Lesson Plan #1

Date: October 21st, 2022 Teacher’s Name: Samantha Keating

Subject: ELA Grade Level: 7th Grade

Learning Segment Title: Resilience, Perspective & Perseverance in Linda Sue Park’s A Long
Walk To Water
Length of each lesson: 40 minutes

Central Focus: This segment will build on students’ prior knowledge of perspective &
resilience within literary texts, specifically A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park. This
segment will help students explain the following concepts, the importance of perspective-taking
and how empathy allows us to understand ourselves and others better. This is to further develop
students as literary analysts capable of not only making text-to-self connections but of also
understanding viewpoints that differ from their own. Students will be able to apply their learning
from the unit to A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park. Students will be able to demonstrate
this learning by effectively hearing the experiences of others and engaging in perspective-taking
opportunities. Further demonstration of learning will be done through class discussion, as well as
the completion of journals, and the summative assessment of cultivating a proposal for ways to
get involved and help others.

Essential Question(s):
● How can we relate to the experiences of those that live such different lives from us?
● What does it mean to be resilient and to persevere?
● How can we indulge in perspective-taking experiences to become more culturally aware?

Learning Standards:
● CCSS.ELA- Literacy.RL.6.2 Determine a central theme or central idea of a text and how
it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from
personal opinions or judgments.
● CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.6-7, 8.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6, 7,
and 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
● CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6-8.2 Write informative/exemplary texts to examine a topic and
convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis
of relevant content.
● NYS ELA CCLA RL 7.1 & R.L 7.6
Academic Language
Language Identifying terms and analyzing the meaning
Function behind these terms, learning how to utilize
language to make personal connectionsby
engaging in text-to-self connections and
proposing solution and develop empathy through
perspective taking activities
Vocabulary Perseverance, perspective, and resilience
Syntax Students will utilize graphic organizers to
organize their language as well as to make sense
over different people’s perspective within the
world
Discourse Students will share what they have learned in the
lesson through class discussion and Turn & talk’s

Differentiation
Special Needs of Students ELL- Can have a version of the book in
there native language, sentence starters for
journal entries
IEP- Needs of IEP granted, extra time
available as well as sentence starters
Struggling students- Extra help and time
can be given at teacher discretion
Pre-assessment & Pre-assessment and student readiness was
Student Readiness addressed by relating to previous
experiences and activities students partake
in (Hula-hooping example for myself) and
engaging in SEL to discuss what failure
feels like along with eventual success
Content Differentiation -Sentence starters available
-Diagram half filled in to make it easier
for struggling students
Process Differentiation -One-on-one or small group instruction
when needed
-Diagrams half completed such as the
vocabulary one and the venn diagram
-Journal entries will have sentence starters
 -Videos can be shown if students need
visual or oral understanding of our terms
Product Differentiation -Extended time available if needed
-Technological assistance
-Sentence starter for research proposal
-Deliberate pairings for students who may
need extra technological support
-One on one meeting if student’s need help
selecting a topic

Lesson Topic:

Outcomes Assessments
Students will:
● Correctly identify
perseverance, perspective,
and resilience
● Identify the implications of
points of the novel
● Analyze what it means to
be resilient and to
persevere
● Identify the implications of
the characters' struggles
● Analyze and propose ways
to help those who are less
fortunate
● Identify issues characters
face
● Propose solutions to
character troubles
● Organize ways to make
change
● Filling out diagram
pertaining to perseverance
and resilience
● Answer questions
pertaining to the novel to
demonstrate textual
understanding
● Respond to questions in
journal form
● Respond in their journals
on how we can understand
the perspective of others
when we have not
experienced similar
struggles
● Come up with solutions to
issues in list forms
● Provide real-life
implications to help solve
problems in the real world
● Compile a list of solutions
● Propose a solution via
google doc
Procedure:
Introduction: Sponge Activity, Anticipatory Set, Activating Prior Knowledge

Initial Phase Direct Instruction

1. I will begin by asking students to name activities they partake in. Then after they mention
some I will ask if they can remember a time when that activity was made more difficult. -
a. The example I will give is that I am really good at hula hooping but when I
wanted to try hula hooping on my legs it was a challenge as I had to refocus my
skills.
b. I will continue by telling the students that though it was hard at first I persevered
and was resilient. Then I will let them give any examples they may have.
c. We will take about activities and things the students do as well as their feelings
about the matter and how it feels to fail , as well as how it felt when they emerged
victoriously
2. Rather than dive into the book on the first day, I decided it would be more beneficial to
focus on our keywords for the unit, resilience, perspective, and perseverance.
3. I will first ask the students if anyone had ever heard of resilience or perseverance before
our activity. I do not want to give students set definitions as I think doing research and
cultivating what perserverance and resilience means to them based off of their own
experience will be more effective.

