"Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know."
-Daniel J. Boorstin
While in my education classes at Western Michigan University, I was required to design several lesson plans for use in the high school English classroom. I modified a basic template that I discovered while researching lesson plan design and through its use I have been able to create highly organized and easy to comprehend lessons. A brief sampling of my lessons, along with commentary and explanation, has been provided for download below. For more information on the Common Core State Standards, click here.
High School Seuss
In this unit plan designed for an eleventh or twelfth English course, I created several lessons that connected topics such as poetic meter, symbolism, and creative writing to the works of Dr. Seuss. While at first it may seem like an odd concept given Seuss' child-centric writing style, I designed each lesson to take a theme from a given text and to expand upon it in a way that is appropriate for secondary education. It should be noted that during the designing of this lesson, the majority of classrooms in the state of Michigan were using the High School Content Expectations (HSCEs) as opposed to the Common Core State Standards, so any reference to state requirements may need some updating for use in a current class. Specific HSCEs met by the lessons are listed in each individual lesson plan.
Dr. Seuss Unit Plan.doc | |
File Size: | 732 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Reduction Character Analysis
Originally designed for use in connection to Arthur Miller's The Crucible, this lesson provides students with a way to closely analyze a character and their transformation over the course of an entire narrative. Inspired by the cooking technique of 'reduction', this activity has students select a character from a given work and condense their entire storyline or arc down to an eight-twelve line passage. This allows students to quickly study how the character played into the larger narrative, how the character changed over the course of the text, and allows them to inquire as to what the author was trying to communicate through the character in question.
Common Core State Standards met in this Lesson:
Reading-Standards 1, 2, 3, and 5.
Writing-Standard 10.
Speaking and Listening-Standards 1 (a-e), 2, 4, and 6.
Language-Standards 2 and 3.
Originally designed for use in connection to Arthur Miller's The Crucible, this lesson provides students with a way to closely analyze a character and their transformation over the course of an entire narrative. Inspired by the cooking technique of 'reduction', this activity has students select a character from a given work and condense their entire storyline or arc down to an eight-twelve line passage. This allows students to quickly study how the character played into the larger narrative, how the character changed over the course of the text, and allows them to inquire as to what the author was trying to communicate through the character in question.
Common Core State Standards met in this Lesson:
Reading-Standards 1, 2, 3, and 5.
Writing-Standard 10.
Speaking and Listening-Standards 1 (a-e), 2, 4, and 6.
Language-Standards 2 and 3.
Character Reduction.doc | |
File Size: | 39 kb |
File Type: | doc |
Book Circles 2.0
In this lesson/activity, students are given a pair of texts, one being a picture book and the other being a full-length novel, and are tasked with drawing comparisons between the two. This type of lesson, while informative and a great way to break up traditional instruction, will not work in every course. It requires an area of study with a wide variety of related published material. Originally designed for a lesson on the Holocaust, it utilizes the book-circle formula of having a group of students read or study a text and subsequently teach said text to members of another group. I highly recommend using this style of lesson or activity if possible, but be sure to locate, procure, and familiarize yourself with the texts before cementing it into your schedule.
Common Core State Standards met in this Lesson:
Reading-Standards 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10.
Speaking and Listening-Standards 1 (a-e), 3, 4, and 6.
In this lesson/activity, students are given a pair of texts, one being a picture book and the other being a full-length novel, and are tasked with drawing comparisons between the two. This type of lesson, while informative and a great way to break up traditional instruction, will not work in every course. It requires an area of study with a wide variety of related published material. Originally designed for a lesson on the Holocaust, it utilizes the book-circle formula of having a group of students read or study a text and subsequently teach said text to members of another group. I highly recommend using this style of lesson or activity if possible, but be sure to locate, procure, and familiarize yourself with the texts before cementing it into your schedule.
Common Core State Standards met in this Lesson:
Reading-Standards 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10.
Speaking and Listening-Standards 1 (a-e), 3, 4, and 6.
Reading Circle.doc | |
File Size: | 44 kb |
File Type: | doc |