Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Central Focus: comprehension: comparing and contrasting the difference

in two different texts central message
Grade Level/Subject: 4 , Reading
Essential Literacy Strategy- comprehending texts in order to comparing
and contrast themes
Essential Standard/Common Core Objective: RL. 4.9. Compare and contrast
the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil)
and patterns of events (e.g, the quest) in stories, myths and traditional
Date submitted: Date taught:3/17/2015
literature from different cultures.
SL 4.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions. (one-onone, groups, and teacher-led)
Daily Lesson Objective: After reading the text The Giving Tree, students will be able to pick out and compare the
themes of The Lorax and The Giving Tree. Then, students will compare and contrast their Book Club book to the text
The Giving Tree. To be successful, students must be able to have compared the two themes of the texts.
21st Century Skills:
Academic Language Demand (Language Function and Vocabulary):
Language function: comparison
Essential vocabulary: compare, themes of texts
Discourse: using a The theme of ______ is ____ and the theme of _____
is _______ and these two themes are different because_______.
th

Prior Knowledge: Based on the ELA CCSS Standards of grade 1, 2 and 3, students should be able to compare and contrast
different aspects of text. Students should also know how to distinguish the theme of a text.
Activity
1. Focus and Review

2. Statement of Objective
for Student

3. Teacher Input

Description of Activities and Setting

Who remembers yesterdays book? We read, The Lorax, who remembers
the theme of this book? Have you ever learned a theme like this in your life? I
want you to think about if there has ever been a time in your life that you
learned the exact same thing?
Today youre going to learn how to compare and contrast themes of two
different texts. After we practice, youll be able to compare and contrast the
theme of The Lorax, and then practice on your own with your book club
book.
Good readers dont just read to find out what characters do, or what happens
in stories. Good readers realize that the stories we read are about ideas- ideas
that literally teach us how to live. As good readers, we want to be able to
recognize a theme of a text and then be able to compare and contrast the
theme of a text with another text. This helps us to be able to learn from the
differences in each of the themes. Today, I am going to read aloud to you,
The Giving Tree. While I read, you can follow along either up on the screen
or with your own copy. As we go through the text, be thinking about what the
theme could be.
After reading, we are going to compare and contrast themes within two texts.
What does comparing and contrasting mean? Wait for student responses.
Comparing and contrasting themes means that we are going to look for
differences in the text and the purpose of the text. For example, lets take the
theme of Frozen and the theme of Finding Nemo. What is the theme of
Frozen? (sacrificial love) What is the theme of Finding Nemo? (unconditional
love). In Frozen, we see that all Ana needed was the true act of love from her
sister Elsa in order to unfreeze her. In Finding Nemo, Nemos dad did
everything in his power to save Nemo! The themes are the same in that the
themes are both centered on love, but one is more of a sacrifice and one is
more of an unconditional love. We see how they are both alike and different.
Lets take a look at the text The Giving Tree! Read The Giving Tree aloud
to the class.

Time
5 mins

2 mins

10 mins

As a class, we are going to compare two themes of a text together. One

theme is going to be from the book, The Giving Tree, and the other theme is
going to be from the book we read just yesterday, The Lorax. Turn and talk
with your neighbor about what the theme of The Lorax was.

4. Guided Practice

5. Independent Practice

6. Assessment Methods of
all objectives/skills:
7. Closure

(Theme is shared by the students). As we think about the theme of The

Lorax, lets also remember the theme of The Giving Tree that we just read.
Where do you see the same type of story, where do you see differences in the
themes? I want you to work with your partner next to you for about 15
minutes, and I want the two of you to fill out this Venn Diagram. The Venn
15 mins
Diagram has a side for The Lorax, a side for The Giving Tree and in the
middle, you will write the two similarities. Make sure you include all the
details in the themes of these books. As you work, I am going to walk around
and observe what you and your partner are working on and give you a green
dot to show that you are on task and completing what you are supposed to be
completing. After about ten minutes, we are going to share with the class the
different themes with our Venn Diagram up front! Allow students time to
work in partners on the Venn Diagram. After ten minutes, come back as a
class and go over the Venn Diagram. Allow students to share what they wrote
with their partners.
Now, I want you to practice this on your own. As we wrap up this lesson, I
want each of you to compare your book club book theme to The Giving Tree
in a short paragraph. Be sure to state the name of your book club book and
then write down the similarities and differences in a short paragraph.
5-8 mins
Students should complete independent practice on their own. Walk around the
room to make sure students are working and answer any questions they might
have.
The concept will be scored based on whether or not the student realizes the themes and
catches the similarities and differences in these themes. The students will be scored with an
exit ticket when they are walking out the door.
How do we compare themes? Why is it important to pick out a theme and
5 mins
connect it to a different theme?

