Example 1

Do you agree with the reactions by Congress Members Chu and Wu? Senator Yee? Once
again, before I have students share their reactions to the class, I will have them first
discuss their thoughts in groups. With the students’ reactions fresh in their minds and
desire to take action, I will introduce the prompt for their persuasive letters and also
provide them with my sample letter and the rubric that I will be using to grade their letters.
Building off of day one, day two provides the students the context and background
knowledge to write effective persuasive letters.
The final day of the learning segment will also begin with a review of the previous two days
as students reflect upon what they have learned. To better help students understand their
assignment, we will review my sample letter and rubric and have the students identify my
position, two arguments and counterargument in my letter. From there, we will review the
prompt once again and then to help students write their letters, I want them to discuss in
their groups some possible arguments they would give to persuade Rush Limbaugh to
apologize and some counterarguments Limbaugh would give for not wanting to apologize.
As a class, we will create a T-Chart of possible arguments and counterarguments students
could write in their letters. Finally, to take a stand and empower themselves and others,
students will write their persuasive letters. Over the course of the three lessons, they are
building upon another as the lessons develop the students academic language in
preparation for their composition of the persuasive letters. By beginning the learning
segment with a discussion of bilingualism and discrimination, the lesson not only sets the
foundation for students to take a stand, but also allows them to use the academic language
in the small group and whole class discussions. From there the students listen to the audio
clips and with the previous discussions in mind, they will be able to think critically about the
situation and have some tools to take a stand. To complete the task, students will be given
the prompt, sample letter and rubric to see and understand what is expected of them. By
reviewing the prompt, sample letter and rubrics, students will understand the components
of a persuasive letter and use that knowledge to write their own.
(REQUIRED) 4.
4. Given the description of students that you provided in Task 1.Context for Learning, how
do your choices of instructional strategies, materials, technology, and the sequence of
learning tasks reflect your students backgrounds, interests, and needs? Be specific about
how your knowledge of your students informed the lesson plans, such as the choice of text
or materials used in lessons, how groups were formed or structured, using student learning
or experiences (in or out of school) as a resource, or structuring new or deeper learning to
take advantage of specific student strengths. (TPEs 4,6,7,8,9)
To take advantage of my students’ backgrounds, interests, and needs as I plan the learning
segment, I am focusing on two things: 1) They are mainly English learners and 2) They
come from impoverished neighborhoods. Given the fact that there are a lot of English
learners, I know that they will be able to relate to Language Discrimination Scenarios and
be outraged when they hear the audio clip of Rush Limbaugh mocking the Chinese
language. Additionally, given the classroom environment and level of respect the students
have developed for one another, the English only students will also be able to relate in
regards to discrimination as English only students or seeing the negative treatment of their
bilingual classmates. Coming from an impoverished communities mean that many of the
students have limited opportunities and experiences. Furthermore, in regards to making
decisions in their lives, they have even less say because their parents tell them what to eat,
where, do, etc. and at school, their options are limited as well. As a result, I want to
provide my students with the opportunity to feel empowered and feel like they have the
voice to change what they feel is wrong. Thus, over the course of the three lessons, I will