Middle Phase

1. Guided Practice
a. To begin I will ask the students to remind me what a synonym and an antonym
are. This skill should have been previously developed but we will refresh it if
need be.
i. A synonym is a similar word to the word we are focusing on, and an
antnonym is a word of opposite meaning.
b. I will introduce the following diagram to the students for them to work on though
we will begin with guided practice and eventually independently.
c. I will review what each section means with the class. For the vocabulary word,
the students will have to figure out whether the word is an adjective, noun, or
verb. Then they will have to supply at least two definitions of the word, as well as
list two synonyms and antonyms for each word. Then they will have to come up
with a sentence for the word.
Vocab Word (part of Definition Synonyms + Sentence
speech) Antonyms

Motivated (verb) ● stimulate ● Synonyms- ●

(someone's) influenced,
interest in or driven
enthusiasm for ● Antonyms-
doing
something.
●

d. The above model will begin as blank, I will model to students how to fill it out by
speaking through it with them. For instance after we review what the parts of
speech are I will have them help me figure out that the word motivated is a verb
because it is an action word. Then I will google motivated and have someone read
out the definition for me. For our we do we will come up with synonyms and
antonyms together and then I will produce a sentence.
e. I will show the students a half-completed model of what I am expecting and then
finish the rest with them so they know the expectations.
f. I would model the half-down diagram and show students how to utilize google for
the rest of the answers. Then we would search them as a class and put them on the
board so the diagram looks like the one below.

Vocab Word (part of Definition Synonyms + Sentence

speech) Antonyms

Motivated (verb) ● stimulate ● Synonyms- ● I am

(someone's) influenced, extremely
interest in or driven motivated to
enthusiasm for ● Antonyms-laz finish my
doing y, homework so
something.
unencouraged I can hang out
● provide
(someone)
with my
with a motive friends over
for doing the weekend.
something.

1. Independent Practice
 a.

Vocab Word Definition Synonyms + Sentence

(part of speech) Antonyms

Resilience ( )

Perseverance ( )

Perspective ( )

b. Students would then work on the above diagrams independently. I will give
students 10 minutes to do so.
c. I will then have students go into groups of 3-4 and share their sentences with one
another.
d. As a final activity students will have to write a journal entry about a time when
they persevered or were resilient.

Concluding Phase

1. Closure/Summary
a. I will collect the student's journals to assess how well they are grasping the
concepts of resilience and perseverance.
b. Then I will tell the students to be prepared to begin our novel tomorrow and tell
them the book's name is A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park.

Follow-up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction)
- For homework students will have to write 2-4 sentences predicting what they think the
book will be about. Or how it could relate to resilience, perspective, and perseverance.

Materials: (items, technology, etc.)

- A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park
- Worksheets
- Journal

Resources: (reference any “borrowed” materials)

- A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park
- Diagram I saw at Ms.Pickering’s class at InTech
 Lesson Plan #2

Procedure:
Introduction: Sponge Activity, Anticipatory Set, Activating Prior Knowledge

