Lesson Plan Format

Your Name: Amy Kennedy

nd
rd
Student Grade: End of 2 going into 3
#1 Date July 10, 2014
Activity

Introductory
Activity:
Building
Background

Student Name: Michael

Lesson Plan

Procedure: What will you do? Include

Rationale: Why are you

steps.

teaching this? How are you

addressing the childs needs?
What text reading backs this up?

We will begin our lesson by

talking about things that are
important to us. How we spend
our time, who do we spend it
with, things that may be
important to us because someone
gave them to us. I will make a
list of the things that we listed on
a T-chart with one side for me
and one for Michael.
We will spend a few minutes
looking at the illustrations to
introduce the characters and the
setting of the story which is in
Russia during the 1900 when the
Jews were told to leave by the
czar.

nd

Michael is a 2 grade
student that I am working
with in my Phonological
and Orthographic class. He
is my nephew so I have not
taught school objectives to
him. He attends a school
on the other side of town
from where I work and
does not seem to have very
much experience with
multicultural books or
historical themes.
I wanted to extend the
literature and include
higher-level thinking with
the text. (Au 2011)
I was also looking for a
book that kept their culture
alive and did not
completely become erased
after they came to
America-promote cultural

Objectives/
TEKS Connection

Materials

(29) Listening and

Speaking/Listening. Students
use comprehension skills to
listen attentively to others in
formal and informal settings.
Students continue to apply
earlier standards with greater
complexity. Students are
expected to:

Polacco, P. (2013). The

Blessing Cup. New York,
NY: Simon & Schuster
Books for Young Readers.

(A) listen attentively to

speakers, ask relevant questions,
and make pertinent comments;

T-chart for recording

discussion.

Interactive:
Read aloud and
Think aloud
activities

Creative
Exercise:
Cup map
(instead of
heart map)

We read the story together and

stop to ask questions, and make
connections. Some of the
questions will be basic questions
to make sure he understands the
story, but also questions about
what would happen if characters
made different decisions. Some
comments will be about
personal connections to the
story.

After reading the story, I will

introduce the concept of using
the outline of the cup as a type
of heart map to draw the things
that are important to me on the
cup from the list we made at the
beginning of the lesson.
We will then make a cup map
from the story showing what
was important to the author of
the story.

pluralism. (Yoon,
Simpson, Haag, 2010).
I want to push Michael to
take his own experiences
and compare them to the
story. I want to move past
just the events in the story
to looking critically at the
story by looking at not
only the authors message
but also the illustrators
purpose for drawing the
pictures in pencil sketches
with very little color.
(McLaughlin & Devoogd,
2004).

I will use the heart map

concept for us to discuss
what was important to the
author of the story. The
author is not in the story
until at the very end and is
telling the story about her
family based on stories
handed down through the
family.
I want us to discuss the
values and beliefs held by
the character and what
events are important to the

(29) Listening and

Speaking/Listening. Students
use comprehension skills to
listen attentively to others in
formal and informal settings.
Students continue to apply
earlier standards with greater
complexity. Students are
expected to:

Polacco, P. (2013). The

Blessing Cup. New York,
NY: Simon & Schuster
Books for Young Readers.

(A) listen attentively to

speakers, ask relevant questions,
and make pertinent comments;

(12) Reading/Comprehension of
Informational Text/Culture and
History. 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.
Students are expected to identify
the topic and locate the author's
stated purposes in writing the
text.

Cup paper for recording

information.

Closure Activity:

After we have each made our

cup maps we will compare them
and discuss similarities and
differences between our cups.
We will also compare them to
the list of things that were
important to us.

character life. (Short,

2004)
I want to stretch Michaels
thinking about why he
drew the map that way.
What did the spaces
represent to him?

(12) Reading/Comprehension of
Informational Text/Culture and
History. 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.
Students are expected to identify
the topic and locate the author's
stated purposes in writing the
text.

