Jessica Marovich November 8, 2012 Title: The Importance of Note Taking and Summarizing The Fall of the House

of Usher Time: Class duration 49 minutes Setting: A local high school in a standard academic English class for Juniors. There are fifteen students in the classroom, with seven being boys and eight being girls. There is one student with Aspergers Syndrome.

Theory into Practice Background: Writing is an activity that forces thought: you cannot write without thinking, for to arrange language into meaningful units- sentences, phrases, poems, narratives- is to use the mind, (Burke 245). The example of this theory that I will use in this lesson is the use of the creative writing prompt that I will have the students complete at the end of the lesson. The writing activity will allow the students to think creatively and use their mind in order to draw up a time in their life when they were the most scared. The background information that the students need to already have in this content area are grammar rules. The students need to know when to capitalize words, where to put punctuation marks, etc. Writing is extremely important in todays society; therefore, by having the students write a creative writing response, it allows them to practice their writing and writing conventions. The growing demand for good writers requires more time and attention devoted to writing instruction and assessment in order to prepare all students for a changing world, (Policy Brief 2). By spending time on writing in my lesson, the students are preparing for this changing world by improving their writing one step at a time. Objectives: By the end of the class.. The students will be able to understand the importance of note taking and different strategies that they can use to gain better note taking skills The students will be able to interpret, recall, assess, analyze, and respond to different aspects of the story The students will be able to use their creativity to create a response that coincides with the story Materials: Note taking worksheet on The Fall of the House of Usher Balls Smart board

Preparation: Make sure the note taking worksheet is prepared Have the balls for the game out and ready Procedure: Opening: Introduce myself to the class Have them take a reading check quiz for The Fall of the House of Usher and then turn it in Body: Ask the students how they liked the story and then ask if they have any questions Hand out the note taking worksheet, and explain why note taking is important (Helps you to retain information, can improve your test scores, etc.) Ask them to give examples of different strategies that would improve their note taking. Examples may include: 1.) Start a new page for each new class each day and date the page. This will allow for better organization. 2.) Do not copy word for word because this may cause you to fall behind. Use key words, concepts, and abbreviations. 3.) If the teacher repeats something several times or writes it on the board, its probably important. 4.) Use sticky notes to mark important points in a book. 5.) Do not be afraid to ask the teacher to repeat something you think is important. Complete the note taking guide worksheet as a class I will have the students play a game where I will separate the class into two teams. One player from each team will compete against each other. I will ask a question and whoever throws the ball against the board first gets to answer the question. I will hand the winning team candy as an incentive to answer the questions. Closing: I will have the students take out a sheet of paper, and in 3-5 sentences they will respond to the question Tell me about a time when you were completely scared out of your mind. I will have the students hand their responses in at the end of the class. Discussion Ideas: What are different types of note taking skills that you can use Tell me about a time when you were completely scared out of your mind.

Language Accommodations:

There are no ELL students in my classroom or students in need of language accommodations. Special Education Accommodations: My classroom does not include any students with IEPs or special education accommodations, but my lesson can still be accommodated for students with special needs. I will focus on a student who has Aspergers Syndrome. People with Aspergers Syndrome have difficulty with social interactions, and they like to stick to a specific routine. My lesson poses two problems for a student with Aspergers Syndrome. One problem is that my whole class discussion on note taking, and the summary of the story may make the student uncomfortable due to the fact that they have difficulty with social interactions; also, by playing a game, the student may get disheveled because that is not part of their everyday routine. In order to accommodate my lesson for this student, during the whole class discussion, I could separate the class into groups; therefore, the discussion will be smaller for the student with Aspergers Syndrome. The student may feel more comfortable to talk in a smaller group as opposed to the whole class. The smaller group discussion will also allow me to observe how this student interacts with their classmates. Plus it will help the student practice how to behave in a social setting. When it comes to the game, I will let the student know ahead of time (a day or two before), that we will be playing a game in class. This will allow the student to have time to realize that their schedule may be affected by this. As for my assessment of the creative writing prompt, I will grade it the same as the rest of the class, but I will let the student know ahead of time that there will be a graded assignment that needs to be turned in at the end of the class period.

