Developed by April J. Malone
Wogaman Middle School
Integrated Language Arts
Grade Level: Middle School

Introduction

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Click here to view/download this lesson plan as a PDF

Inspiration

Seminar with Michelle V. Agins; the world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’ The Ever Fonky Lowdown; Othello at Shakespeare in the Park 

Overview

Summary

This lesson evaluates the use of pictures and words to portray information and ideas. It does this by allowing students to create articles inspired by images and to evaluate whether those articles accurately capture the context or voice of the picture. The underlying academic skills used in this lesson are context, analyzing images and text, and utilizing appropriate word choice to convey ideas.

Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.8.7 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums (e.g., print or digital text, video, multimedia) to present a particular topic or idea.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.2.D Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.7 Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration.

Objectives/Outcomes

I can decipher the proper context of a word, text, or visual representation of something based on evidence and research.

I can select, organize, and analyze important information to write a meaningful text.

I can write a meaningful text to examine a topic and relay ideas.

I can explain the advantages of using different mediums to present a particular topic or idea.

I can explain the disadvantages of using different mediums to present a particular topic or idea.

Teaching Approach

whole group, small group, individual conferences, gallery walk, gradual release model, collaborative discussion, peer editing

Assessment

• Bell work (written and oral)
• Building Context Practice (written and oral)
• Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words Challenge (written, rubric)

Lesson Preparation

Teacher Needs

What is Context?

Gallery Walk

The Best Way to Take Notes Explained

Bell Work resource sheet

-8 large pictures that were taken throughout the school year of students participating in different events, of programs that occurred at the school, and/or of school associated extracurricular events. Make sure that a few of them could be understood differently if students did not participate or know of the event. Post these around the room to create 8 stations.

Helpful Hints

This lesson requires constant student discussion. You may want to intentionally organize students into groups that will push them to have engaging dialogue.

Student Needs

-Loose leaf paper and writing utensils

Building Context Practice worksheet

Is a Picture Worth a Thousand Words? Challenge Rubric

Research Skills booklet

Cornell notes

Citation Machine

Prior Knowledge

Students should already be well informed about context clues, word choice, reliable and unreliable sources, and citing sources.

Student Voice

You can allow students to pick their groups or submit pictures of school events for the gallery walk. You could also allow students to create or chose their own picture for the 1000-word challenge.

Vocabulary

context clues, word choice, text features, reliable source, unreliable source, resource citation

Evidence/Assessment of Outcomes

Students will show their knowledge of context by writing an informational text that captures the proper context of the picture they chose. 

After students finish the writing challenge, they will write a brief argument defending or upholding the idiom, “A picture is worth 1000 words.” In this argument they must in some way, shape, or form, use the concept of context.

Enduring Understandings

Students are expected to learn that in life, all information has a context, and it is important to know and understand that context to know and understand a person, thing or occurrence. Pictures or messages stripped of context can be misconstrued or used incorrectly. Students will understand that they should think carefully before using or sharing images they find.

Learning Plan

Prompt

“A picture is worth 1000 words” Analyze and respond to this quote 

Hooks

“A picture is worth 1000 words” gallery walk

Essential Questions

• Is a picture really worth a thousand words?
• Is it possible to capture a picture’s message with words?
• Is it possible to communicate without speaking or using sign language?

Focus Questions

• How can the lack of context confuse a reader or audience?
• Is seeing just one aspect of something enough to understand it?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of using different mediums to present a particular topic or idea?

Resources

As described under Teacher Needs and Student Needs

Teacher and Student Performance Tasks

Day 1 

Bell work: “A picture is worth 1000 words”
Analyze and respond to this quote.
(After students complete the bell work, do a whole group share to discuss the bell work.)

Class activity: Group students into teams of three to four students, depending on the size of the class. Each group should start at one of 8 photograph stations.

At each station, groups will look closely at the pictures, describe what is going on in them, and discuss the situation or event that was happening while the picture was taken. One recorder should write the group’s responses, thoughts, and comments on a loose-leaf sheet of paper (copy the paper and distribute to each group member for future reference). 

After 3 to 5 minutes, groups rotate to the next station and repeat until all groups have visited each station. To involve all group members, groups switch recorders at each station.

Students meet with at least three other groups in 5-minute rotations to compare and contrast their observations and discussions of the pictures. Bring the class back together to discuss what they discovered and how those discoveries relate back to the bell work.

Tell students that when they discussed the events that took place during the time the photographs were taken; they were discussing context. Then have students write down the basic definition of context in their notes and relate that definition to what they did in class. 

Day 2

Bell work:

word: context
part of speech: noun

definition 1. The circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood.

example sentence
When reading historical fiction, it is important to study the context in which the story was told.

synonyms: circumstances, conditions, surroundings, factors, state of affairs, frame of reference, contextual relationship

in layman’s terms: context is the background or situation for something or surrounding something.