Initial Phase Direct Instruction

1. I will introduce A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park. This is the background
knowledge I will share with the students taken directly from Linda Sue Park’s website.
a. “A Long Walk to Water is based on the true story of Salva, one of
some 3,800 Sudanese “Lost Boys” airlifted to the United States
beginning in the mid-1990s. Before leaving Africa, Salva’s life is
one of harrowing tragedy. Separated from his family by war and
forced to travel on foot through hundreds of miles of hostile
territory, he survives starvation, animal attacks, and disease,
and ultimately leads a group of about 150 boys to safety in
Kenya. Relocated to upstate New York, Salva resourcefully learns
English and continues on to college. Eventually he returns to his
home region in southern Sudan to establish a foundation that
installs deep-water wells in remote villages in dire need of clean
water. This poignant story of Salva’s life is told side-by-side with
the story of Nya, a young girl who lives today in one of those
villages.”
2. I will ask students for predictions or to share their thoughts on the book based on the
blurb.
3. I will then call attention back to our key words of Perseverance and resilience and ask
that students be mindful of these terms while we read. Then we will read the first chapter,
pages 1-7 in class.
4. To begin I will read the first red blurb on page one to the students about Nya, I will ask
them if there is any literary devices they can point out. If they do not know I will reiterate
personification to them (Nya treated the water jug as a baby).
5. As I finish the Nya section I will ask the students to write down general observations
about the book on the board.
6. As we continue to read the book I will periodically stop to bring attention to main points.
For instance , I will bring attention to the fact that Nya’s section is from 2008 and Salva’s
is from 1985, asking students to be mindful of this in terms of perseverance and progress.
7. I will read until page 3 then stop and ask students to reiterate to me what we have learned
about Salva, some examples of model answers are his gratitude for education, being from
a well off family with two sisters and brothers, the fact that he formerly used to herd
cattle.
 8. As we continue reading I will go on until page 6, I will then stop and ask students to give
me reactions to the scene. The scene being there is a shooting that disrupts Salva’s class
and the teacher tells all the boys to run. I will ask students to contextualize the scene and
imagine how they would react in the situation.
9. Then we will finish reading the last page until we reach the end where Salva was running
away from home. I will have the students turn and talk for 30 seconds about reactions and
then share out.

Middle Phase

2. Guided Practice
a. As students are sharing out their answers I will lead the conversation by posing
the following question, “What is perspective?”
i. Perspective focuses on how the narrator tells the story.
b. I will then ask the students the following questions,
i. Is the narrator the protagonist telling his or her story?
ii. Is there an all-seeing narrator that knows what is taking place with many
characters?
iii. Does the narrator follow one character or many?
c. Each question will be posed, students will have 2 minutes to answer
independently, one minute to share with a partner and then we will engage in full
class discussion.
d. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/14p0ZdfWaIZjoUpUkCyUOecQ8t8JlKi58
3z831v5ZwtA/edit?usp=sharing

2. Independent Practice
a. For independent practice, I will give the students a worksheet asking the
following questions.
i. How do you think the role of women may have changed in Sudan from
when Salva was there in (1985) to when Nya was there (2008)?
ii. Choose either Nya or Salva and describe the circumstances of their
journey. How did either of them demonstrate resilience or perseverance?
b. Then I will have students partner up and share their responses.

Concluding Phase

2. Closure/Summary
 a. As students share their responses I will ask students to begin to indulge in
perspective-taking activities. I will tell them to do this by asking them to each say
one word on how they would feel if they were Salva having to flee his village. We
will go around the room to share out.

Follow-up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction)
- Students' homework will be to read and react to chapter 2 of the novel. They will be
asked to specifically write down any examples of perseverance and resilience they note
and to write 3-5 sentences on how Salva may be feeling at this point in the story now that
he is all alone.

Materials: (items, technology, etc.)

- A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park
- Worksheets

Resources: (reference any “borrowed” materials)

- A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park
- Worksheet

Lesson Plan #3

Procedure:
Introduction: Sponge Activity, Anticipatory Set, Activating Prior Knowledge

Initial Phase Direct Instruction

1. To begin we will think, pair, and share based on our homework from the previous night to
reiterate how Nya and Salva are feeling at this point in the novel. Then we will have a
class discussion on the material.
2. We will then further review chapter two and analyze it as a class. We will do this by
rereading important sections and focusing on the juxtaposition of Nya's section to
Salva’s.
3. We will first read Nya’s section and discuss the situation surrounding her daily life and
the pain she encounters.
 4. Then we will read the section with the soldier pointing his gun, and telling Salva that he
is “not a man yet.” I will first ask for reactions to this section. I anticipate most students
will say they were scared for Salva and that he would be harmed.
5. Then I will call attention to the significance of this section and that he is a child, the same
as Nya. I will point out that Nya & Salva are approximately the same age as the students
in the class and tell students to keep that in mind when reading.
6. I will ask students to try and understand the perspective of Nya and Salva by going ack to
the notes from the second day of the segment. I will reiterate we do not need to
experience something firsthand to have empathy towards others experiences.

