DePaul University Elementary Lesson Plan Format

(Components required by edTPA are noted below with a *. Your instructor may ask you to

incorporate additional elements that are tailored to the course—these will be designated with a

***.)

Name: Camila Gaard

Grade: 2nd or 3rd

Segment: 1 of 2

1 STANDARDS AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In the spaces below, articulate your specific learning goals for your lesson. Through each

section, you should be addressing the question: what do you want students to KNOW and BE

ABLE TO DO as a result of this lesson?

- Standards *

State adopted student academic content standards and/ or Common Core State Standards that

are the target of student learning (List the number AND text of each standard that is being

addressed. If only a portion of a standard

is being addressed, then only list or bold the part or parts that are relevant.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4

Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply

rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

- Learning Objectives *

Learning objectives associated with the standards. These should be specific, attainable, and

measurable.

Adopted Fall 2015 1

Students will participate in a movement activity to represent figurative language.

Students will discuss how they are human using the new vocabulary via a sharing activity.

Students will create a word expert poster to demonstrate their knowledge of new vocabulary.

2 ASSESSMENT

In this section, articulate the tasks or evidence through which students will demonstrate the

desired

understandings. In other words, how will you know students “got it” by the end of the lesson?
Discuss/explain Informal and formal assessments used to monitor student learning, including

type(s) of

assessment, both formative and summative, and what is being assessed

There is informal assessment throughout this lesson segment. It begins with the introduction,

where I check understanding by walking around and listening to students’ “I am human. I …”

phrases and scaffolding to better understanding if needed.

Next, I will informally assess students’ background knowledge by the thumbs up, down, to the

side preceding the pre-teaching of vocabulary. I will assess their knowledge of using morphemic

analysis by seeing if they can figure out word meanings.

I will check students’ understanding of the figurative language as I watch the whole class’

movements as a formative assessment and provide peer supports if needed.

I then check students’ understanding of meanings informally during the read aloud by asking

targeted questions, such as “Can anyone explain how the boy is showing empathy on this page?”

I also use formative assessment of the whole class during the making choices activity to see if

they are understanding the words’ usage across different contexts. I then assess understanding

again by walking around to check students are selecting representative images. I will provide

guidance in helping select a better image if needed and will provide more time or examples for

specific words if needed as a result of the making choices activity.

Adopted Fall 2015 2
The dice activity gives me one more chance to informally assess students and guide their thinking

formatively before the summative assessment. I will do so by walking around groups and listening

or guiding their thinking as they work through the sharing prompts. I will also invite students to

share out examples so students can be exposed to more vocabulary usage and so I can adjust the

examples as well if needed.

The summative assessment is the word expert poster, which will assess students’ authentic use of

new vocabulary using a rubric. I will know that my students understand if they are able to come

up with their own definitions and create their own sentences using the word or phrase

appropriately.

Adopted Fall 2015 3

 3-LEARNING PLAN

In this section, articulate the materials/ resources necessary to implement the lesson and

the step-by-step sequence of the lesson.

- Instructional Resources and Materials *

Instructional resources and materials (including technology) used to engage students in learning.

If technology is

used, be sure to indicate how it enhances the lesson.

I am Human – narrative book

Thematic and alphabetized word wall

Index cards

Computers with internet access, bookmarked read aloud link, and PowerPoint – they supplement

the meaning making by providing a visual representation, useful for ELs

Making Choices slides for activity

projector

Dice and sharing prompt from https://www.counselorkeri.com/2018/10/13/i-am-human-activity/

- Instructional Strategies/ Learning Tasks *

Instructional strategies and learning tasks (including what you and the students will be doing)

that support diverse student needs. This step-by-step process should indicate how much time

you intend each segment to take and should be detailed enough that a substitute teacher could

teach your lesson as you intended.

(There are particular lesson models that might guide your thinking further here, such as the 5E

model, etc.)
Introduction: How will you introduce the lesson and engage students (how will you get them

interested, help them see the relevance and purpose of the lesson)?

