Teacher Education Lesson Plan Template

Teacher: Emily Brannock Date: 2/13/18

Title of Lesson: Theme in Fiction Cooperating Teacher: Allison Larranaga

Core Components
Subject, Content Area, or Topic
Language Arts: Theme in Fiction Texts
Student Population
48 - 4th grade students
Learning Objectives

Students will apply knowledge of narrative text structure, characters, setting, plot and conflict while reading
to make inference about/determine main idea/theme of a text or part of a text.

Students will analyze and collect details and information in a text by naming topics and determine and infer
the theme/main idea of a text or part of a text.
Virginia Essential Knowledge and Skills (SOL)
ELA.4.5.9 Explain the author’s purpose.
ELA.4.5.13 Identify the main idea or theme and the major events and details that support the main idea or
theme.
Materials/Resources
Chart Paper
Salt in His Shoes by Deloris and Roslyn Jordan
Theme Graphic Organizer (Attached)

High Yield Instructional Strategies Used (Marzano, 2001)

Check if Used Strategy Return

Identifying Similarities & Differences 45%
X Summarizing & Note Taking 34%
Reinforcing Efforts & Providing Recognition 29%
X Homework & Practice 28%
Nonlinguistic Representations 27%
X Cooperative Learning 23%
Setting Goals & Providing Feedback 23%
Generating & Testing Hypothesis 23%
X Questions, Cues, & Advanced Organizers 22%

DOES YOUR INSTRUCTIONAL INPUT & MODELING YIELD THE POSITIVE

RETURNS YOU WANT FOR YOUR STUDENTS?
Check if Used Strategy Return
Teach Others/Immediate Use of Learning 95%

McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
 X Practice by Doing 75%
X Discussion 50%
X Demonstration 30%
X Audio Visual 20%
X Reading 10%
X Lecture 05%

Safety (if applicable)

Time
(min.) Process Components
*Anticipatory Set
Teacher will create a Theme anchor chart.
Theme: Message or lesson that the main character learns in the story.

Common Topics for Themes: “Big Ideas”

Courage, dreams, kindness, equality, hope, acceptance, family, friendship, perseverance

Example of theme: Wonder (book of choice) the theme would be …. (Student response)
“Don’t judge a person by the way they look” “Be comfortable with yourself” “always be
yourself”.

Ask, “What did the character learn?”

“How did the character grow/change?”
“Why did the characters act this way?”

Student I know statement, “I know the theme is ___________. I know this because in the
text __________________.”

*State the Objectives (grade-level terms)

I can infer the theme of a fictional text.

*Instructional Input or Procedure

The teacher will explain, In order to infer the theme of a text, it is helpful to stop and think
about the topics in your book. Then, it’s important to ask yourself, “What’s the author
saying about this big idea?” This allows you to name the topic and then say the theme as a
sentence. For example, when you all were reading the book Wonder, like we already talked
about, you noticed the topics would be “kindness”, “acceptance” and “friendship” and
from there, we can come to a theme….which was, “Don’t judge someone by the way they
look” “Always be yourself” “Be comfortable with yourself” “Be kind”.

Teacher will explain: Today we are going to read a new book. While I am reading, you
should be thinking about different topics you notice popping up. As you think of one, write
the word or phrase down so we can discuss it at the end.

Teacher will read aloud the book, Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan with Roslyn M.
Jordan.

McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
 Teacher will stop on page 10, and ask students, “What does it mean when Michael’s mom
tells his dad that Michael is chasing a dream?”
-Chasing a dream means working hard to make your wish come true

Teacher will stop on page 20, and ask students, “What did Michael’s dad mean when he
said, “you already have everything you need to be a winner right here” and tapped him on
the chest?
-Michael’s dad is referring to his spirit, his determination, his heart and soul

Once the book has been read, the teacher will create a plot chart (somebody, wanted, but,
so then).
Somebody: Michael
Wanted: To be taller so he could be a better basketball player
But: Even though he put salt in his shoes and prayed, he wasn’t growing as fast as he
wanted
So: His dad told him all his hard work & practice has made him a better player
Then: Michael made the winning shot on the last game and realized that height doesn’t
make you a great player - practice/hard work does.

Teacher will say, “Now that we have finished the story, I want you to take a few minutes
to fill out the graphic organizer on your own and then we will come together and discuss as
a group. Teacher will remind students that there is not just one answer, that there can be
multiple topics/big ideas in a story.

McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
 *Modeling
After time has been given for students to complete their graphic organizer, teacher will
have students talk with a partner about what topic they picked from the book.

Teacher will have the class come together as a whole and discuss different topics from
the book. Teacher will write down topics on the whiteboard.
Examples of topics: Patience, determination, perseverance, faith, confidence, hard work
(Perseverance-the character never gives up even when facing difficult times)

After discussing topics as a group, the teacher will then create a T-chart regarding the
Salt in His Shoes book. This chart will have “Theme” on one side and “Supporting Details”
on the other.

Teacher will ask students to discuss what theme they wrote down while listening to the
story with a partner. Teacher will then ask the class to come together and talk about what
they discussed with their partners.

Examples of themes: “Never give up” “Practice makes you better” “Work hard for what
you want”.

Teacher will ask students to provide evidence of their theme from the text.

Themes will be written on one side of the T-chart and the supporting detail (from the book)
will be written on the other side.

Teacher will continue to encourage students that there are many correct answers as long
as they can support their theme based off the text. Teacher will write down a few different
themes and supporting details on the T-chart for future reference.

*Check for Understanding

During whole group, teacher will assess student understanding through group
conversation and participation.

*Guided Practice
Teacher will use fiction paragraphs in small group to work with students on theme.

*Independent Practice
Students will complete the “Big Idea” graphic organizer using the book, Salt in His Shoes

Assessment
Teachers may choose to collect the graphic organizer to formatively assess students’ progress in
inferring the theme.

*Closure
The teacher will remind students the theme is something that must be inferred and,
therefore, other people may have different interpretations (and that is okay). Teacher will
remind the students that as long as they can use the text to support their theme, it can be
considered correct.

McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
Differentiation Strategies (enrichment, accommodations, remediation, or by learning style).
Teachers may consider photocopying certain pages of the read-aloud text to support students as they
complete the guided practice. Students can focus on one particular page to identify the topic and infer the
theme based on that shorter piece of text. The hard copy provides support for students who benefit from
annotating the text.
Classroom Management Issues (optional)

Lesson Critique. To be completed following the lesson. Did your students meet the objective(s)? What part
of the lesson would you change? Why?

*Denotes Madeline Hunter lesson plan elements.

Intern Signature Cooperating Teacher Signature Date

McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015
McDonald’s Draft (2010). Modified by Kreassig and Gould (2014) for use with student teachers.
Revised August 2015