A.3.3+Lesson+Plan+Template

**Lesson Plan Template (A.3.3 - Collaborative Lesson Pan)**
Follow this lesson plan template. Keep the template text in **bold** font. Add your information in regular font.

Jamie Lath & Megan LaCaze
Dr. M. This lesson is the first in our unit of inquiry on the Harlem Renaissance. For a summary of the lessons that will follow, please see A.3.3 Unit plan. Asking questions, giving cues, advanced organizers, and cooperative learning
 * Planning **
 * Reading Comprehension Strategy - ** Activating Background Knowledge and Drawing Inferences
 * Reading Development Level - ** Advanced
 * Research-based Instructional Strategies (Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock 2001) **
 * Lesson Length - ** One 50-minute period

The p urpose of this lesson is to activate students' background knowledge so that they understand how background knowledge affects learning, specifically in the realm of drawing inferences, and to draw inferences about how the artists of the Harlem Renaissance impacted the culture of their day and current US culture. This particular lesson will open the conversation about the Harlem Renaissance for a later inquiry project ( see A.3.3 Unit plan ). Students will discuss their own personal knowledge and background knowledge of what led up to the Harlem Renaissance. Educators will model the inquiry process with one artist of the Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes) and draw inferences on how his work affected the US culture at the time and current culture. Students will also draw inferences about Langston Hughes and reflect on learning. Brava! Excellent integration of the activating/building background knowledge reading comprehension strategy and inquiry and frontloading for the inquiry project!
 * Purpose **

At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
 * Objectives **
 * 1)  Activate background knowledge to create new learning and record background knowledge, research/evidence from sources, and inferences in a graphic organizer (AASL 1.1.2)
 * 2) Combine background knowledge, experiences, and research to draw inferences about how the poetry of Langston Hughes during the Harlem Renaissance affected the culture of that time period ( ELA TEKS 8.9, Social Studies TEKS 8.30B ).
 * 3) Combine background knowledge, experiences, and research to draw inferences about how the poetry of Langston Hughes during the Harlem Renaissance affected the current culture of the US ( ELA TEK 8.9, Social Studies TEKS 8.30B ).
 * 4) Reflect on learning about inferences and background knowledge using an anticipation guide/exit slip (AASL 1.1.2, ELA TEKS 8.9).


 * Resources, Materials, and Equipment **
 * Children’s Literature (All Genres): ** CD of Tupac Shakur's poetry book, // The Rose That Grew From Concrete, // Literature/poetry samples from Langston Hughes (example: "Democracy" and //I, Too, Am America//, ill. by Bryan Collier). Any other artist would also work from the Harlem Renaissance.
 * Websites (and Databases): ** Webpathfinder ( Please see my comments on the pathfinder page .)
 * Graphic Organizers (and Rubrics): ** Harlem Renaissance notes organizer, Inquiry project rubric
 * Materials (Other Consumables): ** Exit slip
 * Equipment (Technology): ** Computer equipped with a projector and speakers or a computer with an interactive whiteboard.

The educators will use the "tag team teaching" co-teaching strategy. The librarian will open with a discussion on art and culture while the teacher takes notes. Then the teacher will lead the discussion on background knowledge leading up to the Harlem Renaissance while the librarian takes notes. The librarian will model using the webpathfinder to explore different aspects of Langston Hughes' life while the teacher takes notes. During the modeling of the inquiry process, the educators will model brainstorming questions as partners on Popplet. The educators will read samples of Langston Hughes' poetry, and both will think aloud how to draw inferences on how his art impacted the culture of the time as well as current culture. After modeling drawing inferences, the students will draw further inferences in pairs while examining other samples of Langston Hughes' poetry. Both educators will circulate to monitor the student practice. Both educators will look over the anticipation guide/exit slip and evaluate together after school before continuing with the next lesson so that they can assess student learning and adjust teaching. Be careful with the tag-team model. You are not justifying two educators in the same room at the same time until you model brainstorming and drawing inferences. The students will be informally assessed during discussion of experience and background knowledge. Students will self-assess at the end of the lesson using the provided anticipation guide/exit slip. Educators will assess this after school to determine student learning and adjust teaching for the next lesson. The inference graphic organizer that is turned in at the end of the unit and the inference rubric will also serve as a the summative assessments for this lesson. Who will assess the students' graphic organizers at the end of the unit? I will assume both educators since they both reviewed the anticipation guide/exit slip... ELA TEKS 8.9 Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose in cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Social Studies TEKS 8.30B "Social studies skills. The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms. The student is expected to: analyze information by sequencing, categorizing, identifying cause-and-effect relationships, comparing, contrasting, finding the main idea, summarizing, making generalizations and predictions, and drawing inferences and conclusions." AASL Standard 1 Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge 1.1 Skills 1.1.2 Use prior and background knowledge as a context for new learning
 * Collaboration **
 * Assessment **
 * Standards **
 * Reading and/or writing: **
 * Listening and speaking: **
 * Other content areas (NAME them): **
 * Information literacy: **
 * Educational technology keywords: ** Plan, design, create, and present a virtual book using the webprogram, ToonDoo.

