Concept Unit

Lesson Plan Template

Unit Working Title: Speaking Up
Unit Big Idea (Concept/Theme): Courage
Unit Primary Skill focus: Persuasion
Week 1 of 3; Plan #3 of 9; [90 mins.]
Plan type: ____Full-Detail _X_Summary
Content Requirement Satisfied: Writing instruction, 1 short text as a model (my Topic
Blast teacher model)
(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.
b.Studentswillknowthatwritingisamethodofspeakingup.
d.Studentswillknowthatwritingisoftenaprecursortospeakinguporally.
Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:
3.Studentswillbeabletofeelconfident/empoweredtospeakup.
b.Studentswillrespondtotheirpeersusinglanguagethatisrespectfuland
appropriatetotheaudienceandcontext.
Performance (do):
8.Studentswillbeabletoarticulatetheirreactionstotheirown,theirpeers,andother
peoplesdevelopingideasofcourage.
a.Studentswillbeabletoaffirmthewaysthattheythemselvesandtheirpeers
expresstheircourageandspeakup.
b.Studentswillbeabletoaffirmthewaysthatpeoplewithdifferentperspectives
expresstheircourageandspeakup.
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.
e) Use a variety of strategies to listen actively.
7.7 The student will write in a variety of forms with an emphasis on exposition,
narration, and persuasion.
a) Identify intended audience.
b) Use a variety of prewriting strategies including graphic organizers to generate
and organize ideas.
CCSs: [List with numbers portrayed in the CCS document]
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.10
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision)
and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific
tasks, purposes, and audiences.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.7.1
Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and
teacher-led) 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: Quick Write
Using their written
responses, I will assess
students current
understanding of
courage in their
personal lives.
Listening to their oral
responses to their
peers sharing, I will
assess their developing
ability to respond to
peers who may have
differing perspectives.
This will inform my
instruction on what
other kinds of Do Nows

Formative
Graffiti on Colors of
Courage
I will assess students
developing ability to
identify and reflect on
instances of courage in
their own lives as well
as their developing
abilities to respond to
peers either by
affirming or disagreeing
respectfully. This will
inform my instruction by
shaping how explicit I
make our classroom
norm of respect in the
next class. (1a, 1b, 3b,

Summative
Use Your Voice Project
At the end of the unit on
Presentation Day (Day
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.

I will have students do,

depending on what
kinds of connections
students are making.
(1a, 1b, 1d, 3b, 8a, 8b)

8a, 8b)
Generalizations
I will circulate and
observe student
discussions when they
are making
generalizations as well
as listening to the class
wide discussion so that I
may assess students
developing
understanding of what
inspires people to do
courageous acts. This
will inform my
instruction in this class
by letting me see what
ideas or preconceptions
about courage I need to
challenge students to
think more about (even
during their Topic
Blasts). (1b, 1d, 3b, 8a,
8b)
Topic Blast
I will circulate and take
notes on students
progress on selecting a
current event injustice
topic. I will use this
information to inform
my instruction; if
necessary I will conduct
conferences with
students during
workshop today. (1b)
Exit Ticket
I will collect these to
assess students
developing
understanding of their
injustice topic and their
plans for the Use Your

Voice Project. This will

inform my future
instruction by showing
me where I need to
support students more
in their Use Your Voice
project. (1b)

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. [13 mins.] Bridge/Hook/Opening to lesson:
[1 min.] Bridge
Yesterday, you scholars did a jigsaw on injustices to see the range of injustices
that people face every single day. These are issues happening in current events!
Today, our goal is to dig deep inside of ourselves and share some potentially
vulnerable feelings.
[3 mins.] Do Now: Quick Write
Before students begin their Quick Writes, I will give a quick introduction of the
task and explain the purpose: to get students thinking about which tasks in their
daily lives require them to be courageous. These tasks might take a tiny amount of
courage or a lot of courage, depending on the task and the person. In their Writers
Notebooks, students will take 3 minutes to write down as many things they can
think of that they find hard, scary, anxiety-inducing to do. After the timer for 3
minutes goes off, students must put their pencils down.
It will say on the Google Slide, What are some things or tasks make you feel
frightened or anxious? Write down AS MANY things you can think of. Please be
prepared to share this list with your base group.
Transition: I will say to students, All right, time is up. Now that you have jotted
down some thoughts about tasks that make you frightened, you will turn to your

