Akers-Pecht 1

Dottie Akers-Pecht
EDIS 5882
Observation 3
Context:
Date and time for which lesson will be taught: Thursday, October 1st from 2:50 to 3:50
Course name: Honors English 11 American Literature
Grade level: 11th
Length of lesson: 60 minutes
Description of setting, students, and curriculum and any other important contextual
characteristics:
At the beginning of this class period, my mentor and I will explain to our class what they
can expect to see on their upcoming field trip to UVAs Fralin Museum of Art next week. We will
be going in order to see artwork from Jacob Lawrences Struggle Series, as well as to participate
in the museums Writers Eye program, where students respond to pieces of art in writing (either
poetry or prose).
This lesson incorporates two pieces of art from Lawrences Struggle Series to help give
students a historical context for the writings of Phillis Wheatley. (Lawrence often included
historical events in his works, and these two paintings more closely examine the issue of slavery
surrounding the Revolutionary War, when Wheatley was writing.)
To date, we have often discussed works in a whole class format with our students. For
this lesson, I wanted to first give the students a chance to decipher the meaning of Wheatleys
works by considering them in context with other documents, including Lawrences paintings and
criticism from Wheatleys time as well as the present.

Objectives (number each objective to reference in the Assessment section):

SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
a. The students will understand that nonfiction and visual texts can enhance understanding
of literary works.
Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:
b. The students will value one anothers contributions to class discussion.
Performance (do):
c. The students will be able to analyze short literary works alongside related nonfiction and
visual texts to create conclusions about this literature.
SOLs:

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Reading 11.4 The student will read, comprehend, and analyze relationships among American
literature, history, and culture.
a) Describe contributions of different cultures to the development of American literature.
CCSs:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2
Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the
course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex
account; provide an objective summary of the text.
Assessments: Methods for evaluating each of the specific objectives listed above.
Diagnostic: Students will demonstrate what they already know about the relationship between
history, art, and literature by:
Completing a do now journal entry at the beginning of class asking them to examine
how history affects literature and art, as well as how literature and art can in turn affect
history (objective a, SOL Reading 11.4)
Formative: Students will show their progress towards todays objectives by
Participating in small group and whole class discussions to analyze the meanings of
literary works in the context of visual and nonfiction texts (objectives a, b, and c, SOL
Reading 11.4a, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.2)
Summative: Students will ultimately be assessed in a future lesson on their understanding of the
objectives by:
Completing a writing assignment following the Fralin field trip where they respond in
writing to a piece of visual art (objective a)

Materials Needed:
PowerPoint on Phillis Wheatley (attached)
My own notes on important themes and points to discuss about Wheatleys works
Copies of instructions for each station (at least 6 copies of each stations handout)
Packets containing paintings from Jacob Lawrences Struggle Series, obtained from a
previous visit my mentor and I made to the Fralin Museum
Students may also feel the need to write down notes/important points that we discuss
about Wheatley during the PowerPoint presentation. In this case, the students will need
paper/a notebook and a pen/pencil.
Instructional Steps (Procedures): Detail student and teacher behavior.
[Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students appear in italics.]

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Beginning Room Arrangement:
The students desks are arranged in five groups of four, and one group of six. The students will
work within these groups during small group discussions at each of the six stations. At each
transition after five minutes, the students will move clockwise to the next group of desks, where
additional instructions will await them.

1.

[5 mins.] Hook to lesson: Journal entry

After introducing the Fralin field trip alongside my mentor, I will ask the students to get out a
notebook and pen/pencil in order to complete a journal entry that will be posted on the
PowerPoint presentation at the front of the class. This journal prompt reads as follows: How
does history influence art and literature? How much can literature and art in turn affect history?
The students will have five minutes to write silently.

2.

[5 mins.] Introduction to lesson: Debrief of journal entry

After these five minutes, I will explain to the students that today, were going to examine the
poems of Phillis Wheatley in the context of visual art (Jacob Lawrences works) and important
historical texts. In doing so, well further examine how art, history, and literature all influence
one another, as well as learn about important historical issues that were occurring at the time
when Wheatley was writing.
I will call on only a couple of volunteers to share what they wrote for this journal entry. I will
record important points on the board so that students can refer back to these as they later work on
the activity for today.

3.

[5 mins.] Step 1: Background on Phillis Wheatley

I will advise students to take notes during this portion of the lesson. I will let students know that I
will accept questions during this time if students wish to ask any. Using the PowerPoint
presentation I compiled, I will give students some brief background information on Wheatley.
This stage of the lesson will take on a lecture style as I explain the beginning of Wheatleys life
and the circumstances that led her to writing poetry.

4.

