Lesson Plan Format

School of Education
The College of New Jersey

Planning lessons has two purposes: first, the process of planning encourages deep thinking about the
elements of a lesson; second, the plan guides you while delivering instruction. Experienced teachers may
plan more informally, but novices need to create thorough plans that support them in delivering
effective lessons. There is no one correct way to plan a lesson, but during your field experience your
plans should contain the following elements:

● Grade Level & Title of the Lesson

o Grade 1 Poetry Lesson 12: Emotions Words in Poetry
● Standard (select the one that is most relevant)
o RL.1.10: With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for
grade 1.
● Primary Lesson Objective (should match the standard)
o SWBAT: read and understand what words are associated with which emotions. On top of
that, students will categorize words and be able to identify how it sets the mood of a poem.
● Secondary Lesson Objective (if relevant)
● What will you listen for, look for, and/or collect to assess if students met the objective?
o I will listen for familiar and unfamiliar recognition of emotion words in and outside of the
provided context/text. I will look for proficiency in the independent assessment.
● How do you know students are ready for this lesson? How is this lesson connected to what the
students are already learning, to their prior knowledge and/or their interests?
o The students have done 11 previous lessons about poetry thus far. Their last lesson (4/20)
was on what emotions set the mood for poetry and what words they could generate with
the class. Though with this lesson, students did not identify words within a certain poem.
● What new 1-3 vocabulary words will you teach or review?
o Emotion words like “evoke” “impact” and “inspire.”

Lesson Structure Script out what you will say and do.
If you create a slideshow, attach/hyperlink it.
Beginning We spoke yesterday about emotions in poetry, and about how
● Hook the students poems can have “moods.” How can an author/poet set the
● Contextualize the lesson mood for a poem?
● Explain what you are going to teach
them and why Pull up the powerpoint slide of the 5 emotions from the
movie Inside Out. Show this 3 minute clip just in case
someone has not yet seen the movie.

Middle
● Teach the skill or strategy
● Give children hands-on work
● Review relevant responsibilities
● Think about early finishers
Closure
● Summarize the teaching point
● Encourage students to reflect on
their own learning
● Gather information on what they
have learned and/or are confused
So, let's start with Joy. What are other words that can describe
Joy?
- Let the students share the words. Use the smart
board to write the answers down in the box labeled
“Our Words”
You all are certainly good at coming up with words that evoke
feelings of Joy. We are going to add on to this chart through
the poems that we read.
Use the poem “In the Circle.”
Let’s read the first line of this poem. “I Love”
Love is a very impactful word. Who do we love? Where should I
put the word “Love” on our chart?
Continue to read the poem and have students categorize
words. “flowers,” “smiles,” and “special” can all be
categorized under Joy.
After reading the poem, what mood do we think the author
wanted this poem to have?
- Students will say happy, joyful, etc.
_______________________
Now, let’s read the poem “The Mistake.”
Read this part slowly to emphasize the anxious mood of the
poem, and especially the words that we will add to the chart
most likely under “sadness” and “fear.”
This poem uses some impactful words to help us understand
how this student feels. What words can we add to our
emotions chart?
- Students will say words like “wrong,” “erase,” and
“mistake” under sadness and/or fear.
If time permits:
Okay, now that we have gone over these emotions in our
poems today, what other words can we fill in these blanks
with?
Fill out the rest of the chart with student input.
Students will be asked to take out their frequency books and
find words that apply to the emotions on their worksheets
(which are the same as the ones used during the lesson).
I will walk around the classroom to assist those who need extra
help. I will also be able to gauge the student’s understanding in
doing so.
 Early finishers can either color in the picture provided on the
worksheet, or create a poem of their own using the words they
have found.

Review your lesson plan. Think about these things and add to your lesson plan as necessary:

● What multi-sensory and/or multi-media strategies will you use to help students understand
the material and engage with it?
o I will be using a video component, read-aloud material, and pictures to describe the text
as well as certain emotions. There is also a word list of emotions created on 4/20 is
necessary to use.
● Describe accommodations and adaptations for specific students with special needs.
o Some students have extra space on the carpet in case they need to get their energy out.
There is also an exercise ball to the side that students are allowed to use. Those who
struggle academically have seats at the front of the carpet.
● How will you group students?
o Students will all cooperate together on the carpet, but they are assigned spots where
they are most productive.
● What materials do you need?
o The book, Did You See What I Saw? Poems About School by Kay Winters
o The power-point slide and worksheet.
o Smartboard to write down student answers.
● What are the potential tricky spots? How will you pro-actively address them?
o The potential tricky spots in this lesson are most likely getting the students to raise their
hands and wait to answer questions. I admire their passion for learning, but it can be
difficult to grasp which students are struggling when others are chiming in often. I
pro-actively address these issues by reminding the class that we raise our hands and do
not call out when we think we have an answer.
● How will you manage transitions?
o Students have a routine where they are called to the rug by table after they eat
breakfast. They are very good listeners, so when their attention may start to drift, I can
easily pull them back to focus on the new task. I typically transition by asking questions
like, “Okay, are we ready to read the next poem?” or “Alright everybody, let’s put our
thinking caps on for the next activity.”
● How are you addressing cultural and linguistic diversity?
o The lesson addresses emotion words that are relevant to the students. This is where we
can call upon topics such as the people at home that we love, and the things we do that
make us happy.
● In what other ways will you need to differentiate for the range of students in your class?

o I think that this is the biggest struggle in the classroom. There are 5 ESL students in the
class, and two students who barely speak English. As for dealing with these struggles,
the ESL students who struggle are sat with ESL students who are fairly good at speaking
 English. When the students are confused by a word or have trouble understanding
something, they are able to communicate with each other, or ask questions.

Reflection:

The lesson went quite well! The students were engaged the entire time and they were excited to
work on their independent writing activity. I would say that I wish I had worked on time management
better. I felt that a lot of the students were engaged, but they were all over the place with participation.
What I mean by this is that students were calling out answers, having discussions, and chatting with each
other about the lesson. I do not see a problem with this necessarily because they were engaged, but I do
think that the lesson could have been smoother if I had done things like, “I’ll take three answers for
words that make us feel Joy” rather than “what are some words that make us feel Joy?” and things like
that. I also feel that I could have elaborated on the vocabulary words more as well.

Student work: