Concept Unit

Lesson Plan Template

Unit Working Title: Speaking Up: You As An Activist
Unit Big Idea (Concept/Theme): Courage
Unit Primary Skill focus: Persuasion
Week 1 of 3; Plan #1 of 9; [90 mins.]
Plan type: ____Full-Detail _X_Summary
Content Requirement Satisfied:
(Note: Refer to the list in the document called Concept Unit Lesson Plans)
Unit Learning Objectives (numbered) [from my Backwards Design Unit Document],
followed by Specific lesson objectives (lettered) being taught in this lesson:
SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
1. Studentswillbeabletoknowthatspeakinguprequirescourage.
a. Studentswillbeabletoknowthatsmallactsofcouragetakeasmucheffortand
haveasmuchimpactasbigactsofcourage.
Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:
3. Studentswillbeabletofeelconfident/empoweredtospeakup.
b. Studentswillrespondtotheirpeersusinglanguagethatisrespectfuland
appropriatetotheaudienceandcontext.
Performance (do):
5. Students will be able to act courageously.
a. Students will be able to develop their personal definition of courage.
b. Students will be able to demonstrate their personal definition of courage using the skill
of persuasion.
7. Studentswillbeabletoarticulatetheirreactionstotheirown,theirpeers,andotherpeoples
developingideasofcourage.
b.Studentswillbeabletoaffirmthewaysthatpeoplewithdifferentperspectivesexpress
theircourageandspeakup.
SOLs: [List with numbers portrayed in the SOL document]
7.1 The student will participate in and contribute to conversations, group discussions, and
oral presentations.
c) Make statements to communicate agreement or tactful disagreement with others
ideas.

d) Use language and style appropriate to audience, topic, and purpose.

CCSs: [List with numbers portrayed in the CCS document]
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacherled) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and
expressing their own clearly.
Methods of Assessment:
[How will you know if the intended learning occurred?] List all methods of assessment used in
this lesson or which are related to this lesson and come in a future lesson. After each assessment,
indicate in brackets the number(s) and letter(s) of the unit objective and the related lesson
objectives that the assessment is evaluating.
Diagnostic
Do Now: Rate This
Quote & Courage
Continuum
I will observe and take
general notes on what
students developing
understandings of
courage are. This will
inform my instruction
by showing me how
split the class opinions
on courage are. If the
class feels similarly
about a lot of the
statements, I will try to
introduce more
controversial
statements about
courage or activist
news articles to see
how students will
articulate their
disagreement and
differences of opinion.
(1a, 5b, 7b)

Formative
Courage Debates:
Teacher Notes
I will be taking notes on
student behavior during
the debates, such as the
kind of language
students are using,
what tone students are
speaking in, body
language, etc. to assess
how students are
articulating their
response to other
peoples opinions, which
might be very different
from their own. I will
also be assessing
students developing
understanding of the
process of a courageous
action. This will inform
my instruction by
showing me how much I
need to embed
instruction on being
respectful into the unit.
(1b, 3b, 5a, 5b, 7b)
Journal Entry
Courage Goal
I will be reading these

Summative
Use Your Voice Project
At the end of the unit on
Presentation Day
(Lesson Plan 9), students
will express their ideas
about courage (still
developing during this
lesson) by presenting
their persuasive text to
an audience of their
peers. Students will also
respond to each others
and their own acts of
courage in a reflection.