2
(5-10 mins)

I will start by saying, “Today we are going to learn words to describe what makes us human so we

can explain the ways that we are all the same. Remember describe means to write or tell about and

explain means to tell how or why.” I will engage students through a game of telephone to build

oral language and use a different modality than text. I will model first by saying, “hmmm, I need

to think of something that we all share, maybe … “I am a part of ___ school,” “I feel happy when

people are nice,” “I love my family” and “hmm, what do I know we all like that I like too, I like

pizza” because we have pizza parties in this class when students behave well. I will split students

into three groups and explain that students’ task is to think of something that all their group

members have in common. Each student will quietly whisper something that makes them human

and pass it on, seeing if it makes it to the end of the group, and if it does, that student will say out

loud to their group, “I am human. I ….” If it doesn’t apply to a group member, that person will

say no and explain why it doesn’t apply to them and the student creating the telephone phrase will

have to adjust their sentence and start the telephone chain again. At this point, they can talk to

other people in their group for help tweaking their sentence. Each student should have a turn.

I will provide some sentence frame supports, such as “I am …”, “I feel …”, “I love …”, “I

like…” to help students with weaker oral language, such as ELs, which will be clearly visible on

the board. I will also include the target language for the end of the telephone chain, “I am human.

I ___” on the board as well. I will walk around during the activity to provide support if students

struggle to come up with something they have in common and check understanding.

Lesson: What are the specific steps and sequence of the lesson?

3
Assess background knowledge and pre-teach tier 2 words (10 mins):

I will point to each word and ask students to do a thumbs down if they’ve never seen it, a thumb

to the side if they recognize it or have heard it but are not really sure what it means and a thumbs

up if they know what it means and think they can use it in a sentence (Tompkins, 2014, p. 221).

I will then pre-teach the following new vocabulary words:

Empathy

Unique

Endless

Possibility

Journey

Fearful

I will say each word and have the whole class repeat it. We will then read the below definitions

together. Words will be written on a chart along with the definitions hung on the board.

As we go through the definitions, I will have students guess what a few of them mean (endless,

possibility, and fearful) using their word learning strategies. We will use morphemic analysis,

which they have been taught previously via minilessons. I will say, “Is there a word you recognize

in ____? Using that information, what do you think _____ could mean?”

I will also write cognates in Spanish (for empathy, possibility, and unique) on the word chart as

we go through the definitions. I will make sure these students understand that “unique” in English

is not used to mean “the only one” as it is in Spanish.

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Definitions and supports:

Empathy is understanding how someone else is feeling and why they are feeling like that. I will

say, “Have you ever noticed in your favorite book or movie that when someone feels happy about

something you have experienced, you can feel happy too? That’s because we’re all human and we

can feel empathy. How did you use empathy in the telephone game we just played?” Students will

then share out some authentic examples of empathy.

Unique is something or someone you do not see every day, it means special or different. I will put

on a T-shirt I have with my photo on it and my last class’ signatures on the back and ask, “Have

you ever seen a shirt like this? Do you think it’s unique?”

Endless is something that does not end or seems to not end. I will say, “-Less at the end of a word

means without. So this word means without end or that something doesn’t end, like time. We use

this for things that seem to not end too like waiting in a very long line.”

Possibility means that something is possible so it could happen. I will say, “Is it going to rain

today? Well maybe yes and maybe no but it could happen so it’s possible. That means rain is a

possibility today. I wonder, what is the opposite, or antonym, of possible?” I will then use that

question to scaffold to, “What do we think then is the antonym of possibility?” After identifying

the right word and writing it on the board, I will ask, “Can someone give me an example of an

impossibility or something that is impossible?”

Journey means travelling to other places or through time. I will say, “We can use this as a verb or

a noun. So, if we journey somewhere it means we go there. If we’re on a journey it means our

travels. We can talk about our travels to a place or through time, which doesn’t need to be

anything crazy, it can just mean growing up.”

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Fearful means scared or afraid. I will say, “Look at the end of the word, -ful, it means full of. This

is another word we can use to mean scared.”

Figurative language movement activity employing a different modality (10 mins)

Vocabulary:

Move forward

Find common ground

We will use movement to show the difference between the literal and figurative meanings of

the above two phrases. The whole class will move to open space in the middle of the classroom

and I will model first by saying “fearful” and acting out the word fearful. Students then join in.

