Direct Instruction Lesson Plan Template

Grade Level/Subject: 3rd Grade Reading Central Focus: Parts of a Poem - Stanzas

Essential Standard/Common Core Objective: R.L.3.5: Refer to parts of

stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text,
Date submitted: 3/9/15 Date taught:
using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each
3/11/15
successive part builds on earlier sections.
Daily Lesson Objective: Given various poems, students will be able to refer to parts of a poem using terms such
as stanza with 80% accuracy.
21st Century Skills:
Academic Language Demand (Language Function and Vocabulary):
Creativity and Innovation - Develop,
Poem- a collection of words that expresses an emotion or
implement and communicate new ideas
idea.
to others effectively, Initiative and Self Stanza- a group of lines that are bunched together.
Direction: Conduct themselves in a
Lines- a group of words arranged in a row.
respectable, professional manner,
Communication and Collaboration value the individual contributions made
by each team member.
Prior Knowledge: Prior to the lesson, students need to be familiar with poetry and know what a main idea is and
how to find it within a passage.
Activity
1. Focus and Review
2. Statement of
Objective
for Student

3. Teacher Input

4. Guided Practice

Description of Activities and Setting

Engage students by asking If you could choose to have one
superpower, what would it be? Think about it for a few seconds. Now, I
want you to share what you said that your superpower would be with
one person next to you and why.
Today, you will be able to refer to parts of a poem such as stanzas and
how they make up the structure of a poem.
I will display poem Dan the Invisible Man on the board. Before
reading the poem, I will say Today, we are going to read a poem called
Dan the Invisible Man. Without even reading the poem, I notice many
different things. Before I share what Ive noticed, I will have 2-3
students to share what theyve noticed. Afterwards, I will share that I
noticed that the poem is divided into paragraphs and explain that those
are called stanzas a group of lines that are bunched together.
Now we are going to try together. Were going to read this poem
together. As we read, try to keep in mind how many stanzas are in this
poem. I will then read it aloud to the class. Afterwards, I will ask
students questions about the poem to assess them for comprehension
such as:
Who is Dan the Invisible Man?
What is the main idea of this poem?
Do you think that the he likes having a superpower? Why/Why

Time
5 min

--

10 min

10 min

not?
Looking at this poem, how many stanzas do you see? (2) How can you
tell? Label it on the poem so that students can see. Say I also see that
there are lines in each stanza. Point to lines. Sometimes these lines
might not be complete sentences. For example, (underline) Im Dan
the Invisible Man is one line and the rest of this sentence is on the line
below. Then, I will explain why stanzas are important in poems they
help you to identify the main idea using a flow chart.
I am going to give each student a copy of a poem and say I want you
to read a poem called If I Had Superpowers. Then, I will tell
students to Answer the questions about the poem on the worksheet.
5. Independent Practice
This will be done by yourselves. Please raise your paper in the air when 15 min
you are finished and I will collect it. Once I collect your paper, take out
your poetry books and write how each stanza helps you to identify the
main idea of a poem.
I will formally assess students throughout the entire lesson as I will be asking
questions and watching how they respond to them. This way, I will be able to see
6. Assessment Methods
who is grasping the concept and those who are not. This will also allow me to see
of
how they interact with a large group and they interact well with for future purposes.
all objectives/skills:
At the end of the lesson, students will complete an independent activity that will
serve as my primary form of assessment that I can keep a record of.
As a class, we will review stanzas and their contribution to poetry. I
will ask questions such as:
What did you learn today?
What is a stanza?
7. Closure
5 min
Why are stanzas important?
Does anyone have a question about what we went over today?
Then, I will have each student write something that theyve learned
today and a question that they have on a sticky note as an exit ticket.
There are originally 20 students in the class, however, only 15 students are in class
at this time. Student participation was high. I did not have a problem with getting
students to share their responses at all throughout the entire lesson. However, I did
notice that it would be the same students answering questions, which shows that
some were either confused or reluctant to share their thoughts with their peers. As
8. Assessment Results of for the independent activity, the majority of the class did extremely well. The
all objectives/skills:
question that most students missed was a true or false question which stated
Stanzas help readers to identify the main idea of a poem. The correct answer was
True. That goes to show me that I did not spend enough time on the flow chart
that explained why stanzas are important. However, 10 out of 15 students scored a
perfect score of 100, while the remaining 5 scored an 80/100. The results show that
everyone in the class mastered the objective.
Targeted Students
Student/Small Group Modifications/Accommodations:
Modifications/Accommodations: Struggling
Gifted students or early finishers will be asked to read
readers and students with learning disabilities will independently.
be given more time to complete the assignment
ELL students will be able to refer back to classroom print,
with more prompting and reassurance from the
and work that we did as a class about the topic for help.

teacher.

They will also receive more guidance from the teacher

throughout the activity.

Materials/Technology:
(Include any instructional materials (e.g., worksheets, assessments PowerPoint/Smart Board slides, etc.) needed
to implement the lesson at the end of the lesson plan.)
Dan the Invisible Man poem
If I Had Superpowers poem and worksheet
Flow Chart Why are Stanzas Important?
Sticky Notes
References:
http://betterlesson.com/community/lesson/27134/parts-of-poetry
http://members.poemofquotes.com/funny-poetry/if_i_had_superpowers
Reflection on lesson: Overall, I think that this lesson went greater than I had expected. The question that I posed
to the class grabbed their attention and they immediately became interested in what I was about to say. I knew
that would be a great attention grabber because children love to use their imagination, so what better theme to
use other than superpowers. I put a lot of time and effort into choosing a theme for this lesson. I really wanted
students to be engaged in the discussion at all times whether mentally or verbally. After I taught my lesson, I
reviewed my feedback from my cooperating teacher. I was happy to see that she loved the way that I interacted
with the students because that was very important to me. I think that when the teacher shows a passion and
interest in the information presented, the more students will be drawn into it. Also, my cooperating teacher said
that I had a good selection of visuals and during assessment, I walked about to monitor students.
As for future lessons, I will try to make sure that students are on task at all times by not only walking around
during the assessment, but as I teach as well. Another suggestion that I received for future lessons is to speak
with a louder tone. I was informed that it was difficult to hear me from the back of the room. Tone of voice is
definitely something that I was aware that I needed to improve as a teacher. The last thing I want if for my
students to fail because they simply cannot hear me clearly. However, I have learned a lot about children
throughout this process and how important it is to differentiate learning. Every child is different and may have a
different way of learning and responding to things.