Alexie Lesson Plan

TPA Lesson Plan #___1____

1. Teacher Candidate	Tyler Schoening	Date Taught	3/6/15
Cooperating Teacher	Matt Messick	School/District	DPHS
2. Subject	AP English 1	Field Supervisor	Beth Philips
3. Lesson Title/Focus	Exploring Themes of Racism	5. Length of Lesson	20 min
4. Grade Level	9

6. Academic & Content Standards (GLEs/EARLs/Common Core)	RL.9-10.2: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support the analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
7. Learning Objective(s)	Using the text An Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, students will be able to discover the theme of racism present throughout the novel and analyze how it effects the story, by discussing the negative forces effecting the character and connecting them with real life Native American issues.
8. Academic Language	Theme Social Justice Culture Ethnic Identity Social Setting Students will first be asked to define theme briefly to make sure everyone has an understanding of what it is. As we progress through the lesson and come across the terms social justice, social settings, culture, and identity, I will give brief descriptions of each term.

9. Assessment

Students will be assessed formatively on their ability to remember the facets of the story that displayed the theme we will be studying. We will be doing small group and full class discussion. During this time I will be able to observe each student’s ability to articulate their knowledge on racism in the story whether or not it is stated explicitly or implicitly within the story.  Having the students discuss what they can do to change racism in their real lives will also help me see their understanding of the theme and their ability to think critically about how it appears in their lives.

10. Connections

Now that we have finished reading the novel this lesson will help students synthesize their knowledge of the story. It will force them to think critically about one of the stories major themes and make them put it in the perspectives of the real world. It will also build on the students growing ability of group work and collaboration we have been working on throughout the quarter. This lesson will lead into the final examination on the novel. Students will have to write a short essay on one of the key themes of An Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, using the discussion from this lesson they will be able to formulate their essays at the end of the unit. When we move on to later stories and novels in this class students will be better equipped to analyze theme and its appearance throughout the story.

11. Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks to Support Learning
Learning Tasks and Strategies Sequenced Instruction
Teacher’s Role I will begin instruction by asking students to define theme. I will also give a brief introduction of in which I will define the other words in academic language. I will engage students to come up with the different facets of racism that appear in the book. I will write as many as we can come up with on the board, so the students will be able visualize them as the lesson progresses. I will engage students in a discussion asking them if they think these issues are real in our own society today, and if they are as severe. I will then group students into small groups. I will prompt students to work in small groups to come up with a way to help Native Americans with one of the issues of racism we came up with on the board. I will return the class to full group instruction and ask each group to share their methods to help fix the issue of racism against Native Americans. I will write each groups ideas on the board.	Students’ Role Students will participate when prompted and write down any definitions they did not understand form the words I went over during the beginning of instruction. Students will work with the teacher and their peers collaboratively to come up with all the facets of racism that affect the society in the novel. Students will help develop a list of those facets of racism to be placed on the board. Students will respond with their opinions on how racism affects Native American in our current society and if the book is a good example of the troubles natives face. Students will work together to come up with a solution to one of the facets of racism we found in the novel. In small groups they will develop a way to help Native Americans to remedy racism and the issues they face to share with the class. Each group will share their own ways of fixing racist issues that Native Americans face in our society, and how we can help them stand up to those issues, to be written on the board.
Student Voice to Gather During the first set of full class discussion when we begin connecting each piece of the book to racist issues Native Americans have to face in the novel I will be able to develop an understanding for the students to be able to understand one of the themes where it is stated explicitly and implicitly throughout the book. Knowing where they picked up on the issues of race will help me plan for the next part of instruction and help me understand where each student stands on analyzing the novel. Using the later discussion on how we can fix issues of race against Native Americans in our own society I will be able to see if students have developed a level of understanding for the text that allows them to think critically and implement the knowledge the gained into their real world issues. This will help me understand their understanding of the core issues of the novel.

12. Differentiated Instruction

The students in advanced English 1 are the top 30 students in English coming up from 8th grade. Luckily, as far as instruction goes, there is not a huge difference in the skills and abilities of each student. There are no IEPs in advanced English 1 and there are also no 504s in the classroom. This story will mostly benefit auditory and visual learners. The auditory learners will benefit from the full class discussion and the discussion in their small groups. The visual learners will benefit from seeing the classes thoughts displayed on the board. This lesson on social justice was done to help the students develop an understanding for the themes of racism in the Native community in the real world. This is especially effective since the novel takes place where they live. This will help put the story into context.

13. Resources and Materials

Teacher Materials: An Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Whiteboard Makers Student Materials: Pen/Pencil An Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

14. Management and Safety Issues

The students in this class are generally focused. If they are off task in their groups the students may be moved from group to group to help maintain the flow of learning. Students who remain off task will be forced to write their response rather than work on it with the class. The topic can be somewhat controversial when talking about issues of racism. If the classroom gets heated I will remind students of democratic discussion tactics and how we should maintain a respectful classroom environment. There should not be any safety issues during classroom discussion. Most students will be safe during this activity though if some injury such as a fall or trip were to occur I would try to remedy it with basic first aid, and if it were to severe for that I would notify the school nurse or 911.

15. Parent & Community Connections

Parent: Students have been updating their reading with their parents throughout the unit. At the end of this lesson they can let their parents know that we have finished our reading of the novel and are now discussing its key issues. They can ask their parents if they know anything about the local Native American tribes in the area or if they have done any work with them. They could also ask their parents if they know anything about Native American issues that students could later share with the class. Community This is a great lesson for the community. Students could go to local schools (both native and public), tribes, public offices, and any other resources that work with Native Americans.  They could do some research to see how modern racism effects these communities and what is being done to help these people out or what is being ignored that should actually be focused on.