8. Assessment Results of
all objectives/skills:
Targeted Students Modifications/Accommodations:

Student/Small Group Modifications/Accommodations:

Advanced learners: students who are far ahead of the students
will compare and contrast The Giving Tree, The Lorax and
their book club book

Materials/Technology:
(Include any instructional materials (e.g., worksheets, assessments PowerPoint/SmartBoard slides, etc.) needed to implement the lesson at the end of the lesson plan.)

Copies of the giving tree, students notebooks and pencils, overhead projector, The Giving Tree online, Venn Diagram,
http://www.slideshare.net/wicaksana/the-giving-tree-3293089
References: Coordinating Teacher
Reflection on lesson (if taught):

How did the lesson you taught to your students vary from the lesson plan you submitted for grading?
The lesson I taught first of all, got interrupted because of specials so I had to finish the lesson after lunch.
Thankfully, the students had written their thoughts and ideas on their own paper during independent practice
and because of this, the students didnt have to rethink of what their answer was going to be and we could
literally pick up where we left off with a little reminder of what we were doing before lunch. Also, the lesson
was way shorter than I expected, and I think because it was such an advanced class, the students seemed to
already know how to compare themes and were able to pick up on the concept so quickly. The guided practice

and independent practice also ran together because of the time I had, so they ended up working with partners
for the most part during the lesson instead of having guided and independent practice. The accommodations
were hard to make because of how quick the lesson had to be taught, which didnt change these students ability
to grasp the concept, but I just didnt have it set up in their best way to work. We also did not have enough time
for the full independent practice of the lesson!
What evidence do you have that students mastered or did no master the lesson objective? Based on your
evaluation of their work, how many students mastered the lesson objective?
The evidence that I gathered was very informal from green dots that I walked around the room putting on the
students papers that showed me they understood what they were doing as they compared themes in the two
different books. I have a few pictures of students work and from walking around and hearing the students talk
with a partner as well as having the students tell the class and have their idea written on the board showed me
whether they mastered the lesson or not. Based on my evaluation, ninety five percent of the students mastered
the lesson objective, and the other five percent did not master the lesson objective because they chose to be off
task and even when telling the students to be on task, the students didnt complete their work and could not
receive credit or that they mastered the objective because of their lack of work.
Name at least 1 aspect of the lesson that was successful. What caused it to be successful? How did you
contribute to this success?
An aspect of the lesson that was successful was assigning the students to work in groups and having them work
with partners on comparing the two different texts. This worked so well because as I walked around the room,
the students were able to talk with one another in working on comparing the themes. The students didnt have
to learn the definition, didnt have to fill out a worksheet, but they got to explore what this looked like and work
together to come up with their best answer. I contributed to this success by allowing the students to work in
groups and not stand up at the front and talk the whole time, as well as walking around as the students worked,
helping the students stay on the right track as they compared and contrasted themes.
Name at least 1 aspect of the lesson that was less successful. What caused it to be less successful? How did you
contribute to this?
During the lesson, it was hard to stay away from life lessons and themes. I didnt do a good job as the teacher
correcting the students as they talked about the life lessons to direct them away from that and focusing on the
themes of the books. This could have been confusing in the end, but even working from the life lessons the
students could pick out a theme. I could have described this part better when instructing the students what to do
in the beginning of the lesson as well as while I walked around the room!
What changes might make this lesson more successful? Why might these changes help improve the lesson?
The lesson could have been more successful if I would have had more time to describe theme and comparing
just the theme not the life lessons and then gathering the themes. The students eventually understood when I
redirected from their practice, but I think also if I would have had more time for guided practice as well as
independent practice, the students could have grasped the concept during the guided practice instead of going
around to the groups. This would have had the students focused only on comparing and contrasting the theme
during independent practice!