Secondary English Language Arts: Revised ed:TPA Lesson Plan Template

Name: Audrey Hutchings

Lesson Title: The Things They Carried,

Chapters 12 and 13 Pre-Reading

Grade Level: 10th

Lesson Goals
Central Focus: Describe the central focus (of the unit) and explain how this lesson reflects the central focus.
To explore what we carry with us, synthesizing narrative strategies from mentor texts and creating personal narratives and
thematic elements that reflect individual growth experiences.
List the title, author, and write a short description of the text(s) used in this lesson.
The Things They Carried, Tim OBrien
Set in the dual theatres of VC occupied Vietnam and the American life back home, The Things They Carried offers a deeply moving
account of a small unit of men that must learn to endure both the unfamiliarities of war in an unaccustomed country as well as the
hardships that it brings. Each character is affected by the death of Ted Lavender, the first one in the Alpha Chapter to die, and they try
to cope with and justify it. As they share their narratives of the brutalities and grief that they face, the characters cope by
using humor and alternate versions of the truth. Between the guilt and the terror that the war conditions and experiences, they carry
much more than their supplies and mementos from back home. The protagonist and main narrator, Tim OBrien, also speaks to the
audience during several chapters about the power of stories and what makes a true versus effective narrative about the war.
Ultimately, he says that the difference between a true story and a good story is sometimes minimal, as many details are blurred,
ignored, and supplemented in order to capture the moment.

Conceptual/Theoretical Framework (draw from research and readings in CI and English courswork:
In Jim Burkes text The English Teachers Companion, Burke references three key findings about the learning process of
students in general. He notes that First, teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their
students bring with them. This provides a foundation for the lesson, in that students must draw upon their prior knowledge
of the text The Things They Carried, and cultural/historical knowledge of the Vietnam War era as a whole. He also notes
that teachers must teach some subject matter in depth, providing many examples in which the same concept is at work
and providing a firm foundation of factual knowledge and that the teaching of metacognitive skills should be integrated into
the curriculum. Developing metacognitive processes requires guidance and instruction as students are initiated into the
process of thinking about their thinking (Burke 47-8). In this lesson, students will be reflecting on what they know, and

how that will be translated into their reading process (before beginning a new section of the novel. In addition, this lesson
is built upon Burkes discussion of the important of exploring figurative meaning and literal meaning, in that the reading
process involves semantic systems that check each work read against all known uses and possible meanings of that word
in the brains memory, trying which hones apply to this word in this context (Burke 154). In this lesson, students will be
demonstrating how they can incorporate their holistic knowledge to an accurate, personal, and meaningful reading of the
text.
Standard(s) Addressed (use examples from both the Common Core State Standards and the Illinois Professional Teaching
Standards):
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.10
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day
or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.C
Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas;
actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions.
IPTS 1F
Evaluates teaching resources and curriculum materials for their comprehensiveness, accuracy, and usefulness for representing
particular ideas and concepts.
IPTS 4J
Applies principles of scope and sequence when planning curriculum and instruction.
Recall your central focus and explain how the standards (above) and learning objectives (below), that you have identified, support
students learning:
In having a learning objective of students being able to draw inferences and make predictions, they are meeting the central
focus in synthesizing narrative strategies in order to achieve greater understanding of the text and its historical and
cultural context as a whole. The learning objective of having students analyze moral tensions presented in the novel meets
the central focus in that it reflects on individual growth experiences.
Materials/ Instructional Resources:

SmartBoard
White Board
Projector
Chromebooks/Laptops
Microphones/Speakers

*Learning Objectives (Add additional objective boxes as

needed):

*Assessment (both formal and informal)- Evidence of Student

Understanding:

Objective 1:

Related Assessment:

Students will be able to make inferences, and ultimately

predictions about the next two chapters of The Things They
Carried.

Students will complete the first two sections of a K-W-L chart.

Explain the Assessments Alignment with the Objective:

This assessment will give students an opportunity to
Demonstrate that they are engaging in critical thinking of the
Text, and have completed an adequate reading of the novel
Thus far to produce thoughtful predictions.
Describe the form of Student feedback that accompanies
the assessment:
Students will write at least 7 predictions and items that they
want to learn about both the Vietnam War and the
Narrative arch of the novel itself.

Objective 2:
Students will be able to discuss moral and personal tensions
That were apparent during the Vietnam War displayed within
The Things They Carried.

