INTRODUCTORY WEEK

LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

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PLAN #_1_ of 12: [90 mins.] Plan type: __X_ Full-Detail ___ Summary Critical Learning Objectives [from my Unit Preface], followed by the Specific Learnings being taught in this lesson: SWBAT: COGNITIVE (know/understand) 1. Students will know what constitutes the learning environment. 2. Students will understand the classroom behavioral expectations. AFFECTIVE (feel/value) 3. Students will value that everyone within the classroom contributes to the learning environment. PERFORMANCE (do) 4. Students will write student-generated behavioral expectations.
5. Students will condense expectations into overarching rules using the adapted Concept Development Model. 6. Students will create a list of classroom behavioral expectations for the school year. 7. Students will play an icebreaker game called Trainwreck.

Procedures/Instructional Strategies [Explanatory Note: Words appearing in italics represent what I would actually say to students.] Beginning Room Arrangement:
[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted.]

Desks will be arranged in a semi-circle. I. Hook [__10_ mins.] Meet and Greet Good morning everyone! Please come in and pick a partner to take a seat with. If you do not know your partner, go ahead and introduce yourselves for a minute or two before we get started with todays class. If you know your partner, take a minute to tell each other what you did over the summer break. [Teacher circulates the classroom meeting each student individually while pairs introduce/discuss amongst themselves. Teacher is simultaneously taking attendance.]

I. Steps [_60__ mins.]

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[5 mins] 1) Think-Pair-Share Activity So as you know this is the very first day of the school year, and I am very excited to get to share this upcoming journey with each of you! With your partner, I want you to discuss this question [written on the board] What and who makes up the environment we learn in? [Discussion in pairs] So what did you come up with? What or who contributes to our learning environment? [Possible student responses: the students, the teacher, the principal, the school, extracurricular activities, books, technology, the physical classroom] [15 mins] 2 ) First Step of Constructing Classroom Expectations (adapted Concept Development Model) Now that we have thought in pairs, I want us to think individually. Now that we have an idea of what makes up our learning environment, I want us to take these sticky notes, and write a characteristic or aspect of a good or positive learning environment. Write only one characteristic on each sticky note. Think of the kind of classroom you want to be in this school year, what would that be like? I encourage you to use several sticky notes! [Allow 5 minutes for characteristic writing] Has everyone written down what they think makes a good classroom environment? [Allow more time if you do not receive an affirmative response] Now I want those seated in the front row of the classroom to walk up to the board and stick their sticky notes to it, like this [Post sticky note on board] After you have posted your sticky notes, please take a second to look at what other people in wrote down. After you have read them, you may take your seat. [Front row posts notes, circulates, returns to seats. ] Now I would like the second row from the front to come up and post their sticky notes. Take a minute to read what everyone else has written before taking your seat. [Second row posts notes, circulates, returns to seats.] Now I would like the remaining two rows to come up and post your notes, and take a good minute to look at the characteristics of a good classroom everyone has written. [Last rows post notes, circulate, return to seats]
So what characteristics did you see the most? [Student response. Possibilities: Respect, Caring, Sharing, Friendliness] [Teacher types up key characteristics on the computer and shares them using the projector.]

Price 3 Were there any characteristics that you had not thought about? [Student response] [15 mins] 3) Second Step of Constructing Classroom Expectations Very good. Now I would like everyone to pull out a piece of paper for a short writing activity. [Wait until students are ready] Now that we know who and what makes up our classroom, and we have identified the characteristics of a good classroom, I would like you to write three guidelines or instructions that everyone could do to ensure that our classroom would be these things [point up to the projector screen] How would someone need to behave in our classroom in order for us to feel respected, cared for, or understood? [Allow 5 minutes for writing.] Okay! So what did you all come up with? I will be typing up what you have to say for the next step of our activity, so lets share! [Students share responses, teacher types up guidelines onto the computer simultaneously projecting the word document] [15 mins] 4) Grouping of Concepts Look at this great list of guidelines we have! Excellent! [Teacher prints out 7-8 copies of the guidelines that have been typed up.] Now I want you to divide yourselves into groups of 4. Go ahead and move the desks around as necessary so you are seated in your groups. Now I am passing out the list of guidelines you just made as a class. Using the scissors, I want you to cut these up into individual pieces. Once you have all of your guidelines cut so they are on their own strips of paper, I want you to start making these guidelines into groups. The groups can be as big or small as you like, but they all have to share a common quality or trait. [Teacher circulates, answering questions or clarifying the objective as necessary. Teacher inquires about common threads amongst the groupings. Teacher monitors amount of time needed to complete this step of the Concept Development Model] Great job everyone! So now that you have created these groups, I want you to come up with a label for them. Take two minutes to come up with your labels then we will share them with the class. [2 minutes] So what are your labels? [Teacher writes the labels on the board] Great! So now I want you to take your guidelines and come up with a new way of grouping them, different from how you just did. You may have to look at it a little differently, but it is definitely possible! Think of who or what the guideline is about, that can help you reorganize them. [Teacher circulates the classroom, inquiring about common threads of new groupings and/or clarifying any misunderstandings.]

