Title: Identifying the Central Idea

Grade and Subject: 8th Grade ELA

1. LESSON AND ASSESSMENT PLAN CONTEXT
On Tuesday 9/27/16, we will present a lesson to our 8 th grade ELA
class reviewing central ideas, themes, and supporting evidence in
order to prepare students for writing in the narrative form. The
Overview
lesson will rely on cooperative learning, group discussion, prior
knowledge, and critical thinking. Our strategies will include using
the personal and social dimension of metacognitive conversation.
The class consists of minority students (mostly Black and Latino),
Student so the content will focus on genres of music they are familiar with.
Background, Our students mostly enjoy Hip Hop music played on the radio, so
Culture, and this lesson will expose them to other genres. Some of the
Context students needs for improvements include differentiating between
closely related literary terms.
This lesson was developed because the students are preparing to
write narratives and the content is relatable because they hear
various songs everyday. Many students confuse terms such as
theme and central idea, so this lesson will distinguish the
difference between the two. Students may not have personally
lived through certain experiences described in some of the songs,
but they may connect to the themes through other peoples
experiences. This lesson is important because it helps them
distinguish between literary terms in a more interesting way, and
it allows them to identify the terms in multiple forms. This lesson
responds to the lives and times of our students because they are
Rationale in the process of coming of age and finding their identities. The
songs included in the lesson focus on identity, tragedy, love,
betrayal, and environmental awareness. The lesson connects to
previous and further lessons because it builds on their prior
knowledge of interpreting a text, and it also improves their
reading comprehension. In Reading for Understanding by Ruth
Schoenbach, Cynthia Greenleaf, and Lynn Murphy, the authors
discuss various reading strategies to improve comprehension
such as talking to the text. This lesson gives students an example
of how to approach a text even when in a state of confusion. The
students can use their own experiences and the experiences of
their peers to make connections to the material.
2. LESSON AND ASSESSMENT PLAN LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Essential Questions:
Purpose of the 1. How can you determine the central idea of a passage?
Lesson: Central 2. How can inferences be made about a text before you
Focus begin reading?
3. How central ideas and themes are easily confused?
Learning Students will be able to
 Identify the central idea of a passage.
Locate details and evidence that strongly support and
strengthen the central idea.
Objective(s) Summarize and restate a passage in their own words.
Distinguish between the central idea and theme and
provide examples of each.
Predict and make inferences about a text.
The language function being used for this lesson is identify and
Language distinguish. The students are identifying the central idea as well
Function as the supporting evidence. They will also distinguish between the
central idea and the theme.
Students will demonstrate their understanding of context-specific
Academic Language

vocabulary through hands on practice. By shifting to each station,

students will have multiple opportunities to revisit the vocabulary
Vocabulary and apply it to each song. Their knowledge of the vocabulary is
being supported because they are already familiar with the terms,
and the review at the beginning of class will clear up any
confusion.
Students will demonstrate their understanding of the
syntax/discourse by interpreting the meaning of the material
Syntax or through context clues shown in the text. Students will use the
Discourse composition of lyrics (details) to determine the meaning of the
song, which is essentially the central idea and overall purpose of
the lesson.
ELAGSE8RL2 Determine a theme and/or central idea of a text
and analyze its development over the course of the text, including
its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an
GSE - Georgia
objective summary of the text.
Standards of
Excellence
ELAGSE8RI2 Determine a central idea of a text and analyze its
development over the course of the text, including its relationship
to supporting ideas; provide an objective summary of the text.
The informal assessment will be the class discussion at the end of
Formal and
the lesson. They will also be monitored while they are in groups.
Informal
The students will complete a formal assessment at the end of the
Assessment
week to test their understanding of the content.
3. LESSON AND ASSESSMENT PLAN ACTIVITIES
Using the students prior knowledge of central ideas, topics, and
themes, we will review the definition of the terms using a handout
Introductio
and provide examples in order to work through the rest of the
n
lesson. The introduction will also clear up any misunderstandings
(15
about what each term means and where an example of each term
minutes)
can be found in a text. This portion of the lesson will primarily use
teacher-student interaction.
Body The students will be placed in (5) groups of (5) and lyrics to a
 song will be placed at each group. The selection of songs will
Instructional Strategies & Learning Tasks that Support Diverse Student Needs cover a variety of genres to immolate various genres of literature
students many be presented with.
The students will work in their groups and determine:
Central Idea: The students must demonstrate what the
song is about.
Supporting Evidence: Students must tell why the central
idea is true by using details stated in the text.
Theme: Students must tell what the moral message or
lesson of the song is.
This portion of the lesson will rely on student-student interaction
and cooperative learning. The teachers will serve as facilitators
(30 and provide any additional assistance if needed. After the groups
minutes) spend (6) minutes working through the song they will rotate to
the next station. The students will use their own paper to record
answers and the worksheet they were given during the
introduction to refer back to.
The songs included in the lesson are:
Before He Cheats by Carrie Underwood (Country)
Roses by Kanye West (Hip Hop)
Childrens Story by Slick Rick (Hip Hop)
Please Mr. Postman by The Marvelettes (Pop)
If I Were a Boy by Beyonc (R&B)
After the students have visited each station we will discuss our
findings together.
Following the activity, students will demonstrate their knowledge
by engaging in a class discussion about their observations. This
will also be an appropriate time for the teacher to check for
understanding. The teacher should pose and answer the
questions:
Closure Why are these details important?
(15 How do they work to show us what the central idea might be?
minutes) What makes each detail similar?
What makes them different?
What is the best suggestion for the central idea?
Why?
Students can use the handout they were given and their notes
from this activity as a reference for future writing.
Differentiation, The students will have the support of their peers in their groups,
Modification(s), and if they require additional assistance they will have the full
and support of the teachers. None of the students require major
Accommodation( modifications to the lesson; however, they need additional time to
s) read the material.
4. LESSON AND ASSESSMENT PLAN RESOURCES
Materials Materials Used:
Lyric sheets
Worksheets
 Playlist
Timer