LESSON PLAN

Teacher Candidate:   Carolina Hinojosa

Lesson Title/ Description: Character charts with a twist!

Lesson Rationale
Learning Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1
Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as
inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.3
Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a
text, interact with other characters.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.2.B
Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations,
or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic.
SELP 2B Stage G: Identify negative depictions of differences among people (e.g., gender or sexual orientation
stereotyping, discrimination against socio-economic or culture minorities, prejudices based on misinformation) in
readings completed for coursework.
SELP 2B Stage G: Listen respectively to opposing points of views on controversial issues

Lesson Objectives/SWBAT (Students Will Be Able To):  

SWABT diagram character development throughout “American History”.

SWABT quote from the short story and use their MLA citations from their character charts to write the assigned
reflection essay.

Resources and Materials:

The teacher will provide a cheat sheet for MLA citations along with a character chart and example filled out. In
the classroom, the teacher will use a projector and students will use their laptops to fill in the charts. It should be
assumed that students have read this short story for homework.

Inspirations: Kelly Gallagher, Purdue Owl

 

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

15
Whole The teacher will have questions on Students are required to pick 3
Group/The the board. The teacher will read questions. If they feel lead and have
minutes
y do over the questions for students and time, they can pick more.
give them five minutes to respond. 1. Did you notice Elena go
The bolded questions are through any defining
mandatory for students to answer. moments? If so, can you
Students will need to pick 1 other describe that moment?
question from the list on the board
to answer. The teacher will 2. Were there any patterns of
encourage students to write their subtle racism? What
own observations or questions in influenced your decision?
place of choosing a question from
the list. 3. How do you feel about
Eugene’s mom?

4. Does any encounter between

characters feel familiar to
you?
5. How would the story change
if Elena was not a Puerto
Rican girl?

15
Whole The class will come together as a
minutes Group/ We whole. The teacher will facilitate a
Do discussion by starting with the
student's response to the
mandatory questions. After a few
students have shared, the teacher
will ask a few questions regarding
the student's observations.
Sentence starters will be written
on the board for students to
participate in discussions. These
will be available below in the
notes section of this LP.
During the discussion the teacher will
ask questions to the students:
1. Did anyone have a different
observation? Can you explain
your observation?
2. How do you feel about what
your classmates have
observed? Do you agree or
have a different opinion?
3. Does this story relate to
current events?
4. Does anyone want to ask a
question that has not yet been
answered?
5
I The teacher will go over the
minutes Do/Modeli instructions for the assignment.
ng Students will create a character
chart with a twist. Students will
use MLA in-text citations to cite
the development and traits of a
specific character. Completed, the
character chart will serve as a
graphic organizer for the one page
reflection students will be
assigned for homework. (It is
assumed that students have been
exposed to MLA format. I will be
providing students with in-text
mla citation examples. I have this
listed as an MLA cheat sheet in
the resources.)
25
They Students will work independently
minutes do/Indepen on their character charts. This
dent chart will be in their class folder
Practice on their google drive.
10
I do The teacher will discuss the
minutes homework assignment. This
character chart is the foundation
for their one page reflection
(homework assignment). The
prompt will ask specific questions
based off of the character chart to
further develop their reading
practice. The homework
assignment is designed for
students to create a relationship
between reading and formatted
writing.
Statements students will need to
answer for each character in their
chart are as follows:
1. Relationship of the character
2. strength of character
3. weakness of character,
4. defining moments of the
character
5. question for the character
The teacher will make an
important mention that they will be
available for any student to come
up to their desk or raise their hand
to ask questions.
Prompt Questions and
Instructions:
Use the citations from your character
charts to support your claims in 1-2
sentences.
● Explain how Elena’s character
developed throughout
“American History”.
● What were her strengths and
weaknesses?
● Explain a defining moment
Elena went through.
● How did her strengths and
weaknesses affect her
throughout the defining
moment you describe? (no
citation necessary for this
response)
 ● To end your reflection, choose
one of the following
questions: What questions do
you have about the story?
What questions do you have
about Elena? What questions
do you have about Eugene’s
mother?