Assessment: I will assess the students understanding of the story by having them complete the timeline of events. This will allow me to see if they remember the story and the correct sequence that the events went in. I will also assess the students understanding of the story by asking them questions during the game. They will have to answer questions where they have to interpret, analyze, recall, respond, and assess different aspects of the story. I will assess their ability to be creative by having them write a paragraph about a time when they were scared. I also have a rubric attached for how I will assess their creative writing prompt. Extension Ideas: I could ask more questions during the game in order to prolong the lesson. I only ask six questions, therefore, I could now ask ten. During the note taking lecture at the beginning of the lesson, I could give them a short story and have them take accurate notes, that I will grade, in order to ensure that they understand the importance of note taking.

Source of Activity: I got a lot of my ideas for this lesson plan from my cooperating teacher. I also got the worksheets from the Literature textbooks teachers guide.

Resources and References: Burke, Jim. English Teachers Companion. Third ed. [S.l.]: Heinemann, 2012. Print. Common Core State Standards Initiative, 2012. Web. 6 November 2012.

"Illinois Professional Teaching Standards." Illinois State Board of Education, 2010. PDF. 6 November 2012

Kovacs, Mary Anne, and Ruth L. Van Arsdale. Wuthering Heights: Curriculum Unit. Cleveland: The Center for Learning, 2010. Print. Writing Now: An NCTE Policy Research Brief. National Council of Teachers of English. March 2011. Web. 5 November 2012.

Illinois State English Language Arts Goals: My lesson plan addresses Standard 5-Instructional Delivery My lesson plan addresses Knowledge Indicator 5F: knows strategies to maximize student attentiveness and engagement. -This indicator is reflected in my lesson during the game that I have the students play. Lecturing at the front of the classroom can be boring and dull for the students; therefore, playing a game allows for the students to become more engaged in the lesson. They were attentive during the game because whoever won, I gave candy to; therefore, they had an incentive to participate. Playing a game is a great strategy to maximize your students attentiveness and engagement. My lesson plan addresses standard 5: Instructional Delivery My lesson plan addresses Performance Indicator 5J: Monitors and adjusts strategies in response to feedback from the student. -This indicator is reflected in my lesson because when I taught first hour, I realized that some of my game questions were confusing for the students; therefore, I reworded my questions for the

next class. I saw the reactions from my first hour students and I had to adjust my lesson in order to make it better for the next hour.

Common Core English Language Arts Standards: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 1112 topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. -This standard is reflected in my lesson because I initiate a teacher-led discussion on note taking and on the sequence of events in the story. I start out by asking the question and giving the students some ideas, and then they respond with more answers. During the note taking discussion, one student would respond with a way that they like to take notes, and then another student would build off of that idea and express their way they take notes and why they like their way better. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.11-12.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. -This standard is reflected in my lesson because I grade the students on their grammar in the creative writing prompt that I have them write. I told the students to make sure that their grammar is correct for that will be what the majority of their grade is on. I made sure that their capitalization, punctuation, and spelling were all correct.

Reflection: For this lesson, my cooperating teacher helped me with most of the planning. She told me that she wanted me to teach a lesson about The Fall of the House of Usher where we summarize the story. She also wanted me to touch on the importance of note taking within the classroom. I thought it would be a good idea to lead a discussion about note taking where the students respond to ways that they think are beneficial. As for summarizing The Fall of the House of Usher, I thought a graphic organizer would be beneficial to the students learning. They were able to discuss as a class the parts of the story that they thought were most important, and write it down in the graphic organizer. I assessed this lesson plan through my discussion with the story, the graphic organizer, and the writing prompt that I had them write at the end of the class. My students seemed to have read the story because they were engaged in the lesson and knew what they were talking about. I also assessed them on their grammar and creativity through the writing prompt. Their grammar needs some work, but I went easy on them. If I had to change anything about my lesson plan, I would add a note taking worksheet to the note taking discussion

in order for the students to retain the information that we discussed. All in all, the lesson went extremely well.

Directions: Write about a time when you were completely scared out of your mind. I will grade you on content and grammar. Your response needs to be five to seven sentences long. Exceeds Expectations: 5 The student understands the prompt, uses 5-7 sentences Meets Expectations: 3 The student understands the prompt, but does not use the correct amount of sentences 3-4 grammar errors Does Not Meet Expectations: 1 The student does not respond to the prompt correctly and does not use the correct amount of sentences 5 or more grammar errors Comments:

Content

Grammar

0-2 grammar errors

A:

10-9

B: 8-7

C: 6-5

D: 4-3

F: 2-0