DAY 9

Constructivist Lesson Plan:

REVIEW OF MONTAG & SOCRATIC SEMINAR PREPARATION

Teacher Thinking… Students and Teacher doing…

Lesson Plan Element: Enroll
How will I hook the Today students will be thinking about the novel as a whole. To
students to provide an entrée get them hooked and engaged at the beginning of class, students
into a deeper experience will do a mini body biography1 for “Old Montag” and “New
with the content? Montag” as their journal entry. This exercise will get them
thinking about how Montag changed and developed as a character
over the course of the novel.2

Experience
What kind of experience can Students will begin their review of the novel with a more artistic
I create for students to have exercise that also involves them going back to the text to find
an initial exploration with textual evidence will get them thinking about important, defining
the content? moments in the novel that they may turn to later in the session as
they complete the Socratic Seminar Preparation assignment.

The majority of class will be spent on preparing for our Socratic

Seminar next class which will serve as the culminating
assessment for this unit. This experience was designed to give
students guidance for thinking about important aspects of the text
(Part I of the assignment where they respond to questions posed
by me) as well as the chance for them to push themselves further
by composing their own open-ended questions to pose to the class
during discussion (Part III).3

I have to make sure I tell
them what they just did.
Also, what kind of
information must I provide
in a mini-lesson so that
students can illustrate
Label
No mini-lesson will be required today. The skills students will be
using during this session are skills they have been honing over the
course of the unit and the class as a whole.
Prior to this class, students will have become familiar with body
biographies on a larger scale.

1
Students will have done full body biographies for characters earlier in the course and will be familiar with the
format and what I am expecting. This exercise will be a reduced version of the body biographies they have
completed in the past as this is just a journal entry.
2
“We use knowledge of the real and the imaginary, as well as previous experiences with other literature, as the basis
for our explorations. We use what we have gathered from life and literature to explore emotions, relationships,
motives, and reactions, calling on what we know, or imagine, it means to be (or not to be) human” (Langer, 2011, p.
32).
3
​Walsh-Moorman (2016); Tredway (1995)
understanding of the
concept I’m teaching?
Emergent Understandings:
How are we focused on
individualized meaning
making?
What ways might students
illustrate understanding of
the concept I’m trying to
teach? What kinds of
spaces can I create for
students to grapple with the
content?
Additionally, both the body biography as their journal entry and
the preparation assignment require students to support their
claims with textual evidence. This is a skill students have been
practicing throughout this unit (through their annotations
assignments, discussion boards, and class assignments).
Label
On the “Socratic Seminar Preparation Assignment” I will point
out to the students that the format for their responses to the
questions I have posed for them follows the
Point-Example-Explain structure we have been working with all
year and they learned years ago.4 Point this out may be helpful for
students who are initially confused by the assignment.
Demonstrate
Students will demonstrate their understanding of Montag’s
development as a character in their journal entry body biography
which I will informally assess as I monitor while they are
working and formally assess when I grade their entry.
Students will demonstrate their understanding of major concepts
from the novel by formulating their own claims in response to the
questions posed and supporting those claims with textual
evidence. Students will further demonstrate deeper understanding
of the content by creating their own open-ended questions based
on what they deem important from the novel and recording their
own responses to these questions in preparation for sharing them
with their peers next session during the discussion.

Students will have the opportunity to work through their thinking

individually and collaboratively as they bounce ideas off those
sitting in their table groups. Students will also be given the
chance to grapple with their ideas through teacher-guided
questions and through the creation of their own questions.
Additionally, the body biography in the journal will give students
another format through which to present their learning beyond the
discussion questions.5

4
Point-Example-Explain is my favorite terminology to use as it is what my English teachers used when I was in
school. It is the same as Claim-Data-Warrant (CDW) or Claim-Data-Commentary (CEC).
5
This body biography journal entry for Montag provides students an alternative way to demonstrate their
understanding of character development. This exercise differs from the character assignments they have done
previously in this unit as well as taking on a different, more artistic format from the traditional discussion questions
they are answering today as well.“What the teacher wants to do is to help children recognize that ideas can be
expressed in different ways and that they can have a choice in the way in which they choose to express what they
know” (Eisner, 2002, p. 128).

