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Cristina Paluch
Period 1 and 2

English, 8th grade

100 minutes

Friday, April 15, 2016

Bees Chapter 7 and Review

Overview/Rationale
Students have been testing (PSSA) this week and we have not seen them as often as we
normally would. For this reason, I wanted to spend part of the day doing a review game
in order to make sure that all students are ready for Mondays assessment. Today will be a
day to cover the chapter that we have not had the chance to discuss yet (chapter seven).
For the first part of the period, students will work on a do now about the movie version of
A Raisin in the Sun and will discuss what they noticed about the similarities and
differences between the play and the movie. Students will then be given the chance to
work in pairs on journal questions for chapter seven. We will then discuss the chapter as a
whole class. Students will then be given a break and will return ready to play a jeopardy
review game. At the end of class, students will be asked to reflect on any questions that
they might still have on chapters 1-7 or any of the topics we have covered in class
discussions so far.
Enduring Understandings
Students will understand the way in which dreams and love are both portrayed in chapter
seven of the novel.
Goals/Objectives
Students will be able to summarize the events of chapter seven.
Students will be able to address journal questions for the chapters.
Students will be able to connect the epigraphs to the plot summaries of the chapters.
Students will be able to select meaningful quotes.
Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge through the review game.
Students will be able to identify topics or chapters that they need to review before the
assessment.
Standards
CC.1.4.8.B Identify and introduce the topic clearly, including a preview of what is to
follow. E08.C.1.2.1 E08.E.1.1.1
CC.1.3.8.K Read and comprehend literary fiction on grade level, reading independently
and proficiently.
CC1.3.8.C Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama
propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision. E08.A-K.1.1.3
CC.1.5.8.F Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to add interest,
clarify information, and strengthen claims and evidence.

Materials

The Secret Life of Bees books, movie reflection sheets, chapter seven journal questions
handout, timer, jeopardy game (and back up questions if the PowerPoint doesnt work),
lined paper
Procedures
Opener: Students will come in and be given the movie reflection sheets as their
do now. They will spend time reflecting on how the movie was similar or different to the
play and how it impacted their understanding of the play. This will be the do now that
will turn into a short conversation surrounding the movie and the play.
Body of the Lesson: Students will have two main activities today. The first will
be having students work in pairs to answer chapter seven journal questions. I will walk
around as they work and provide answers in their journals. Once all of the students have
had a chance to write their answers, we will have a discussion on the chapter and students
will be encouraged to take notes on the discussion. Students will then be given a short
break between the two periods and will return ready to review for Mondays test.
Students will be broken up into six groups of about five or six students. They will each
nominate a spokesperson for their group who will answer the questions. Groups will take
turns choosing and answering questions until we reach the final jeopardy question.
Closure: After the jeopardy game, students will be given a few minutes to think
about any questions they still have that relate to Mondays test. These can be addressed at
this time, but if there are no questions then students will be asked to share a few of the
quotes they have selected from the novel as part of their ongoing double entry journal.
Accommodations
Students will work individually on the do now in order to have time to reflect. Students
will then be working in pairs when answering their questions and I will be walking
around and making sure to answer any questions they may have. Students will also be
participating in large group discussions and will be asked to take notes on anything that
they do not have written down in their notes. These notes will later serve as a study guide
for this unit and the test on Monday. Students will then engage in a jeopardy game in
order to review for the test. This will be done in teams and students will be encouraged to
take notes. At the end of class, students will be given the chance to ask any lingering
questions they may have.
Assessment/Evaluation
Students will be assessed based on the journal questions they need to answer and their
participation in classroom discussions. Students will also be observed during the jeopardy
game in order to have a better understanding of what needs to be reviewed. This will help
me understand how comfortable they feel with the material that we have covered so far. I
will also be mindful during classroom discussions about chapter seven in order to make
sure that everyone understood the reading.
Personal Reflection/ Notes
Lesson Reflection April 15, 2016
Todays lesson was meant to help students finish discussion and have a day to
review for the assessment on Monday. For the first part of the class period, students were

