EDUC 2220- Educational Technology Lesson Plan Template

Masque of the Soft Rains

A Theme and Comprehension Project
Caitlin Wilson
GRADE 11/ Language arts

Common Core Standards:

Reading Applications: Literary Text
Students enhance their understanding of the human story by reading literary texts that represent a
variety of authors, cultures and eras. They learn to apply the reading process to the various genres of
literature, including fables, folk tales, short stories, novels, poetry and drama. They demonstrate their
comprehension by describing and discussing the elements of literature (e.g., setting, character and plot),
analyzing the author's use of language (e.g., word choice and figurative language), comparing and
contrasting texts, inferring theme and meaning and responding to text in critical and creative ways.
Strategic readers learn to explain, analyze and critique literary text to achieve deep understanding.

Reading Process: Concepts of Print, Comprehension Strategies and

Self-Monitoring Strategies
Students develop and learn to apply strategies that help them to comprehend and interpret informational
and literary texts. Reading and learning to read are problem solving processes that require strategies for
the reader to make sense of written language and remain engaged with texts. Beginners develop basic
concepts about print (e.g., that print holds meaning) and how books work (e.g., text organization). As
strategic readers, students learn to analyze and evaluate texts to demonstrate their understanding of
text. Additionally, students learn to self-monitor their own comprehension by asking and answering
questions about the text, self-correcting errors and assessing their own understanding. They apply these
strategies effectively to assigned and self-selected texts read in and out of the classroom.

Lesson Summary:
Student will read two short stories, Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe and The Will Come Soft
Rains by Ray Bradbury. Students will be quizzed over their comprehension of the stories and their
understanding of the theme and meaning of the stories. There will then be a class discussion to clear up any
misunderstandings. After the discussion students will find a short story of their choosing to read, analyze, and
evaluate. They will then create a presentation in the form of a video, prezi, or paper reflecting their
comprehension and understanding of the theme and meaning of the story they chose.
Estimated Duration:

This lesson will take about five hours. I plan on dividing the lesson into five days, with each class period
lasting about 50 minutes.

Commentary:
I will engage the students by using by telling them that the project they are about to do involves using their
phones/smart technology. The reading material and the quiz can both be accessed by scanning a QR code.
Their projects can all be done on an iPad this includes making/editing videos if that is how they choose to
present their papers. . I will also show them prezi and some videos of previous projects so they know how to
set up the project. Some of the challenges I anticipate are the kids getting distracted by the technology and
using it to goof off, I also expect that there may be difficulties in completely relying on smart technology.

Instructional Procedures:
Day 1:
First 10 minutes: I will briefly explain what we are doing and the show the introduction Prezi and Video that
relate to the two short stories students will be reading.
Next 5 minutes: I will pass the QR codes for the two stories around the class. Students will get their smart
technology out and scan to read.
Last 35 minutes: Students will read both stories on their smart technology.
Day 2:
First 20 minutes: I will pass out the QR codes for the short comprehension quiz and students will use their
smart technology to take the quiz. As they finish up I will receive and review results.
20 minutes: Class discussion over quiz.
Last 10 minutes: I will provide the students with a website they will be using to read a short story of their
choosing and I will explain to them the goals of this project.
Day 3:
First 25 minutes: Students will find and read their stories.
Last 25 minutes: Students will choose between a prezi, a video, or a paper to start their projects. Students will
be encouraged to seek guidance from me at this time.
Day 4:
50 minutes: Students will work on projects with assistance from me when needed.
Day 5:

First 40 minutes: Students will make final touches to their projects.

Last 10 minutes: Students will turn in their work via Google blogger.

Pre-Assessment:
Students will be given an ungraded short multiple choice quiz over their comprehension of the two short
stories read, along with theme and the meaning of the two stories. Since these are right and wrong answers the
pre-assessment will be based on how well or poor the students as a class did on the quiz.

Scoring Guidelines:
The quiz will be given online through Google Forms and each question has one right answer. Google
presents the quizzes in a spreadsheet for me to view and see how each of the students is doing.

Post-Assessment:
Students will make a prezi, a video, or a written paper to reflect their comprehension of the theme and meaning
to the story they read on their own.

Scoring Guidelines:
Students must be able to present a clear understanding of the story they choose to read. The videos and
prezis must look nice and look like they put some effort into them. The written papers need to be free
of grammatical errors and well read/written.

Differentiated Instructional Support

Describe how instruction can be differentiated (changed or altered) to meet the needs of gifted or accelerated
students:
Gifted students will be given the opportunity to help out other students with their projects.
Discuss additional activities you could do to meet the needs of students who might be struggling with the
material:

These students would serve as a director for other students. They would help guide them to success.

Extension
http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-theme-in-literature-definition-examples-quiz.html
This link provides the definition to what theme is and it gives advice on how to utilize it.

Homework Options and Home Connections

Homework will be assigned if the reading that was required in class was not finished. Students will also be
expected to work on their projects outside of class.

Interdisciplinary Connections
The two stories that are being read are Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe and There Will Come
Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury. Both of these men lived in very different eras but those eras influenced their
writings. Students could discuss what events were going on in that point in history. Bradburys story is written
in a time after a bomb had gone off. Poes story is about a bunch of aristocrats shutting out the outside world
leaving them for dead. Both stories cover man and his want to concur death by any means. The discussion here
could be ethics.

Materials and Resources:

For teachers

http://goqr.me/
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/POE/masque.html
http://www.gs.cidsnet.de/englisch-online/originals/soft_rains.htm
Google Forms
http://www.world-english.org/stories.htm
http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-theme-in-literature-definition-examplesquiz.html
Laptop

Blogger

For students

Smart Technology such as a phone or a tablet.

Computer/Laptop
Camera
Prezi account
Youtube account

Key Vocabulary
Theme

Additional Notes
Students may choose other short stories that are not listed on the website I gave but only after they have gotten
my permission.
As stated most of this project would involve phones but exceptions can be made.