Lesson Plan

Topic: The American Family

Objectives:
CCPO #1 Analyze and interpret information from academic and general purpose
readings utilizing critical reading and thinking strategies.
The student will be able to (MPOs):

1.1 Identify the main idea and supporting details in readings.

1.4 Identify American cultural norms in various texts.

The focus of this lesson is pre-reading activities to increase comprehension of the

assigned reading.
Instructor Materials/Resources:
American Ways textbook; .pdf of reading on Smart Board.
Suggested Topics/Discussions & Activities:

Put .pdf of reading on Smart Board: Whole class discuss p. 238 photo.
Is adoption, including international adoptions, common in your country of
birth? Do people change their names when they get married?

Groups of three discuss the following questions (on board):

(1) Skim the section Family Structures to answer these questions: What
are the definitions of nuclear family and extended family? Which one is
considered the traditional American family? What percentage of American
families are considered traditional? Other than the traditional family, what
other family structures are common?
(2) How do the American family structures compare to families in your
country of birth?
(3) Skim the section The Role of the Family in Society to answer the
question: What is a blended family?
(4) The section Family Values lists 11 family values. Which are most
important to you?

Debrief group discussions:

(1) Put .pdf of reading on Smart Board. Ask the group that finishes first to
highlight the answers to (1) in the text. Note that traditional
family=nuclear family=immediate family.
(2) Elicit answers for (2)(4) from each group.

Whole class discusses the following:

(1) We have read about the traditional American value of individual freedom.
How do you think that relates to the family?
Do you think it is common for American parents to choose their childrens
college majors? Their childrens spouses?
How would the value of individual freedom relate to divorce rates? What
have you heard about American divorce rates?
[If no ideas: Be sure to read carefully the sections, The Emphasis on
Individual Freedom and Marriage and Divorce.]

Independent Practice (homework): Read American Ways, chap. 11,

paragraphs 1-12 and 32-end.

Next class: assigned student leads class discussion on the reading by either
(1) outlining the reading or (2) preparing a set of comprehension and openended questions for the class.

Assessment(s):

Students take department-made written quiz on the reading.

Reflection
The course leader determined the following structure for this section of the course. Each week
assign the students to read a selection outside of class, taking notes on a separate piece of paper. In the
subsequent class have them take a written quiz (created by the class leader), using their notes. After the
quiz, have the class discuss the reading. According to the course leader, this method is used because
when the discussion takes place before the quiz, many students do not do the reading, but instead they
listen to the teacher-led class discussion and repeat that information on the quiz, thereby undermining the
validity of a quiz intended to measure reading comprehension.
The weaknesses in this approach is that the students were copying the text verbatim in their notes
and subsequently transferring the notes to the quiz in a way which put in doubt their deeper understanding
of the text. The class discussions were teacher-led with desultory participation from the students. It is my
opinion that the students were either not spending enough time grappling with the text outside of class
and therefore not understanding what they read and/or were not interested in the topic (American culture).
I decided that instead of me leading the discussion every time, I would assign a different student
or pair of students to lead the discussion each week. This strategy put more onus on the students;
however, the discussions continued to have limited participation, and the students continued to struggle
with understanding the texts. They especially have problems with questions on the quiz that require them
to make inferences or draw connections between the reading and other themes discussed in class or from
their personal lives.
Based on research on the brain, current approaches to teaching reading emphasize pre-reading
activities to activate prior schemata as well as purposeful tasks during reading and post-reading extension
activities. I decided that what was especially lacking from the lesson was pre-reading activities to
generate interest in the topic and to improve comprehension. Having the students do the pre-reading
activities in groups will engender more participation from even the most reticent students, who might not
feel as comfortable speaking during whole class discussions. Using the .pdf on the Smart Board will
serve the visual learners as well as those with weaker listening comprehension to see where the
information is located in the text. It also models the transferable reading strategy of annotating a text.
Discussing the photo again appeals to the visual learners as well as providing an entrance into the subject
matter, and open-ended questions about the culture of their country of birth connects the new material to
prior background knowledge. Personal response/opinion questions also activate schemata and, it is
hoped, peaks the students interest in the themes. Higher level inference questions require the students to
connect this reading with previous material in the class as well as scaffold critical thinking practice.
The process to make the lesson more student-centered began in NFD 101 class, where we elicited
suggestions on how to solve the problem. Not only did the other students, instructors have good ideas,
but the activity also motivated me to think creatively about the problem. Usually at the end of every
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semester, I reflect on what aspects of each course need improvement, and I brainstorm ideas. As time
allows, I try to implement some changes in the subsequent semester. I am familiar with active learning
from previous training, but I think it is very beneficial to review the benefits and strategies regularly,
especially for the creative boost it provides. For the objective of increasing student reading
comprehension and engagement with class themes, success would be exemplified by increased and more
enthusiastic participation in class discussions and better scores on the reading quizzes.