Your Name: Amy Kennedy

Student Name: Michael
Lesson and Personal Reflection for Lesson Plan #1
Lesson Reflection: CHILD NOTES---Focus is on the child. How did
my student respond to the opportunities to learn that I provided?

Personal Reflection: Focus on YOU! As a result of teaching these

activities, what did I learn about teaching in general and about myself as
a teacher? How did your plan address your students individual diverse
needs?

Introductory activity: Michael was quick to engage in listing things

that were important to him. Sometimes he would ask if he could
include things and had to be reassured that anything he wanted to list
was fine. It was not a right or wrong list. As we looked at the

It was important at the beginning of the lesson to make sure I started

with things about the student and to use that to build the lesson. This
allowed for Michael to be comfortable with the topic. Looking at the
illustrations also gave clues to the story which made comprehension of

illustrations he was able to tell that the story did not happen in his
lifetime and kept saying the 1900s or even 1800s. He did not have
any prior knowledge about the beginning events in the story, but was
curious about the story from the illustrations.

the basic story easier.

As a teacher I need to make sure that students have opportunities to
express themselves without there being a right or wrong answer, build
on known information and taking the time to give some background
that students might be lacking.
This activity gave me information about my students cultural and
educational background that helped in moving the lesson forward.

Interactive: Read aloud and Think Aloud Activities

Michael was engaged in the book even though he yawned a few times.
The text was a higher level with some Russian words, so I read the
story to him. He would ask questions as we went through the story and
answered questions that I asked when I wanted to make sure he knew
what was happening in the story. When I asked about if characters had
made different decisions his answer was usually the same. He had a
difficult time thinking about different outcomes for the characters in the
story. What would have happened if the family did not leave Russia?
What would have happened if the family had not stopped when the dad
collapsed? What could happen to the doctor if he helped them? What
could have happened if they had not left and gone to America?

This story was a longer text and too hard for Michael to read on his own
so I used the format of a read aloud. During the read aloud I would
forget that I was supposed to be thinking aloud and would ask questions
instead of modeling what I wanted Michael to do. I would take the time
to answer Michaels questions as we read the story and point out things
that he missed.
It is difficult for me to think aloud (tell what I am thinking) during a
story while making sure the student has basic comprehension of the
story. Even though Michael liked the story I dont know if he had
enough background to really be able to discuss the story.
This story was set in a different country, different time period, different
culture, and different language. As a starting point for critical literacy I
need to carefully select books that will make it easier for students to
discuss the topic and not have to spend too much time on just the
comprehension of the story. Im not saying we should not use this
story, but more in the timing of using this story. I dont know if this
book was the best beginning point for this type of lesson. Book
selection, modeling and levels of question are important to building this
type of critical thinking.
This type of exercise did not limit Michaels ability to produce and
show his thinking. Knowing that Michael did not like to write made this
more student friendly for those of different writing levels. As a teacher
I want to show student different ways of expressing themselves so that
they do not feel defeated before they ever start. It could be language

Creative Exercise:
After showing Michael how to make the cup map he quickly grabbed
the pencil but wanted to record things about himself and not the story.
We had to go back into the story and reread some parts. I had to use
questions to lead him to labeling what was important to the author and

characters of the story. Michael was not use to thinking in this way
about the story.

barriers, difficulty with writing, or just differences in students interests.

I also learned that I needed to give Michael the time to make a cup map
about him before he made one about the story.

Closure activity:
Michael was quick to share what he wrote on the cup, but had a difficult
time explaining about why he put the different sizes. After he shared
his cup, I shared mine and he wanted to change his to look more like
mine and had to be reassured that his was fine and he did not need to
change his cup.

Since this was just a one on one session Michael wanted to make his
picture look like mine instead of reflecting his thinking. This is
something that I need to be aware of when I give a demo. If there are
other students then everyone gets to share theirs and they may all look
different, but I am the teacher and that position of authority may cause
student to copy me.

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