College of Menominee Nation

Lesson Plan Model

Communicating and Listening
Name: Whitney Pluger
Lesson Title/#:

Readers Meet the Characters in Our Books

Grade Level: First

Learning Central Focus

Central Focus

What is the central focus for

the content in the learning
segment?

What to teach?
How much?

The central focus of this lesson is that readers will meet the characters in their books
through oral communication and listening.
Readers get to know their characters by reading aloud to a partner and identifying what
the characters do.
Readers learn about their characters by talking about their actions, likes, and dislikes.

NA for EDU 238

Content Standard

The common core standard most relevant to this learning goal is: Describe characters,
settings, and major events in a story, using key details.

Students will use communication and listening skills through oral readings and retellings
of details of specific characters in different books.

Students will apply communication skills and listening skills by listening to a read aloud
and engaging in a whole group discussion that focuses on the characters in the story.

Students will participate in reading aloud a leveled book with a partner, summarizing
parts of the story and focusing on specific characters of the book and orally retell those
parts to their partner. The partner will apply listening skills by identifying accuracy

What standard(s) are most

relevant to the learning
goals?

NA for EDU 238

Student Learning
Goal(s)/ Objective(s)
Skills/procedures
What are the specific
learning goal(s) for student
in this lesson?
Concepts and
reasoning/problem
solving/thinking/strategie
s1
What are the specific

The prompt provided here should be modified to reflect subject specific aspects of learning. Language here is mathematics related. See candidate edTPA handbooks for the
Making Good Choices resource for subject specific components.

learning goal(s) for students

in this lesson?

between the reading and the retelling.

Use Blooms
Taxonomy Verbs
Consider Learning
Outcomes here.
Prior Academic
Knowledge and
Conceptions
(Engagement of
Schema)
What knowledge, skills, and
concepts must students
already know to be
successful with this lesson?

Students must have achieved automaticity of reading the appropriate level book in order
to use comprehension skills to retell the story and discuss the characters in the book.

Students should be reading at a level F or higher in order to maintain literal

comprehension while reading.

Students must be able to listen properly to the reading and retelling of the story in order
to make accurate connections between the two.

What prior knowledge and/or

gaps in knowledge do these
students have that are
necessary to support the
learning of the skills and
concepts for this lesson?

NA EDU 238

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks

Description of what the teacher (you) will be doing and/or what the students will be doing.

Launch
__________

Minutes
How will you start
the lesson to
engage and
motivate students
in learning?

(Exploratory
Introduction
)
Instruction

Say to the students, I met a new friend yesterday, his name is Randy. Randy plays baseball. He
is also very smart and loves Science. Randy knows how to build things, and one time, he built a
very large robot. Ask the students, Does anyone want to guess where I met Randy? If the
correct answer isnt given, tell the students, in a book!
Tell the students, Today we are going to learn how to meet the characters in our books.
Tell the students, Before you meet some characters on your own, I want to introduce you to my
new friend, Randy.

Total launch time: 3 minutes

Begin reading the book Randy Rileys Really Big Hit by Chris Van Dusen

__________
Minutes
What will you do
to engage
students in
developing
understanding of
the lesson
objective(s)?
How will you link
the new content
(skills and
concepts) to
students prior
academic learning
and their
personal/cultural
and community
assets?
What will you say
and do? What
questions will you
ask?
How will you
engage students
to help them
understand the
concepts?
What will students
do?
How will you
determine if
students are
meeting the
intended learning
objectives?

Procedures:

Read the book using expression to keep the students engaged.

Tell the students, While we are reading, we are going to stop and think about Randy and what
he likes, dislikes, does, and feels.
While reading the story, tell the students you are going to demonstrate how to learn about my
character.
Stop every couple of pages and write on the anchor chart titled All About Randy
o What Randy did
o How Randy felt
o What Randy liked/disliked
After finishing the story, begin retelling the story and point out the list made on the anchor chart
in sequence with how they happened in the story
Tell the students that this week they are going to practice meeting the characters in books and
telling the rest of us all about these characters.
Project the handout on the ELMO titled How to Learn About Our Characters
o 1. Read
o 2. Notice what happens (what the character does, likes, dislikes, feels)
o 3. Write on post-its and keep in the page
o 4. Retell your partner the story and all about your character
Ask the students what they are doing while their partner is retelling the story. Direct their
answers to include:
o Listening to what they are saying
o Thinking about how the retelling and the actual reading are the same
o Learning about the character in their book
Demonstrate this activity with a student in the class. Use a book that is one of the students
level books. Show the students that you are sitting EEKK (elbow, elbow, knee, knee) with your
partner.
Read a couple pages in the book. Stop and point out what the main character did on that page.
Then write it on the post-it and put it on the page.
Ask the students what your partner is doing while you are reading
Direct answers to say that the partner is listening with his/her whole body (eyes, ears, mouth,
hands, feet)
If students do not already have designated reading partners, pair them up with students that are
at a different reading .
Express the importance of listening because they are going to be responsible for determining if
their partner is retelling the story correctly.

What will
you do? How
will you
introduce
lesson?
What will
you do step
by step?