journal entries (in

students Writers
Notebooks) to assess
students emerging
definition of courage.
This will inform my
instruction by letting me
know to what extent I
need to support and/or
challenge students to
keep developing their
personal definitions of
courage inside the
classroom with explicit
prompts and reminders.
(5a, 5b)
Procedures/Instructional Strategies
[Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students appear in italics.]
Beginning Room Arrangement:
[Changes in this arrangement that become necessary later will be noted in the plan]
Students will be seated in tables of 4. There are five tables in total.
1. [16 mins.] Bridge/Hook/Opening to lesson:
As a reminder of what to do for the Do Now, I will tell students, Hello, scholars! Since
the Do Now routine is still new to us, I want to remind to you please pay attention to the
projector screen as you walk in every morning. On the projector screen you will see the
instructions for todays Do Now, which will be a small warm up activity for you to focus
on while I take attendance.
[5 mins.] Do Now: Rate This Quote
When students come into the classroom, a Google Slide will already be projected on the
board, instructing students to grab a Do Now paper in the front. Students will have 5
minutes to grab the materials they need for class, settle down in their seats, and complete
the Do Now. There will be 5-7 quotations/statements about courage, some of which might
edge on the side of controversial, that students will rate on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1
stands for disagreement and 10 stands for agreement.
These statements might include the following:
1. It takes courage to sit down and listen.
2. It takes a great deal of [courage] to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand
up to our friends. (J.K. Rowling)
3. Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
(Winston Churchill)

4. The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud. (Coco Chanel)
5. Without fear, there cannot be courage. (Christopher Paolini)
6. A man with outward courage dares to die; a man with inner courage dares to live.
(Lao Zi)
7. Speak up, because the day you dont speak up for the things that matter to you is the
day your freedom truly ends. (Google)
[5 mins.] Courage Continuum
After students have had some time to consider each quotation/statement during the Do
Now, I will display each quotation or statement on a Google Slide. When I show each
quotation or statement, students should quietly go stand along the length of the room that
they feel best represents their stance on the quotation/statement. On the left front corner
of the room, there will be a sign that says, I absolutely DISAGREE and on the right
front corner of the room, there will be a sign that says, I absolutely AGREE. Students
will be able to see the range of opinions that each person has, but it also doesnt put
anyone strictly on the spot to volunteer their opinions. There will be a trial statement to
let students practice once, using a silly statement such as Broccoli is one of my favorite
foods.
[5 mins.] Whole Class Debrief
After students finish doing the Courage Continuum with the last statement, we will
transition to the whole class debrief. When students sit back down in their base groups, I
will ask them a few questions. In a whole class context, students will discuss how they
felt in having to commit to feeling one way or another on a quotation or a statement
(because they had to physically stand up and move to a location indicating agreement or
disagreement), especially if most of their peers felt differently. Did they feel some
conflicted feelingswanting to say something different but bowing to peer pressure? Did
they want to change their stances on any of the quotations? Why didnt they? What held
them back? I will also ask students if there are any statements that they are burning to
briefly discuss before we move forward with class.
[1 min.] Hook
Now that we have finished our warm up activities of seeing what the general class initial
opinions about courage are, we are going to stretch our definitions of courage by seeing
how other people take courageous action. We are going to look at some really cool
examples of real people dealing with obstacles and/or scary situations and analyze what
exactly these people are feeling and doing. Some big questions we will be thinking about
today include: How is courage being expressed in these situations? What inspires
people to take courageous action?
2. [51 mins.] The Courage Debates
I will introduce students to The Courage Debates, explaining the purpose of this activity,
which is to see where we all stand in terms of how we think about courage. I will
emphasize that when I have done this activity with students before, there were always a
lot of people with different opinions. These people didnt come to an agreement every