I will then ask them to act out “move forward”. Then I will say, “Move forward means

something else too, can anyone explain its other meaning?” I will say, “Learning to ride a bike

without wheels is moving forward. Going from 1st grade to 2nd is moving forward. It’s growing

in what you know or what you can do.” Students will then act out how they feel when they are

moving forward. I will select a few good movements from the students that represent the

phrase, point them out, and have everyone copy those movements. Then we will do the same

with the second phrase, students will act out the literal meaning of find common ground. I’ll

ask if anyone knows what it means first, and then explain it means to agree, or see what you

have in common. Students will then act out this figurative meaning. Students will copy a good

peer example again to add another support for students that may not understand. I will be able

to check if students understand if they are moving their bodies in a way that doesn’t represent

the phrases.

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 I will conclude this activity by adding these phrases and their definitions to the word chart on

the board and having students read them with me.

Interactive Read Aloud (10-15 mins):

I will read aloud the book I am Human to my students. Students will sit on the floor in a circle so

they can all see. We will begin by identifying the author and title. I will read the first page and

ask students to predict what the book will be about. I will stop 5-6 times in total to encourage

understanding and ask mostly open-ended questions such as, “Can anyone explain how the boy

is showing empathy on this page?” and “how do you think you can be one of billions but

unique?” (North East Florida Educational Consortium, n.d.).

I will further provide practice of morphemic analysis by stopping and asking, “hmm, the boy is

full of hope. What’s another way we can say full of hope?” and scaffold if needed with that we

add something to the end of the word and make “hopeful”.

At the end of the read aloud, I will ask students if there are any other words they didn’t

understand (besides the pretaught words). If so, students will add them to the thematic and

alphabetized word wall and we will discuss their meaning (Tompkins, 2014, p.235). I will add

the words and phrases to the word wall while students do the next activity and let them know

when it is done so they can use them in their writing.

Making choices activity (5-10 mins)

I will use the projector to showcase slides with the vocabulary words and supporting images.

Students will be instructed to say out loud the target vocabulary if it applies and stay silent if not

as I read out situations. I will model the activity first by reading two trial situations, one that uses

the word so I will say it and the other where I will stay silent. I will think out loud as I model the

activity so students can see why I made the choice. See the making choices activity for examples.
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 Image activity – different modality (10 mins):

Students will work individually to search the vocabulary words highlighted above in Google

images to view many visual representations for these abstract words. They will end the activity

by saving one image that stood out to them to return to for a word expert poster later in the

segment. I will walk around the room to check students are selecting a representative image and

that they are on task.

Dice Activity as part of multiple exposures (20 mins):

Students will work in groups of three or four to share answers to questions that I will provide

(see roll and respond activity). They will roll two dice, add them, and all respond to the relevant

question. I will model the activity first by rolling, counting up, and then reading the relevant

prompt and responding to it. For example, if I roll an 8, I will say, “I felt empathy for a friend

when she told me how hard she thought math was. I find math easy but when my friend told me

how she was struggling, I understood why and felt like I wanted to help her.” These questions

give children a chance to use the new vocabulary in an authentic experience and provides peer

scaffolding as all will share their experiences. It also supports ELs and students reading below

grade level as it is a discussion / sharing activity.

I will check students’ understanding by walking around during this activity and listening to

responses and asking additional scaffolding questions if needed, such as “how can we show

empathy? What are you doing now that shows empathy?” After the activity, I will further check

understanding by having students share out as a whole class some responses to the prompts.

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Closure: How will you conclude the lesson? How will you bring the lesson together for students

to help them return to the bigger purpose and big ideas of the lesson?

Assessment (20 mins)

Students will create a word expert poster via PowerPoint using the image they selected earlier

in the segment. Students will also include the word or phrase from those above, their own

definition not one from a dictionary, the sentence from the book with the word or phrase, and

their own created sentence using the target vocabulary. They can access the book to find the

sentence where the vocabulary chosen is used via the YouTube read aloud, which will be

bookmarked on the computers. I will model how to create a good slide by doing a thinkaloud

and typing up a slide as I go along. For example, I will stop to say, “ok I need to define unique,

so I need to tell what it means, but in my own words, so I think unique means one of a kind so

I’m going to put that.”

If students finish early, they will complete the questions, reasons, and examples challenge

activity (see below for the full activity).

