Lesson Planning Form for Accessible Instruction Calvin College Education Program

Teacher Miss Van Dyk

Date
I.

November 16, 2016

Subject/ Topic/ Theme
Grade _4th grade______________

Identifying theme in a song

Objectives

How does this lesson connect to the unit plan?

This lesson connects to the unit plan in that is part of larger unit on identifying and describing theme, using evidence from the text as support. This lesson involves
students practicing identifying theme in a song, specifically We Are The World 25 For Haiti. (third lesson plan of the unit)
cognitiveR U Ap An E C*

Learners will be able to:

Identify key themes and ideas in the song using specific examples from the text to provide support and evidence
Share in partners, as well as with the whole class what they believe these ideas to be
Define and describe the theme as they write theme paragraphs
Revise We Are The World 25 For Haiti into We Are The World 31 for _____________. (They choose community/place
to dedicate their support, but this activity will be done the following day as a warm up writing assignment and as a
way to review the theme discussed the previous day)

physical
development

socioemotional

An

R, U
x
c

Common Core standards (or GLCEs if not available in Common Core) addressed:
Reading
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.2
Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text; summarize the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.1
Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing
inferences from the text.
Writing
CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.4.1.A
Introduceatopicortextclearly,stateanopinion,andcreateanorganizationalstructureinwhichrelatedideasaregroupedtosupport
thewriter'spurpose.
CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.4.1.B
Providereasonsthataresupportedbyfactsanddetails.

CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.4.1.D
Provideaconcludingstatementorsectionrelatedtotheopinionpresented.

(Note: Write as many as needed. Indicate taxonomy levels and connections to applicable national or state standards. If an objective applies to particular learners
write the name(s) of the learner(s) to whom it applies.)
*remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate, create

II. Before you start

Identify prerequisite
knowledge and skills.
Outline assessment
activities
(applicable to this lesson)

Students must know the concept of theme, must be able to work in partners as well as groups and feel
comfortable sharing ideas and opinions with the class.
Pre-assessment (for learning): Review what we know from previous two days (theme, what are characteristics of
theme, how do we find theme, essential questions, etc.)
Formative (for learning): Assess students answers during the lesson, be walking around and listening to students
discussions and sharing with their partners, as well as in whole class discussion
Formative (as learning): Students can assess themselves as they participate in the small group and large group
discussion (answers are pretty much subjective, though, so they can assess themselves based on their effort and
participation) as well as through the reflection paragraph writing assignment at the end.

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Summative (of learning): Collect students paragraphs and look over to get a summative assessment of

how well students were able to identify and write about their ideas of the theme of the song.

What barriers might this

lesson present?
Some students may have
trouble thinking critically
and pulling out ideas
from the text?
Maybe technology wont
work?

Provide Multiple Means of

Representation
Provide options for perceptionmaking information perceptible

Provide Multiple Means of Action

and Expression
Provide options for physical actionincrease options for interaction

Providing audible version of song,

as well as printed lyrics for students
to follow along is helpful to both
audio and visual learners

Allows for students to move around

and groove to the beat of the song,
if they want to, and from their
seats. (It doesnt offer much
opportunity for physical action, but
a little more than usual)

Provide options for language,

mathematical expressions, and
symbols- clarify & connect
language

Provide options for expression and

communication- increase medium
of expression

What will it take

neurodevelopmentally,
experientially,
emotionally, etc., for your
students to do this lesson?
Provide options for comprehensionactivate, apply & highlight

Materials-what materials
(books, handouts, etc) do
you need for this lesson
and are they ready to
use?

How will your classroom

be set up for this lesson?

The lesson allows students to

express their ideas both verbally
as well as in writing.

