Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.

2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from

details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or
how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.

Background of Students: The class is located in Glastonbury, CT. There are 21 students.
One of the students is an ESL student, but is not receiving services; there are five students
who need accommodations and modifications, and five students who get enrichment a few
times each week. Overall, the class is well behaved (i.e. talk only when allowed to,
cooperate with fellow classmates, respectful of adults). The lesson will be about 45 minutes
long.

Theme: Determining theme or “heart of a story” in 5th grade fiction texts

Curricular Context: The students will have some understanding of theme, but I am
focusing on how to brainstorm different themes, and then give evidence for the theme that
they choose.

Lesson Topic: Using mind maps to brainstorm different themes and supporting their
theme choice with details from the text and their own experiences.

Language Objective:
Today I will support my ideas of the theme of a book by using “in the story” and “the author
may be saying” with the help of a mind map.

Content Objective:
Today I will determine the theme of a story by using the details in the text and my own
experiences.
Today I will use a mind map as a way to brainstorm ideas.

Learning Strategies:
-Book “walk” before reading
-Explicit connections to past learning
-Identifying key vocabulary
-Predicting what the book will be about
-Encouraging students to monitor and clarify for self during the lesson
-Challenging students to guess and deduce the meaning of words
-Paraphrasing and repeating student responses often
-Using think-alouds when showing the mind map
-Pushing students to give me a little more feedback by asking further questions
-Using “I do. You watch and respond.” then, “We do together. I help and support” then,
“You do together. I watch and help.”
-Showing a mind map from a student from last year
-HOT questions: What do you think will happen in the book?”, “Has an older person shared
a personal story with you? Please explain. How did it make you feel?”, “Where could you
travel on a boat like this?”, “Where could this be taking place?”, “Why are there different
themes for the same story?”, “What is a theme from the story you are reading?”
-Collaborative practice to get a task done of creating a mind map of themes
-Sharing and interacting with a variety of groups- teacher and peers

Key Vocabulary:
Mind map- a diagram that shows ideas branching out from one central idea that helps
people brainstorm different ideas
Theme- the main subject in a piece of writing

Materials:
-Miss Rumphius book by Barbara Cooney
-Chart paper
-Markers
-Mind map outlines for groups
-21 pencils
-seeds
-picture of a large boat
-map of the world
-word bank with pictures and definitions (6)
-cell phone for recording student self-assessments

Motivation (Building background):

-picture “walk”
-making predictions
-discussion of when an older person has told us a story
-mapping the story as we go on a world map
-discussion of seeds in science class
-discussion of theme in this class

Presentation:
-Display, read, review and interact with language and content objectives
-Adaptation – word bank for students who need it with definition and pictures
before/during reading
-Picture walk of the book and ask for student predictions
-BEFORE we read - Ask students to think of a story an older person has shared with you –
neighbor, grandparent, teacher and share with a partner – share 1 or 2 out to whole class
-AS we read – Show a picture of large sailing ship and point out vocab – “where could you
travel on a boat like that?” Take one or two answers
-AS we read – “x” on map as the woman travels the world – ask students to tell you where
to put it
-AFTER we read – pass seeds around the class and have 2 volunteers carry out a “sowing
seed” demo – remember to tie seeds to science class!
-Ask scholars about theme write on the board what they say - “the heart of the story” -
remind them that we came up with different themes. – why? Need parts from story to
support ideas! – point to it on word wall!

Practice/Application:
-Introduce mind maps – I do the first few – explicit modeling and thought process
-Show a finished product from last year on theme of a book my kids have read
-Next, we do some more together – guided practice (have students tell me where and what
to write, have them support answers and ask clarifying questions)
-Quick check 1-3 on fingers if we understand the CO and LOs (record on cell phone)
-Finally, You do together with group – remind and model LO in context again, meet in your
own reading groups and fill out mind map regarding theme for your book club book using
LO (collaborative practice, directions on board)

Review/Assessment:
-Two reading groups and 2 groups will share with each other (4 groups altogether)
-Then, with a partner think of a synonym for the word “theme” and the phrase “mind map”,
some will share out
-Teacher will ask whole class to share what you learned and will record on board
-Again teacher will read and review CO and LOs and will ask students to show 1-3 again for
how well they are understanding/meeting objectives (record on cellphone)

Extension:
Students will journal to a friend explaining to them why they chose the theme that they did
and will back it up with evidence from the text and from their own experiences. They may
type this and add pictures to enhance meaning when are done with the writing.