Middle Phase

1. Guided Practice
a. We will make a Venn Diagram comparing the pain and perseverance they both
have experienced thus far. In Nya’s section, we leave her in pain dealing with the
thorn in her foot. In Salva’s section, he is in emotional pain from fleeing and
leaving behind his family. We will begin mapping out the ways the two are similar
and different, this will help set the work up for the fact that Salva’s experience in
Sudan led to the Sudan Nya was living in at the time of the novel's release.
1. Independent Practice
a. I will then split the class in two, half have to independently write about Nya-
indulge in perspective taking and empathy- the other half do the same with Salva.
The prompt they will be responding to is “How can we understand the resilience
and perseverance of Nya and Salva if we live in America?”
b. The students will have 10-15 minutes to respond and then we will engage in a
class discussion. I want to put emphasis the fact that just because a person has
privilege does not mean they cannot demonstrate empathy or respect for the
resilience and perseverance of others.

Concluding Phase

1. Closure/Summary
a. We will wrap up our class discussion. I will point out again how Nya and Salva
have consistently been resilient and persevered and ask students to explain how
they think it must feel to be in the position Nya and Salva are in.

Follow up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction)
- For homework, students should read the Nya section which is page 14- They should jot
down notes on the following:
 - How is Nya persevering? What challenges does she face?

Materials: (items, technology, etc.)

- Journal

Resources: (reference any “borrowed” materials)

- A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park

Lesson Plan #4

Procedure:
Introduction: Sponge Activity, Anticipatory Set, Activating Prior Knowledge

Initial Phase Direct Instruction

1. We will begin by reviewing the homework answers and making a list on the board.
2. We will begin to focus on the significance of Nya’s daily journey and how it differs from
our daily routine.
3. We will then finish the chapter which is pages 15-19 in a class by taking turns reading.
4. After reading the remainder of the chapter we will be to map Salva’s journey, we will do
this by reiterating the events of the story.

Middle Phase

1. Guided Practice
a. Then we will engage in group work. Since we mapped out Salva’s journey so far I
will assign each group to write about where Salva was at during the story and how
he felt, was he resilient?
b. We will then share as a class by each adding a slide to a shared google slides
presentation that we can continue adding onto.
1. Independent Practice
a. Students will begin making text-to-self connections by responding to the
following journal prompt, “Respond to either of the issues that Nya or Salva is
currently facing: The lack of clean water for Nya and having to flee his home
country and leave behind his family for Salva. What are the implications of this?
How can we help these issues?”
Concluding Phase

1. Closure/Summary
a. I will introduce to students that they will be using their journal responses to make
a diagram tomorrow.

Follow-up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction)
- For the student’s homework they will respond to the closing remark of the chapter in their
journals, “These people were Dinka too? Could his family be among them?” Journal
response where the students put themselves in Salva's shoes- how would you feel?

Materials: (items, technology, etc.)

- Google slides
- Google doc
- Journal

Resources: (reference any “borrowed” materials)

- A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park

Lesson Plan #5

Procedure:
Introduction: Sponge Activity, Anticipatory Set, Activating Prior Knowledge

Initial Phase Direct Instruction

1. I will collect journals to review where students are at for planning for next week.
2. Everyone will read Nya’s story. Then we will stop to compare to the beginning of what
Salva said the role of women was. We will have a class discussion on how things have
progressed.
3. We will then read the remainder of the chapter which is pages 21-25. I will constantly
stop to review perspective, resilience and perseverance and ask students to clarify the
examples I pose.

Middle Phase

1. Guided Practice
 a. I will then group the students based on their journals from the day prior, those
who responded to Nya’s issue will be together and the same for those who
responded to Salva’s.
b. I will make smaller groups of 3-4 from this and have students begin to research
ways that they could help aid these issues from America.
c. Ideas I will supply to help them are organizations we could support, school
fundraisers we can engage in, and products we can collect.
d. Students will need to come up with a list of 5 ideas as a group.

1. Independent Practice
a. The students will then individually have to submit a proposal to me responding to
these questions.
i. What issue are you supporting?
ii. How can we help as a school?

Concluding Phase

1. Closure/Summary
a. The following day we will vote as a class for a solution. Possible solutions could
be organizing a school walk where we get people to donate money for every mile
we walk, finding an organization to support, or doing a drive for products.

Follow up: What comes next to reinforce the lesson (HW or supplemental instruction)
- No weekend homework as I am collecting journals and we will vote on Monday!

Materials: (items, technology, etc.)

- Journal
- Google doc

Resources: (reference any “borrowed” materials)

- A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park