Provide Multiple Means of

Engagement
Provide options for recruiting
interest- choice, relevance, value,
authenticity, minimize threats
Basing the lesson off of a song,
allows for more chance of engaging
students (some may be able to
recognize certain artists in the
song). Also it is culturally relevant
to our society and our world
talking about real world issues that
we face)
Provide options for sustaining effort
and persistence- optimize
challenge, collaboration, masteryoriented feedback
This lesson offers somewhat of a
challenge, as students will be
challenged to think critically and
out of the box (from what theyre
used to) and also offers
opportunities for collaboration and
group work to sustain effort and
persistence

Provide options for executive

functions- coordinate short & long
term goals, monitor progress, and
modify strategies

Provide options for self-regulationexpectations, personal skills and

strategies, self-assessment &
reflection

Song: We Are The World 25 For Haiti (music video)

Lyrics sheet
Chart with important questions to consider when thinking about theme
Theme Paragraph worksheet

It can be set up how it normally is with the desks arranged in pods (four or five desks/students making
up a pod)
Make sure to pull down the projector screen

III. The Plan

Time

Components

10
min

Motivation
(opening/
introduction/
engagement)

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Describe teacher activities

AND
student activities
for each component of the lesson. Include important higher order thinking questions and/or
prompts.
Teacher begins by doing a review of theme from
the previous two days:

Students are involved in this activityactively

participating/recalling what they learned about
theme in the previous two days

Encourage students to take a good look at the

Essential Questions poster because you are about to
take it down
How would you define theme in one word?
What are some characteristics of theme?
How do we find theme?
What are the essential questions? (Have them try to
come up with the four from memorythen hang
the poster back up)

Students are thinking about how old they were in

2010/whether or not they remember this big
earthquake/what it must have felt like to be in such
a huge earthquake?

Then teacher introduces the activity for the day:

starting with a background on the song We Are The
World 25 For Haiti
Teacher explains that song was written as a
response to the earthquake in Haiti (2010). I was 14
at the time. How old were you? Do you remember
when this happened? Have you ever felt an
earthquake before?
Get out globe and show where Haiti is, as well as
Dominican Republic. Talk about earthquakes (share
personal experience of earthquakes in CA, once felt
one that was 4.5) Haiti experienced a 7.0
earthquake!
Ask which direction Haiti is from the US? (SouthEast!)
Explain that this song was recreated with many
different artists as a response to the earthquake, in
support of Haiti
10
min

Development
(the largest
component or
main body of
the lesson)

Go over important questions to consider chart with

students, encouraging them to keep these questions
in mind while listening/following along to the song
Show video (start at 1:04-3:40)
Then pass out lyrics sheets to every student
And have them read it silently first
Then out loud as a class
Students discuss these questions using the
think/pair/share format
Begin discussionasking students various
questions (point to the questions on the chart as

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you read them), give them a little bit to think about

the answers silently and then time to share with a
partner sitting next to them, and then call on
volunteers to share their ideas with the whole class
Questions:
How did the artist feel while writing this?
How does the artist want YOU to feel while
reading/listening to this?
How DID you feel while listening to/reading this?
What do you think was the artists purpose for
writing this?
What evidence (text) can you use to prove this?
What did you notice about the voices/styles used in
this song?
Do you think it was beneficial that they were all
different, if so, why?

10
min

Closure
(conclusion,
culmination,
wrap-up)

Teacher passes out paragraph writing assignment

handout, explaining the format for the paragraph. I
believe the theme is blank because blank. Then
write one to two sentences answering one of the
essential questions. Then add a concluding
sentence wrapping up your ideas.

After finishing writing their paragraphs, students

may turn them in and then take out their books for
silent reading, if time allows (otherwise dismiss
students to recess)

Write paragraph as a classcalling on volunteers

to contribute sentences. Write paragraph on the
whiteboard as students fill out their sheets at their
desks.
(If students would rather write their own
paragraphs they may)

Your reflection about the lesson, including evidence(s) of student learning and engagement, as well as ideas for improvement
for next time. (Write this after teaching the lesson, if you had a chance to teach it. If you did not teach this lesson, focus on the
process of preparing the lesson.)
I believe this lesson went really well, the students all appeared to be engaged and enjoying the song choice. They also seemed
to really be able to pick out the message of the author in the song as we reviewed at the end and wrote some of the themes on
the board. Something to change though for next time, I would spend more time talking and introducing the song, especially
giving more background on the earthquake in Haiti. I would possibly show some pictures from the earthquake to really show
the devastation and the damage that it had on Haiti. I would also explain in more detail what an earthquake is like and how
the Richter scale works. This would make the lesson quite a bit longer and so would probably need to be split up into two
different lessons.

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