18
They Do/ Students will have the remaining The teacher will make an
minutes Independe 18 minutes in class to work on important mention that they will be
nt Practice their homework assignment. I am available for any student to come
confident that most students will up to their desk or raise their hand
finish the assignment. Designating to ask questions.
time for homework in the
classroom is important for
students who have jobs or other
responsibilities after school.

NOTES: It’s important to maintain a safe and respectful classroom environment. Using sentence
stems will help maintain respectful discussion in the classroom. This will help students who are
EB’s along with ALL students. This can potentially decrease anxiety among students and expose
them to professional discourse. Students will be encouraged to use the following sentence stems
to participate in this discussion. More than likely, I plan to have these sentence stems in the view
of students at all times throughout the year. Since this is just an LP for an assignment, I will state
that it will be written on the board.
 SENTENCE STEMS FOR DISCUSSION

Agreement:

I agree with ___ because…

The evidence in the story suggests that…

Disagreement:

I agree with ____, but we also have to consider…

I see it differently because…

Building On:

To add onto what ___ said…

The author’s claim that___ is interesting because…

Clarifying:

I’m confused when you say___. Can you explain?

Paraphrasing:

I hear you saying that...

 MLA Citation Guide

This image is taken from the Purdue Owl website.

Important note!: If you want to include the title of the story for your in-text citation you MUST
put the title in quotation marks with the proper capitalization. Here is an example:

● In the short story “American History”, the author writes: “The Puerto Rican tenement
known as El Building was one block up from Straight.” (Ortiz-Cofer 36).
 Character Chart for “American History”

Character Eugene’s mother Eugene El Building Elena’s mother Elena

Relationship Mother of Eugene who

is Elena’s crush and
neighbor.

Strength Eugene’s mom is very

outspoken about her
personal opinions. On
page 45 of “American
History” the author
describes the moment
right before she put a
stop to Eugene and
Elena’s study date:
“She looked intently at
me for a couple of
heartbeats, then said as
if to herself,...”
(Ortiz-Cofer).

Weakness Eugene describes his

mother as sad: “His
mother was very
unhappy, Eugene
said…” (Ortiz-Cofer ).

Defining/ A defining moment for

important Eugene’s mother was
moment during her encounter
during the with Elena. Eugene’s
story mother was when she
said, “‘I don’t know
how you people do it.’
Then directly to me:
‘Listen. Honey. Eugene
doesn’t want to study
with you.’”
(Ortiz-Cofer 45). This
was a defining moment
 because she indirectly
insults Elena while
ruining Eugene and
Elena’s study date.

Question for Why were you so mean

the to Elena?
character
For homework/in-class assignment, you will need to type a one page response in MLA format
using your in-text citations from your character chart. Please answer the questions in the order
they appear. Your 1 page reflection should be written in Times New Roman. Please use a font
size of 12. Once you have completed the response please upload it to your class folder in your
google drive. In the event that you do not have your computer, please hand write your reflection
using proper MLA citations.

Prompt Questions and Instructions:

Use the citations from your character charts. To support your claims, write 1-2 sentences
supporting and explaining your citation.

● Explain how Elena’s character developed throughout “American History”.

● What were her strengths and weaknesses?
● Explain a defining moment Elena went through.
● How did her strengths and weaknesses affect her throughout the defining moment you
describe? (no citation necessary for this response)
● To end your reflection, choose one of the following questions: What questions do you
have about the story? What questions do you have about Elena? What questions do you
have about Eugene’s mother?

Extra credit: Correctly use 2 words from our vocabulary list to receive 5 points of extra credit.

Vocabulary List:

1. Droves-A large number of things doing or undergoing the same thing.

2. Maneuvering- carefully guide or manipulate in order to achieve desired result
3. Solace-V- give solace to; N-comfort or consolation during a time of distress or sadness
4. Snobbery-A person that acts superior. Feeling entitled or better than others. Sometimes
associated with social class.
5. Monstrosity- something that is very large and is considered ugly; usually a large building
that is not appealing to bystanders