University of Arkansas Fort Smith

School of Education Format Unit Title: Life of Pi

Lesson Title: Richard Parker

Subject Area: English

Grade Level: 7th Grade

Duration of Lesson: 1 Day 50 Minutes

Dates: 11-10-14

Name: Sara Tomlin

Language Awareness

SOE Course: Grammar and

I.

Standards: RL.7.6 Reading: Literature

6.Analyze how an author develops and contrasts the points of view of
different characters or narrators in a text.

Objectives: By the end of the lessons students will have analyzed the passage with the
flying fish and write the passage from Richard Parkers point of view with understanding of how
and why it differs.
II.

III.

IV.

V.

Pre-Assessment: To pre-assess the lesson I will pass out an exit ticket the day before
asking what is point of view. We will have also already read the required text so we
will have class discussion over the novel to make sure everyone has read to date.
Post Assessment: To assess this lesson I will grade their paper with a rubric to make
sure they have grasped the idea of point of view and that they effectively switched the
point of view from Pi to Richard Parker.
Planning- Students will be given a writing prompt on the board telling them to write
the flying fish scene that we just read in class from Richard Parkers point of view.
They will be given the rest of class to complete this task. They will write this on their
own paper. I will have extra paper and pencils just in case. They will write 1-2 pages.
Conventional grammar rules and correct spelling are expected.
Engaging the Learner- To engage the learner we will have just read the scene that
we will be writing about which is exciting enough on its own. This will engage audio
learners. I will then show the clip on YouTube which will engage the visual learner
and also help the students to see the two characters interact together to help them
figure out how they might switch the point of view.
Methods- I will use direct instruction when explaining to the students what point of
view is. I will be reading out loud the passage to the students. I will be using
technology when I show the scene to the students via YouTube. I will give the
students further direction if needed. The students will work independently on their
writing assignment. I will use think pair share before we write so that the students can
get other students ideas and share their own and also to incorporate cooperative
learning.

VI.

Activities- Students will be actively engaged in the text, watch the video clip, and
then write their assignment. If students finish early, then they will be instructed to
continue reading the novel.
VII. Resources- We will need the internet and a computer, paper, pencils, exit slip,
marker board.
VIII. PAL- If the internet is down, we will skip the movie clip and spend more time
discussing how we might go about switching the points of view. If the students just
arent getting it we will spend more time doing direct instruction and discussion how
the point of view functions. For students with vision problems I can give them an
audio book or a book with larger print and also sit them in the front of the class. For
IEPs I would give them extra handouts and possibly modify the rubric for them.
IX.
Collaboration- To collaborate this lesson I would talk to the other English Teachers
and see what they were doing with this novel, we could possibly have our students act
these scenes out. We could collaborate with the history teacher to get the historical
context of the novel and the science teacher to teach a lesson on zoology.