BYU English Teaching Program

Lesson Plan Template (2023 version—ENGL 426)

PLANNING
Date: Class/Grade Level:
11/26/2023 9th
Title of Lesson: Lesson Length:
Analyzing Geographic Location 80 minutes

Standard(s): Lesson Learning Objective(s): Assessment(s):

Standard 9-10.R.11: Analyze how an
author’s geographic location,
identity or background, culture, and
time period affect the perspective,
point of view, purpose, and
implicit/explicit messages of a text.
I can learn about where my author
grew up and how that location impacts
the story’s location.
Formative:
Summary Notecard - students write
on a notecard at the end of class, and
in less than 30 words need to
summarize where their author is from
and how that geographic location
affects their novel’s geographic
location. They will turn in the
notecard at the end of class.

Summative:
YA Novel Final: Students will
analyze their YA Novel of choice in a
3-4 page paper. Their analysis should
include at least a paragraph about the
author’s location and how it affects
the novel. The paper is due at the end
of the unit.

Rationale: This lesson plan will take place in the middle of our YA Novel reading unit where students pick a YA Novel
at the beginning of the unit, will read it and, at the end of the unit, will write a 3-4 page paper analyzing their novel. The
bigger purpose of this unit is to increase student literacy and allow them to practice analytical skills. This specific lesson
plan supports the unit plan by practicing analytical skills through the lens of geography. Students will research their
author’s hometown and how it affects their novel, and then they will use Wakelet to collect and display what they
researched. Before this lesson, students should have practiced other analytical skills, and this lesson will lead to our next
analysis practice: understanding the author's identity and its effects on the novel.
Concept(s) to Be Taught: Prerequisite Knowledge:
● analyzing a novel through a geographical lens Before this lesson, students will have already analyzed
● connecting author geography and its effects on the their novel through a different lens. Students will be
author’s novel familiar with their novel, because they should have at least
● using Wakelet to collect and display their research half of it read by this lesson. They will be familiar with
in an interactive medium Wakelet, because they would have seen me present a
couple of lessons through Wakelet but will still need some
time to figure out how to use the platform themselves.
They will also be familiar with research etiquette and
what’s reliable and not reliable sources since they would
have conducted some research prior to this unit.
Materials Needed: Technology Use:
● Wakelet account ● Wakelet: students will collect their research in
https://wakelet.com/wake/vkhNJ7YsNU69pltx6fr6 three different columns. The first column is their
d research about their author’s hometown or
● Laptop country. The second column is their research on
● Notecard for formative assessment the geographic location of their novel (fictional or
non-fictional location). The third column will be
their thoughts about how the author’s location
 affects the novel’s location. Wakelet allows the
students to copy and paste links, making it easy to
store and find articles for research. It also allows
the user to take notes on each link and insert
photos for more interaction with the link.
Learning Strategies:
● Graphic organizers (Wakelet)
● Possibly partner share if there’s time
Differentiation and Accommodations:
For students who have a hard time typing or prefer paper over tech, I can print out a 3-column organizer that they can
write their links and notes down. It will follow the same format as the Wakelet but in paper form. For students who have
a hard time reading, they can listen to articles and write down their thoughts. For students who can’t use their hands, they
can record their thoughts through an audio recording. If reading or writing is difficult (for my students with dyslexia,
etc.) they can use thoughtful images as notes and/or speech-to-text / text-to-speech technology.

PERFORMING
Time A) Preparing for Learning
Welcome, welcome class! How are you all today? (*congratulate the students for the extracurricular
2 minutes activities that happened the night before). Who has good news to share with us today? (*wait for
answers)

10 minutes Everyone grab your writer’s notebook, we have a prompt on the board! (*wait for them to grab their
notebooks) Who will read the prompt out loud for me? (*choose a student with their hand raised:
Describe where you lived as a child. How has it affected the way you see the world?) Thanks for reading
that. Y’all already know the drill. You have 10 minutes to answer the prompt as much as you can! (*wait
for everyone to grab their notebooks, and answer questions such as “What’s the prompt, again?” “it’s on
the board”) Alright in 3,2,1 WRITE!
B) Directing the Learning
5 minutes Okay, great work everybody. Go ahead and put your writer’s notebook away, and take out your
Chromebooks! (*while they take out their Chromebooks and put away their notebooks, pull up Wakelet
on the board). Before we start today, I have a question for all of you: how do you like your YA novels so
far? Show me by your thumb! Thumbs up if you like it, thumbs middle if you’re meh with it, or thumbs
down if you’re not liking it that much. (*check thumbs to see who doesn’t like their novel.) Okay, great,
today we are going to do a small project that will help you create your final paper! Remember, you will
have a 3-4 page paper due by the end of the term. In your paper, you will analyze your YA novel
through different lenses. Part of that paper is analyzing the novel based on geographic location.