What other definition of context have you heard and how does it help you understand something?

Class activity: Give students Cornell notes on context (social, personal, historical, and cultural) and have guided discussions on the concept. Ultimately, make sure students understand that including context means providing someone with the surrounding situation or a background picture of where the piece of information came from and what or who is involved.

Homework: Students annotate Cornell notes taken in class

Day 3

Bell work:

phrase: out of context

meaning: Without the surrounding words or circumstances and so not fully understandable. If a statement, image, or event is given out of context, the circumstances surrounding them are not given correctly or understood, which may communicate something different from what was intended or what was actually occurring.

Think about the gallery walk that we took at the beginning of this lesson. Pick one picture that could be taken “out of context” if someone was shown it without a caption or background information and then explain how someone could take that particular picture “out of context.”

Class activity: Have students individually create context using the Building Context Practice sheet. Do the first one whole group as a “we do” and then give students fifteen minutes to complete the sheet. After students are finished, organize them in small groups to discuss and compare and contrast their answers.

Exit ticket: Based on the information about context you have learned and the work you did in class today, why do you think it is important to know the context of something? 

Day 4

Bell work:

Now it is time to give speech to a photograph. We are all familiar with the common saying, “A picture is worth 1000 words.” Now we are going to put this saying literally to the test. Get a Chromebook. After you log in type in the following website: https://allthatsinteresting.com/civil-rights-movement-photos#1 From this website pick just one picture to “speak” 1000 words for.

Class activity: Choose a photograph that was not chosen by any of the students during Bell Work. With that photo, model how to plan out their research, and then allow students to do the same with the photos that they chose.

Assignment: “The challenge is to write a 1000-word text that best represents the picture. Make sure to include specific and accurate context so that readers fully understand the picture. Ultimately, you need to think about what message the picture was meant to portray and use your beautiful brain along with some research to write that message in no more or no less than 1000 words. Use the research skills booklet provided to guide you in your research.” 

Homework: Students complete the rough draft

Day 5

Have students work on their texts. Simultaneously, do individual conferences, have them peer edit, and have them work to improve their rough draft.

Homework: Students complete the final draft 

Day 6

Students share their text in small groups with each other and question each other about whether or not the picture needed the student created texts to “speak” for them. 

Exit ticket: Write a brief argument defending or upholding the idiom, “A picture is worth 1000 words.” (In this argument they must in some way, shape, or form, use the concept of context.)

Final Review

If students put the pictures in proper context in their text for the Challenge, then that will serve as evidence of their understanding. Also, observations of their comprehensive conversations will aid in informing you of what they have learned.

Lesson Reflection

Have students share their text in small groups with each other and question each other about whether or not the picture needed the student created texts to “speak” for them. You can ask students if the picture would even need context if the person viewing it was from the same era that the picture was captured in.

You can ask students to discuss how the picture could be taken if others thought it was captured yesterday or if the person viewing the picture was from a different country, and so on and so forth.

These discussions will solidify how important context is.

Developed by Corrinne Fischer
Northmont High School
Geometry
Grade Level: High School

Introduction

Not everyone sees a connection between the arts and mathematics. One creative teacher does it on a consistent basis. Corrinne Fischer, math teacher at Northmont High School, consistently incorporates creative principles into her classroom. During the Muse Machine 2019 Summer Institute, which Corrinne attended, the presenters used ideas throughout the workshop that helped keep participants engaged and aided them in seeing the ways that movement and rhythm can help students remember difficult content. Ping Chong + Company, the guest artists, inspired Corrinne to use the Snap Game to increase understanding of geometry and the use of the Frayer Model. The result is a lesson that can be incorporated into any math teacher’s instructional process. Proof positive that a creative teacher can inspire any subject area!

Click here to view/download this lesson plan as a PDF

Inspiration

Like many, I was inspired about using circle time to begin each day during the 2019 Muse Machine Summer Institute with Ping Chong + Company. One of the activities we did during this workshop was a snapping game. Not only was this activity engaging and fun, but it did also not require any talking and participants had to focus, listen, and make eye contact: all productive behaviors of an effective classroom environment helping to foster teamwork and respect for fellow classmates.

 

Overview

Summary

After playing several rounds of the snap game, the teacher will begin a class discussion about how the game’s movements correspond to geometry. Students will use these basic movements and their knowledge of the undefined terms of geometry to create movements and communal (team) definitions for vocabulary words using Frayer Models. After sufficient time to complete the assignment, the class will return to the main circle where small groups will present. A whole class discussion will end the class.

Standards

G.CO.1 Know precise definitions of ray, angle, circle, perpendicular line(s), parallel line(s), and line segment, based on the undefined notions of point, line, distance along a line, and arc length.