Closure
__________
Minutes
How will you end
the lesson?

Total Procedure time: 15 minutes

After both students have read and retold their story and described their character, call all
students back up to the carpet.
Have the students briefly share what character their partner met. Have them tell you the
characters name and one thing about the character.
Total closure time: 10 minutes

Important

Differentiation Whole Class:

/ Planned
Students who struggle to keep their body to themselves will be placed on the edge of the group
Support
near a student who models great self control
How will you
provide students
access to learning
based on
individual and
group needs?

Culture is a
consideratio
n.

How will you

support students
with gaps in the
prior knowledge
that is necessary

Groups of students with similar needs:

Individual students:
Students with IEPs or 504 plans:
4 students have IEPs regarding speech impairments. Pair these students to students without
speech impairments so their partner can demonstrate language skills and help them as needed.
Strategies for responding to common errors and misunderstandings, developmental approximations,
misconceptions, partial understandings, and/or misunderstandings:

to be successful in
this lesson?

RTI

Accommoda
tions and
Adaptations
are included
here.
Student
Interactions

While students are working with their partner, filter around the room and listen to the students
read to one another.
Ask individual students open ended questions about what they are reading about
Ask individual students open ended questions about what they are listening about
Collect the students books with their post-its in them, look through what the students wrote and
make note of which students left out critical details or did not make sense. Meet with these
students to have them work on meeting the character in another book

Students will be paired up with their reading partner. Their reading partner will have been
determined at an earlier time of the year. Partners that work together are at different reading
levels. The higher level partner can demonstrate fluency and intonation and also guide the lower
level student as needed.

Book Randy Rileys Really Big Hit

Anchor chart/ marker for chart All About Randy
Handout for guidance How to Learn About Our Characters
ELMO or projector to display handout
Students book baskets with appropriate level books for each student
Post-it notes for each student/pencils

How will you

structure
opportunities for
students to work
with partners or in
groups? What
criteria will you
use when forming
groups?

NA EDU 238

Materials
What materials
does the teacher
need for this
lesson?
What materials do
the students need
for this lesson?

Academic Language Demand(s): NA EDU 238

Use of Productive Language Skills (speaking, writing)
Use of Receptive Language Skills
(listening, reading)
What language function do
you want students to
develop in this lesson? What
must students understand in
order to be intellectually
engaged in the lesson?

How are Productive

Language Skills &
Receptive
Language Skills
used in the
lessons? Give
examples.

Students must understand the definition of the word character. Students must be
familiar with this word and have an understanding of what characters are in books.
Students must be able to read their books independently with minimal support in order
to achieve the goal of the lesson
Students will need to understand what the terms like, dislike, does, and feels
mean in order to have an understanding of their main character in the book

What content specific terms

(vocabulary) do students
need to support learning of
the learning objective for this
lesson
What specific way(s) will
students need to use
language (reading, writing,
listening and/or speaking) to
participate in learning tasks
and demonstrate their
learning for this lesson?
What are your students
abilities with regard to the
oral and written language
associated with this lesson?

How will you support

students so they can
understand and use the
language associated with the
language function and other
demands in meeting the

Students will need to have oral communication skills or work with an interpreter in
order to discuss aloud the content of their book with their partner. They will need the
ability to retell the story aloud and point out specific attributes of one or more the
characters in the book.
The other partner will need to have listening skills or an interpreter in order to listen
to their partners reading and retelling of the story with details about the characters in
the story.
As the students are reading aloud and listening to one another, the teacher will
circulate around the room to listen for accuracy in reading. The teacher will assist and
correct students as needed.
Students will be partnered with students at different reading levels as one another so
that assistance can be provided through students

learning objectives of the

lesson?

Assessments:

Describe the tools/procedures that will be used in this lesson to monitor students learning of the lesson objective(s). Attach a copy of the assessment and
the evaluation criteria/rubric in the resources section at the end of the lesson plan. Informal assessment results from the teachers day to day spontaneous
observations of how students behave and perform in class. Formative evaluation is an evaluation conducted before or during instruction to facilitate
instructional planning. Formal assessment is preplanned systematic attempt to ascertain what students have learned. Summative evaluation is an
evaluation conducted after instruction is completed to assess final student achievement

Type of
assessment
(Informal or
Formal vs
Formative or
Summative)
Informal

Informal

Formal

Description of
assessment

Modifications to the assessment

so that all students could
demonstrate their learning.

Evaluation Criteria - What evidence of

student learning (related to the
learning objectives and central focus)
does the assessment provide?

Listening to students
read and retell to their
partners while
circulating the room
Students tell aloud to
the teacher what their
partners character was
about
The teacher meets
with individual
students and has them
retell the story and
give detailed
descriptions about the
main character

The lesson may have to be done

for two days instead of one so
that all students can be heard
by the teacher
The student may need to see
their partners book in order to
activate their prior knowledge

The teacher can determine if the

students are reading and retelling
their books while focusing on the main
character
The teacher can determine if the
student used adequate listening skills

The student may have to meet

with students who are at higher
risk reading levels due to time
restraints

The teacher can determine if the

student understands the concept of
the lesson, how to meet the character
in their story