Lesson Plan Template Wilma Unlimited NAME: Emelina Betancourt ...

Lesson Plan Template
Wilma Unlimited
NAME: Emelina Betancourt DATE: 9/30/10
Grade Level: 6 th Grade
Subject: English/Language Arts
Content Standard(s): 2.4 Clarify an understanding of texts by creating logical notes to
support a written summary.
Purpose of the lesson: To have students recognize and extract important information from
the text. Also, to be able to record and summarize this information in an organized format
and structure this information in a three paragraph summary. Students will also gain
exposure to an inspirational story about Wilma Rudolph.
Links to Prior Knowledge or Experience:
(Background knowledge/skills gained outside school or in school).
• Students have outside knowledge about different debilitating diseases
• Students have knowledge of discrimination and have learned in school how African
Americans were treated in the 1940s.
• Students have knowledge of other African American heroes similar to Wilma
Rudolph.
• Students have knowledge of other women throughout history that have broken
world records.
• Students have knowledge of paragraph and sentence structure.
• Students have knowledge of determining an author’s purpose for writing a
particular story, article, or book.
Performance Objective(s): Students will be able to record the key points of this story after
receiving instruction on effective note taking. The key points will include Wilma’s struggle
with polio, how being African American in the 1940s added to her struggle, how she
overcame this disease, and how she became an Olympic runner. After this, they will refer
to their notes and summarize the story by referring to their notes. The summary will
include three paragraphs (an introduction, a body, and a conclusion), but must not exceed
three paragraphs. The purpose of this lesson is to teach students to extract the main ideas of
a text and be able to paraphrase these ideas into a written summary.
(Bloom’s Taxonomy: Remembering and Understanding)
Assessment/Evaluation:
Assessment: I will evaluate the students’ learning by judging the extent to which each
student can draw on his or her notes in order to write a summary.
Evaluation: Summaries are worth up to 10 points and will be evaluated using the following
rubric:
Summary Rubric:

(1-3 points) Structure/ Organization: The summary should be organized in a three
paragraph summary format with an introduction, summary, and conclusion. The
introduction should include the title of the book, the author, and a general introduction to
the story. The body should include the major key points of the text supported by using
examples from the text. The conclusion should include how the story ended and paraphrase
the author’s purpose in writing the story. Since this is a summary, students’ opinions or
evaluations of the book should not be included.
(1-3 points) Mechanics: Students need to make sure they use complete sentences and check
their spelling, punctuation, and grammar. The summary should flow well and be free of
major mechanical errors.
(1-4 points) Key Points: Students will be given a point for each main idea they include in
their summary. They will be expected to identify at least four major key points in the text,
but may identify more key ideas so as long as they remain within three-paragraph
restriction. The four major key points that I will be looking for are: Wilma’s struggle with
polio, how being African American in the 1940s added to her struggle, how she overcame
this disease, and how she became an Olympic runner.
Scaffolds for English learners & Children with Special Needs: Our four English Language
Learners will be placed in different groups of 4-5 students. These groups will also consist
of proficient and advanced English speakers. I will pay extra attention to these students to
make sure that they understand the task at hand and to make sure their group members are
helping them if necessary. I will allow my one student, who is a beginning English
Language Learner, to create a comic book strip instead of writing the three-paragraph
summary. I will help him with writing the captions. I will encourage him to record his
memories of the story to the best of his ability with his pictures. He will also gain exposure
to the note-taking format as well as a three-paragraph summary format.
Academic Language:
Target Vocabulary, Language Function, Language Demands
Academic Language: record, summarize
Vocabulary: polio, remedies, pneumonia, paralyzed, trembling, triumphant, propel,
astonishment, slumped, lunged, baton, fumble, electrifying, thundering, astounding
Language Function: reading comprehension, extracting main ideas, summarizing
information
Language Demands: listening to a story being read out loud, being able to pick out main
ideas, knowing how to record these main ideas in a bullet point format, being able to
organize this information in a 3 paragraph summary format
Materials: Wilma Unlimited Book, overhead, handouts, pencils and binder paper
INSTRUCTION: Procedures & Activity/Activities: (Time: 1 hour each day)
Motivate, Model, Practice the skill or practice to gain deeper understanding of a concept.
Day 1:
• Students will be instructed how to take bullet point notes on a sheet of binder paper
using the following steps:
1. I will explain to the class that using bullet points is one type of note taking and that
that each bullet point represents a different thought or idea. I will have a model of