SMP #6 Attend to precision. Mathematically proficient students try to communicate precisely to others. They try to use clear definitions in discussion with others and in their own reasoning. They state the meaning of the symbols they choose, including using the equal sign consistently and appropriately. They are careful about specifying units of measure and labeling axes to clarify the correspondence with quantities in a problem. They calculate accurately and efficiently and express numerical answers with a degree of precision appropriate for the problem context. In the elementary grades, students give carefully formulated explanations to each other. By the time they reach high school they have learned to examine claims and make explicit use of definitions.

Objectives/Outcomes

I can use snaps and movements to represent vocabulary words.

I can collaborate and communicate effectively with my team to build Frayer Models.

Teaching Approach

workshop

Assessment

• Student groups will complete a Frayer Model for their assigned/chosen geometric terms.
• A “C” rubric is given to students, but a full rubric can be used as well.
• The student groups will complete self and peer evaluations.

Lesson Preparation

Teacher Needs

PowerPoint presentation

Participation rubric

-Ample space for whole class circle

-Timer

-Document camera

-Patience

Teacher Information

My students were already aware of circle time and the snap game. Play a few times “randomly” before implementing this lesson. Though it was my full intention to present a list of vocabulary terms for students to choose from, I thoroughly enjoyed allowing the teams to brainstorm a list of words they have learned. It brought an extra level of student voice to this lesson. Also, if your classroom environment does not support a “bidding war,” simply use a multi-sided number cube or random number generator to choose teams.

Helpful Hints

Let go! It is so hard for us to give up control in our classrooms but sometimes it is so worth it! Setting timers really helped them stay on task and allowed me to circulate the room as teams worked.

Student Needs

-Access to notes, dictionary, etc. to look up formal definitions

-Writing utensils

Movement Frayer Models

“C” rubrics or full rubric

Prior Knowledge

This is an introduction to staging a production. However, a general understanding of what is involved in a stage, how stages are used, and the general limitations of stages would be helpful.

Student Voice

Choice of words and movements.

Vocabulary

Your choice! Use whatever mathematical language is appropriate to your lesson.

Evidence/Assessment of Outcomes

Students’ completed Frayer Models, rubrics and the teacher’s participation rubric

Enduring Understandings

Mathematics is a finite subject but there is flexibility in the ways it can be used.

Learning Plan

Prompt

After snap game is played. Teacher: What could a snap represent in Geometry?

Hooks

Play the snap game as a community building tool or warm-up before adding in mathematical concepts.

Essential Questions

• How can snaps and movements represent words?

Teacher and Student Performance Tasks

The snap game as demonstrated by Ping Chong + Company started with a single person in the center. They snap, with their hand close to their chest, then “throw” the snap to someone in the circle, making eye contact, and snapping to “point” at them. This person “catches” the snap and “throws” it back to the center. This continues randomly within the circle until the center person decides to end the game. Variations include no person in the center, adjustments for those who cannot snap, and sending multiple snaps.

Whole Class Warm-up Snap Game

• Version 1 with teacher in center
• Version 2 as full circle
• Version 3 with smaller groups (2-3 teams per circle)
• Version 1 repeats

Whole Class Discussion in circle about objectives

• Project assignment requirements and “C” rubrics distributed

Small Group Work time

• Teams choose their vocabulary words
• Give them a list or let them brainstorm their own list
• Teams should not complete the same words. You can “bid” for words if time allows
• Teams create and practice movements and complete Frayer Models

Final Review

Whole Class

• Concentric circles sharing with one student team in the middle
• Team’s Frayer Model projected on screen with document camera
• Team presents movement together
• Reporter reads term and communal (team) definition, explains connections between movements and their definition.

Lesson Reflection

As there are so many concepts and vocabulary terms in Geometry as a whole, it is challenging to see enduring understanding without giving a vocabulary quiz. However, the students were talking about the lesson the next day and students in other classes were upset that they did not get to participate. I am planning on revamping how vocabulary is used throughout the rest of the year in all my classes using similar ideas from this lesson. Ideally, I would have three days like this per unit: one at the beginning of the unit, one in the middle and one at the end. You could even give them back their same Frayer Models or give them to other teams to critique.

Developed by Karen Wilson
St. Peter School
Language Arts
Grade Level: 3rd

Introduction

Most teachers struggle to build empathy and community into already tight schedules and required subject area content. However, most social scientists tell us that these skills are needed in society more than ever before. During the Muse Machine 2019 Summer Institute creative methods for helping teachers incorporate these subjects were discussed and modeled for educators. Starting with the topics of self and identity, Ping Chong + Company demonstrated methods for teaching students to have a greater sense of self-esteem and understanding of others throughout the 4-day workshop. Karen Wilson, from St. Peter School, demonstrates how she used these methods with very young children. The results are useful and heartwarming!

Click here to view/download this lesson plan as a PDF

Inspiration

During the Muse Machine Summer Institute 2019, we learned about identity and sense of self from Ping Chong + Company. I used this theme for the lesson: How are stories from other places and times about me?