base group members and compare your lists to see if you have anything in
common.
[4 mins.] Base Group Share
In their base groups, students have 4 minutes to quickly see if there are any listed
items in common between their lists. If there are no items in common, what are
some patterns they notice about their listed items?
After 4 minutes of discussion, I will call attention to me by raising my hand and
saying, Give me 5! I will ask students to come back to a whole class debrief so
that the class could share with each other what this process of writing down their
fears felt like.
[5 mins.] Whole Class Debrief
Students will discuss as a class what it was like for them to write down a list of
tasks or things that they feel anxious or afraid of doing. Was the act of writing it
down cathartic? Was it scary to put it down in writing? Did it take courage? Other
thoughts?
Transition: I will draw the whole class debrief to a close after 5 minutes and
move onto the next part of the lesson. I will say, Now that we have reflected on
the experience of writing down some vulnerable feelings and gotten a taste of
what it is like to communicate with each other through writing down something
first, we are going to see what it is like to have a discussion with each other
through writing in an activity called Graffiti.
Remember our rules for respect! We want to make sure our class remains a safe
space. I will ask students what we could do to achieve our goal of being respectful
when sharing personal experiences and when disagreeing with others. All right,
lets see what the base group Graffiti is all about!
2. [39 mins.] Graffiti on the many Colors of Courage
[5 mins.] Directions
I will then give students directions for how the graffiti will commence. I will also
explain the purpose of the base group graffiti, which is to offer students a different
way of expressing their opinions. This way, students who feel less comfortable
speaking in front of the class can share their thoughts through writing, and other
students can respond to those thoughts directly onto the paper as well. Graffiti
also lets students draw diagrams or pictures to express themselves, hence the
name graffiti.
[12 mins.] Graffiti Pass Around
Each table will receive a piece of chart paper/bulletin board paper. Each piece of
paper will have a different question on it.

Potential Questions:
What do you think inspires someone to do something courageous?
What is an example of someone doing something courageous that you have seen
in books, movies, video games or on TV?
What is an example in your life of someone (you, your family, your friends, etc.)
doing something courageous?
Courage doesnt always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of
the day saying, I will try again tomorrow. Do you agree with this quote? Why
or why not?
Look at this example scenario [insert example scenario]. Is this courage? Why
or why not? OR Create your own example scenario of someone demonstrating
courage in an unconventional way and explain your reasoning.
Students will each get a different colored marker to write their ideas down. For
each round, students have 3 minutes to read what other people wrote and write
down their thoughts on the piece of paper. After the 3 minutes, students must put
their markers down and have someone (nominated beforehand) to walk the paper
over to the other table. I will be circulating during this time so that I can support
any students who appear to be struggling to write their thoughts down.
[7 mins.] Small Group Generalizations
After all the papers with the different questions are passed around, students will
get their original graffiti paper back and discuss the ideas written down by their
classmates. In their groups, students discuss the ideas they find (what are their
classmates thinking? What is something new they hadnt thought about before?)
and make a generalization about the ideas written down and will come up to the
board and write down their generalization.
[15 mins.] Graffiti Class Discussion.
In the whole class context, each base group will present their original/first
question and their generalization. I will encourage students who want to expand
more on their thoughts/ideas/examples or to disagree to speak. As a class, students
will discuss each question and the generalizations made.
Transition: I will tell students thank you for trying out a new discussion format
and comment on how I thought it went and how its newness was helpful in
eliciting responses (and hearing different student voices) we may not have gotten
through a regular verbal class discussion. I will explain the connection between
the Graffiti activity and writing minilesson about Topic Blast, which is that the
Graffiti activity asked students to think about examples in their own lives that
shows someone taking courageous action, and got students reflecting on how they
have already seen or experienced courage as young people. Now, students will be
writing a Topic Blast, which is a way that the students can actually begin
brainstorming and making choices about which direction they want to take their
injustice topic: what will they talk about, to which audience? These questions all
shape the way their courageous action will be done.