time, and discussion was actually really interesting because of the different opinions! I
will encourage students to stay true to their opinions and be courageous in expressing
them even if it seems like everyone else thinks differently.
[3 mins.] Directions
I then will give directions on how this activity will proceed. Directions will be displayed
on the projector as well. Students will watch or read the mentor text in question, then
decide whether or not they think this mentor text is a powerful example of courage.
(Students will put their heads down and raise their hand if they thought the text was not a
powerful example of courageso I can see what the break down of student opinion is.
When students lift their heads I will instruct them to split into teams of NO, YES, and I
DONT KNOW, whereupon students will work together to come up with a defense for
that texts courage or lack of demonstrating courage. If students are unanimous in a YES
or NO side, I will be the defense for the other side. Students in the I DONT KNOW side
will function as the audience for the debate, though they will also be having a small
group discussion on the mentor text.) If students have been in the audience twice already,
they must pick a side for the final text so they get a chance to speak.
[8 mins.] Mentor Text 1: King Elizabeths Hoist the Colors Speech from Pirates of
the Caribbean (2:46)
Students will view this mentor text (in a class-wide context, vote with their heads down)
(as a reference for me, and to give them some anonymity before they split off into teams),
then split into the three teams. Students will come up with a defense of this text being a
powerful example of courage (team YES) or not being a powerful example of courage
(team NO). These teams must justify their claims with evidence from the mentor text.
Team I DONT KNOW will talk about why they werent sure and take notes on how the
mentor text could be both a powerful example of courage and not a powerful example of
courage. I will not provide them with a list of characteristics as I want students to
brainstorm and start figuring out for themselves what they see as courage or not and
examining what preconceptions they have about courage.
[8 mins.] Present Your Case & Vote 1
I will call the teams back to attention with a raised hand and saying Give Me 5! and invite
each team to come to the front of the room to speak. Each team has 3 minutes to present
their case. Teams might want to write something down so theyre prepared to present
their case convincingly. After the cases are presented, the students in the I DONT
KNOW team/audience have 2 minutes to deliberate and vote how they feel depending on
the arguments. After students in the audience decide their vote, I will then draw
conversation on Text 1 to a close and transition to Text 2.
[8 mins.] Mentor Text 2: Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad History
Channel Video (3:07 mins)
Students will view this mentor text (in a class-wide context, vote with their heads down)
(as a reference for me, and to give them some anonymity before they split off into teams),
then split into the three teams. Students will come up with a defense of this text being a
powerful example of courage (team YES) or not being a powerful example of courage

(team NO). These teams must justify their claims with evidence from the mentor text.
Team I DONT KNOW will talk about why they werent sure and take notes on how the
mentor text could be both a powerful example of courage and not a powerful example of
courage. I will not provide them with a list of characteristics as I want students to
brainstorm and start figuring out for themselves what they see as courage or not and
examining what preconceptions they have about courage.
[8 mins.] Present Your Case & Vote 2
I will call the teams back to attention with a raised hand and saying Give Me 5! and invite
each team to come to the front of the room to speak. Each team has 3 minutes to present
their case. Teams might want to write something down so theyre prepared to present
their case convincingly. After the cases are presented, the students in the I DONT
KNOW team/audience have 2 minutes to deliberate and vote how they feel depending on
the arguments. After students in the audience decide their vote, I will then draw
conversation on Text 2 to a close and transition to Text 3.
[8 mins.] Mentor Text 3: Unforgettable by Pages Matam, Elizabeth Acevedo, & G.
Yamazawa (3:05 mins)
Students will view this mentor text (in a class-wide context, vote with their heads down)
(as a reference for me, and to give them some anonymity before they split off into teams),
then split into the three teams. Students will come up with a defense of this text being a
powerful example of courage (team YES) or not being a powerful example of courage
(team NO). These teams must justify their claims with evidence from the mentor text.
Team I DONT KNOW will talk about why they werent sure and take notes on how the
mentor text could be both a powerful example of courage and not a powerful example of
courage. I will not provide them with a list of characteristics as I want students to
brainstorm and start figuring out for themselves what they see as courage or not and
examining what preconceptions they have about courage.
[8 mins.] Present Your Case & Vote 3
I will call the teams back to attention with a raised hand and saying Give Me 5! and invite
each team to come to the front of the room to speak. Each team has 3 minutes to present
their case. Teams might want to write something down so theyre prepared to present
their case convincingly. After the cases are presented, the students in the I DONT
KNOW team/audience have 2 minutes to deliberate and vote how they feel depending on
the arguments. After students in the audience decide their vote, I will then draw
conversation on Text 3 to a close.
Transition: I will call student attention by raising my hand and calling, Give me 5! I will
ask students to come back together as a class so that we can have a brief debrief on how
courage showed up in these three texts.
[5 mins.] Whole Class Debrief on Courage Debates
As a whole class, we will have a debrief where students explain the similarities and
differences in how the people in these three different mentor texts demonstrated courage

and what inspired them to take action. I will ask for student to raise their hands when they
have something to say.
Transition: If students are still talking, I will try and wait for a natural pause in student
dialogue before calling attention. I will observe that we had a really productive discussion
today about how different people demonstrate courage differently. I will explain to
students that by the end of the unit, they themselves will have demonstrated courage in
their own way through the summative assessment.
3.