 

Overview

Summary

Students learn to build empathy and a community of love through sharing personal stories. Building on our community, we create a safe space to share our stories and help one another heal.

Standards

Archdiocesan Reading/English Language Arts Graded Course of Study (GCS) 

W.3.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

W.3.10 Recall routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shortened time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

SL.3.3 Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.

SL.3.6 Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.

L.3.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

L.3.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

L.3.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

L.3.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

L.3.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships.

 

Objectives/Outcomes

To build a community in the classroom to nurture learning and develop empathy for others

Teaching Approach

class discussion, lecture, written reflection

Assessment

written story and rubric, presentation

Lesson Preparation

Teacher Needs

• chart paper
• markers
• student journals

Teacher Information

Teacher needs to be committed to letting students make some mistakes along the way in this kind of lesson! It also helps if the teacher is willing to share something from his/her own background.

Helpful Hints

Having all materials ready at the beginning is critical to the successful flow of the lesson.

Student Needs

• student journals
• pencils 
• Ice Cream Poem
• river story template

Prior Knowledge

Since the beginning of the year, the students have participated in circle games as ice breakers and community building activities. Students have also already developed an Ice Cream Poem, which is a poem to share information about themselves. (I like, I love, I am good at, I am afraid of….)

Student Voice

Students can decide how much of their story they want to share verbally or in written presentation.

Vocabulary

empathy, character, community

Evidence/Assessment of Outcomes

Students made Ice Cream Poems and shared one piece of their poem during the warm-up circle activity. Students’ completed river stories will be displayed on a bulletin board. 

I will use a rubric to grade content of writing:  

• Did student use sentences to describe their feelings for life events?
• Did student explain what made their feelings change from sadness to joy?
• Did the student share a story with the class?

Enduring Understandings

Everyone belongs to a community. Everyone has their own story to share in a variety of ways. These stories can build bridges to empathy and understanding one another. We can help one another and build a community of love by sharing our stories.

Learning Plan

Prompt

Circle warm-up activity. One at a time, students take turns around the circle sharing their name and one piece of information about themselves from their Ice Cream Poem. Ex. I’m Aubrey and I like to play hopscotch.       

After everyone has participated, have students move to their desks and get out journals. Comment on how happy everyone is to be sharing with one another. Let them know that sharing and supporting one another is how communities are built. 

Teacher says, “Our Ice Cream Poems share about ourselves and today we are going to share more about ourselves by creating a River Story that shows our lives like a River. Just like a moving river, our lives have ups and downs and turns and twists. Our lives also have specific events that could be represented by stones in a river. For example: Let’s look at our main character this week and look at his life as if it were a river.”

Hooks

(This class studied The Harvest Birds by Blanca Guadalupe López Morales, but other stories can work.) 

“In our story this week, Juan has to overcome disappointment from not being left land to farm from his father and ridicule from his neighbors. He listens to his heart and the voice of nature to bring his dreams to fruition. What feelings do you think Juan had? Do you understand how he felt? Have you ever felt that way? Discuss how reading about characters can help us understand our own feelings. Can we relate to feeling disappointed, embarrassed, sad, proud, loved, hopeful, faithful, joyful? This is called empathy when we can feel what a character or another person is feeling.”

Essential Questions

• How are stories from other places and times about me?

Teacher and Student Performance Tasks

• Teacher passes out the River Story template and explains that students will write a river story for the character under discussion.
• Teacher says, “Look at the river and notice the stones starting from the top of the river and going to the bottom. Next to each of those ovals we will write a date to represent a ‘stone’ in the river of someone’s life.”  
• Students work with teacher to plot the character’s life events on the river.

Examples:

• Juan’s dad dies and he feels great sadness.
• His brothers get the land, and Juan is disappointed.
• He tries to get someone to buy him land.
• Don lends him land and Juan feels hopeful.
• Etc.

• As a class, discuss how events changed and the character’s feelings changed. 
• Teacher says, “Now think back to a time that you might want to write about that stands out in your mind.” Give students some sample topics:

• I remember the first day of school.
• I remember feeling love.
• I remember feeling sad.
• I remember feeling like an outsider.
• I remember feeling loss.
• I remember feeling like I belonged.
• It was the best/worst day of my life.

• Teacher introduces the task, “Next to your own river stone and date, write a sentence that would summarize your story for that date. Then on a blank page in your journal, write details about one of your dates to start a story.” 
• Teacher models an example:  

1973- In third grade I felt like I belonged. I would like to share that when I was in the third grade I went through a really sad time because my aunt was very sick. I was really worried about her because I knew she was going to die and her kids, who were teenagers, were so sad and scared. One day, I started crying in school and my teacher cared enough to ask me to tell her what was wrong.  I finally did, and she comforted me and asked the class to pray together. After that, there were several girls who came up to play with me at recess to cheer me up. I felt like I belonged, and people cared about me. I was so happy that I shared what was bothering me because I didn’t feel like I belonged before.