Price 4 Okay, so now that you have created these new groups, I want you to do like you did last time and make labels for them. Take a minute or two to figure out labels for your groups. .[] So what did you come up with? [Teacher writes new set of labels on the board.] Great! [10 mins] 5) Synthesis of Expectations So now that we have made some generalizations, lets make expectations for our classroom and therefore, ourselves. These overarching expectations should cover what is listed here in our group labels. Think of a classroom expectation and I will type it up on the screen. I will type what someone has shared and then we will go back and edit it so everyone may have a chance to contribute.
[Teacher types up a succinct list of classroom expectations, allowing students time to process and edit the list as needed.]

Is everyone happy with this list, are there any last minute changes you would like to make? So now that we have made this list, does everyone feel comfortable making this list our classroom rules for the school year? I like this list of expectations because these are all things you believe will help make our learning environment a positive one.

II. Closure [_20__ mins.] Trainwreck Game So now lets test how well we can implement our classroom expectations by playing a game called Trainwreck! I want you to be in a classroom where you can work hard and have fun, but in order to have those things we have to be able to live up to our own expectations as a class. This Trainwreck game will not only allow us to have a little bit of fun, but allow us to see how well we can perform our own expectations of behavior. So remember to be respectful and appropriate! Trainwreck is played with a circle of chairs, so lets create that now. Everyone bring a chair to the circle and sit down in it. [Teacher stands in the middle of the circle.] So like musical chairs, this game requires us to get up and move around, and naturally someone will be left without a seat. The person in the middle says something that can apply to some, or even all, of us. If it applies to you, you get up and find a new seat! For example you can say If you play basketball, everyone who plays basketball has to get up and find a new seat. Or you could say If you like Mexican food everyone who likes Mexican food has to get up and find a new seat. Its a fun way to get to know things

about your classmates! The only other rule is, if the person in the middle yells Trainwreck! everyone has to find a new seat. [Play Trainwreck game until bell rings] Materials Needed: Sticky notes Computer Projector Scissors Methods of assessment: In retrospect: Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, overheads, powerpoints, handouts, etc.) Computer Projector Sticky notes Paper/pencils Printer INTRODUCTORY WEEK
LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

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PLAN #_2__ of 12: [90 mins.] Plan type: ___ Full-Detail __X_ Summary Critical Learning Objectives [from my Unit Preface], followed by the Specific Learnings being taught in this lesson: Use of a Model Text SWBAT: COGNITIVE (know/understand) 1. Students will evaluate their individuality. a) Students will understand the concept of individuality. b) Students will understand the concept of mindfulness. AFFECTIVE (feel/value) 4. Students will feel self-aware and mindful. a) Students will feel the effects of a breathing exercise activity that promotes mindfulness.

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PERFORMANCE (do) 7. Students will write about their individuality and their classroom community. a) Students will write a journal entry about their individuality. Procedures/Instructional Strategies [Explanatory Note: Words appearing in italics represent what I would actually say to students.] Beginning Room Arrangement:
[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted.]

