate briefly to make sure
the students with differently learning styles are still able to grasp the ideas to the best of
their ability.)
Students will work quietly while the teacher and myself walk around the room to
answer questions or giving encouraging advice until everyone is done.

V. Check for understanding:

a. A check for understanding can occur when the teacher looks at both sides of the
paper the students wrote their emotions on and see if the students are
recognizing negative actions with negative emotions and positive actions with
positive emotions. This will determine if the student is making the connection
between the two sides.
b. The teacher can read the Graffiti Wall to make sure the students are including
activities about how to be inclusive with other people during activities. This will
determine if the students know what inclusive activities are with other people.
c. Finally, the teacher can read the students’ bumper stickers to see if the slogans
are inclusive based and creating a positive environment for everyone. If the
slogans are an inclusive saying then it shows the students are grasping the
concepts.

VI. Review Learning Outcomes/ Closure:

a. “Now students I would like you to come back to the carpet area and bring your
bumper stickers with you please.”
Allow students time to get to the carpet area.
“I would now like you to pair up with a partner and share the slogan/saying you
wrote down to be inclusive with other people.”
Allow students time to share with their partners.
“Who would like to share their bumper sticker slogan with the class?”
Allow students time to decide if they would like to share with everyone.
One student raises his hand.
“Yes, Jack what was your idea for an inclusion bumper sticker?”
Allow Jack time to share his idea.
Allow anyone else who would like to share their ideas.
 “Those are some fantastic ideas on how to be more inclusive with everyone. Now,
I would like you to take your slogans and put them into action when you see
someone by themselves!”

Plan for Assessment:

a. Formative:
i. The Graffiti Wall will be a part of the formative assessment because it will
show if students are able to think of way within the book that different
characters were being inclusive. The teacher and I will also be walking
around taking notes of kids who have not grasped the concepts of what
inclusion means to the best of their ability.

b. Summative:
ii. The car bumper sticker slogans will be the summative assessment
because the students will have to demonstrate they know what an
inclusive environment based on the actions of Sandra in the book and be
able to think of interesting ways to portray the idea through words or
drawings so other people will understand the concept.

Reflection and Post Lesson Analysis:

1. What percentage of students wrote negative emotions for the first picture and positive
emotions for the second picture?
a. 100% of the students wrote negative emotions when they looked at the first
picture and positive emotions when they looked at the second picture.

2. What were my strengths and weaknesses in the lesson presentation?

a. I think some strengths that I had throughout the lesson was confidence. I knew
that material I wanted my students to understand and I believe that I taught with
the confidence to show that. One weakness that I noticed at the beginning of my
lesson was nerves. This was the first lesson I prepared and taught on my own,
and at the beginning that showed because my voice was shaking during the
reading.

3. Were all students engaged and actively participation during all parts of the lesson?
a. There were parts during the lesson that not all the students were engaged. I split
them into group at the beginning and had them share what emotions they felt
from the pictures; while other groups were sharing I noticed some students were
playing with their pencils or talking to their partners. Yet, during the bumper
sticker the students were engaged with thinking of a quote to use and the colors
they wanted.
4. Were the students able to accomplish the task in the time given or should the time be
shortened or lengthened?
a. The most students (85%) were able to complete the tasks assigned during the
summative assessment project. Yet, I would lengthen the time to allow the
students to be more creative in their designs of the bumper sticker instead of
only putting the bare minimums.

5. How should I alter the lesson?

a. One way that I would alter the lesson would be to explain the direction for both
the bumper stickers and the Graffiti Wall at one time and then have the students
start the bumper stickers and pull two or three at a time to reduce the waiting in
line to write on the wall.

6. How many students achieved the objects?

a. Out of the 19 students, 19 were able to describe ways to be inclusive based off
of Sandra’s actions throughout the story when I talked to each student. Only 17
were able to finish their bumper sticker which described how they wanted to be
inclusive. For the 2 that did not finish the bumper sticker, I talked with them on
what they wanted to say and the ideas they had were on target with the
objectives. These students just did not have enough time to finish the creative
side of the bumper sticker.

7. Were the adjustments/modification I made tailored well to students needs and ability
levels?
a. One of the adjustments that I made for my students were for the ones who did
good work (fulfilled all the requirements) and still finished early. For these
students I had them create a list of events that included separation and another
list that of events that were inclusive.

8. Did 85% of student create a positive inclusive slogan for the car bumper sticker?
a. Yes, 90% of the students finished their bumper stickers they created a positive
slogan. There were two students who did not completely finish the sticker, but
when I talked to those students the ideas they had were a positive statement.

9. How could I pace the lesson to improve success rates?

a. One way that I would pace the lesson differently would be to start my students
on the summative assessment (bumper stickers) and then pull a couple at a time
to write on the Graffiti Wall. This would reduce the wait-time that occurred
when the students were waiting in line.
Supplies and Resources for the Lesson Plan: