Lesson Plan

Student Teacher: Cayley van Aken

Grade/Subject: C&I, ELA Overview K-6
Lesson Duration: 20 minutes

OUTCOMES FROM ALBERTA PROGRAM OF STUDIES
General Learning Outcomes:
Students will:
understand the importance of effective lesson planning in the classroom
understand that there are many ways to instruct to ensure that students learn
Specific Learning Outcomes:
Students will:
explore the structure, themes, and big ideas of an elementary program of studies
explore a specific learner outcome as the foundation for teaching and learning in a
curriculum area
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will:
1. Understand the structure, themes, and big ideas of the English Language Arts curriculum
2. Understand how one specific learner outcome might be taught
ASSESSMENTS
Observations:
Discussion during activities and as a
group
Observe activities
Key Questions:
How would you teach ELA? Are units helpful in
breaking down the curriculum?
Written/Performance Assessments:
Results of matching activity
Creation of an illustration
LEARNING RESOURCES CONSULTED
Resource #1: English Language Arts Program of Studies K-9
Resource #2: English Language Art Program of Studies Senior High
Resource #3: shelsilverstein.com
Resource #4: A Light in the Attic by Shel Silvertein
MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT
* Poster
* Shel Sivlerstein poetry book
* Worksheets and handouts for students
* Matching activity
PROCEDURE
Introduction ( 3 min.):

Hook/Attention Grabber: Read Poets Tree by Shel Siverstein. Briefly introduce the
philosophy of ELA. Mention lifelong learners, ability to use language effectively, enhance
opportunity, and allow students to experience personal satisfaction
Assessment of Prior Knowledge: Ask class if they can name the six language arts or any ELA
GLOs from Language in Ed class
Expectations for Learning and Behaviour: Tell the class that discussion is encouraged but if I
need attention back I will clap or raise my hand.



Advance Organizer/Agenda: After attempting to identify the language arts and the GLOs, set
up my poster so students can see the answers. Tell the class that we will be overviewing the
GLOs and their SLOs, considering how to teach ELA with such a seemingly vague program of
studies, and creating illustrations to accompany a poem.
Transition to Body: Hand out matching activity bags.
Body (15 min.):
Learning Activity #1: Matching Activity (3-4 Minutes)
Overview the 5 GLOs which we have discussed in our Language in Education class
Break the group in half and having them match the SLOs with their corresponding
GLOs. After two or three minutes return the attention to me and hand out the ELA
notes, which contain the GLOs and SLOs in a chart.
Have the class discuss if there was any confusion or frustration with the GLOs or SLOs
Assessments/Differentiation: Formative assessment evidence will be collected as the
matching activity progresses and during the discussion from listening to student responses.
Ask the class if they have any questions about the curriculum now that theyve had a chance
to learn about it more fully.
Learning Activity #2: Think-Pair-Share (5 minutes)
Introduce the breakdown of texts for senior high study. Contrast to the elementary
curriculum that doesnt have required texts.
Think-Pair-Share: have students think to themselves how they would teach ELA to an
elementary class, have them consider age variations and jot down potential units or
organizational strategies. Pair with group from the previous activity and discuss
similarities or differences between organizational strategies.
Discuss as a class different themes for units, such as genre, text creation, and concept
or if units are necessary at all
Consider teaching variation for different grade levels
Assessments/Differentiation: Responses to the think-pair-share activity as formative
assessment.
Learning Activity #3: Poetry Illustration (5-6 minutes)
Look at the progression of S.L.O. 4.1 from K to 6
Consider the small variations in the wording of the S.L.O.s and what that means for
teaching
Introduce Shel Silverstein and mention the resources for teachers on his website.
Read Writesingtelldraw and hand out the drawing worksheet. Have one of the
students read Frightened, which is on the sheet
Students will create an illustration for the poem. Pass around Shels books for picture
examples.
Tell class that although this activity touches on SLO 4.1, it also deals with GLO #2.
Remind the class that the GLOs and SLOs were made to be interrelated and
interdependent.
Assessments/Differentiation: Allow students to draw however they choose in order to
illustrate the poem. They can do it in a comic type style, a single picture, and with or without
colour.
Sponge Activity:
Have students share their illustration.



Read another poem and have students illustrate it in a completely different style.
Closure ( 2 min.):
Consolidation/Assessment of Learning: Ask the class if they have any questions about ELA in
general and if they still feel overwhelmed and confused about how to teach it.
Feedback From Students: Have students comment on the curriculum and my Shel Silverstein
lesson
Feedback To Students: I know ELA can be a little overwhelming, but you guys had a good
grasp of how to break it into manageable chunks today and I know you can teach it in the
future
Transition To Next Lesson: N/A





English Language Arts
K-6 At A Glance

Philosophy:
The ELA curriculum is designed to prepare students to meet the daily literacy
demands that they will encounter throughout their lives. Language provides
students with enhanced opportunities for personal satisfaction and to become
responsible citizens and lifelong learners.

6 Language Arts:
Listen
Speak
Read
Write
View
Represent
All of the language arts are interrelated and interdependent; skill in one
strengthens and supports the others. The six language arts are integrated into
each of the 5 G.L.O.s.

5 G.L.O.s
All G.L.O.s begin with Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent
to
General
Learning
Outcome

Description

S.L.O.s
1
Explore thoughts, ideas,
feelings and experiences
1.1 Discover and explore
1.2 Clarify and extend
2
Comprehend and respond
personally and critically to oral,
print and other media texts.
2.1 Use strategies and cues
2.2 Respond to texts
2.3 Understand forms, elements
and techniques
2.4 Create original text
3
Manage ideas and information 3.1 Plan and focus
3.2 Select and process
3.3 Organize, record and evaluate
3.4 Share and review
4
Enhance the clarity and artistry
of communication
4.1 Enhance and improve
4.2 Attend to conventions
4.3 Present and share
5
Respect, support and
collaborate with others
5.1 Respect others and strengthen
community
5.2 Work within a group





Text:
Texts refer to not only print but also oral and visual forms that can be discussed,
studied, and analyzed. Oral texts may include storytelling or speeches and visual
texts may include pictures and mime, among other examples. Additionally, oral
and visual texts are often combined in videos, drama or other forms.

Units?
In Elementary there are no specific units in the program of studies however,
many teachers create units to make the learning outcomes more concrete and
to create diversity in the classroom. Alberta Ed has suggested unit types as
follows:
Genre
Project
Workshop (readers or writers
workshops)
Major Literary Work(s)
National or Regional Literature
(chosen from a specific
geographical area)
Author(s) Study
Combination
Alternatively, some teachers choose to use a spiral curriculum to loop back
around and build on skills slowly rather than use specific units.

Teaching Applications: Shel Silverstein
Read the poem Writesingtelldraw by Shel Silverstein and have students use the
corresponding worksheet from shelsilverstein.com to create something as the
narrator in Writesingtelldraw asked them to. Have students draw an illustration
for the poem Frightened on the worksheet.

This activity directly relates to S.L.O. 4.1 for grade one, but also incorporates 2.2
and 4.3 among several others. By having the students share their illustrations,
additional outcomes under G.L.O. 5 can be incorporated. Notice how multiple
outcomes can be integrated into a single lesson.







WRITESINGTELLDRAW

Ive told you a hundred tall stories,
Ive sung you a thousand sweet songs,
Ive wrote you a million ridiculous rhymes
(Though sometimes the grammar was
wrong).
Ive drawn you a zillion pictures,
So being as fair as can be,
After all that Ive writtensungtolddrawn for
you,
Wont you writesingtelldraw one for me?






The poster that I used during my presentation



Matching activity: cut out the ELA GLOs and SLOs and have students match
them.

SLOs
Discover and explore
Clarify and extend
Use strategies and cues
Respond to texts
Understand forms, elements and techniques
Create original text
Plan and focus
Select and process
Organize, record and evaluate
Share and review
Enhance and improve
Attend to conventions
Present and share
Respect others and strengthen community
Work within a group

GLOs
Explore thoughts, ideas, feelings and experiences
Comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print and other
media texts.