[8 mins.] Introduce Summative Assessment

I will then spend some time introducing the summative assessment, the Use Your Voice
Project. I will go over the parts of the Use Your Voice Project with students. I will pass
out the rubric, and tell students to please put it into their Writers Notebooks for now. We
will look at it more closely when we are ready to start writing our drafts. I will ask
students if they have any questions and provide wait time.
To transition to the Ranking Articles quick activity, I will tell students that looking ahead
to the next class, I realized that there is one thing I need to have students need to do
before the next class.

4. [5 mins] Ranking Jigsaw Articles for Next Class

I will give students a preview of next class, saying that were going to be doing a new
type of discussion called a jigsaw discussion where students will be reading different
articles. I will pass out to students a handout with just the titles of the articles and ask
students to write down onto the handout which article they prefer to read the most.
Students will write down by each article title a number 1-4 based on their impressions of
the article titles, 1 being the article they want to read the most and 4 being the article they
want to read the least. When I sort students into their groups, I will take their interest
preferences strongly into consideration, but I will also consider student readiness and
reading levels.
To transition to the final activity of the day, I will share with students my impressions of
what we learned about courage today and how excited I am that we are going on this
journey of discovering what courage looks like for different people and for themselves. I
will then explain that students will be taking the first step by deciding what courage goal
in their daily lives that they want to accomplish by the end of the week.
5. [5 mins] Closure: Setting a Courage Goal
Students will take the last few minutes of class to write in their Writers Notebooks. I will
ask students to set a courage goal for the next week. This should be something that
students have difficulty doing, something that needs a little courage to inspire them to do.
It could be as small as talking more in class discussions, asking someone out, asking for
help, learning to dance, trying something new, etc. We will revisit this idea later and
check in to see what progress students have made towards this goal. I will write a courage
goal alongside students and share with them my progress at that check-in point as well.

Differentiated Instruction to accommodate one or more of my profiled students:

(This is where you identify specific aspects of this lesson which have been differentiated in order
to address the needs of one or more of your profiled studentsidentify them by name)
Kelly Although Kelly does not usually participate in class, particularly in whole class
discussions, I have adapted my instruction so that there are some opportunities for
students to work in slightly smaller groups during the Courage Debates (although the
group size will really depend on which teams students decide to join based on their
honest opinions about the mentor text).
Jackie Since Jackie has a hard time connecting to students who are vastly different
from her, but is able to talk to such peers in an academic setting like group work, I
adapted instruction so that she is able to interact more with peers that she does not usually
work with. Because students are analyzing how courage is expressed through these
mentor texts, Kelly will also be able to discuss a topic that is not as directly personal to
herself, which will support her in forging connections with peers who are different from
her.
MarkSince Mark has an avid interest in pursuing books with themes of adventure,
action, and fantasy, I am hoping to hook his interest into these courage mentor texts with
the first mentor text (King Elizabeths Hoist the Colors Speech from Pirates of the
Caribbean), which is a movie with fantasy, adventure, and historical fiction elements in
it. I intentionally ordered the texts so as to hook student interests before offering them a
slightly denser text to analyze, and hopefully Marks interest in adventure and fantasy
will extend to pirates.
Materials Needed (list):
Do Now handout
Paper signs with I absolutely AGREE and I absolutely DISAGREE
Tape
Google Slides with the mentor texts for the Courage Debates
Use Your Voice Project Description handout
Use Your Voice Rubric
Ranking These Articles handout
Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers,
handouts, etc.)
Google Slides (https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BrI7oJ7BEaowhbFKhKxaedKbbbB7v19YjQDYctkVpk/edit?usp=sharing)

Use Your Voice Project

Unit Objectives
You will be able to act courageously.
You will be able to understand the process of a courageous action.
You will be able to reflect on the effect of a courageous action on an audience.
You will be able to express your reactions to your own and your peers developing
ideas of courage.