3.

[30 mins.] Writing Mini-Lesson on the Topic Blast

[5 mins.] Writing Workshop Introduction
I will introduce the idea of writing workshop. Today we will be trying something
new, a writing workshop. What do you scholars think of when you hear the word
workshop? I will give wait time so students can jog their memories for any
mention of the word. Looking for: a car workshop, a workshop where somebody
works to fix things, etc. I could say: Yes, those are great examples of how
workshops offer you a space to do work at your own pace. Like you said, there
are so many different kinds of workshops; a car workshop is where mechanics
take apart cars and put them back together. Now, what does workshop have to do
with writing, you might be thinking? Well, were doing the same thing with
writing! You will work independently for the most part on your final projects.
Sometimes I have an aspect of writing that I want you scholars to really focus on,
like brainstorming or revising your draft for organization, so I will teach a
minilesson on it and then give you a sizeable time after (like 10-20 minutes) to
practice the skill I taught you.
Right now it might sound a little strange to work on your writing by yourselves,
but the freedom to work at your own pace within our general class timeline will
give you time to really get into the process of writing. This will give you space to
change your mind on a topic and still be able to get support on your final project.
This is a routine that we will get more comfortable doing with more practice, and
soon enough it will feel natural to you.
Transition: All right, lets get started. Today I will be teaching you how to use
Topic Blast to brainstorm ideas for writing.
[10 mins.] Model Topic Blast
I will let students know that the purpose of the Topic Blast is to help them get
started on their big assignment for the unit, the Use Your Voice project that I
introduced on the first day of the unit. I will model how to brainstorm ideas based
on a general topic by doing a Topic Blast. In front of students, I will verbalize my
thought process for choosing an injustice topic. I will decide to write about the
injustice of using derogatory language against people with mental disabilities, and
generate different ideas on it, with different stances, as well. Writing by hand and
using a document camera to show students how I am filling in the Topic Blast
handout, I will model exploring these ideas through the Topic Blast. I will also
verbalize my thought process around choosing a specific idea to write about and
lastly, generate a question about my injustice topic based on my Topic Blast.
I will then transition to having students doing a Topic Blast on their own in
writing workshop mode.
[10-15 mins.] Having students practice it in writing workshop.

Using the topic they have chosen during the last class (Day 2), students will create
their own Topic Blast. Students will also generate a question about their injustice
topic based on their Topic Blast (similarly to how I modeled it for them). I will
circulate and provide support as needed. Many might have trouble getting started
after they write in their topic, so I will stop by and prompt them with potential
scenarios or questions and then ask them to make connections to their own lives:
have they heard of something like this happening to any of their friends or family?
Have they heard of something like this happening in the news?
I will give students a 5-minute warning before the end of writing workshop. When
time comes to an end, I will comment generally on how I saw students generate a
lot of cool ideas that I am excited to them explore more. I will then transition to
explaining the exit ticket and its purpose, which is to see how students are doing
with their courage goal and their project. I will emphasize to students that this is
just a check-in and not a graded assignment. I will then pass out the Exit Ticket.
4. [8 mins] Closure: Exit Ticket
Students will take the last few minutes of class to complete the Exit Ticket for
today. This Exit Ticket will ask students to consider what progress they have
made towards the courageous goal that they set on the first day of the unit (two
classes ago) and to reflect on their progress on the project so far. If students finish
up before the time is up, they may turn in their exit slip and take out a book of
their own choice (either their own or borrow one from my classroom library) to
read until the bell rings.
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)
JoeI will try to hook Joe into thinking about courage in his own life with one of
the Graffiti questions that asks students to pick out an example of someone doing
something courageous from books, movies, videogames, or TV. I dont often get
to talk about videogames in my unit, and this is a great opportunity to hook in not
only Joe, but another student, Mark, as well. Since Joe has an IEP and is receiving
support for a specific learning disability in reading, I will try and get these Graffiti
questions to him a couple days in advance of the day we are doing the activity so
that he gets a chance to read through it (which would be especially effective if he
is working with a reading specialist and would be able to take reading from this
class to the reading specialist). For his Topic Blast, if Joe appears to be struggling
to choose a topic, I might encourage him to explore his interests and see if there
are any injustice topics related to videogames that he could further explore.
KellyKelly also has an IEP and does receive pull-out services in English with a
reading specialist. I will also get the Graffiti questions and the Topic Blast
assignment to her ahead of time so that she can read through them with her
reading specialist. With the Graffiti, I am also hoping that the questions asking