ullet point notes from a different story for the class to view on the overhead.
2. I will explain to the class that after they take these bullet point notes, they will be
expected to use these notes to write a three-paragraph summary. I will explain to
them that a good way to organize these bullet points is to first divide their paper
into three columns, each representing a separate paragraph.
3. I will instruct them to fold their binder paper into thirds so there are three columns
4. I will also instruct them to leave three line spaces between each bullet point, so that
they may go back and add information if they left some detail out that they want to
include.
5. I will instruct them to write the title “Introduction,” in the first column, the title
“Body,” in the second column, and the title “Conclusion,” in the third column
6. I will instruct them to refer to their “Introduction,” column and teach them to draw
their first bullet point on the left hand side on the first line in the column underneath
the title. The first bullet point in this column should be the title of the book. The
second bullet point should be the author of the book. The third bullet point should
be the main idea of the story, which we will leave blank for now.
7. I will then explain that their “Body,” column should be filled with bullet points that
represent any important ideas or highlights of the text. Each separate idea deserves
it’s own bullet point. I will tell them that they will be expected to extract at least
four key points from the story, but that they may include more than four bullet
points in their notes so as long as they represent separate ideas. I will also explain
that each key point must also be supported with an example.
8. I will then explain that their “Conclusion,” column should have at least one bullet
point showing how the story ends and one bullet point paraphrasing the author’s
purpose.
• I will then read Wilma Unlimited to the class and ask them to just listen to the story
the first time around.
• I will then read Wilma Unlimited a second time and instruct the class to pay
attention to key points in the text.
• While rereading the story, I will stop and help them with the first key point of the
story * Wilma struggled with polio as a child. I will instruct them to include the
example of how Wilma had to wear a brace on her leg throughout her childhood but
never gave up hope that one day she would be able to walk again.
• I will finish the story and students will continue to record at least three more key
points from the story in the “Body,” section of their notes
• They will also go back to the first “Introduction,” column and fill in one bullet
point representing the main idea of this entire story
• They will then go to the “Conclusion,” section and fill in one bullet point for how
the story ends and one bullet point for the author’s purpose
• Students will then be asked to pair-share their notes to see if they either left out
important pieces of information or to see how their ideas are similar or different to
each other
• Students then will be instructed to save their notes in their literature binders so that
we may use them to write our summaries tomorrow.
DAY 2:
• I will instruct the class to pull out their bullet point notes from yesterday

• Since this will be our first time taking bullet point notes, students will be able to
refer back to the book if necessary.
• Students will be then instructed to review their notes
• They will then be instructed to write a three paragraph summary including an
introduction, body, and conclusion using the following steps:
1. The introduction is the first paragraph and should include the title of the book, the
author, and a general introduction to the story. (2-3 sentences)
2. The body is the middle paragraph and should include the major key points of the
text supported by using examples from the text. (4-8 sentences)
3. The conclusion should include how the story ended and paraphrase the author’s
purpose in writing the story. (2-3 sentences)
• Since this is a summary, I will remind them that their opinions or evaluations of the
book should not be included. I will explain that a summary only retells the story in
a shortened version.
• I will hand out a simplified rubric to each student so they can view how they will be
evaluated
• I will also give students two different examples of how a three paragraph written
summary of a story should be structured. These examples will be printed on a
handout for them to refer to.
Closure: (Time: 30 mins)
I will collect all of the student summaries or comic book strips and compile them into a
book. The students will be able to view this book and see how their classmates’ summaries
are different or similar from their own. They will be able see how sometimes there are
different ways of interpreting stories and how different people highlight different aspects of
the same story.
Reflections: Students: (Time: 30 mins)
I will pass out a survey to see if the students understood the activity, felt comfortable with
what was expected from them, learned how to take bullet point notes on important
information from a story, learned how to structure a written summary, and will ask if they
have any suggestions for this type of activity in the future.
Reflections: Teacher
I will evaluate my work by seeing how well the students understood how to record main
ideas in their notes. I will also see if they understood how to use their notes to help them
write a three-paragraph summary, which included these main ideas.
Edu 275 Effective Teaching
2010-2011