First Name Isabel Last Name Choe

UH Email isabel8@hawaii.edu Date 2/27/17

Semester 2 Year 2017
Grade Level/Subject 5/Reading Lesson Duration 12:30-1:15 (45 minutes)

Title Themes, Challenges, and Lessons

Central Focus (Enduring Understandings)
A description of the important understanding(s) and concept(s)
Good readers need to be able to comprehend what they’re reading in order to get the most out of their reading
experience. Reading strategies helps readers to delve deeper into the text by providing them ways to better
comprehend what they’re reading. By having a better understanding of the text, readers will be able to use text
evidence to determine the theme of the story.
Content Standard(s)
The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that align with the central focus and address essential understandings,
concepts, and skills
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.

Student Learning Objectives

Outcomes to be achieved by the students by the end of the lesson or by the end of the multi-lesson learning segment
The students will be able to identify a challenge/challenges that the character in their story faces, lessons that come
out of facing those challenges, and the theme of the story based on evidence from the text.
- Text (provide evidence from book)

Assessments
The procedures to gather evidence of students’ learning of learning objective(s) to include formative (informal)
assessments applied throughout the lesson and a summative assessment (formal) of what students’ learned by the
end of the lesson (include any assessment tools)
Formative Assessment(s):
 Students will be able to create a chart that includes the title of the book they’re reading, a
challenge/challenges the character in their book faced, a lesson that could come out of the character
overcoming a challenge/challenges, and the theme of the story
Summative Assessment Task: The Challenges Can Lead to Lessons chart
Summative Assessment Tool:
Well Below Developing Proficiency Meets with Proficiency Meets with Excellency
Is not able to identify a Struggles to identify a Is able to identify a Is able to actively identify
challenge a character challenge a character challenge a character and describe a challenge
faced faced faced the character faced
Is not able to determine Struggles to determine a Is able to determine a Is able to actively
any lessons learned from lesson learned from the lesson learned from the determine and describe a
the challenges the challenges the character challenges the character lesson learned based on
character overcame overcame overcame the challenges the
character overcame and
explain why
Is not able to Struggles to determine the Is able to determine what Is able to discuss and
discuss/determine what theme of the story is they think the theme of determine what they
the theme of the story is based on a challenge the the story is based on the know the theme of the
character faced, and what challenges the character story is based on text
lesson was learned faced, and the lessons evidence, the challenges
learned the character faced, and
the lessons learned
 Students’ Prior Academic Knowledge and Assets
The students’ content knowledge, skills, prior academic experiences, and personal/cultural/community assets to
draw upon to support learning. Be explicit about the connections between the learning tasks, and students’ prior
academic learning, and their assets.
Prior Academic Knowledge: Knowledge/understanding of what theme is, how to determine what a character
challenge in the story is, and what lesson the character learned from the challenge they faced.

Students Personal/Cultural/Community Assets: Possible experience with overcoming a challenge and a lesson
they learned in their own lives, whether it was at home, at school, etc. I will tell them what a challenge and a lesson
is. Then I will provide them with my own example. Next, I will ask them to quickly think of a challenge they faced
and the lesson they learned from overcoming that challenge. Finally, I will have one or two students share.
Academic Language and Language Supports
1. Oral and written language that the students need to learn and use to participate and engage in the content.
2. The planned instructional supports to help students understand, develop, and use academic language.
Theme: Broad idea of the story (ex: Bridge to Terabithia’s theme is friendship)
Challenge: Something that a person must overcome
Lesson: Something that is learned after overcoming the challenge

I will define theme, challenge, and lesson during the anticipatory set/building background part of the lesson.
Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks
A description of what the teacher will do and say and what the students will do during the lesson that 1) uses clear
steps that convey the use of multiple strategies, supports, and resources and 2) list opportunities offered for multiple
modes of participation
Name of reading strategy being taught: Mistakes Can Lead to Lessons
Title of book/text being used in the lesson:
Procedures Teacher will…. Students will…
Anticipatory Set/Building Link to previous knowledge of Actively watch and listen to me
Background. Introduce theme and teach what theme is
desired results; ask essential and what it isn’t
question(s); connect with - Refer to T-Chart with
student experience. Is this a one column titled
review or new information? “theme is” and the other
How does the lesson link to titled “theme isn’t”
previous learning? Is pre- - theme is and example
assessment necessary? - theme is the “big
This is an intentional experience idea” of the story
or activity that ALL students - theme isn’t and example
engage in to ensure everyone - theme isn’t the
starts at the same level of lesson the story
understanding. teaches
Time: approximately 2-5 minutes - common themes in
literature
- friendship
- love
- family
- growing up
- money
doesn’t buy
happiness
- cheaters never win
- never give up
- don’t judge a book
by its cover
- treat others the way
you want to be