students to share about their personal lives will encourage Kelly to participate in
this Graffiti.
JackieSince Jackie has a hard time connecting to students who are vastly
different from her, I am hoping that with this exercise of writing to classmates
instead of directly speaking to them (and conversation possibly becoming
confrontational) will encourage Jackie to respond to peers she might not normally
respond to. Because the markers students are using are not differentiated by color,
students have some sense of anonymity and a lessening of pressure to not make
mistakes in class. I have also added an option to Question 5 in the Graffiti activity
where instead of analyzing the example scenario I would provide of an
unconventional way of demonstrating courage, I invite students to write their own
brief scenario of someone demonstrating courage in an unconventional way and
explaining why. This question option was written with students like Jackie in
mind who might enjoy the extra challenge.
MarkSimilar to Joe, I dont often provide explicit links to video games in this
unit, so the Graffiti question about finding an example of someone doing
something courageous from books, movies, videogames, or TV, was also written
in mind to invite Mark to speak on one of his favorite topics. Since Mark often
acts tough in group situations with classmates and is more relaxed during oneon-one situations, the relative anonymity of the Graffiti activity hopefully seems
like an invitation to Mark to share his thoughts, too. Having students write down
their thoughts before coming together for a class discussion is also a way to ease
Mark into preparing himself for discussions in larger group scenarios.

Materials Needed (list):

ELMO document camera
Do Now Google Slides
My modeling text for the Topic Blast
Exit Ticket
Materials Appendix: (e.g., supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers,
handouts, etc.)
1. Do Now Google Slides
(https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10EL0WXCo0zh1y1Y0L7gSuNoGW7Yo8iAwZ2EVNLR4Bc/edit?usp=sharing)
2. My modeling text for the Topic Blast
3. Exit Ticket

Topic Blast
It hurts peoples
feelings when I say
it
People
can use
lots of
other
words
instead

I dont use the R word

in everyday speech
anyway
A lot of people believe that
its morally wrong to use the
R word and started the
Spread the Word to End the
Word campaign

Using the R
Word

Many people with

intellectual disabilities
find this word to be
offensive

But isnt spreading awareness of

the word just reminding people
that they can use it again? The
campaign might seem
counterproductive.

My Question(s): Why does derogatory language like

the R word have so much power? Why do people
want to use this word?

Exit Ticket

Consider everything that you have discussed in this class about what it takes to
do something courageous. Look back to the courageous goal that you decided to
make two classes ago. What progress have you made towards this courageous
goal? Hint: if you do not remember what your goal was, look in your Writers
Notebook.

Please check all that apply! Then tell me more about the stage of the project you
are currently at. Hint: you could talk about what you already have, what you
want to accomplish next, or what questions or concerns you have.
o
o
o
o

Stage 1: Select an injustice topic.

Stage 2: Decide on a stance.
Stage 3: Brainstorm ideas about your topic using Topic Blast.
Stage 4: Choose an idea or question about your topic to further
explore.