Note: Even though only one educator is leading the discussion, both educators should participate by providing their own thoughts on the subject. Students can see that there is no right or wrong answer within this discussion, which will be beneficial when drawing inferences later. Then, I wouldn't say ONE educator is leading the discussion... In order to associate students with the influence of art on culture and culture on art, begin by playing from the CD based on Tupac Shakur's poetry book, //The Rose That Grew From Concrete// //.// One educator (in our case the librarian) will lead the discussion while the other (the teacher) takes notes on the board. Ask the students: What do you know about Tupac? Why do you think Tupac used art to express himself? What is his influence on today's culture? What different things do you think may have influenced this poetry we just read? How do you know these things? You know these things because you are making inferences based on your background knowledge of Tupac and your experiences, you are drawing an inference about what may have influenced his poetry. Students love Tupac! This is an effective way to begin this lesson - with relevance to students' interests. Background knowledge is what you already know about a topic. An inference is a conclusion you come to based on your background knowledge and the text, in this case Tupac's book. Ask students to identify which statements they made that were noted on the board were statements of background knowledge and which were drawing inferences. The educator taking notes can circle background knowledge statements in one color and inferences in another. Let's go back to one thing that probably influenced Tupac's poetry--cultural identity. Cultural identity can include race, nationality, gender, religion, and much more. Ask the students: How can a person's culture influence his or her art? When might culture hinder an artist? We want to focus on thinking about stereotyping and racism and how those things can keep one culture from looking seriously at another's artists. In the US, there was one movement in history that is looked at as truly celebrating the black artists and removing a lot of stereotypes that had been placed on them. Does anyone know what that movement is called? The Harlem Renaissance. [|Watch 3-minute video] from the History channel on the Harlem Renaissance. By the end of this unit, you will have chosen an artist from the Harlem Renaissance and looked at that artist's impact on society then and now. Today, we will be looking at another poet, Langston Hughes, who wrote during the Harlem Renaissance. We will use our background knowledge, do some research, and draw inferences from this as to what may have influenced his art then and what influence he has had on our culture today.
 * Implementation **
 * Process **
 * Motivation **


 * Student-friendly Objectives **
 * 1) Record background knowledge and research/evidence from sources as notes on the graphic organizer.
 * 2) Describe how background knowledge helps create new learning.
 * 3) Combine background knowledge and research to formulate inferences about how the poetry of Langston Hughes during the Harlem Renaissance affected the culture of that time period.
 * 4) Combine background knowledge and research to formulate inferences about how the poetry of Langston Hughes has affected the current US culture.
 * 5) Describe why people make inferences.

Hand out the Inference rubric and go over it with students. Tell them that as the educators are modeling the inquiry project they can be assessing the educator's work throughout the class to determine how they are doing.
 * Presentation **

Project the Harlem Renaissance graphic organizer onto the board. Define background knowledge as everything someone already knows on a subject before acquiring any new knowledge. Show students how when they have filled out the background knowledge and research sections then they will be able to draw inferences because inferences are logical judgments or conclusions based on prior knowledge and evidence. Students need to draw inferences because drawing inferences improves reading comprehension, engages a reader with a text, teaches readers to think critically and look beyond a literal meaning to "fill in the blanks" in their knowledge, use observation skills, make connections, enhance background knowledge, and be reflective. Before beginning a discussion on background knowledge, a sk students to record their answers to the following questions on their anticipation guide/exit slip.Will background knowledge and research enrich the experience of looking at an artist's work? Why or why not? Will it help them to draw inferences? Why or why not? Excellent use of two educators at this point: One educator (the teacher in our case) leads the discussion on the background knowledge students already have leading up the to the Harlem Renaissance while the other educator (the librarian) makes notes. (In our case, student have recently finished up a study of US history through the reconstruction following the Civil War so they should have words like Jim Crow laws, segregation, etc. in their background knowledge.) Activating background knowledge is important because it shapes and guides new learning by making connections between what you've already learned and what you are currently learning. By activating background knowledge you will expand on information students already know, provide more in-depth information on a subject, increase reading fluency and comprehension, and understand new information at a higher level. When they are ready to move onto doing the inquiry into Langston Hughes, the educators will switch roles and the one who had led the discussion before will take notes while the other leads discussion. The educator leading discussion (the librarian) will project the webpathfinder. Pointing out the list of names students can choose from, highlighting the choice of Langston Hughes as class example.