15 minutes For today’s project, we will collect, read, and take notes on resources using Wakelet that will help us
write our paragraph in the final paper which will be about geographic location. Everyone turn your head
toward the board. This is the Wakelet collection that you will copy and paste and work on for this class
period. Before we start on Wakelet, let’s walk through what you’ll be doing in this Wakelet collection.
(*pulls up the Wakelet collection). Here are the directions on top. Who will read the first paragraph for
me? (*choose someone who wants to read. Let them read.) Who can read the second paragraph for me?
(*choose someone who wants to read. Let them read.) And who will read the last paragraph for me?
(*choose someone who wants to read. Let them read.) Thanks to everybody who read! So like they said
(*point to the board), in the first column, you will find three sources about where your author is from.
Make sure you write notes about each article. Once you have three sources about the author’s place of
origin, You will find three sources about the location your book is set in. So if your book is set in a real
place, go ahead and look up that place and find as much as you can about that location. If your book is
set in a fictional world, you are allowed to find articles or YouTube videos that discuss this fictional
realm, but you will still take notes on each source. Again, like the first column, you will need three
sources in the second column, too! In this last column, you will not need to find sources. Instead, you
will look at the sources you have about the author’s place of origin and where the book is set, and you
will write down three notes about any similarities, differences, common patterns, or reasons how the
author’s place of origin affected how the story’s setting, etc. You will need to write 3 notes, and each
 note needs to be different. This is the part that I want you to have the most focus on. Take the first two
columns and see how the author’s place of origin influenced how they shaped and created the world
your novel is in. Do you think the author’s geographic location influenced the novel’s location? Why or
why not? Explain and give me details!

5 minutes To help you stay focused, I will have a timer. You’ll have roughly 11 minutes to work on each column.
This timer is not meant to rush you per se, but it is to remind you how long you’ve been working on a
certain column. Once the timer goes off, continue to work on your column if you’re not done, just know
that you spent 11 minutes on a column and if you’re not close to completing that column, you need to
get rid of any distractions and move on. Okay? Here’s the link to the Wakelet collection. Copy a version
of it, and that will be your own copy to work on. Questions? (*answer any and all questions.) Give me a
thumbs up if you have a copy of the Wakelet collection. (*wait for a thumbs up, help anyone who is
struggling to get a copy.)

3 minutes Okay great, I will have the timer on the board so you can see how much time you have. I will also be
walking around to answer any of your questions and to check that you are staying on track. When you
are done, turn in the link to your Wakelet collection on Canvas. You should see the submission page for
this on Canvas, and you will see that it is due tonight at 11:59 pm. What you don’t get done in class will
be homework, and it will still be due tonight at 11:59 pm. Are we good? (*evaluate room to see the
mood). We will end 7 minutes before the bell so we can do a very small notecard quiz. Alright, the time
is now yours to work!

33 minutes (*walk around and check on students to see if they understood the directions, answer questions about
analysis or the book or anything really, check and turn off the timer every 11 minutes and say, “Okay 11
minutes have passed, if you need to move focus in, let’s do it.) If you have finished ahead of time, find a
partner who is already finished, and share with them what you learned! Show them your articles. Explain
why or why not the author’s location influenced the novel’s location. If you’re not done, keep working
you have until the last 7 minutes of class!

(*pass out notecards for the Notecard quiz)

7 minutes C) Reinforcing the Learning
Great work today! Put your Chromebooks away. We are doing a quick notecard quiz. Here are the two
questions you need to answer: Where is your author from? How does their place of origin influence the
novel’s setting? Write your answer in under 30 words. (*Repeat the prompt a couple of times, walk
around, and make sure they are doing the quiz.) As you leave the classroom, turn in your notecard to me.
If you don’t you will be marked off points on today’s assignment. Hope you all have a great day! Stay
after class if you have any questions!

Activity to Avoid Wasted Time: If students get done early, then they can find a partner and share with them their
articles, what they learned from their articles, and how the author’s location affects the novel’s settings. They can keep
switching partners until we need to do the notecard summary.

FOCUS STUDENT: SKIP FOR NOW

Description of Focus Student Differentiation/Accommodation Plan

REFLECTING: SKIP FOR NOW

Reflection on the Lesson (write within 24 hours of teaching)