Description
Picture This: You are an activist! Although you are one person, everyone has a
voice. That means you has the power to speak up and create change! For the Use
Your Voice Project, you are going to demonstrate courage by undergoing and
reflecting upon the process of a courageous action. Your task is to decide on an
injustice to speak up about. You will choose your stance on this injustice and speak
to an audience about your stance, persuading them to your side to the best of your
ability. This speaking up can take the form of an actual speech, a podcast, a blog
post, etc., and will be presented, shared, and/or published to your actual audience.
Requirements of your Persuasive Text:
1) Length: 1-2 pages
2) Style: 12 pt. Times New Roman font, double-spaced
3) Contains: at least 2 persuasive techniques

Your Steps
Decide which injustice you find important enough to speak up about.
Explain your personal connections to this cause.
Identify your stance and the stances that your opposition/critics might have.
Identify an audience that you want to speak to about your injustice.
Decide which medium (e.g. speech, blog post, podcast, radio show piece,
etc.) would be the most effective for you to persuade your audience.
Create your persuasive text.
Present, share, and/or publish your persuasive text.
After your peers present, share, and/or publish their persuasive text, you will
respond to their persuasive text.
Reflect on the Use Your Voice Project and describe your process of speaking
up for your cause, its effect on your intended audience, and your own
response.
Note: You will be required to conference at least once with me to discuss your
ideas and plan for the project.

Persuasive Text and PresentationRubric 25%

Task:Eachstudentwillgivea23minutepresentationthatspeaksupaboutaninjustice(ofthestudentschoice),identifyingitand
possiblyofferingsolutionsorbeginningstepstowardsresolvingtheinjustice.Thestudentmayalsochoosetheformatoftheirwriting
piecebuteveryoneisrequiredtoidentifytheirtopicandpiecetoanaudienceoftheirpeers.
Scoring
Mastery10
PartialMastery9
Progressing8
Category
Characteristic The persuasive text The persuasive text The persuasive text
demonstrates a
demonstrates a
demonstrates an
sofPersuasive
clear
and
clear
emerging
Writing
comprehensive
understanding of
understanding of
understanding of
most of the
some of the
all the
characteristics of
characteristics of
characteristics of
persuasive writing:
persuasive writing:
persuasive writing:
introduction, stance
introduction, stance
introduction,
on injustice topic,
on injustice topic,
stance on injustice
possible solutions,
possible solutions,
topic, possible
and conclusion.
and conclusion.
solutions, and
One or two of these
conclusion.
characteristics are
incomplete or not
as well developed
as the others.
Contentof
Thepersuasivetext
Thepersuasivetext
Thepersuasivetext

demonstratesathought
demonstratesa
demonstratesan
Persuasive
provokinganalysisof
competentanalysisof
emerginganalysisofthe
Text
theinjusticetopicand
theinjusticetopicand
injusticetopicand
potentialsolutions.
potentialsolutions.
potentialsolutions.
Clarityand
Organization

Emerging7
Thepersuasivetext
demonstratesalimited
(requiringrethinking)
understandingofsomeof
thecharacteristicsof
persuasivewriting:
introduction,stanceon
injusticetopic,possible
solutions,andconclusion.
Morethantwoofthese
characteristicsare
incompleteornotaswell
developedastheothers.

Thepersuasivetext
demonstratesalimited
(requiresrethinking)
analysisoftheinjustice
topicandpotential
solutions.
Allofthepersuasivetext Allofthepersuasivetext Allofthepersuasivetext Notallofthepersuasive
isorganizedinto
isorganizedinto
isorganizedinto
textisorganizedinto

paragraphswith
indentations.
Thewritingisalways
clearandusesspecific
vocabularytoconvey
meaning.
Grammarand Thepersuasivetexthas
nogrammaticaland
Mechanics
mechanicalerrors.
Thesentencesvaryin
structureandflow
smoothly.

paragraphswith
indentations.The
writingismostlyclear
andusesspecific
vocabularytoconvey
meaning.

