Concept Unit

Lesson Plan
Unit Working Title: Characters as People
Unit Big Idea (Concept/Theme): The Role of the Individual in
Society
Unit Primary Skill focus: Reading and Writing Character
Week 1 of 3; Plan #2 of 9; [90 mins.]
Plan type: Summary
Content Requirement Satisfied: Syntax Instruction
Unit Learning Objectives (numbered), followed by specific
lesson objectives (lettered) being taught in this lesson:
SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
1. The roles of character in a story, what makes up a character, and
how good characters are formed.
2. All characters consist of dialogue and detail.
a. Specific details add depth, personality, and believability to
characters.
3. Nonconformity is a vital part of democracy.
4. Relatable characters can ground unfamiliar or imaginative
context in writing.
5. Conflict often arises from characters challenging societal forces.
6. The perspective or point of view of a text influences the
way we interpret character.
a. Active voice helps to make the narrators point of view more
interesting and readable.
AFFECTIVE (to feel/value) & NON-COGNITIVE
7. Value their individuality and differences from others.

8. Respect individual opinions that differ from theirs.

a. Students will consider and comment on their peers
characters respectfully and constructively.
PERFORMATIVE (to do)
9.

Articulate why both conformity and nonconformity are essential to

democracy.

10.

Deconstruct tensions between individuals and social pressures in

texts.
11. Create a character that interacts with society and pushes
against/for social norms.
a. Students will continue to develop their characters and
dialogue with peers to generate constructive criticism and
ideas.
SOLs:
1. 6.6 e) Draw conclusions and make inferences based on explicit
and implied information.
2. 6.8 The student will edit writing for correct grammar,
capitalization, punctuation, spelling, sentence structure, and
paragraphing.
CCSs:
1. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY. RL.6.6
Explain how an author develops the point of view of the narrator or
speaker in a text.
2. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY. L.6.3
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or
listening.
3. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY. W.6.3.D
Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and
sensory language to convey experiences and events.

Procedures/Instructional Strategies
[Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students
appear in italics.]
Beginning Room Arrangement: Desks in groups around the room;
students assigned seats will be up on the projector so everyone finds
their seat quickly (as well as instructions to retrieve student journals
from the back of the room).
[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be
noted in the plan]
1. [20 mins.] Bridge/Hook/Opening to lesson: Writing In The
Active Voice
Students will enter the classroom and take their seats, as organized by
the chart on the board. I will pull up a sentence on the projector: The
Oolong tea was steeped for five minutes before being poured into
teacups by Mr. Denfeld.
I will ask students Why do I hate this sentence? and take a few
guesses. Students will likely not guess its in the passive voice, so after
a few answers probably having to do with whether or not I like oolong
tea, I will inform them of this, then ask them what is the passive voice?
I will pull up another slide after a guess or two: passive voice is when
the subject of the sentence is acted upon rather than doing action
itself.
Going back to the original sentence, I will ask students: what is the tea
doing in the sentence?, then how can we change the sentence to make
it active voice, in which the subject does the action?
I may cold call on a student (specifically thinking about Manny) in
whose writing I have seen much passive voice (having now read
through students journals at least once), or simply open the question
up to the class.
Once students have the correct answer or we have exhausted ideas (I
dont anticipate not being able to rearrange the sentence, and if it
seems to be causing more trouble, I will guide them with questions like
well who is doing the action in the sentence?), I will pull up short
sentences on the projector to practice changing passive sentences into
active ones in their journals. Students will go to a fresh page and write
Passive Voice and the date, then rearrange and rewrite sentences to
be in the active voice. Here are examples that reflect the kind and
number Ill be using
(http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/quizzes/passive_quiz.htm):
With five seconds left in the game, an illegal time-out was called by one of
the players.

The major points of the lesson were quickly learned by the class, but they
were also quickly forgotten by them.
For several years, Chauncey was raised by his elderly grandmother.
An unexpected tornado smashed several homes and uprooted trees in a
suburb of Knoxville.
I was surprised by the teacher's lack of sympathy.
Tall buildings and mountain roads were avoided by Raoul because he had
such a fear of heights.