Desks will be organized in a semi-circle arrangement. I. Hook [__15_ mins.] Alliterative Name Game The students will be asked to stand and introduce their names doing the alliterative name game where students pair a word with their first name that describes themselves. Luke may describe himself as Lucky Luke or Bridget may become Bodacious Bridget. This will help students remember each others name and put students at the center of the lesson from the very beginning. II. Steps [__65_ mins.] [15 mins] Reading of Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers 1)I will read the picture book Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers aloud to the class. [_10_mins.] Introduction of Journals 2) I will give students their journals and tell them that they will get the chance to write their own Looking Like Me as their first journal entry. [_10_ mins.] Journal Entry Looking Like ______ (Insert students name) 3) Students will be given 10 minutes to write their own Looking Like Me inspired journal entry. This will serve as a scaffold towards the next days lesson where students will write an I Am Jam after reading Nikki Giovannis Egotripping. This journal entry will serve as my first writing sample from each individual student. [5 mins] Sharing journal entries 4) Students may volunteer to share their work with the rest of the class. This will help students further introduce themselves to one another and help foster a sense of community. [_10_ mins.] Introduction to the Concept of Mindfulness 5). Can anyone explain to me what it means to be mindful?

[Student response] Great, yes to be mindful is to be considerate and thoughtful. Does being mindful relate to any of the classroom expectations we created yesterday? [Student target response: Yes, they are related to]

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Mindfulness is also about becoming thoughtful about yourself, in your own body using your senses. [I will use a prop, a jar full of water and rice, to demonstrate the impact of mindfulness.] Oftentimes in our lives we are very busy, doing a lot of activities. Sometimes our busy lives can make us feel stressed, and we become disconnected with how we really feel. [Shake the jar] What makes you feel stressed? Come on, tell me? [Shake the jar to each response] Yes! But if we stop for just a moment, and pause, and reconnect with ourselveseverything becomes clear, and we are better able to focus. Give me a show of hands, who feels they are a little shaken up right now? We can reconnect with ourselves, very easily, we just have to take a minute to stop- and think about ourselves, how we are feeling, and what we are doing. So we are going to do a really fun activity, but it will require us to follow our classroom expectations. [_10 mins.] Perform Identifying the In-and-Out Breath Breathing Exercise [adapted from Hanhs Planting Seeds (67)] 6) Students close their eyes and raise awareness of their breathing by placing their finger horizontally under their nose. While breathing in and out, students are to observe how the air going into their nose is cool and the air coming out is warm. Students are asked to identify what other parts of their bodies move while they breathe. Their chests? Their diaphragm? Their bellies? [7 mins] Introduction of Mindfulness Activity Self Evaluation Rubric 7) I will introduce students to the Mindfulness Activity Self-Evaluation Rubric, where they will be asked to reflect on their minds, hearts, and bodies. This self-evaluation sheet is supplemented by a Mindfulness Word Bank that provides students with a bank of words they may use to describe how they feel. The reasoning for this is that the concept of mindfulness is rather abstract for 6th graders, and providing a list of descriptive words will help scaffold students into conducting selfevaluations. III. Closure [_8__ mins.] Students will evaluate themselves using the Mindfulness Activity Self

Evaluation Rubric Materials Needed: Jar full of water and rice Journals Journal Entry Writing Rubric Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers Mindfulness Activity Self-Evaluation Methods of assessment: Journal entry (Objectives 1, 7) Mindfulness Activity Self-Evaluation (Objectives 4) In retrospect:

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[Note: This is where I will make reflective notes AFTER the lesson is taught.]

Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, overheads, powerpoints, handouts, etc.) Mindfulness Activity Self-Evaluation Rubric (page 12) INTRODUCTORY WEEK
LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

PLAN #__3_ of 12: [90 mins.] Plan type: ___ Full-Detail __X_ Summary Critical Learning Objectives [from my Unit Preface], followed by the Specific Learnings being taught in this lesson: Use of a Model Text Use of an activity from a Contact Zone Book: Literacy & Justice Through Photography, Ewald & Hyde, 2011 SWBAT: COGNITIVE (know/understand) 1. Students will evaluate their individuality. a) Students will interpret the concept of individuality in reading Nikki Giovannis Egotripping AFFECTIVE (feel/value) 4. Students will feel self-aware and mindful. a) Students will reflect upon their individuality and uniqueness in a Conversation Calendar. PERFORMANCE (do) 7. Students will write about their individuality and their classroom community. a) Students will write an I Am Jam poem inspired by Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers and Egotripping by Nikki Giovanni.