Annotation

The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) is a model that was designed

specifically with English Language Learner’s (ELL) needs in mind, but is indeed helpful and

beneficial for the success of all students in a mainstream classroom and other settings as

well. There are eight main components that are broken down into 30 key features for

teachers’ lesson planning and implementation (Echevarria, Vogt, Short, 2017). I have

incorporated each of these 30 key features into my 5th grade English Language Arts (ELA)

lesson plan. The explanation of my theoretical and empirical rationale for the choices that I

made in designing the lesson plan is to follow.

The first main component of the SIOP model is lesson preparation and within this

larger component, there are six key features. The first feature is content objectives. Content

objectives tell students “what [they] need to learn about the content topic” (Echevarria et
al., 2017, p. 32). There should only be one or two, and they should be stated, displayed in

writing on the board, read, and reviewed with students. I used the sentence starter “today I

will” to begin my content objectives in a way that simply tells my students what they will

learn or do that day. I used active verbs and tied these content objectives to a specific 5th

grade Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) standard (Echevarria et al., 2017). At the

very beginning of this lesson I posted the two content objectives on the board, had a

student read the objectives, and had students clarify in spoken word with me and the class

what theme, details, mind map, and brainstorm meant.

The second key feature of the SIOP model is language objectives. Language

objectives tell students “what [they] need to learn about English in order to learn, express,

practice and apply new information; demonstrate knowledge; [and/or] perform academic

tasks” (Echevarria et al., 2017, p. 32). They should focus on both function and form; what

the students will use the language for as well as what grammar or vocabulary they will

need to get this across. They should also be clearly stated, displayed in writing on the

board, read, and reviewed with students, which was done in my lesson after I reviewed the

content objectives (Echevarria et al., 2017). My language objective uses function, form, a

content stem, and lists two supports to aid scholars further. The function or purpose of the

language objective is to help students support their ideas; the form that students will be

using is “in the story” and “the author may be saying”; the content stem or topic that we are

focusing on is the theme of the book; and the supports that students can use are a mind

map for a graphic support and sentence frames for an interactive support.

The third key feature of the SIOP model is appropriate content concepts. This

feature ensures that teachers are delivering the grade-level curriculum to all students and
not weakening the content of the lesson for students who need adaptations (Echevarria et

al., 2017). Teachers can adapt the materials used to complete a task as well as help

students make connection and build background through things like a picture “walk”

(Echevarria et al., 2017, p. 44). I have aligned this lesson with Common Core State

Standards for 5th graders ELA and have built in adaptations that do not weaken the content

such as a word bank, and time to build background knowledge through a picture walk of

the book and quick discussion and predictions of what we think may happen.

The fourth key feature of the SIOP model is supplementary materials. These

materials can support different learning profiles and give students opportunities to make

meaning and connections in different ways. Some examples of supplementary materials are

multimedia, demonstrations, realia, summaries, and pictures and visuals (Echevarria et al.,

2017). For my book about a woman who travels the world, settles down by the sea, and

makes the world more beautiful by spreading lupine seeds that grow into beautiful flowers

all over her town, I decided to use a few different supplementary materials. I will show the

students a picture of a large sailing ship with a mast, prow, and a figurehead on it, I will

point out the vocabulary words and ask the students where they think they can travel on a

boat like that. We will look at a map of the world and as we read we can try to put an “X” on

the map of where we think the story is taking place. (Starts on the East Coast, then moves

inland to the Midwest, maybe tropical islands in the Caribbean next, tall mountains in

upper Russia, through jungle in Madagascar, across the Thar Desert in India, back to the

East Coast). Finally, I will have two students demonstrate “sowing” seeds across the room

with imaginary seeds. However, I will also bring in seeds to cement the point that this is

where flowers come from and this is what the lady was throwing.
 The fifth key feature of the SIOP model is adaptation of content. Adaptation of

content focuses on using approaches that makes content accessible to all levels of student

proficiency. For example, text may be summarized, elaborated on, translated in written

word, or read aloud in their first language (Echevarria et al., 2017). To adapt my content I

created a word bank that has definitions as well as pictures of each word from the story

that may be difficult to understand and gave this to my ELL and other students who receive

reading support services as well.