• Further prompt students to think if there was a time in their life where something started sad and then moved to a joyful feeling. Ask if they can determine what caused the feelings to change and write those events down. Give students 5 minutes to write their story details down in their journals.
• Put them with a partner to discuss their story. Give them 5 minutes to share with partner. 
• Finally, direct student pairs to try to come up with a statement of how this situation changed them.

Final Review

Spend 15 minutes giving students the opportunity to share part of their stories in the big circle. Follow up with 20 minutes the following day to write a final copy of their story for display.

 

Developed by Sheena Burns
Northridge Middle School
Language Arts
Grade Level: 6th

Introduction

Poetry is not always easily grasped by children who are struggling to express themselves in writing. However, a skillful teacher uses many tools to address this kind of challenge. Sheena Burns, sixth grade teacher at Northridge Middle School, uses a tool that she gained during the 2019 Muse Machine Summer Institute, to help her students understand and appreciate poetry and how it can help people express their emotions. The device learned from Ping Chong + Company, called “River Stories,” provides a simple framework for youngsters to write an autobiographical poem while addressing Ohio standards for writing. Sheena skillfully uses this tool during her lesson entitled, Developing Identity through Poetry.

Click here to view/download this lesson plan as a PDF

Inspiration

These activities were inspired by Muse Machine’s 2019 Summer Institute: “Identity, Belonging and Sense of Place,” presented by Ping Chong + Company. The institute focused on the development of these themes through poetry, storytelling, art and discussion.

 

 

Overview

Summary

This lesson focuses on personal reflection and expression through poetry. Each week, students learn new types of poetry and record them in their poetry notebooks. They also practice writing each form of poetry. This lesson was inspired by a Ping Chong + Company activity called “River Stories.” The writing prompts from this activity are used to gather potential topics for an autobiographical poem.

Standards

W.6.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 

W.6.10 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.

Objectives/Outcomes

Students will continue to develop a sense of identity, belonging and sense of place. Students will produce an autobiographical poem.

Teaching Approach

Direct instruction, class discussion, partner work (think, pair, share), read aloud, co-teaching

Assessment

Students will submit their autobiographical poem which must meet the poem’s requirements based on our class notes.

Lesson Preparation

Teacher Needs

• Poetry notebook
• Clevertouch
• Block 1 notebook

Aspects of biographical poetry sheet

Teacher Information

The teacher could look over a website such as How to Teach Your Students to Write Biography Poems or How to Write a Bio Poem

Student Needs

• Poetry notebook
• Block 1 notebook/folder
• Writing utensil

Prior Knowledge

Poetry forms/elements

Student Voice

Students will be able to choose their partner for the Students will produce an autobiographical poem which will reflect their own sense of place, belonging and identity.

Vocabulary

poetic elements, rhyme, syllabic pattern, format, character traits/physical traits, autobiography, biography

Evidence/Assessment of Outcomes

Each student will produce an original biographical poem that is a piece of clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.

Enduring Understandings

Poetry is a means of self-expression which allows readers and writers to reveal their true identity. Poetry is an art form which may or may not follow specific rules and formatting. Life is a story; how will you write your story?

Learning Plan

Prompt

Look at some samples of biographical poetry

Hooks

Group discussion of essential questions (see below)

Essential Questions

• What defines who I am?
• What places do I have a connection with which help to define my identity?
• What communities do I identify with?

Resources

As described under Teacher Needs

Teacher and Student Performance Tasks

• Student will begin class by signing into Google Classroom and completing their Weekly Paragraph.
• Teacher will provide directions for students by reading them from their Weekly Paragraph document.
• Teacher will review the class’s Community Agreements.
• Teacher will ask students for any additional items/discussion topics based on Community Agreements. 
• Teacher will ask students:
• “What defines who you are?”
• “Do the people you hang out with define who you are?”
• “Do places help define who you are?”
• Teacher will share experiences with Muse Machine Summer Institute and how this helped to mold/solidify her identity. (If you did not attend the Institute, substitute another life-defining experience, place or interest to share.) 
• Teacher will record students’ responses on Clevertouch.
• Student will open interactive notebooks to next blank page.
• Teacher will instruct students to construct a 4-square reflection:

• Words to describe me
• Wishes/hopes dreams
• Places with Personal Connections
• Interests

• Teacher will model by sharing her own 4-square responses:

Examples

• Words to describe me: creative, artistic, silly, quirky
• Wishes/hopes dreams: “Dr.” Burns, learn piano, students grow up happy/healthy, etc.
• Places with Personal Connections: Victoria Theatre, Middletown, KY, beach, Lake Norris, Schuster Center
• Interests: Muse Machine, art, music, theatre, volleyball, teaching, politics

• Student will be given 5-7 minutes to complete journal.
• Students will be given 4 minutes to think-pair-share with a partner. Students should discuss their responses and make note of their similarities and differences. 
• Student will take out poetry notebook and label top of page with “Bio Poem” and date.
• Teacher will instruct students about rules of autobiographical/biographical poetry. (See aspects of biography poems handout) Students will record information in their poetry notebooks.
• Teacher will model an autobiographic poem for students.
• Teacher will read a former student’s poem.
• Student will write their own autobiography poem.

