West Virginia State University

College of Professional Studies: Department of Education

LESSON PLAN FORMAT GUIDE (Updated 8/17)

Teacher Candidate _Jennifer Herscher____________________ Date_09/11/2018__________________

School _Poca Middle School____________________________ Grade/Subject _6th/English___________
Lesson Topic _Vocabulary in Freak the Mighty______________

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES/ STUDENT OUTCOMES

 Students will identify context clues and use them to determine the meaning of unknown words and/or verify their
understanding of more familiar words.

WV CCRs
ELA.6.39 - Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6
reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
 Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function
in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
 Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a
word (e.g., audience, auditory, and audible).
 Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, and/or thesauruses), both print and
digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part
of speech.
 Verify the initial determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred
meaning in context or in a dictionary).

NATIONAL STANDARDS
NCTE #3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They
draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word
meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features
(e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

ASSESSMENT

Diagnostic/Pre-Assessment
Ask students the following questions to establish relevance and determine their existing background knowledge
about using context clues.
“Why is it important to develop a mature vocabulary?”
examples: might help in a job interview; raise test scores; assist in reading more difficult
material (contracts, textbooks, newspaper articles, scientific studies, etc.)
“When you’re reading and you come across an unfamiliar word, what do you usually do?”
examples: skip it and keep reading; look it up in a dictionary or glossary; break it down to root
and affixes; use context clues.

Formative Assessment
After asking the students to predict the meaning of the words without context, give them the following context
sentences:
 Even though it’s not completely dark, you should turn the headlights of your car on during the gloaming.
 The angel had a gloriole above her head.
 With a swollen tongue like that, he must have glossitis.
 Imelda planted three gloxinias in a big pot in her apartment.
Instruct the students to revise their definitions and ask for volunteers to share with the class.
 Give them the actual definitions and ask how many they got correct based on the context.
Tell them to raise their hand and indicate with their fingers how many they got correct.

Summative Assessment
At the end of class, students will take a short quiz consisting of 5 vocabulary words from Freak the Mighty. For
each word, the students will be given a few context sentences in which the word was used in the book.
Each question will be worth 4 points (20 total): 2 for circling the context clues in the sentence(s) and 2 for
selecting the correct definition.

MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK
Overall Time - 90 min
Time Frame - 05 min: word of the day
05 min: anticipatory set (diagnostic assessment) & intro
20 min: independent reading
10 min: reading response (formative assessment)
20 min: teacher-led discussion (Freak the Mighty)
15 min: activity and share
10 min: quiz (summative assessment)
05 min: close

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION/ ADAPTATIONS/ INTERVENTIONS

Learning Styles:
Visual – all instructions and examples are written on the board
Auditory – anything in writing will also be read aloud, such as vocab words and quiz directions.
Kinesthetic – students are allowed to do their independent reading in beanbag chairs

Special Needs:
ADHD – the 90 minute class period is broken up into several short periods of activity, reading, writing, and
discussion

PROCEDURES
Word of the day:
Students copy down the daily vocabulary word with the definition (displayed on the elmo and read aloud).
The teacher leads discussion about the meaning of the root, affixes, and other related words.

1. ANTICIPATORY SET
Ask students the following questions to establish relevance and determine their existing background
knowledge about using context clues.
 “Why is it important to develop a mature vocabulary?”
examples: might help in a job interview; raise test scores; assist in reading more difficult material
(contracts, textbooks, newspaper articles, scientific studies, etc.)
 “When you’re reading and you come across an unfamiliar word, what do you usually do?”
examples: skip it and keep reading; look it up in a dictionary or glossary; break it down to root and
affixes; use context clues.

2. INTRODUCTION
Explain to students that are a few different ways to approach an unfamiliar word and today we will be
learning one of the most effective ways to predict a word’s meaning: context clues. Ask someone to explain
what context is. “How it can help us understand an unfamiliar word?”
3. BODY & TRANSITIONS
Independent Reading:
During their independent reading, instruct students to write down any words they can’t confidently define and
predict the meaning on their worksheet based on the context. Write this on the whiteboard along with an
example.
Using
Reading Response:
After they are done reading ask for students to share following:
 the unknown words they wrote down
 their meaning predictions
 what context influenced their predictions
* Before they share, tell them to listen closely to their classmates because they will need to add one other
person’s word to the list on their worksheet.

