ELA Blog

Created by Ryan Sims

Grade: 6th

Age range of students: 11-12 years old

Total number of students: 29

State-adopted academic content standards:

RL.6.3: I can explain how events in a story unfold. I can describe ho characters

react and grow and the story develops.

RI.6.3: I can give an in-depth analysis about how people, events, and ideas are

introduced, described, and discussed in a text.

Academic Learning Goals/Objective:

Students will demonstrate knowledge of the book The Midnight Children by

writing blog posts that answer specific questions posed by the teacher.

Students will be able to create character profiles based on their interpretation of

the reading and will present them in a digital blog format.

Considerations for students with special needs:

I will read aloud with my students, taking time to stop and clarify language and

cultural expressions for the English Language Learners in the class. Important
 terms and vocabulary have been highlighted within the presentation to emphasize

their importance.

Materials:

• 1 PowerPoint slide presentation

• 1 Computer

• 1 book converted to a PowerPoint slide deck

• 1 book converted to a PDF posted by chapter on Google Drive

• 29 individually created “blogs” (Google Classrooms)

Lesson Introduction:

9:20 – 9:25

I will greet the students and call upon volunteers to summarize the events of

chapters 7-11 in our book (assigned as homework), stopping occasionally to

clarify information.

Sequence of events:

9:25 – 9:30

I will give a brief overview of the lesson objectives and standards. These

standards and objectives will be projected on the board for all students to read

and follow along.

9:30 – 9:50

I will allow students to choose two of the topics below and write a 3-4 sentence

paragraph response to each.

• Discuss the narrator’s observation about Virginia and Rav: “Sometimes,

 when two souls find each other in the darkness, the darkness goes away.”

(p. 71)

• Why is Virginia so angry when Donnie says, “Then don’t be such a girl.” (p.

67)

• How does Rav feel about his father early in the book? How are he and his

father different? Are there any ways they are similar? Explain why Rav

thinks that “Being a disappointment to his father was not a new feeling.” (p.

18)

• The narrator makes it clear early on that “This story, like all stories, is about

choices.” (p. 6) What choice does Rav make when Donnie is trapping a cat?

What does it tell you about Rav

9:50 – 10:00

I will ask students to save what they have written and come back to it later if they

need to. I will then introduce their homework, allowing them to start early once I

have completed explaining the following assignment:

Choose one of the following characters and create a Facebook-style profile for

them.

Ravani (Rav) Foster (main character)

Sturgis Skinister (factory owner)

Donnie Carter (bully)

Virginia (mystery girl)

Hortense Wallenbach (newspaper editor)

Fred Frotham (café owner)

Your profile should include the following:

Photo (taken from the internet)

Short bio (2-3 sentences)

3 likes (music, movies, TV, books, sports, food, etc.)

Closure: (how does the lesson end)

10:05 – 10:10

I will wrap up the lesson by reviewing the concepts I taught. I will ask if anyone has

any questions and respond to them accordingly.

Assessment:

The next day I will review all blog entries and grade them on how well they

followed the directions. Future lessons will focus on students interacting with each

other’s blog posts and adding content as we read.