Finally, the sixth key feature of the first SIOP component is meaningful content. This

feature helps teachers to focus on providing meaningful opportunities to integrate lesson

concepts with language practice in reading, writing, listening, and/or speaking while

making connections between what they know in their own experiences and what they are

learning in the classroom (Echevarria et al., 2017). In my lesson plan, I have incorporated

time for students to discuss with one another and share their experiences, to read/listen to

the book, and to write in a way that is connected to our topic and objectives.

The second component of the SIOP model is building background. Within this

component there are three key features. Building background knowledge helps explicitly

make and develop connections between what the students are learning and their past

experiences and past learning. The seventh key feature is links to students’ backgrounds.

This feature focuses on explicitly relating the material to personal experiences or

knowledge (Echevarria et al., 2017). I had my students think about a story that an older

person has shared with them about their lives in the past (a teacher, an older neighbor, a

grandparent) and share what the story was how it made you feel to hear the story with a

partner. This story was told to the narrator by her great-aunt, and the main message in the
story was told to the great-aunt by her grandfather, and in the end the great-aunt is sharing

the story with more young people from the town.

The eighth key feature is links to prior learning. This focuses on making explicit

connections between new and past learning in the classroom to help students learn and

integrate the new knowledge into their brains (Echevarria et al., 2017). I will ask the class

what they know about theme and will write it on the board. I will then remind them how

we called theme “the heart of the story” and reminded them that we came up with different

themes. I will ask the students why we said we are able to have more than one theme for a

book and remind them that we need to use parts from the text to support our ideas. I will

finally point to the word theme on our word wall. The story is about sowing seeds, and we

were learning about life cycles in science, so this is something I mentioned to tie to prior

learning. Also, the students know about world maps and we will map the story out as it

progresses.

The ninth key feature is vocabulary. The key vocabulary should be introduced,

written, repeated and highlighted for students to see (Echevarria et al., 2017). As

mentioned before, those who need it will receive a word bank with definitions and pictures

attached for words in the story that they may be unfamiliar with. I will also draw attention

to these when I am reading the story to reinforce these definitions. For all students, I will

write the vocabulary words and definitions of “mind map” and “theme” on the board and

add “mind map” to our reading word wall along with a small picture of a mind map.

The third component of the SIOP mode is comprehensible input. There are three key

features of this component. Comprehensible input focuses on a teacher using appropriate

speech, providing a clear explanation of academic tasks and a variety of teaching

techniques for their students (Echevarria et al., 2017). The tenth feature is appropriate

speech. This refers to the “rate and enunciation and complexity of language” matching the

level of language proficiency of their students (Echevarria et al., 2017, p. 104). In my lesson

I will enunciate clearly, use the vocabulary words we are focusing on, ask students for

elaboration in providing evidence for their answers and to remind me where we read that

in the text. Finally, I will also provide a model of what to ask to their partners during pair

shares to aid in discussions. The eleventh feature is a clear explanation of academic tasks

(Echevarria et al., 2017). Modeling orally what to ask their partners during pair share will

also be effective in meeting this feature as well as the previous one. I will also write out

directions of the next steps on the board in a list format for the students to easily follow

after we have finished our read aloud.

Finally, the twelfth feature is a variety of techniques used to make content concepts

clear. Teachers can do this by providing gestures, body language, pictures and objects to go

along with what they are saying, providing a model of the process or task, previewing the

material, allowing for different forms of expression, using technology, repeated exposure to

concepts or words, and/or graphic organizers (Echevarria et al., 2017). In my lesson I will

use a preview of the book or book “walk”, gestures to point to different pictures in the book

while reading to explain vocabulary words, use pictures in the book and in the word bank

and word wall, as well as use the modeling of the activities and conversations.

The forth component of the SIOP model is strategies. It has three different key

features. The thirteenth feature of the SIOP model is abundant opportunities for students to

use learning strategies. There are three main types of strategies that the model mentions,

cognitive learning strategies to organize the information students are expected to learn,
metacognitive strategies to monitor their own thinking, and language learning strategies to

increase their ability to speak and comprehend new language (Echevarria et al., 2017). In

my lesson plan I used many cognitive learning strategies, including previewing the story

before reading in the form of a book “walk”, making explicit connections to past learning,

and identifying key vocabulary. I also used metacognitive strategies including predicting

what the book will be about and monitoring and clarifying for self during the lesson.

Finally, I also used language strategies including previewing the book and encourage my

students to guess and deduce the meaning of words throughout the story before I tell them.