Modeling/ Mini Lesson. Explicit
teaching of targeted concepts
and/or strategies that
students are expected to
learn and demonstrate their
understanding. Consider:
What/how will you model?
How will you support
students to activate their own
thinking?
Time: approximately 10-15
minutes
treated
You can determine the theme
from a challenge a character
faces
- Define challenge: a challenge is
something that a person has to
overcome
- For example, a challenge I
faced was when I fell down the
stairs and sprained my ankle. It
was hard to walk around
You can also determine theme
through a lesson a character
learns from the challenge they
faced
-Define lesson: a lesson is
something that is learned after
overcoming a challenge
-For example, the lesson I
learned was that I need to be
more careful walking up and
down stairs
Ask a few students to share a Share
challenge that they faced, what
they did to overcome it, and a
lesson they learned from it
Introduce reading strategy: Actively listen to me
Reading strategies can be
useful to help you to better
understand what you’re
reading. The reading
strategy I’m going to teach
you today is called
“Challenges Can Lead to
Lessons”
We’re going to use this
strategy to help us figure out
what challenge a character
went through, what lesson
can be learned through Be engaged by listening to what the
overcoming that challenge, challenge is
and the theme of a story
Read Katie & Missy and model
how to create the chart.
- show premade chart under elmo
- chart is drawn horizontally Be engaged by listening to what the
- chart has 4 columns: 1st column lesson is
is for the title of the book, 2nd
column is for the challenge(s) a
character faces, 3rd column is for
the lesson(s) learned, and the last
column is for the theme
- think aloud and tell
students what challenge
the character of the story
faced and write it down
- the challenge Katie
faced is having to clean
up after Missy

- think aloud and tell

students what lesson
was learned from the
challenge the character
faced and write it down
- the lesson learned is that
you should be neat and
clean, especially if
you’re going to
somebody else’s house.
We can tell this is the
lesson because Katie got
annoyed from cleaning
up after Missy, but
Missy didn’t notice and
continued to make a
mess. Be engaged by saying what they
believe the theme of the story is and
- think aloud/ask students listening to what the actual theme is
what they think the
theme of the story is
based on the challenge
the character faced, and
the lesson that was
learned
- Since Katie had to
clean up after Missy,
and the lesson learned
is that we should try to
be clean if we’re at
somebody else’s house,
the theme, or the “ is to
respect other people’s
property”
Work time. An opportunity for
students to apply the
learning taught during the
mini lesson. Contains two
distinct components:
1. Guided Practice. An
opportunity for students to
practice the learning with
support.
2. Independent Practice. An
opportunity for students to
apply the learning
independently.
Time: Approximately 30-45
minutes
Closure. Provides an opportunity
for students to summarize the
learning and connect to
future learning.
Time: Approximately 10 minutes
Adaptations to instructional strategies, the learning environment, content, and/or assessments to meet the needs of
students who require further support (e.g., ELL/MLL, struggling, accelerated, 50/IEP, etc.)
TYPE OF LEARNER
Have the students get into small Work together
groups and work on the chart
together on the same short story
(story about Barry)
- one sheet of paper with
chart on both sides (one
for group work and one
for independent
practice) per person
- talk with their group
members about the
challenge(s) faced, the
lesson(s) learned, and
the theme of the story
- every student writes
down the answer their
group comes up with
individually
- Allow one or two students to Share/listen
showcase their work to provide
the class a better understanding
of what to do
Independent Practice: Have Work on their “Challenges Can Lead
students transition into to Lessons” chart
working by themselves.
- Tell students to use the
Challenges Can Lead to
Lessons strategy to the
chart based on the
chapter book they’re
currently reading
- Walk around and see if
anybody is struggling
(pull aside struggling
students to provide 1-1
or small group
instruction)
Have students (quickly) find Share/describe their work to their
others who have similar classmates
themes
- talk about their
book/charts
- talk about how they
came to determine the
theme of their story
Differentiation
List the type of accommodation or differentiation (content, process, or
performance task) and describe how you will differentiate.
 ELL/MLL Small group instruction
Choice of text
Struggling Provide more modeling and guided practicing as needed
Provide them with extra help to complete task
Add more details (and text evidence) in their chart
Accelerated
Compare the challenge(s) and lesson(s) from the text to those challenge(s)
and lesson(s) from their life
504/IEP More modeling and guided practice
Frequent check-ins
Instructional Resources and Materials
Books, texts, and other materials needed for the lesson
Elmo, projector, example text, paper, pencils, erasers, short stories for guided practice,
(http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/reading-worksheets/theme-worksheet.pdf &
http://www.ereadingworksheets.com/reading-worksheets/theme-worksheet-3.pdf) individual chapter books
 Analysis of Student Work and Lesson Reflection
(Complete after teaching the lesson)

1. What went well? In other words, describe an area of success in this lesson.

The lesson went better than I thought it would. Although some of the students didn’t want to do
paperwork, they were engaged in the “Challenges Can Lead to Lessons” activity. I had them get
into small groups before the independent practice, and the students showed that they could work
well with their classmates.