Final Review

Students will share their poems.

Lesson Reflection

Students were actively engaged in the lesson. However, during some parts of the assignment some students were off-task; I could implement ‘popsicle sticks’ or randomizer on Class Dojo to get more students participating. 

Modeling the journaling with my ideas seemed to ‘spark’ student writing. I did not implement ‘think, pair, share’ after student journaling but would implement next time for students to build more connections/community with classmates.

Students used their journals to help write their autobiographical poem; this seemed to help students have ideas for their poem. I wish I had more time to allow students to share their journals.

Next time, I will do an extension activity where students create artwork/sculpture to represent their autobiographical poem.

Developed by Jamie Lansdale
Dixie High School
English
Grade Level: 11-12

Introduction

It is sometimes difficult to prompt students to participate in their own learning. By junior/senior year in high school, young people often feel sophisticated enough to take a blasé attitude about assignments. Jamie Lansdale, English teacher at Dixie High School found a way to inspire her classes to become invested in the characters they read about in her classes. Inspired by her experiences during Muse Machine’s 2019 Advanced Teacher Training Seminar (ATTS), Jamie designed a lesson for her junior level classes that is centered around the characters of a familiar piece of American literature. Having seen the play during ATTS, Jamie was moved to re-examine the ways that her instructional process could be enhanced using the instructional device called the “rant.” Also, during ATTS teachers heard from two very enthused cabaret actors who helped them understand how to get audiences more invested in the performance. All of these factors come together in Jamie’s lesson entitled, To Kill A Mockingbird Rant.

Click here to view/download this lesson plan as a PDF

Inspiration

“Cabaret is Me” and To Kill a Mockingbird were performances presented for the participants during the Muse Machine’s Advanced Teacher Training Seminar in 2019 in New York City.

 

 

Overview

Summary

After reading the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, students will choose a character from the novel and present a “rant” to the class. This “rant” will focus on any part of the plot throughout the novel. For example, one student might choose to present Scout ranting about Walter Cunningham and his overindulgence of the syrup at dinner.

Standards

RL.11-12.2 Analyze literary text development. 

RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). 

RL.11-12.6 Analyze a case in which grasping point of view or perspective requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement) and evaluate the impact of these literary devices on the content and style of the text. 

W.11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 

W.11-12.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. 

SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on- one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. 

SL.11-12.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.

SL.11-12.6 Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating a command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. 

Objectives/Outcomes

After students create their character rant, they will be present them to the class. There will be grading rubrics for the creation process, as well as the presentation itself.

Teaching Approach

Lecture, small groups, whole group presentation

Assessment

There will be grading rubrics for the character rant and presentation for each student.

Lesson Preparation

Teacher Needs

Character Description Chart Handout

Character Rant Key Terms presentation

Grading rubric Handouts

• Example rant videos (linked within the Character Rant Key Terms slideshow)

Teacher Information

To Kill a Mockingbird novel, guided questions, and character description chart should be completed prior to this lesson. This entire lesson delivery and presentation should take an estimated time of 1-4 days (depending on class size and time given to students to work on the assignment in class). 

Helpful Hints

If students have the character description chart completed ahead of time, it will help in the brainstorming process of the character rant. A good overview of how to write a rant can be found at:

Write-a-Rant

Student Needs

Pet Peeves Brainstorm Worksheet

Character Description Chart

Character Rant fill-in the blank guided notes

Character Rant outline

Character Rant template (fillable Google Slides)

Prior Knowledge

Students will have already read the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, answered the study guides and completed the Character Description Chart prior to starting the character rant. (If students have completed the character descriptions ahead of time, they can then use that chart to help them choose a character and a particular scene from the novel to create their rant.) 

Student Voice

Students will be able to choose their partner for the brainstorming activity/practice prior to the actual presentation. Students will also be able to choose which character he/she will portray for the presentation. 

Vocabulary

cabaret, rant, monologue, satire, point of view, and verbal irony    

Evidence/Assessment of Outcomes

Students will produce written outlines and present their character rants in front of the entire class.

Enduring Understandings

After this lesson, students will be able to take away skills they can use to improve their speaking and listening (personal expression, storytelling, and emotion) skills, as well as how to interpret and analyze tone and point of view. These ideas and topics stem from some of the main themes of the novel (prejudice and racism, appearances vs. reality, and courage/bravery). 