Manage ideas and information
Enhance the clarity and artistry of communication
Respect, support and collaborate with others






Cayley van Aken
PQR
Curriculum Overview Refection
Overall, todays lesson went well. I touched on all of the main points in my
presentation, kept track of time, and ensured that I was assessing the understanding of my
class throughout the presentation. Additionally, I believe that my summary handout and
illustrative poster were both helpful and clear without being overwhelming. I felt confident
in my subject matter and confident in front of my class. However, this was the first time
that I taught an entire lesson based on a plan that I had created from scratch, so naturally
there was some serious on-the-spot learning that had to occur.
I quickly learnt that although the lesson plan was clear and illustrated exactly what I
intended to do, it was not helpful when I was standing in front of the class. In the future I
will highlight specific details that I want to talk about but may easily overlook so I can
quickly reference my plan without taking time from the lesson. For example, in the second
learning activity the class broke down the ELA curriculum into potential units or
organization strategies, however I forgot to ask them at what grade level these strategies
would work for and if they would teach kindergarten differently than grade six. Instead of
asking the very purposeful question that I had put into my lesson plan, I told the class that I
knew a grade one teacher who used a spiral curriculum for her class because she simply
found units to be too complicated. By forgetting this question I missed a valuable
opportunity for the class to engage in critical thinking as well as further consider the
curriculum and how they should teach it.
I also learnt that its difficult to foresee how students will respond to my activities. I
found that the activities all went smoothly, in fact so smoothly that in the case of learning
activity one, a matching activity, I failed to properly go over the GLOs and SLOs after the
groups had matched them up. If I were teaching this lesson again I would have each student
read out one GLO and the SLOs that fall under it in order to summarize what we had just
done in the activity. This was reflected in my feedback from the lesson that one student
wanted me to go into more depth about the SLOs.
A strength that I identified in myself and in my feedback forms was that I was
organized and dealt with the difficult and abstract subject in a confident way. Because I
knew my topic so well, I was able to make minor adjustments as the lesson progressed
without forcing myself to stick to the lesson plan. During a discussion of the GLOs in
learning activity one it became natural to address the progression of the SLO that I was
working with in learning activity two, however I didnt feel the need to hold the question
until when I had originally planned to address it because I felt that it not only added to the
discussion but also would only aid in the later activity by creating more connections within
the lesson. This flexibility allowed my lesson to progress smoothly without throwing me
off.
During my planning I had a hard time estimating the amount of time that each
activity would take. I also found it difficult to teach my SLO because I would likely devote
an entire class to investigating the drawings in Shel Silversteins books and how they
enhance his poetry before moving on to students creating their own drawings and sharing
them in small groups. I would also probably have them create their own poems in the style
of one of Shels and then create a picture to complete it. However, I taught this SLO to my



peers in five short minutes. I know that the class was invested in the activity because one of
my students expressed a desire to share the drawings with their peers, which I had
budgeted only as part of a sponge activity. I wish I could have had more time to unpack the
SLO and really allow students to complete their drawings and share them with one another.
When I was planning for this lesson I believed that 20 minutes was almost an unbearably
long time that I could never fill with information, however I now wish that I would of had
more time.
Based on my feedback and personal reflection I can confidently say that my lesson
was a success. My class commented that they enjoyed the handout and poster as well as the
organization of my lesson. They said they were invested in my learning activities and
enjoyed going through the curriculum. In the feedback a particularly strange comment
stood out to me that requested less drawing however, drawing is an important aspect of
the SLO that I was addressing. If nothing else, this comment made me realize that while an
activity may seem fun to most of the students, it may be frustrating for some and may cause
them embarrassment. I realize now that its important to offer alternatives to activities and
create a safe space for students to do work that may be out of their comfort zone. Back at
the beginning of the semester at the teacher as a performer workshop we learnt to always
start lessons with an activity that students can do and will do. Perhaps with a student that
is uncomfortable with illustrating a poem with a picture, it might be helpful to allow them
to illustrate it in other ways, possibly by listing the attributes of the monster instead of
drawing them in order to paint a mental picture. At first I thought that this comment was
potentially the least valuable that was given to me, however I now believe that it was one of
the most influential because it opened my eyes directly to an insecurity of a student that I
failed to address. This is a mistake that I hope I wont make again and is an issue that I will
be more aware of going forward.