The fourteenth feature is using scaffolding techniques, assisting and supporting

students’ understanding. There are three types of scaffolding that can be used with English

learners: verbal scaffolds which aid in deepening students’ language proficiency,

comprehension and thinking; procedural scaffolding which aids in teaching setup; and

instructional scaffolding to give students’ access to content and language concepts

(Echevarria et al., 2017). For my lesson, I used a lot of verbal scaffolds to support my

students. I paraphrased and repeated student responses often, used think-alouds when

showing the mind maps for the first time, and often pushed students to give me a little

more feedback by asking further questions. I also used procedural scaffolding for this

lesson as I set up the mind map part of lesson as a “I do. You watch and respond.” then, “We

do together. I help and support” then, “You do together. I watch and help.” (Echevarria et

al., 2017, p. 130). Finally, I used instructional scaffolding by showing the students a mind

map from a student from last year regarding theme of a book that all of my students have

already read.
 The fifteenth and final feature of this component is a variety of questions or tasks

that promote higher-order thinking skills. This feature encourages teachers to have

questions and tasks at a variety of levels along the taxonomy of educational objectives

(Echevarria et al., 2017). I asked higher-order thinking questions such as, “What do you

think will happen in the book?”, “Has an older person shared a personal story with you?

Please explain. How did it make you feel?”, “Where could you travel on a boat like this?”,

“Where could this be taking place?”, “Why are there different themes for the same story?”,

“What is a theme from the story you are reading?”. Students will also be working in

collaborative practice to get a task done of creating a mind map of themes of the book each

group is reading for their book groups which is a higher level on the Blooms taxonomy.

The next component is interaction. Within this component there are four features.

The sixteenth feature is frequent opportunities for interaction and discussion between

teacher and student, and among students, which encourage elaborated responses about

lesson concepts (Echevarria et al., 2017). I offer many opportunities in my lesson for both

teacher to student as well as student to student interactions. After every chance that

students get to interact with one another, I have some students share aloud and I will

respond to them and if necessary have them support with evidence from the text or further

explain their thinking. I also incorporate times for students to answer questions, give

questions, or to share ideas throughout the lesson.

The seventeenth feature is providing grouping configurations such as whole class,

partners, and small groups that support language and content objectives of the lesson

(Echevarria et al., 2017). In my class, my English Language Learner (ELL) is paired with a

student who is bilingual in both Spanish and English to aid in comprehension. These two
students are also in the same reading group and the small group work at the end was done

in reading groups. These groups are intentional and support the objectives of the lesson for

this pair and for all students. There are chances for all different varying grouping

configurations throughout my lesson plan. While the small groups are based on reading

level, there is opportunity for the groups to share their mind maps with a group of a

different level, which is beneficial for all to gain different perspectives and encourage

collaboration.

The eighteenth feature is sufficient wait time which is using silence as an

opportunity for all students to have time to process what is being asked of them and to

create a response (Echevarria et al., 2017). In whole group, the teacher will count to ten in

their head before calling on a student to allow time for all students to process and

participate. In small groups and partner work, we have a totem that we pass to each other

to make sure only one person is talking at a time. The current speaker counts to ten before

passing the totem to a person who is quietly making the “I have something to share”

symbol so many students have a chance to think and to come up with a response.

The nineteenth feature is ample opportunity for students to clarify key concepts in

their first language (L1) as needed with an aide, peer, or L1 text (Echevarria et al., 2017).

My ELL has a bilingual student who they know they can clarify any important concept or

directions with in their L1. This student also knows that they are allowed to use their I pad

as a word translator if it is really necessary. They can do either of these without permission

from the teacher.

The next component of the SIOP is practice/application. Within this component

there are three key features. The twentieth feature is hands-on materials and/or
manipulatives provided for students to practice using new content knowledge in the

classroom (Echevarria et al., 2017). The students in my class are given a short, intense

practice period with the new content of a mind map after a whole class, guided

introduction. Also, by bringing in seeds and allowing the students to feel them, I am further

clarifying the meaning of “sowing seeds” in the story. To clarify this further, one student

will act out “sowing seeds” in our classroom.

The twenty-first feature is activities provided for students to apply content and

language knowledge, which can help make abstract ideas more concrete, by applying the

new information in a personally relevant way (Echevarria et al., 2017). Students in my

lesson plan will be generating ideas regarding the theme of their book and drawing on their

own prior knowledge and evidence in the text to support their ideas. They will also be

listening to other students’ ideas and experiences that made them think that way as well.