Excellent use of two educators here as well: The educators will model brainstorming on Web 2.0 tool, Popplet in this case, different questions they would like to answer during their inquiry. Agreed upon questions will be placed on the graphic organizer. Modeling two or three questions should be sufficient for this lesson, while reminding the students they will be expected to have more. The educator will go through each aspect of the pathfinder and think aloud about the different ways in which she might choose to find resources for Langston Hughes. As she models finding information she wants to make notes about, the other educator will make the notes on the projected graphic organizer (if possible, it would be great to split the screen between the Webpathfinder and graphic organizer or even have two different places to project for this lesson; toggling between the two will also work).

Have books ready that contain poetry from Langston Hughes, stating that these were found through the library's OPAC, and poetry available online (Listen to Hughes read his own poem The Negro Speaks of Rivers). Read over a few examples showing how analyzing the poetry itself is also vital to getting a good picture of the artist, rather than just reading biographies about the art. That's like reading about how pizza is made, with what ingredients, and by whom without ever taking a bite. Both educators will think aloud about how the background knowledge they have already activated and the research they just did helped enrich the experience of looking at his art.

Ask students if they see any difference in how background knowledge affects art appreciation now and have them record their answer on their anticipation guide/exit slip as to whether or not background knowledge and research can enrich an art experience. Lead a discussion on how this changed or didn't for students. Ask students to think back to Tupac's poetry. Would a deeper knowledge of his life have enriched that experience? How did they see their experience of Langston Hughes' poetry change after background knowledge and research?

Now that the first blocks of the graphic organizer are filled out both educators model drawing inferences using background knowledge and research. E ducators will model working collaboratively and discuss their inferences and support them using background knowledge and research. If both educators draw a different inference, students will see that as long as someone can support an inference, it isn't wrong. There is more than one correct "answer" when drawing inferences. Great presentation... You will need to be careful that it doesn't take too much teacher talk to get to the hands-on experiences for students!
 * Student Participation Procedures **** or **** Student Practice Procedures **
 * 1) Create one inquiry question about Langston Hughes that requires drawing inferences.
 * 2) Activate background knowledge about events leading up to the Harlem Renaissance and/or about the impact of art on culture today.
 * 3) Select one piece of evidence from the notes made during class about Langston Hughes that helps answer the inquiry question.
 * 4) Each partner should synthesize the background knowledge and research to create one inference based on background knowledge and evidence.
 * 5) Share your inferences with each other.
 * 6) Decide which one of the inferences to share with the class.
 * 7) Revisit the anticipation guide/exit slip and answer the "after the lesson" question about inferences.

Both educators will circulate to monitor the student inference practice and group work. This allows for a lower student to teacher ratio. If one group is struggling an educator can stop to assist and provide guidance while the other educator continues to monitor and assist the rest of the group. Co-teaching here also allows for more individualized instructions for students with special needs without removing them from the whole group.
 * Guided Practice **

Students will share their inferences about the work of Langston Hughes with other students. Educators will review the process of making inferences with students to prepare students for the remaining lessons in the unit. Students will look over the Inference rubric again and determine what stage they think the educators are at so far. Yes, to active students during the closure! Why not try the inside-outside circle process for sharing? How has society impacted art? How has art impacted society? How can you use what you already know to draw inferences and make predictions about new learning? What is an inference? Why do people make inferences? (See HR Anticipation Guide/Exit Ticket document) Good **Extensions** (Moreillon 13, 15) At the end of this unit, students will work in pairs to select an artist (poet, author, musician, artist, dancer, etc.) from the Harlem Renaissance. The pair will brainstorm inquiry questions and then locate and use credible sources to research artist’s life and describes the person’s role in the Harlem Renaissance. Students will analyze how the artist’s work reflects the themes and society of time period surrounding the Harlem Renaissance. The pair will also examine any cultural, political or societal circumstances of the era and interpret how they may have influenced the artist’s work. The students will draw inferences using background knowledge and text-based evidence to defend drawn conclusions related to themes and influences. The students will also draw inferences on how this artist's work has influenced society today. Finally, students will plan, design, create, and present a virtual book using ToonDoo to present their findings. Students will also compile a works cited page with all correct citations for sources used during this project.
 * Closure **
 * Reflection **

Please see my comments on your linked unit plan.

Moreillon, Judi. // Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Elementary School Libraries: Maximizing your Impact //. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2013.

Moreillon, Judi. // Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Secondary School Libraries: Maximizing your Impact //. Chicago: ALA Editions, 2012.



Educators can assess students using this rubric and students can self-assess with it as well.

Students can self-assess using this exit ticket.

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