Related Assessment:

Students will complete a short journal entry that answers the

question What makes something wrong?
Explain the Assessments Alignment with the Objective:
This assessments allows for students to demonstrate how
Effectively they are able to write in a variety of contexts,
And discuss personal and social issues directly related
To the text.
Describe the form of Student feedback that accompanies
the assessment:
Students will write without stopping for a given amount of
Time (noted below), and will submit either in paper or
Electronic format.

Lesson Considerations
Pre-Assessment:
Students will have been given, and completed, a reading assignment for class. They will have read Chapters 10 and 11 of
The Things They Carried.
Prior Academic Learning and Prerequisite Skills: (Cite evidence that describes what students know, what they can

do, and what they are still learning to do.)

Students will need experience in idea-generating in the context of an English classroom. In addition, they will
need to have read, and have at least a basic comprehension of, chapters 10 and 11 of The Things They Carried.

Personal, cultural, and community assets related to the central focusExplain what you know about your students
everyday experiences, cultural and language backgrounds and practices, and interests.
Some of these students may have grandparents and other family members who were directly involved in the
Vietnam War. Therefore, there should be a level of anticipated sensitivity in discusses events of violence and
differing political ideologies related to the war itself. In addition, in these students lifetimes, they have not
experience a kind of large-scale, formal war waged by the United States similar to the Vietnam War, the Cold
War, etc. Therefore, it would be important to make meaningful connects to present political and social tensions,
and military aggressions that have happened in the past 20 years.

Misconceptions:
That only one perspective can be assessed in discussing issues of war. That narrative voice is limited, subjective, and
devoid of real truth and understanding.

Language Objectives and Demands

Identify a Language Function:

Language Function. Using information about your students language assets and needs, identify one language function essential
for students within your central focus. Listed below are some sample language functions. You may choose one of these or another
more appropriate language function for this lesson.

Analyze

Argue

Describe

Evaluate

Explain

Interpret

Justify

Synthesize

Time

*Lesson Plan Details

1) 1-2
Minute
s
2) 3-5
Minute
s
1) 15-20
Minute
s
2)-3) 57
Minute
s
4) 3-4
Minute
s
5) 5-7
Minute
s
6) 10-12
Minute

Lesson Introduction
1) Greet students. Students will sit in normal assigned seats.
2) Ask students about their initial reactions to Chapters 10 and 11. Field opinion-based answers.

Learning Activities
1) Students will be given a journal prompt, What makes something wrong?. The question will be projected on the
smartboard, and handed out in a hard copy. Question will also be read out loud. Field questions if there is any confusion
about the question (it is supposed to be broad and open-ended). (With regards to the students with an Autism Spectrum
Disorder, if they feel more comfortable giving an oral answer, find a quiet space in the room to discuss the journal prompt.
Have them take brief notes of what is discussed.)
2) Collect journals.
4) Break students into pairs. Have students share summaries of their answers, and a few specific
argumentative/interesting points in their journal.
5) Initiate full-class discussion. Have students share brief summaries of their answers that they discussed in pairs.
6) State that in the next two chapters of the novel, concepts of right and wrong are often referred to. Hand out K-W-L
chart in both hard copy, and share via Google Doc to students that opt to make an electronic copy.

Describe how your planned formal and informal assessments, including a written product, will provide direct evidence of
students abilities to construct meaning from, interpret, OR respond to a complex text throughout the learning segment.
The assessment related to this learning objective meets the standard of propelling discussions, as students will
be individually and collaboratively making predictions and meaningful commentary about the text. In addition, the
assessment related to this learning objective meets the Common Core standard of writing over a period of time,
because journaling, as situated in this unit, allows for students to be thinking and writing about this text in a more
informal, free-flow manner.

Closure

Extension
Students will read Chapters 12 and 13 for homework. Using their notes and predictions made in class, they will
fill out the Learned section of their KWL chart. They will also be asked to highlight predictions that were
accurate, an (or things that they wanted to learn that they found).

Resources and References (use APA or MLA listing the information from the conceptual framework above as
well as from any other categories where cited a source):
Burke, Jim. The English Teacher's Companion: A Completely New Guide to Classroom, Curriculum, and the
Profession. Fourth ed. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 2013. Print.

Attachments: handouts, assessments, etc.

Pre-Reading Worksheet

Topic: The Vietnam War and They Things They Carried

Know

Want to Know

Learned