2. Describe one area for growth you learned as a result of this lesson. In other words, would
you do anything differently?

What I would do differently in my next lesson is to have less “me time.” It was pointed out to me
that there was a lot of me talking in the beginning of this lesson. Next time, I would try to throw
the conversation to the students, even if it’s only for 30 seconds or so. This was, I would be able
to better engage the students and allow them to gain a better understanding of the content.

3. Explain how students were informed of the assessment criteria during the lesson.

I didn’t tell the students exactly what they were being graded on, but I did tell them the criteria
(the challenge, the lesson, and the theme) that I wanted on their charts. Instead of just throwing
them into the reading strategy, I provided them with a few opportunities. I modeled it for them
and allowed them time to work in small groups to have practice before they worked on it
individually.

4. Summarize and discuss student learning for the whole class related to the essential reading
strategy and student learning objectives, based on assessment data and assessment criteria.
Refer to and include a graphic (tables or chart) that depicts students’ learning. Use evidence
from work samples to support this discussion.

The students seemed to grasp the idea of facing and overcoming a challenge and learning a lesson
from doing so. However, the concept of theme (and possibly my lack of detailed explanation),
stumped them a little.

Student Challenge Lesson Theme

C MP MP MP
K MP MP DP
J MP WB DP
S DP MP DP
A ME MP MP
S MP MP MP
K DP MP MP
M ME MP MP
N ME MP DP
A ME ME ME
M MP MP DP
K DP MP MP
L ME ME ME
C ME MP MP
L MP ME ME
C MP MP MP
J MP ME MP
K ME ME MP
J MP ME MP
J DP MP MP
C MP MP MP
M ME ME MP
L ME MP MP
Y MP MP MP
D WB WB WB
J MP MP MP

This is an example of a student

who pretty much met the criteria.
He even tried to put some text
evidence.

This is another example

of a student who did well
and tried to put text
evidence.
This is an example of a
student who didn’t put text
evidence, but showed that
he pretty much understood
what was asked of him.
This is an example of a
student who seems to
have an idea of what was
asked of him, but could
have provided more
details.
 This student was the only student
who didn’t fill out his chart. I can’t
determine if he didn’t understand
what was required of him or if his
book didn’t have a challenge, a
lesson, and a theme.

5. Explain how feedback was provided to students to address their needs and strengths related
to the learning objective(s). Describe how students used this feedback during the lesson or
will use the feedback in future learning opportunities.

I walked around the room while the students were working and peeked over their shoulders to see
how they were doing. If I noticed something was off, or thought that I could provide some help to
them, I made sure to talk to those students. I noticed some light bulbs going off while/after I
talked to students. Some students asked me questions as I walked around, and I did my best to
provide them with the best answer to those questions.

6. Based on the analysis of student learning, describe the next steps for student learning for the
whole class. Explain how these next steps follow from the analysis of student learning.
Support your instructional decisions with principles from research and/or theory.

The next steps for student learning for the whole class would be to backtrack and delve deeper into
theme (and possibly challenges and lessons) and provide the students with more opportunities to
expand their knowledge on theme. Although they had background information on theme, I could
tell that some of the students were a little bit confused. According to Herrell, Jordan, and Eby
(2012), it is essential to “present new, unfamiliar, and complex material in small steps, modeling
each step by doing an example. Give clear and detailed instructions and explanations as you model
each process” (p. 153). Instead of having the students focus on different books, I could have them
read the same book so that we could have a grand conversation. On page 370 of “Literacy for the
21st Century: A Balanced Approach (6th ed.)”, a teacher who was trying to teach theme to her
students held a grand conversation with her class about the book. She had them look for examples
on human rights from the book. Then, she put them into small groups where they created lists of
human rights. She even designed different activities for her struggling and advanced students. I
believe that this could be a good next step to help the students better understand theme. Another
step to further develop the students’ understanding of theme would be to do other theme related
reading strategies with them.
 References

Eby, J. W., Herrell, A. L., & Jordan, M. (2013). Teaching in the Elementary School: A Reflective Action
Approach (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Tompkins, Gail. (2014). Literacy for the 21st Century: A Balanced Approach (6th ed.). Pearson Education,
Inc.