Your name: Katie Kwok

Elementary Inclusive Preservice Program Lesson Plan

Lesson title: Debate as Critical Analysis during Read Aloud
Grade/age level: 3rd
Date (intended teaching date): 12/7/15

Learning Objective(s)
What do you want students
to know, understand, or be
able to do as a result of this
lesson?

Evidence for
assessment
Where will you look
(product, performance,
documentation you create,
etc.) for signs of student
learning?
What will you look for?
What are your criteria?
(examples of statements or
actions that would show the
particular kinds of
understandings, learnings,
&/or skills you are after?)

Rationale
Why are you teaching this
lesson? What connections
does it have to standards?
Does it connect to students
interests, strengths, and
needs? How does it fit within
the curriculum?

Students will be able to critically analyze texts to identify big ideas and use
evidence to support these claims/ideas.

Students will participate in small and large group discussionwill conduct

informal assessment of students to determine who is engaged in the lesson, what
students are noticing and discussing, and redirect/reengage students as need.
Students will take notes during the read aloud to document their thinking, as well as
gather evidence to support their claimswill assess student thought process, see
what students determine as the big ideas of the text, note how students organize
their evidence, note attempts at reflection and connections to self/world/text.
Exit ticket: students will, after debating among peers and whole class, formulate
their final position on a post-it and then place their post-it (with name) on the
thermometer (two extreme story themes, what is their position closest to)how did
student thinking change as a result of the debate, students self determine what their
position is and back it up with strong evidence, do students acknowledge that it can
be a mixture of themes, how do students position themselves as a reader of the text,
do students use a critical perspective when analyzing the text?
I am teaching this lesson in conjunction with the literary essay unit, in which
students are learning to read texts with the purpose of identifying big ideas/life
lessons/claims about characters and then supporting those theories with text
evidence. Debate is a way to encourage this kind of thinking; students use a position
as a lens for revisiting text, with the purpose of backing-up that claim with evidence
that supports their ideas. Debate/argument based discussions allow for dynamic
explorations with texts and provide another path in conceptually thinking and
planning for essay writing.
Students enjoy presenting and defending their ideas and are very excited for this

lesson. I presented a trial run with argument based discussion and the students
were so impressed with the their own ability to articulate their thoughts. The
expressed great enthusiasm and interest in utilizing this strategy for critical analysis.
Students also need more support in thinking about thesis-evidence based writing, so
debate/argument helps scaffold this thinking.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring
explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups,
and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on
others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1.a
Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly
draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore
ideas under discussion.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1.c
Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and
link their comments to the remarks of others.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1.d
Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.4
Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts
and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
Prerequisite Knowledge -Students are familiar with Fox (this text is a reread and was explored in depth on
What prior knowledge are
12/7)
you counting on? Will this be
a problem for any of your
students and if so, what will -Students are able to identify turning points/evidence that shows themes
you do?
organize evidence through diagrams and notes in readers notebook

and

-Students can present their position, using reasons, connecting with the evidence
and explaining what that evidence shows.
We will reread the text, so students are familiarized with the content and will be
able to identify new evidence that supports their position.
I will model critical reading strategies, connections, and noticings while reading, so
students can see how to critically analyze a text to identify themes, and will jot

down my evidence using a T-chart on the easel. Students can use my model as a
jumping-off point, to formulate their own views as to what the text is mostly about.
I will use a chart to help students utilize debate language when presenting their
positions. Chart helps student to guide their thought process, so their position and
thinking is clear and logical.
Reiterate expectations and questions I want students to consider, this will allow for
multiple entry points in connecting with the text and thinking about the position
they want to prove.
Learning Experience

Assessment

In each section below, specify the sequence of instructional activities.

Consider how you will manage materials, bodies, and time. Use small
boxes to indicate time.

What will you look/listen to/for? How are you

figuring out what students are learning?

Starting It
How will you invite students
into the learning experience?

3 mins

Doing It

Students will be invited to the rug, with

their notebooks and pencils.
Introduce new lens for rereading Fox:
argument read aloud, listening to the
story and thinking about what position do
I take and why?
Teaching point: Critical readers reread
texts using a particular
argument/position as a lens, to gather
evidence and support their thinking.
Introduce the argument students will
thinking about while reading: Is this book
mostly about friendship and loyalty or
jealousy and betrayal?
Reread Fox, allowing for multiple

Outline your sequence of

stopping points for students to take notes
instructional moves including
and evaluate what their position is in
participation structures,
materials, intellectual
relation to the text they are reading.
resources, and time allotted.
Asking open-ended questions such as:
Is there a product or
What are you thinking so far about your
performance you will be
expecting students to create? position? What details have you noticed
25mins

Are students jotting in their notebooks?

Which students are engaged (through
writing, eye contact, deep and thoughtful
conversations in large and/or small group
discussion)?

What strategies do students use to take

that support your position? What position notes? What content is noticed/included
am I taking in this argument so far?
in their notes? Do students make
Students will turn and talk midway
through the read aloud, to share their
thinking and perhaps revise their notes.

reflective comments, dig beyond surface

thinking (Iceberg thinking)?
Do students use evidence to support their

Students will also jot their notes and

thinking in their notebooks, through out
the reading and will be given a few
minutes at the end to quietly wrap-up
their thoughts (10-15 mins)

position (in talk and notes)?

Do students utilize debate language

prompts when articulating position? How
do students connect their position, reason,
and evidence? What meaning do they
Debate: students will work in groups of 4 derive from these connections?
(2 partner As and 2 partner Bs) to defend
their positions. The students will be given Do students refer to their notebooks to
inform their debate? Do students confer
a 1-minute planning period with their
with their partners to select the strongest
counter part, to discuss their strongest
evidence to support their claim?
evidence that supports their position.
Partner A will go first and share their
position (using debate language) and then
Partner B (approximately 5 mins total). In large group: who participates and
how? Do students indicate agreement
Class will return to whole group and
with head pats? How do students support
some volunteers will represent each side one another, build off of each others
of the debate (5 mins)
ideas?
Finishing It
How will you bring students
to closure with this learning
experience and connect it to
future learning?
3 mins

Discuss how using argument/positions

Exit ticket:
when reading is a great strategy for
deeply reading texts and finding evidence How do students rate the strength of their
that supports your thinkingif you cant evidence for their positiondo they think
find enough strong evidence to support the book is mostly about friendship and
your claim, then the book is probably not loyalty or envy and jealousy (or both,
right in the middle)?
mostly about that idea.
Did your original position change after
your debate in partners and as whole
class?

Do students utilize debate language to

organize their claim and evidence?

What do students identify as their

Give each student a post-it and have them strongest evidence that proves their
claim?
spend 1-2 mins to jot down their final
position, with evidence to support their
thinking and use temperature gage to
approximate how strong they think their
evidence is.
Accessibility

-Students have already read the text, so they are familiar with the content, plot, and
group and whole class features of this text. Repeated read
understandings and interactions with the text (ELL students

What accessibility and

have discussed in small
participation challenges have
you taken into account and aloud allows for deeper
how have you addressed

them? (material and human

resources, sequence of
instruction)

have second opportunity to hear vocabulary, track plot lines, experience the story)
-Model use of strategies to track thinking and gather evidence (T-chart, reflective
thinking, repetition in essential question asked)
-Small and large group discussion: allows for all voices to be heard, practice
sharing ideas and articulating thinking
-Students will use their notebooks to independently track thinking, but will be held
accountable for their thinking in both small group debate and at the end with their
exit ticket.

Materials Needed

Readers Notebooks
Pencil
Post-its
Chart paper/markers