[5 mins.] Step 2: Introduction to stations activity

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Now I will briefly explain the instructions for the stations activity. I will tell the students that
they will start at the table they are now sitting at. They will have five minutes to follow the
directions on the handout placed in the middle of their group of desks. Then, after these five
minutes have passed, they will rotate clockwise (I will motion to the students to designate the
direction they should move in) to the next table.
I will explain that the types of documents they will encounter during this activity include
Wheatleys poems, criticism on her poems, and artwork by Lawrence that will help them to think
about the time period that Wheatley was living in. I will let students know that they do not have
to take notes at this time; I would prefer for them to focus on discussing these different
documents in their groups for the time being. Then, following the stations activity, we will
discuss each of the documents and our reactions to them in a whole class format. I will take any
questions that the students might have before we begin.

5.

[30 mins.] Step 3: Stations activity

The students will begin at the table they are initially sitting at. They will read the document
placed in the middle of their table and then discuss it according to guiding questions provided in
their handouts.
During this time, I will rotate around the classroom to listen in on students conversations, as
well as provide questioning to further their discussions. If I notice that a couple of students are
dominating the conversation in a group, I might ask a certain student what he or she thinks or
how he or she would respond to a previous point made by a classmate.
After every five minutes, a timer on the overhead projector will go off, letting the students know
that they need to change stations. They will move in a clockwise direction and then begin on the
activity in the next station. There will be six stations total.

6.

[10 mins.] Closing: Debrief of stations activity

During this time at the end of class, we will briefly discuss what the students talked about at each
station. I will continue to go through the PowerPoint presentation to provide students with
visuals and the text of each of the documents they encountered in their stations to jog their
memories. This section of the class will be more student centered and I will ask questions to
encourage the students to respond to one anothers ideas, such as whether they agree or disagree
with a conclusion made by one of their peers about a document.

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We will end with the slide in the PowerPoint presentation that discusses the final years of
Wheatleys life. I will bring students attention to the fact (and encourage them to discuss this
point) that even though Wheatley became a very successful poet, the end of her life was marked
by grief and poverty. I will take any final questions that the students have on Wheatley in this
final stage of the lesson as well.

Attention to Individual Student Needs: (Differentiation): Detail specific actions/materials

you will use to differentiate instruction in this lesson.
My mentor and I have several students with IEPs that delineate their need for clear directions.
Each station will include a document alongside printed instructions for what to do with these
documents that the students can refer to as they work. These instructions will be given to all
students so that no one is singled out in needing this accommodation.
Additionally, the documents that the students will study in stations include poems, nonfiction,
and visual art, appealing more widely to a diverse group of learners with various learning
preferences. These documents also vary in reading level, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.s piece of
criticism being slightly more accessible in modern language, while the Thomas Jefferson text
while provide more challenge in its more lofty style.
The students will additionally be able to first read the Wheatley poems themselves in their
stations, and will later hear them aloud in a full class format. (An audio reading of On Being
Brought From Africa to America is included in a link in the PowerPoint presentation, while I
will read the excerpt from To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth aloud.) These
multiple encounters with the poems will help students with decoding difficulties or lower
readiness levels with poetry to have more than one opportunity to consider each text.

Technology Use: Detail specific technology being used in the lesson with explanation for
why it is being used.
The enclosed PowerPoint presentation will allow students to visualize important details such as
the geographic region of Africa that Wheatley came from and paintings from Jacob Lawrences
Struggle Series. The embedded link will lead to an interview with a Howard University professor
who reads On Being Brought From Africa aloud, allowing the students to hear the poem read
with passion by a modern expert in the field. Additionally, she provides an additional
interpretation to the poem that the students may not have previously considered.
Additionally, technology will aid me in helping to keep track of the timing of the parts of this
lesson. I will project a timer on the overhead projector that will give students a visual countdown

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or reminder of how much time they have left in each station. At the end of each five minutes, the
timer will ring, and this audio alarm will let students know that they are to progress to the next
station without me spending extra time to try to quiet them down before telling them myself.

How this lesson incorporates specific insights from course readings and/or class discussion:
In class, weve been discussing the results to our student surveys that we recently administered.
One of the areas in which I was lowest concerned incorporating more modern or real world
themes and ideas alongside my lessons. In this lesson, one of my main goals was to relate Phillis
Wheatley to Jacob Lawrence and the students upcoming field trip to the Fralin, where they will
see Lawrences paintings up close. In doing so, I also wanted to help students make connections
across time periods, as well as encourage them to consider how art, literature, and history are all
intertwined. Additionally, my documents for this lesson include examples of 18th century
literature, mid 20th century art, and both 18th century and 21st century criticism for students to
examine how perceptions of Wheatleys work and talent have changed over time.