Lesson Plan

Subject: American Literature Grade: 11 Lesson Topic: Henry David Thoreau

Candidate’s Name: Kaley A. Morlock ID # 041413687
Site Supervisor: Mary Richardson-Davidson NU Supervisor: Angela Croce
Date: May 12th, 2021

Lesson Overview

Title of Lesson [Introduction to “Walden”]

Subject [ American Literature]

Grade Level [ 11th ] Time Frame [ 1 Day ]

California Content Standard(s) [

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.6
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.2
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.6
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.2
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.3
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.4
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.5

 California ELD Standard(s) [SL.11–12.1, 6; L.11–12.3, 6 Exchanging information and ideas with
others through oral collaborative discussions on a range of social and academic topics

W.11-12.6; WHST.11–12.6; SL.11–12.2; L.11–12.3, 6 Interacting with others in written English

in various communicative forms (print, communicative technology and multimedia)

SL.11–12.1, 3, 6; L.11–12.1, 3, 6 Listening actively to spoken English in a range of social and

academic contexts

Learning Goal(s) [Students will discover Transcendentalist values in the YouTube video. Students will
explain Transcendentalist values from the YouTube video in a whole class discussion. Students will
describe their personal experiences in nature. Students will take turns popcorn reading the first
excerpt from “Walden”. Students will develop synonymous phrasing in the first excerpt of “Walden”.
Students will compose an exit ticket recalling why Thoreau was motivated to go live in the woods (TPE
1.3, TPE 1.5, TPE 2.5)].

Measurable Learning Objective(s) [Students will participate in a whole class discussion following the
Transcendentalism YouTube video, explaining the essential concepts of Transcendentalism, and

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describing their experiences in nature. Students will be called upon at random to popcorn read the
excerpt from “Walden”, demonstrating standards-based speaking, and listening skills. Students will
collaboratively create synonymous phrasing to reword Thoreau’s first paragraph in Part 2 of
“Walden”. Students will individually compose an exit ticket recalling the reason why Thoreau went
into the woods (TPE 1.5, TPE 2.5)].

Content of Lesson

What do you expect students to deeply understand about the lesson? What do you expect students
to retain after the lesson and use in future learning?
[I expect students to deeply build upon their prior knowledge of Ralph Waldo Emerson and draw a
connection to Henry David Thoreau by discovering the second tenant of Transcendentalism—nature.
In the previous learning lesson, I built upon students’ knowledge of Emerson by presenting a Google
Slides presentation and YouTube video conveying the relationship between the two authors and the
values of Transcendentalism (TPE 1.1). In addition, after sharing responses from a previous reflection
journal, I expect students to draw upon their own prior experience with nature, when making
connections to Thoreau’s beginning excerpt of “Walden” (TPE 1.1, TPE 1.3, TPE 1.6, TPE 2.2). At the
end of the lesson, I expect students to deeply understand Thoreau’s motivation to live in solitude at
Walden. Finally, I expect students to retain how to use synonymous phrasing when interpreting a
difficult text and how to use a dictionary/thesaurus and context clues in future learning (TPE 2.5, TPE
3.1, TPE 3.2, TPE 3.5)].

What misunderstandings or misconceptions do you expect students might have from the lesson?
[There are a few foreseeable misunderstandings and misconceptions that students may have from
the lesson. The first being that not all students will have had a meaningful experience in nature due to
their individual backgrounds (TPE 1.1). If students have not had a significant experience with nature,
they may be unable to make connections to the value nature has in Transcendentalism. Secondly, I
expect students will have a difficult time reading and interpreting the challenging language and syntax
featured in “Walden” (TPE 3.2, TPE 3.5, TPE 4.1). Students may feel too embarrassed or shy to read
aloud in class and may be hesitant to come up synonymous phrasing, for fear of being incorrect.
Finally, even after the whole class discussion on Thoreau’s motivation for moving to the woods and
the previous lesson, some students may still not understand why anyone would want to live in
solitude for 2 years].

What knowledge, skills, and abilities (higher-order thinking and academic language development) do
you expect students to have after engaging in the lesson?
[After engaging in the lesson, I expect students to be able to make connections between Ralph Waldo
Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; to correlate their prior knowledge of Transcendentalism to
Thoreau; to categorize the second tenant of Transcendentalism of nature; to conclude why Thoreau
was motivated to live in solitude in the woods; and to construct new sentences using synonymous
phrasing. (TPE 2.5, TPE 3.1, TPE 4.1)].

Instruction to Support Learning

What resources, materials, and/or educational technology will you or your students use during the
lesson?
[During the lesson students will observe the Transcendentalist YouTube video; they will share their
reflections journals on Canvas; read along and develop synonymous phrasing for “Walden” in Kami
(where they will later make their annotations); and create an exit ticket on Google Jamboard. (TPE
3.5, TPE 3.6, TPE 3.7, TPE 3.8, TPE 4.7, TPE 4.8)]
Revised August 2020
What instructional strategies will you use to support student learning through multiple modalities?
[My instructional strategies are an activator activity (the YouTube video); reading for understanding,
visual learning tools, and I Do-We Do-You Do. My lesson plan builds on UDL principles by
incorporating multiple means of engagement (YouTube, Kami, popcorn reading), multiple means of
representation (YouTube video, student shared responses, Kami) and multiple means of
action/expression (class discussion, popcorn reading, synonymous phrasing, Jamboard exit ticket)
(TPE 1.4, TPE 1.6, TPE 3.5, TPE 4.4). The lesson is centered around asset-based learning, by building
upon students’ prior knowledge of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalists, as well as their
personal experiences with being in nature (which will be shared in the student reflection journals
from the previous class period) (TPE 1.1, TPE 1.3). Since the text features challenging syntax and
language, like “Self-Reliance”, I intend on modelling by I Do-We Do-You Do while creating
synonymous phrasing for the first paragraph in the “Walden” excerpt. My goal is for students to
continue reading the excerpt in small groups and individually, therefore I want them to become
familiarized with how to interpret challenging text using synonymous phrasing and context clues].