I will review the answers with students before moving on, and be sure
to note that there are times where the passive voice is ok to use, but
that for the most part we want our sentences to be active.
2. [15 mins.] Step 1: Passive Voice Journal Hunt
I will ask students to stay on the same page in their journals, section
off the sentence rearranging activity, then write Passive Voice Hunt.
For the next fifteen minutes, students will look back through their ~3-4
journal entries, and copy down any sentences they find that are in the
passive voice, then rearrange them to be active. If a student wrote a
journal entry or entries entirely in the passive voice, I will ask them to
rearrange five or six of their sentences (enough to where they get the
point, and no more).
3. [30 mins.] Step 2: The Chase by Annie Dillard
This short excerpt, from Annie Dillards autobiography An American
Childhood, will operate as a mentor text for students. Proving that
character development doesnt just happen in fiction, the first person
account of Dillard and two neighbor boys snowballing of and
subsequent flight from an angry Pittsburghian driver develops the
character of its narrator through voice and detail as well as, without
any word from him but you stupid kids, the angry driver chasing her
through the suburb. Students will read this text out loud in groups,
passing role of the reader every other paragraph. I will circulate during
this time, assessing students oral reading skills and reading
comprehension as they read. I will carefully listen to Sally and other
students I have pegged as potentially poor comprehend-ers, for whom
reading quickly or in a single uniform tone may indicate difficulty in
mentally constructing the text. While students read, they will
individually circle or underline details in the story that reveal the
narrators character. I will model this strategy in the first page (two
paragraphs), underlining the following parts:
Best, showing daring and maybe recklessness: that Annie likes the
contact and physicality of sports best

Nothing girls did could compare with it, showing individuality and
rebelliousness; that at the time Annie probably disliked the idea that
girls did girly things and couldnt participate in mens games.
got in troubleand have seldom been happier since, showing more
rebelliousness and playfulness: why might she enjoy getting in trouble?
Students will read on to find out.
4. [20 mins.] Step 3: Character Development Groups
Students will spend the rest of the time working on and sharing their
own characters with their group, who is responsible for asking each
individual student the following detail-focusing questions (will be up on
the projector during this time):
1. Look at your characters feet. Describe what you see there. Does
he wear dress shoes, gym shoes, or none at all? Is he in socks
that are ratty and full of holes? Or is he wearing a pair of blue
and gold slippers knitted by his grandmother?
2. What is your characters favorite smell and why?
3. Describe your characters last meal? What were they eating and
how did it taste? Did your character enjoy it? Were they very
hungry or just pecking at their food?
4. What does your character hate about his/her environment or
society? What do they love about it?
5. Make up one question of your own as a group.
Students will write these questions into their character development
sheets before sharing with their group. Then, each student in the
group will give feedback: one idea they liked about the character and
one they think could use more development. I will stress during this
time that its a positive thing to revise and change aspects of a
character if they dont seem to be working because it will open up new
possibilities and ideas. I will again circulate and listen to students
discuss their characters.
5. [5 mins] Closure:
Students will wrap up their discussions.
Methods of Assessment:
[How will you know if the intended learning occurred?] List all methods
of assessment used in this lesson or which are related to this lesson
and come in a future lesson. After each assessment, indicate in
brackets the number(s) and letter(s) of the unit objective and the
related lesson objectives that the assessment is evaluating.
Diagnostic:

1. Students will participate in a warm-up activity determining passive

voice sentences and rearranging them to be more active. (Objectives
6a; SoL 6.8; CCSS.L.6.3)
Formative:
1. Students will read and annotate The Chase as a mentor text,
examining how its author uses detail to build character.
(Objectives 2a, 6a; SoL 6.6e; CCSS.RL.6.6)
2. Students will critique each others character development
processes thus far, offering constructive feedback and working
through questions pertaining to their developing character
development sheets. (Objectives 2a, 8a, 11a; SoL 6.6e;
CCSS.W.6.3.D)
Differentiated Instruction to accommodate one or more of my
profiled students:
(This is where you identify specific aspects of this lesson which have
been differentiated in order to address the needs of one or more of
your profiled studentsidentify them by name)
This lesson will be differentiated in my circulation throughout almost
the entire class period, such that I can spend time where I most need
to (with the groups or individuals having the most trouble. I am also
able to listen to each student read out loud, which will help me to
diagnostically adjust future plans for similar lessons, as well as
understand where my students are with reading comprehension to an
extent. I will be paying particular attention to Sally and Manny during
this lesson in order to better understand their individual skill sets and
what they might need to work on.

Materials Needed:
Access to projector
Student Character Development sheets
Copies of The Chase for each student
Student Journals
Printer Paper
Extra pens/pencils