Learning Plan

Prompt

Referring to the Key Terms slideshow, students will take notes over a brief introduction and review of the definitions of key vocabulary: cabaret, a rant, monologues, satire, point of view and verbal irony. Students will watch videos with examples of rants.

Hooks

After students watch the example videos and take notes, they will brainstorm pet peeves (see Pet Peeves Brainstorm worksheet) and take turns sharing this initial “rant” with a partner.

Essential Questions

• Why is how we say something as important as what we say?
• How does the use of irony or satire impact the persuasiveness of an argument?
• Why might you choose to use figurative language to express a point of view?

Resources

• As described under Teacher Needs and Student Needs
• To Kill a Mockingbird novel
• To Kill a Mockingbird guided questions answered in previous sessions

Teacher and Student Performance Tasks

• Introduce the Character Rant Outline handout.
• Independently, students will outline and write a new rant from the point of view of a character in To Kill a Mockingbird.
• Students will develop a presentation in Google Slides and deliver a compelling performance of their character’s rant in front of the class.

Final Review

After the lesson is completed, students will be able to explain and give examples of the following terms: cabaret, rant, monologues, satire, point of view, and verbal irony. Students will have to present evidence of knowledge of these terms in their presentation/slide show.

Lesson Reflection

After teaching this lesson, I thought it went better than expected. I tried this lesson with my co-taught English 11 class. I incorporated our department writing curriculum for this lesson, so it seemed to be familiar to the students when they were creating their character rants.

Overall, I was happy with the outcome and process of the character rants. Most of the class was quite creative with their topics and ideas. The only part I would consider changing or trying differently is the presentation aspect. I would try this same lesson with a higher-level class of students to see if I could get longer and more analytical character rants. I think that relatively weaker writing abilities may have contributed to why this class’s rants were short.

Developed by Ken Neff
Greenville High School
School Climate / Credit recovery classroom
Grade Level: High School

Introduction

During the Muse Machine 2019 Summer Institute, educators participated in a workshop presented by the world-renowned Ping Chong + Company. The theme was “Belonging and the Sense of Self” and one of the demonstrations was entitled, Undesirable Elements. Ping Chong + Company has developed this interview-based theatre work to, “examine issues of culture and identity of individuals who are outsiders within the mainstream of the community.” Teachers are often faced with students who find themselves on the fringes of the mainstream, particularly in the high school setting. Teacher Ken Neff from Greenville High School works with students who sometimes feel they are on the outside looking in. In this lesson, Ken uses the concepts he learned from the Ping Chong presenters to bolster the interviewing skills that he wants his students to use during his credit recovery classes. He often finds that his students believe that successful people possess some innate ability that they do not have. As we know, Malcolm Gladwell tells us that it takes 10,000 hours of practice for anyone to become successful at a task. There is a very moving piece in this lesson from Kobe Bryant about the practice that it took for him to reach the pinnacle of his career. The moral of the story is, never underestimate the number of times that it takes for everyone to achieve success!

Click here to view/download this lesson plan as a PDF

Inspiration

My inspiration was Undesirable Elements, the devised theatre series performed by Ping Chong + Company and introduced to us at the Muse Machine Summer Institute in 2019, which is based on interviews with real people. I believe students who fail classes are viewed by many as the “undesirable elements” in our classrooms.

 

Overview

Summary

Students will individually respond in writing to questions about their academic struggles. Responses will be exchanged between students and they will interview each other (taking notes) to expand on the short answers. Those notes will be turned in as evidence of success in completing the task. Through the process of interviewing each other, students can share insights that will be informative to themselves and to an audience.

Standards

Ohio Social Emotional Standards

Competency A: Self-Awareness
A3 Demonstrate awareness of and willingness to seek help for self or others 
A3.2.d Reflect on actions that are based on constructive feedback, address personal challenges and build on personal strengths 

Competency B: Self-Management
B3 Persevere through challenges and setbacks in school and life 
B3.2.d Reframe a current challenge or setback, by reflecting on successes

Competency D: Relationship Skills
D1 Apply positive verbal and non-verbal communication and social skills to interact effectively with others and in groups.
D1.1.d Actively engage in positive interactions to make connections with peers, adults and community to support and achieve common goals 
D1.2.d Apply constructive feedback to strengthen connections and achieve common goals

Competency E: Responsible Decision-Making
E1 Develop, implement and model effective decision and critical thinking skills
E1.2.d Implement a decision-making process to solve complex situations including academic and social challenges
E2 Identify potential outcomes to help make constructive decisions
E2.3.d Integrate prior experience and knowledge of outcomes to inform future decisions
E4 Explore and approach new situations with an open mind and curiosity while recognizing that some outcomes are not certain or comfortable
E4.1.d Actively seek out new opportunities to expand personal knowledge and experiences
E4.2.d Embrace productive struggle as an opportunity for personal growth

Objectives/Outcomes

Eventually, this material provides the basis for a theatrical interview performance in which the students will read from a script based upon their story as told by them and told to their peers. This can be performed for an audience of teachers, peers and other stakeholders to enlighten them on the reasons that students fail and spark discussion on potential preventative efforts and interventions.