Context Clues mini-lesson w/formative assessment:

After they have shared and discussed their words, write these words on the board:
Gloaming, Gloriole, Glossitis, Gloxinia

Instruct the students write these words on their worksheet and predict their meaning without context.
Discuss which is more difficult: with or without context, and why.

Read the context sentences below.

 Even though it’s not completely dark, you should turn the headlights of your car on during the
gloaming.
 The angel had a gloriole above her head.
 With a swollen tongue like that, he must have glossitis.
 Imelda planted three gloxinias in a big pot in her apartment.

Instruct the students to revise their definitions and ask for volunteers to share with the class.

Read them the actual definitions as you write them on the board.
gloaming: (n) the period of fading light after sunset but before dark
gloriole: (n) a halo around somebody’s head
glossitis: (n) inflammation of the tongue
gloxinia: (n) a popular house plant with large, colorful, bell-shaped flowers

Ask students how many words they were able to correctly predict partial or full meaning based on context.
Tell them to raise their hand and indicate with their fingers how many they got correct.

Read Freak the Mighty – Dictionary

Tell students to skim through Freak’s dictionary in the back of the book.
“See if you can identify any made-up words”
Ask students if they found any made-up words and ask them to read them aloud with Freak’s definition.

Explain to students that while Freak’s definitions are made up, all of the words are real words.
His definitions are unconventional and focus on context.
Ask someone to read the definition for formicidae and then ask students to turn to page 45 for the context.

Example: formicidae – a bug never found in Kevin’s pants

Page 45: "Ants in the pants," I say one morning when he's ready to yank the cereal bowl off the
table, he's in such a hurry to do something, and he goes, "What?" and I go, "You must have ants in
your pants," and he gets this funny look and he goes, "That's what the Fair Gwen always says, did
she tell you to say that?" and I shake my head and finish the cereal real slow and Freak goes, "For
 your information there are two thousand two hundred and forty-seven known subspecies of
hymenopteran insects, Latin name Formicidae, and none of them are in my pants."

Ask students to discuss how the context helps us understand Freak’s definition as well as the literal meaning
of formicidae.

Activity
Tell students to make up their own unique word, create a definition, and write it in a sentence with context
clues in their notebooks. (Write the example below on the board)

Example: Bliff – It was so bliff outside that I had to put on a coat and scarf.

Students will then share their word and sentence with the class and see if we can correctly predict the
meaning.

Quiz (summative assessment)

Students will take a short quiz consisting of 5 vocabulary words from Freak the Mighty.
For each word, the students will be given context sentences in which the word was used in the book.
Each question will be worth 4 points (20 total): 2 for circling any context clues in the sentence(s) and 2 for
selecting the correct definition.

Perspective – a point of view

I almost forgot that Freak is riding on my shoulders. “Amazing perspective up here,” he’s saying. “This is
what you see all the time.”

Flit – move swiftly and lightly

Gram is uneasy, I can see her eyes flitting nervously around the room, like she’s crossing the border into a
really foreign country.

Deplete – seriously reduced the supply of something

“So,” Freak is saying. “When do we eat? My fuel cells are depleted.”

Fealty – loyalty; especially to a king or queen

He goes, "Pledge to me your fealty," and I say, "Huh?" and he says, "Never mind, there's no time to look up
'fealty.' Just promise you'll do what I say."

Prodigy – a highly talented child or youth.

"Talk about a prodigy," Freak says. "One year old and already he's on his way to ninth grade."

4. CLOSURE
Remind students of the importance of improving their vocabulary (like Freak)
Tell them to use context clues to improve their understanding and overall reading experience.

5. ASSESSMENT
Score the quizzes to assess student understanding and analyze the data to make decisions about future
lessons, particularly those about vocabulary.

STRATEGIES
Teacher-led discussion, independent practice, guided instruction, teacher modeling, student sharing, constructive
learning

MATERIALS
Independent reading books (library and teacher’s bookshelves)
Freak the Mighty books (school provided to all students)
ELMO
Whiteboard and dry erase marker
Students’ writing notebooks
Pencils/Pens
Worksheet
Quiz sheet

EXTENDED ACTIVITIES
If Student Finishes Early
Instruct student to either work on their writing notebook or use the time for independent reading.

If Lesson Finishes Early

Continue class reading of Freak the Mighty

If Technology Fails
Use the whiteboard to write the word of the day instead of using the elmo.