Lesson Plan Four

Jennifer King

UED 496

Regent University
 The lesson plan entitled “Thesis Statements” is a two-day, student-centered,

differentiated lesson designed to meet the variety of learning needs of the students. The lesson

introduced students to the importance of thesis statements, building on their prior knowledge that

was in a previous lesson. Students practiced identifying and analyzing weak thesis statements

and then practiced writing strong ones. On the second day of the lesson, students rotated through

differentiated stations where they identified, analyzed, deconstructed, and then wrote their own

thesis statements. These stations supported student choice so that they could engage in the

activities in a meaningful way.

To connect the lesson material to all students, it was important to me to find a way to

create a hands-on activity that benefited learners at all levels. Thesis statements can be

challenging to understand but are pivotal for essay writing. I believe that if students can master

thesis statements, then they will feel confident in their writing, as the thesis statement serves as a

road map for the rest of the essay. Many students do not feel confident in their writing because

they do not deeply understand the structure of an essay. So, one of my goals is to empower the

students in their writing to reach their full potential. Solid foundational knowledge is critical.

For the first day of the lesson, I created a bookmark with fill-in-the-blank notes on thesis

statements as an easy reference guide for later in the writing process. Together we analyzed weak

thesis statements and turned them into stronger ones. Then, students identified solid and weak

thesis with their partners, rewriting the weak ones. Finally, for individual work, students are

given prompts with incomplete thesis statements to complete.

The second day of the lesson involves five stations designed to build student skills.

Learning stations are opportunities for students to reinforce information and skills to “meet the

various ability levels and interests of students” (Burden and Byrd, 2019). By rotating through
differentiated stations, students move from pre-made thesis statements to creating their own

based on a topic of their choice. By differentiating the content, students can move through

various levels of Bloom’s taxonomy: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing,

evaluating, and creating. Students were broken into groups by their learning levels, so the co-

teacher and myself could work with individual groups as needed:

Students who are unfamiliar with a lesson could be required to complete tasks on

the lower levels: remembering and understanding. Students with some mastery

could be asked to apply and analyze the content, and students who have high

levels of mastery could be asked to complete tasks in the areas of evaluating and

creating. (Welesby, 2021)

The first station had blocks with each word of a thesis statement written, and students had

to construct the sentence and then diagram it on a graphic organizer. This activity was an

excellent place for lower-level learners to begin strengthening their understanding of the

structure of a thesis statement. This station also serves kinesthetic learners by providing materials

to manipulate.

At the second station, students chose four thesis statements to diagram to further

strengthen their understanding of the structure of thesis statements. Selecting from various

sentences to diagram helps engage students in the activity. The third station provided students

with eight topics with a weak and strong thesis statement. Each thesis statement has a piece of a

QR code. Together with their group, students identified the strong thesis statements. Once they

identified the strong thesis statements to integrate technology, students pieced together a QR

code like a puzzle from four pieces. Students would then use their phones to scan the QR code
and complete the linked survey. The survey asked them to identify the parts of a thesis statement

and how well they felt prepared for the day’s activities.

At the fourth station, students were given all weak thesis statements. They chose three to

rewrite into stronger thesis statements. First, they diagram the sentence into the three parts of a

thesis statement and then write the completed sentence. Finally, students are given topics to write

a complete thesis statement at the last station. Each topic also included facts students could use

to help them form their opinion if they were not knowledgeable on a topic, plus sentence stems if

they were unsure how to begin their sentence. Students diagramed their sentences by writing

their chosen topic, stating their opinions, and listing facts as support. Finally, students wrote all

parts together to create their thesis statement. Demonstrating they can write a thesis statement for

a given prompt signals that the student is capable and ready to write one when they begin their

essay.
 References

Burden, Paul R., and Byrd, David M. (2019). Methods for Effective Teaching: Meeting the needs

of all students. Pearson.

Weselby, Cathy. (2021). What is differentiated instruction? Examples of how to differentiate

instruction in the classroom. Resilient Educator. https://resilienteducator.com/classroom-

resources/examples-of-differentiated-instruction/.