How can I formatively
assess that students met the
learning targets while
getting them to capture their
thinking?
Review
I can formatively assess that students are meeting the learning
targets through monitoring their progress on these assignments
throughout this class session and more formally during the
Socratic Seminar next class session. Students will be required to
reference textual evidence during the Socratic Seminar, so this
preparation will help them perform well on the summative
assessment next session.

Students will practice their argumentative writing skills and use

textual evidence to support the claims that encapsulate their
thinking.

How can I wrap up the
lesson and celebrate their
learning?
Celebrate
I will give students ongoing feedback throughout class and
compliment them on their solid work effort today, building up
their excitement to be able to share their thoughts and ideas next
session during the Socratic Seminar.

Notes:
Time and Space: ​94 min; Traditional set-up (desks arranged in tables)
Materials: ​Journal Prompt Ppt,​ ​art supplies (markers, colored pencils, crayons, white out),
Socratic Seminar Preparation Assignment, Depth & Complexity Sentence Stem handouts
 
Logistics/Ops

Materials:​ Journal Prompt Ppt,​ ​art supplies (markers, colored pencils, crayons, white out),
Socratic Seminar Preparation Assignment, Depth & Complexity Sentence Stem handouts
Space:​ Traditional set-up (desks arranged in tables)

Activity Time Description: What will I do? What will students do?
Review: How can I formatively assess that students met the
learning targets while getting them to capture their thinking?

Journal 25 min Prompt: Montag is not the same person at the end of the novel
that he was at the beginning. For this journal entry, you are going
to create a mini body biography for both “Old Montag” and
“New Montag.” Using the outline provided, present the
following for both “Montags”:
❖ THE HEART​–Where should you place it to best
represent what this character loves most?
❖ THE BACKBONE​ –Actors often discuss a character’s
“spine.” This is the character’s objective within the
 novel. What is the most important goal for your
character? What drives his/her thoughts and actions?
❖ THE FEET​ –On what is the character standing? This
should be a symbolic representation of the character’s
most fundamental beliefs about life.
❖ THE HANDS​ –What does the character hold in his or
her hands? Items that are associated with the character
either literally or figuratively should be included.
➔ Think back to the body biographies we have done in the
past. Remember that each of these aspects of the
character must be represented through the use of
symbols/images, colors, and each must be accompanied
by a quote that provides support for your choice.
Students may collaborate with those in their table groups while
completing this journal entry.

Debrief 15 min We will have a short full class discussion about some of the
Discussion conversations that were had on our discussion board from last
Board #3 & go week.
over concerns
from last class
session’s exit I will begin by bringing up topics that students expressed
ticket concern about on their exit tickets from last class. Next, we will
move on to debriefing Discussion Board #3:
Were there any remarks made by someone that really stood out
to you? Why?
Any lingering questions about Part 3 or the novel as a whole?

I will have chosen a couple posts and/or comment threads that I

will use to get the conversation going if the students do not offer
any suggestions on their own.

Introduce and 5 min Go over the Socratic Seminar Preparation Assignment and
explain Socratic clarify any questions about the directions (on the assignment
Seminar sheet).
Preparation -Students must answer five of the ten questions provided using
Assignment textual evidence to support their answers.
 -Students must also write five of their own open-ended questions
and their responses using the Depth & Complexity Sentence
Stems as a guide.6

Work time for 45 min Students will have the remainder of class to work on their
the Socratic Socratic Seminar Preparation assignment.
Seminar -If students do not finish the assignment during class, it is
Preparation homework. They must bring it to the next class session
Assignment completed as there will be no more in-class work time before we
begin the Socratic Seminar.
-The assignment will be used as a reference during the
discussion and then turned in for grading at the end of the
seminar.

Homework 1 min -Complete the Socratic Seminar Preparation Assignment if you

did not finish it during class. You must have it completed AT
THE BEGINNING of next class session because we will be
jumping into our Socratic Seminar right away.

*Remember to have all of your annotation assignments, class

assignments, notes, journals, and novel, in addition to your
completed Socratic Seminar Preparation Assignment in class
next session, as they will be useful during the Socratic Seminar.

6
​I was first introduced to Depth & Complexity during a professional development class a few years ago. Each
teacher was then given a box with some materials in it, including sentence stem cards. I found a handout with these
same sentence stems online. For more info on Depth & Complexity:
http://envisiongifted.com/services/understanding-depth-complexity/