Students will hand in exit slips on index cards as a self-assessment. The prompt will be written

on the board and read orally, which is “Write any words or phrases you are still having trouble

with. If you understand them all, leave it blank.” Students will use the word wall to guide

spelling. I will reflect on the lesson’s effectiveness using this information alongside the word

expert posters and my observations to make the relevant adjustments going forward (Tompkins,

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2014, p. 245).

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 References

Cunningham, P. (2012). Phonics They Use. Allyn & Bacon.

Hundley, M. (n.d.). Academic Language, edTPA [PowerPoint slides]. D2L.

https://d2l.depaul.edu/content/enforced/790063-

TL_412_201_1065/AcademicLanguagePPoint.pdf?

_&d2lSessionVal=j8T4KVSU7Ffg9Um7LSe4DrXro&ou=790063

I am Human Book Activity. (n.d.). Counselor Keri. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from

https://www.counselorkeri.com/2018/10/13/i-am-human-activity/

North East Florida Educational Consortium. (n.d.). Read Alouds [PowerPoint slides]. D2L.

https://d2l.depaul.edu/d2l/le/content/790063/viewContent/7209907/View

Tompkins, G. (2014). Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach. Pearson.

Vaughn, S., Bos, C. & Schumm, J. (2014). Teaching Students Who Are Exceptional, Diverse, and at

Risk in the General Education Classroom. Pearson.

Word Chart for Pre-teaching Vocabulary

Empathy is understanding how someone else is feeling and why they are feeling like that.

Unique is something or someone you do not see every day; it means special or different.

Endless is something that does not end, or seems to not end.

Possibility means that something is possible so it could happen.

Journey means travelling to other places or through time.

Fearful means scared or afraid.

Moving forward means growing in what you know or can do.

Find common ground means to agree.

Making Choices Activity

Slide 1:

UNIQUE

If what I say is unique, say unique. If not, stay silent.

Slide 2:

A squirrel waterskiing

Slide 3:

A student in this class living in Evanston

Slide 4:

Having pizza as your favorite food

Slide 5:

These road signs in a small town that point to where everyone lives
Dice Activity

WE ARE HUMAN

Roll and respond to find out how we are all human.

1. I am unique. Share a way you are unique by telling what makes you *you*.

2. I am always learning. Share something you learned this week.

3. I see possibility. Share a big dream for the future.

4. I have endless curiosity. Share how many times you have been curious.

5. I can be fearful. Share a time when you felt afraid.

6. I have a heavy heart when I feel sadness. Share a time when your heart felt heavy or sad.

7. I am on an incredible journey. This means through time not to a place. Share a happy

memory from when you were little.

8. I can choose to listen. Share when you felt empathy for a friend when they told you about a

problem.

9. I can say, “I’m sorry.” Share when you said sorry to someone.

10. I can find common ground. Share something you and your best friend agree on.

11. I can make choices and move forward. Share when you made a good choice.

12. I am not alone. Share when you felt like a part of a group or family.
Assessment – Word Expert Poster

You will create a slide with this information:

o A word or phrase we learned in I am Human . Choose one of these:

o Empathy

o Unique

o Endless

o Possibility

o Journey

o Fearful

o Moving forward

o Find common ground

o The word or phrase’s definition in your own words. Do not use a dictionary.

o A picture that shows what the word or phrase means

o The sentence from the book with the word or phrase

o Your own sentence using the word or phrase

Your slide should be organized and interesting to look at. Use colors or Word Art to make it
interesting and divide your slide into parts to make it organized.

Rubric

Word Expert Slide

1 = poor 2 = average 3 = excellent

Organization Student’s slide is Student’s slide is Student’s slide is

messy and not organized organized and interesting.

interesting to look at. or interesting.

Thorough response Student does not Student answers Student answers all of the

answer the questions some of the questions in the prompt.

in the prompt. questions in the

prompt.

Accuracy Student does not use Student uses the Student uses the word or

the word or phrase word or phrase in a phrase in a way that

correctly in the way that shows some shows good

definition or understanding. understanding.

 sentence.

Questions, Reasons, and Examples Challenge Activity

Write or draw the answers in the space below.

1. We are all unique in some way or another. What are some unique things or people you have

seen or heard about?

2. Think of a problem you have right now and write or draw some ways you can move forward.

Problem:

How I can move forward:

3. If you are in the car for 15 hours, you might think your journey is endless. When has

something in your life felt endless? What are some things that don’t just feel endless, they
really never end?