The twenty-second feature is activities that integrate all four the language skills,

including reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This helps ELLs further their language

development in both academic and social language (Echevarria et al., 2017). In my lesson,

students will be taking part in all four modes of language throughout the lesson. The

writing portion will be at the end of the lesson during the group work regarding mind

maps, but the other three are dispersed throughout the entire lesson plan.

The second to last SIOP component is lesson delivery. Within lesson delivery there

are four key features. The twenty-third key feature is that content objectives are clearly

supported by lesson delivery. After modeling for my students how to use a mind map and

then having them guide me through it, I can ask them to show me on a scale of 1 to 3 with

their fingers how good they feel about being able to determine the theme of a story by
using the details in the text and their own experiences, and about being able to use a mind

map as a way to brainstorm ideas. This instruction targets the learning objectives and

when students get to work in groups to do this, they are allowed the opportunity to

progress towards those objectives (Echevarria et al., 2017).

The twenty-fourth key feature is that language objectives are clearly supported by

the lesson delivery and are taught, modeled, and reviewed with the students (Echevarria et

al., 2017). In my lesson I gave the students the sentence starters “in the story” and “the

author may be saying” to help them to share with their group what they think the theme of

the story is. I modeled for them how to use this language while sharing the theme of a story

and how to record it on a mind map for support. I will quickly assess the students at the

same point as the content objective quick check to see how they are feeling about using

these sentence starters to talk about their theme in the mind maps.

The twenty-fifth key feature is that students are engaged approximately 90% to

100% of the period. Students engaged less than 50% of the lesson is unacceptable.

Engagement looks like following along in the lesson, responding to teacher’s directions, and

performing activities when expected. It does not always have to look very active

(Echevarria et al., 2017). My students are learning about plants and life cycles in science, so

this story is engaging to them because of that connection. It is appropriately challenging to

them and more so because of the connections to our own experiences that we made

regarding older people we have talked to. I was also very prepared for the lesson and have

strong classroom management that is grounded in good relationships with my students.

The twenty-sixth feature is the pacing of the lesson is appropriate to students’

ability levels. Pacing is the “rate at which information is presented during a lesson”
(Echevarria et al., 2017, p. 209). By being attentive to my students’ comprehension, I was

able to speed up over concepts that they understood quickly, such as where a large boat

could travel, and could go more slowly over concepts that were more difficult such as

where to place different ideas on the mind map. Also, we have practiced transitions from

pairs to whole group to our small groups many times and this saves time as well.

The final component of the SIOP model is review assessment. Within this

component there are four key features. The twenty-seventh feature is a comprehensive

review of key vocabulary throughout the lesson (Echevarria et al., 2017). Throughout my

lesson we have reviewed the vocabulary and key language concepts as we were reading;

before, during, and after instruction; and we reviewed as a wrap up at the end as well. I had

students work with a partner to think of synonym for the words “theme” and “mind map”

and allowed some to share aloud.

The twenty-eighth key feature is a comprehensive review of key content concepts. It

is important to also review content concepts during and at the end of the lesson

(Echevarria et al., 2017). While I reviewed content concepts and checked for understanding

throughout the lesson, I also wrapped up the lesson by having students share what they

learned this lesson aloud and writing them on the whiteboard.

The twenty-ninth key feature is to provide regular feedback to students on their

output in order to clarify confusing things and to correct misconceptions and

misunderstandings (Echevarria et al., 2017). Throughout my lesson by restating student

responses with correct English use, using positive facial expressions and body language to

encourage student responses, giving specific content and language objective feedback

regarding positive things scholars did that I noticed in the lesson. For example, I said to a
student, “I noticed how you looked back in the story to find the evidence to support your

theme. That was a great strategy!”

The thirtieth and final key feature is the assessment of student comprehension and

learning of all lesson objectives throughout the lesson (Echevarria et al., 2017). I began the

lesson by activating students’ prior knowledge as well as throughout the lesson and

students were also able to practice and apply the lesson vocabulary and content concepts.

Throughout the lesson I was taking field notes on students and I recorded on my laptop

student responses from 1-3 during the mid-lesson check in. I finally went through all of the

objectives at the end of the lesson, content and language, and had students give me a 1-3

and recorded this again.

 Work Cited

Echevarria, J., Vogt, M., & Short, D. J. (2017). Making content comprehensible for English

learners the SIOP model (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.