What adaptations and accommodations, including, as appropriate, assistive technologies, will support
focus students and other individual student learning needs beyond the UDL supports built into the
lesson?
[I will support my focus students by using assistive technology, visual aids, closed captioning, and
modelling of tasks. The excerpt of “Walden” we are examining is loaded into Kami, an assistive
technology tool featuring translation, text-to-speech, dictionary, and translation and will support my
3 ELD students, 1 student with an IEP, as well as all learners. By providing a YouTube video illustrating
the values of Transcendentalism, students will be provided with an engaging representation of
concepts. The video will also have closed captioning turned on to benefit ELD and Standard English
learners. Finally, I will model how to develop synonymous phrasing and utilize context clues when
reading difficult passages to support my ELD, Standard English, students with special needs, and all
learners. (TPE 1.4, TPE 1.6, TPE 3.2, TPE 3.5, TPE 3.6, TPE 3.8, TPE 4.4, TPE 4.5, TPE 4.8)].

Structured Student Learning Activities

What activities will the students be involved in during the lesson to support, engage, and challenge
their achievement of the learning objective(s)?
[Students will be actively engaged when watching the YouTube video, participating in whole class
discussion about the Transcendentalist values, when sharing their personal experiences with nature,
when popcorn reading the excerpt of “Walden” and when composing their individual exit tickets.
Students will be actively challenged and supported in their learning when creating synonymous
phrasing, by substituting new sentences for Thoreau’s and when asked to recall the motivated for
why Thoreau decided to live 2 years of solitude (TPE 1.1, TPE 2.5, TPE 4.1, TPE 4.2, TPE 4.7)].

How will you group students and manage group work to support student learning?
[Students will receive whole class instruction in this lesson to prepare for the small cooperative
learning groups they will have in the following class period. I have decided to use whole class
instruction today because I will be providing crucial modelling and delivery of concepts that all
students will need to succeed in future learning goals (TPE 1.5, TPE 1.6, TPE 1.8, TPE 3.2, TPE 3.5, TPE
3.7, TPE 4.1, TPE 4.4, TPE 4.7)].

How will you engage all students in higher-order thinking (i.e., analysis, synthesis, evaluation,
interpretation, and transfer) activities?

Revised August 2020

[Students will begin the class engaged in higher-order thinking as they observe the YouTube video,
then share their observations in whole group discussion. This higher-order thinking will be
demonstrated when I ask essential questions and prompts related to the video such as asking
students to compare/contrast Emerson and Thoreau (analysis); to classify the second tenant of
Transcendentalism (analysis); to make connections to their own personal experiences (transfer); and
to summarize what they learned in the video (interpretation). Following the video and discussion,
students will be asked to interpret the first paragraph in the excerpt of “Walden” by creating
(synthesis) synonymous phrasing. Finally, students will develop (synthesis) an individual exit ticket
explaining why Thoreau decided to live in the woods (TPE 1.1, TPE 1.3, TPE 1.5, TPE 2.2, TPE 2.5, TPE
3.1)].

Checking for Understanding/ Assessment

What evidence will all students provide to demonstrate steps toward the learning objective during
the instruction and student learning activities?
[The evidence that will take place in today’s lesson consists of multiple formative assessment and
practice opportunities for students. During instruction and learning activities, students will provide
verbal/written in Zoom Chat evidence of the learning objective by participating in whole class
discussion about the YouTube video, sharing their personal experiences in nature, popcorn reading,
and creating synonymous phrasing while reading “Walden” (TPE 5.1, TPE 5.2, TPE 5.8)].

What essential questions will you ask to determine if students are not meeting, meeting, or exceeding
the objective(s) of the lesson?
[ “What similarities can you find between Thoreau and Emerson?”
“What is the value of nature?”
“How is technology a distraction? How is money a distraction? How are other people a distraction?”
“What does it mean to do something deliberately?”
“What are the benefits of solitude?”
“Why did Thoreau decide to live in a cabin in the woods for 2 years?” (TPE 1.3, TPE 1.5, TPE 2.5)].

What evidence will students provide at the end of the lesson that reflects the learning objective?
[At the end of the lesson all students will have submitted an individual exit ticket, their nature
reflection journal, and their synonymous phrases in their individual Kami document. (TPE 5.2, TPE
5.4)].

Independent Practice

What activity will students perform independently that reflects the learning objective?
[All students will individually submit evidence of the learning objective by creating an exit ticket and
writing their synonymous phrases on their copy of “Walden” in Kami (TPE 5.2, TPE 5.4, TPE 5.7, TPE
5.8)].

Revised August 2020