Price 9 SOL: 6.6 The student will write narratives, descriptions, and explanations.

Procedures/Instructional Strategies [Explanatory Note: Words appearing in italics represent what I would actually say to students.] Beginning Room Arrangement:
[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted.]

Desks will be arranged in a semi-circle.

I. Hook [__15_ mins.] What does the Picture Tell You? Journal Entry (adapted from Ewald &Hydes Literacy & Justice Through Photography) Using the document projector, I will display a picture from the beginning of the picture book Home by Jeannie Baker, which is about the evolution of a neighborhood through the window of a childs bedroom. The story is told only with illustrations. Students will be asked to write for 5 minutes about what they know based on the first picture of the book. Students will then be shown a second picture, and students will be asked to write for 5 minutes about what they know based on a second picture, which will be the last picture of the book. Students will then share their assumptions with an elbow partner. I will then present the book to the class, where they will see that the two pictures were depicted from the same bedroom window at different points in time. I will then connect how everyone has a different view of these two images because of our own personal experiences and our individuality, which is the focus of our lesson.

II. Steps [__70_ mins.] [_10_mins.] Rereading Looking Like ______ journal entries from the previous day 1) I will ask students to reread their journal entries from the previous day. Has anyone looked back at their journal entries from yesterday and think I forgot to say something about myself? If not, are there any details you think you could add to what you said about yourself that would further introduce you to the class? [Student response] [_10_ mins.] Popcorn Style Reading Nikki Giovannis Egotripping 2) I will explain students how to perform popcorn reading, where a student reads until the teacher calls someone elses name, and that person has to pick up reading from the specific place the previous reader had stopped.

This will continue until the poem has been read. We will then reread the poem word by word, going around the classroom so that a different student around the room reads each word until the poem has been completely read aloud. Brief discussion of the poem and what it says about individuality and its author. [_5_ mins.] Introduction of I Am Jam Poem Assignment 3)I will introduce that students will get to write I Am Jam poems, inspired by Walter Dean Myers Looking Like Me and Nikki Giovannis Egotripping. [_20_ mins.] Writing I Am Jam Poems 4) Students will get to synthesize their reading of Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers and Egotripping by Nikki Giovanni in order to create their own I Am Jam about themselves.

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[20 mins] Sharing I Am Jam Poems This will be used to celebrate the individuals that populate our classroom. This will help further introduce students to one another and the teacher. The writing of the I Am Jam poems, and the sharing of them, will serve as an essential scaffold towards creating a studentcentered classroom that will transition its focus towards community building within our classroom context. [ 5 mins] Introduction of Conversation Calendars I will introduce student to the Conversation Calendars, which serve as a form of communication between teacher and student and as a valuable assessment tool throughout my unit of study. III. Closure [__10_ mins.] Writing first Conversation Calendar of the school year Students will be asked to evaluate how the I Am Jam writing exercise made them feel, and what they liked or didnt like about it. Also, students may ask any questions they may have via their Conversation Calendar. Materials Needed: Conversation Calendar Copies of Nikki Giovannis Egotripping A copy of Looking Like Me by Walter Dean Myers Journals Methods of assessment: Conversation Calendar (Objective 4) I Am Jam Poems (Objective 1, 7) Journal entry (SOL 6.6) In retrospect:
[Note: This is where I will make reflective notes AFTER the lesson is taught.]

Price 11 Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, overheads, powerpoints, handouts, etc.) Conversation Calendar (page 13)

Introductory Week Materials Appendix Name________________________________ Mindfulness Self-Evaluation Rubric After performing the ____________________________ activity,

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My mind felt. Mindfulness Word Bank: Safe Free Open Confused Tired Hungry Connected to Others Clear Unclear Whole Thoughtful Happy Sad Full Empty Aware Love Angry Weird Slow Quick Ready Excited Bored Fun Good Bad Calm Upset Relaxed Fresh Awake Renewed Different than before Comfortable Uncomfortable Emotional Joyful Preoccupied

My heart felt..

My body felt.

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