Thepersuasivetexthasa
fewgrammaticaland
mechanicalerrors.
Mostofthesentences

varyinstructureand
flowrelatively
smoothly.
Presentation Thepresentationlasts
Thepresentationlasts

between45minutes.
between45minutes.
Thespeakerspeaks
Thespeakerspeaks

clearlyandloudly
clearlyandloudly
enoughtobeheardby
enoughtobeheardby
everyoneinthe
mostpeopleinthe
audience.
audience.
Thespeakerisalways
Thespeakerisfrequently
usingeyecontact,a
usingeyecontact,a
livelytone,hand
livelytone,hand
gestures,andother
gestures,andothertypes
typesofbodylanguage
ofbodylanguageto
toengagetheaudience.
engagetheaudience.
*Ifthereisapartmissing,you will get a zero for that part.

paragraphs,butsomeare
missingindentations.
Thewritingis
sometimesclearand
sometimesusesspecific
vocabularytoconvey
meaning.
Thepersuasivetexthas
somegrammaticaland
mechanicalerrors.
Manyofthesentences

varyinstructureand
flowsomewhat
smoothly.
Thepresentationlasts

between45minutes.
Thespeakerspeaks
clearlyandloudly
enoughtobeheardby
somepeopleinthe
audience.
Thespeakerissometimes

usingeyecontact,a
livelytone,hand
gestures,andothertypes
ofbodylanguageto
engagetheaudience.

paragraphs,andmanyor
allaremissing
indentations.Thewriting
israrelyclearandrarely
ordoesnotusespecific
vocabularytoconvey
meaning.
Thepersuasivetexthas
manygrammaticaland
mechanicalerrors.
Someofthesentencesvary
instructure.Theflowof
thesentencerequires
somerethinking.
Thepresentationdoesnot
lastbetween45minutes.
Itiseithertooshortor
toolong.
Thespeakerspeaksclearly
andloudlyenoughtobe
heardbyveryfewpeople
intheaudience.
Thespeakerisrarelyusing
eyecontact,alivelytone,
handgestures,andother
typesofbodylanguageto
engagetheaudience.

ReflectionRubric15%
Scoring
Category
Personal
Process

Effect(s)on
Intended
Audience

YourOwn
Response

Distinguished10

Proficient9

Intermediate8

Clearlyandthoughtfully Clearlydescribessignificant Somewhatclearlydescribes

describessignificant
aspectsofyourprocessof
significantaspectsofyour
aspectsofyourprocessof
speakingupforyour
processofspeakingupfor
speakingupforyour
cause.
yourcause.
cause.
Clearlyexplainshowyour Somewhatclearlyexplains
Clearlyandthoughtfully
projectdemonstrates
howyourproject
explainshowyourproject
courage.
demonstratescourage.
demonstratescourage.
Clearlyandthoughtfully Clearlyidentifiesand
Somewhatclearlyidentifies
identifiesandexplainsthe
explainstheeffectsof
andexplainstheeffectsof
effectsofyourspeaking
yourspeakinguponyour
yourspeakinguponyour
uponyourintended
intendedaudience.
intendedaudience.
audience.
Identifiesyourintended
Identifiesyourintended
Identifiesyourintended
audience
audience.
audience.
Clearlyandthoughtfully
identifiesandexplains
yourownresponseto
yourspeakingup.

It

It

It

It

Clearlyidentifiesand
Somewhatclearlyidentifies It
explainsyourown
andexplainsyourown
responsetoyourspeaking
responsetoyourspeaking
up.
up.

UseYourVoiceProjectTotalScore

Persuasive Text and

Presentation Score

Reflection Score

Total Project Score