asked to answer journal questions in pairs about chapter seven of The Secret Life of Bees,
which they read for homework. Again, I have found that giving students time to process
and write on their own or with a partner helps them feel more prepared for class
discussion. It also seems to help them process plot points, which then allows them to
think about the journal questions in a deeper way. Different students come into the class
with different levels of understanding of the reading, and I think that giving them all time
to process what they have read helps each student in a different way. For students who are
reading far ahead, it is a good time for review, while for students who are struggling with
the story it is a good time to look back at the text and clarify any problems or
misunderstandings.
For the second part of the class period, students were put into groups and played
jeopardy to study for their assessment. The groups were made randomly, based on
students who were sitting near each other. When planning for today, I decided to make
the groups random in order to give students a chance to work with people they do not
usually work with. I find that when they are allowed to make their own groups, they
always pick the same few friends and are more easily distracted. On the other hand,
random groups dont always sit well with the students and it can cause the class to lose
time. The main issue today was time. It took a little bit to settle students into their groups
and explain what they would be doing. It was the first time we had played jeopardy and I
think students were excited about the competition. Once the groups were settled and the
instructions were explained, we began the game, but we still did not get through as many
of the questions as I would have liked. The more questions we could get through, the
more students would have a chance to look at what they needed to study and review. With
the first group of students, we played the game so that the questions would be passed on
to the next team if the first team did not answer correctly. This ended up making the game
a little longer and it kept us from seeing all of the questions. When the second class came
in, I changed up the rules and did not allow stealing of questions, but instead would just
reveal the right answer right away. This helped because it cut down on time, but the
students did ask if they could steal the questions from other teams because that made the
game more competitive. I had originally planned to give students time to ask their own
questions at the end, the idea being that after they had played this game and had seen
what they needed to study, they could create questions that would benefit their studying
and their classmates understandings of the text. Unfortunately, I was unable to let them
do this because we ran out of time. Next time, I think I would stop class earlier so that
this time is built in at the end and not skipped over. I believe it could be valuable to do
something like this.
I wonder if this way of reviewing is going against my goal of higher order
thinking, because the nature of jeopardy is recall and the answers are not long
explanations that cause the students to think deeply. I found myself making simple
questions for the game, but ones that pointed to themes or important passages from the
novel. This way, the more in-depth topics were still being covered. I also would ask my
teams follow up questions to their answers, that way I would be asking them to think
about that theme or quote for a little longer. This was also the set up of their assessment
(mostly short paragraphs for each answer) so I wanted them to practice expanding upon
their ideas. Even if they got the answer right, I would ask them a little more about their
answer in order to check for understanding and help them review. This took extra time

away from going through more questions, but I think it was a good exercise to do with
the students. Again, I think that this is a good way to make sure their basic
understandings are solid, so that they can go more in-depth later.
My last thought was about how I could keep my students engaged when it was not
their turn and when we were between questions. This was another thing that took time
away from getting through various questions. Students would start to chat with group
members and I would need to have them regroup before we could move on to the next
question. I wonder if giving each student a sheet with boxes to put in their own answers
and whether or not they got it right would be a good way to keep them engaged or if there
is another way to engage them so that they are listening to all of the questions instead of
being distracted by their friends.
It seems that doing a review game is a good way to engage the students and start
their studying in class. One thing I want to do is check in with the students and ask if they
felt that the jeopardy game was a good way to review. I think it would be most beneficial
to ask this after the assessment to see if students felt prepared or not and if it affected
their own studying. I am hoping that it jump-starts the studying a little bit earlier for some
students and that it helped students noticed what they did and did not already know. I had
a few students ask me to put the PowerPoint up on Edline so that they could review over
the weekend. I hope that this added to their studying and didnt make them disengage
during class. I also wonder what other games I could add into my classes in order to help
students study and review. I also want them to be reviewing on their own, and I hope that
this helped them take that initiative and maybe shows them what they need to work on.