Teaching Approach

Small group instruction

Assessment

Interviewer rubric and interviewee rubric

Lesson Preparation

Teacher Needs

• Research the background of the students by drawing upon resources such as school records, conversations with the student, the parents, teachers, counselors and administrators.
• Teachers can help students understand how long successful people work to become successful!

The Grant Baldwin workshop could provide some useful background:

The Grant Baldwin Workshop

(NOTE: The author refers to a documentary about Kobe Bryant’s life and successful career in this link.)

Helpful Hints

• Review written answers to student questionnaire to suggest follow up questions if an interviewer is struggling to come up with their own questions.
• Prepare students for the actual interview by modeling the interview process from the point of view of the interviewer and the interviewee.
• Allow students to practice interviewing skills with a set of questions that are not as revealing (e.g., favorite sports teams and why?) to allow students an opportunity to gain experience with the process.
• Make sure that the interviewer records the exact words of the interviewee.

Student Needs

Prior Knowledge

Several students have significant personal issues that contribute to their failing classes that they may share with another student. It is important that the teacher monitor the conversations to keep students in a “safe space” and on task.

Student Voice

Students share their experiences of failing academically with each other and may choose the extent to which they share any specific issues.

Vocabulary

Persistence, perseverance, wait time, eye contact, disclosure

Evidence/Assessment of Outcomes

Student responses to the questionnaire, interviewer notes

Enduring Understandings

Students underestimate the number of attempts and time it takes to accomplish something for the first time. While outside factors significantly impact student academic performance, each student has a unique path to success. People often fail many times before they achieve success!

Learning Plan

Prompt

Do successful people make mistakes?

Hooks

If at First You Don’t Succeed, You’re in Good Company poster

Essential Questions

• What can we learn from failing students about how to help them pass classes?
• Why do students fail a subject(s)?
• Why is it difficult for many failing students to reestablish good academic standing?

Resources

Student questionnaire

Rubrics

Poster

• Writing materials

Teacher and Student Performance Tasks

• Students individually complete the questionnaire.
• Teacher sets up an interview schedule based on completed questionnaires.
• On a subsequent day, students are assigned at least one other student to interview.
• Each student is given the other student’s completed questionnaire and directed to interview that student. The expectation is that the interviewer will ask follow-up questions to the responses of the interviewee and that the interviewee will elaborate on their answers. The interviewer is expected to record notes and submit them to the teacher.

Final Review

All students are encouraged to share what they find out about each other and how they felt about the experience.

Lesson Reflection

The lesson eventually produced good dialogue between the pairs of students. There were a few moments of rich conversation about common feelings. It is critical to this activity’s success that students be well prepared on interview procedures and notetaking. If students are not invested in the activity, follow-up questioning is hindered.

Developed by Lauren Komorowski
Miamisburg High School
Theater
Grade Level: High School

Introduction

Professionals make things look easy! This is particularly true in sports and in the arts. It is also easy to underestimate the time and energy it takes to make a piece of art come to life. Lauren Komorowski, instructor at Miamisburg High School, had an opportunity to demonstrate the thought and energy that goes into stage design for her theater students. Traveling to New York City with the Muse Machine on their Advanced Teacher Training Seminar in 2019 provided Lauren with an appreciation of theater staging at an advanced level during the many Broadway plays that she attended there. Lauren used that experience, and her already established background in this art form, to create a lesson plan that involved her students beyond the usual “sit-and-get” kind of instruction. Her students were asked to develop a set, using accepted rules of design and to share it with the class, explaining how and why they designed it as they did. She shares that it caused her class to understand the role that set design plays as a part of the play itself. This is the kind of learning that will stay with them if they become performers, designers, or even audience members in the future!

Click here to view/download this lesson plan as a PDF

Inspiration

The set designs from Broadway productions of Ink and The Ferryman, viewed as part of Muse Machine’s Advanced Teacher Training Seminar in June 2019.

 

Overview

Summary

Students will step into the role of set designer as they create their own stages. Their stages will demonstrate an aspect of a production that will be difficult to convey on a stage. This will allow students to consider the complex job of set designer, the role of the stage as a part of the storytelling of the play and the effect a set designer’s decisions have on actors and the audience.

Standards

4CE Distinguish between the roles of actor and director and discuss how they relate to each other in a theatrical production.

5CE  Recognize and identify the standards and different aspects of performance used to critique and assess theatrical works.

Objectives/Outcomes

Students will have a greater understanding of the role of set designer. Students will experience the role of designer, so they are better prepared to understand how the actions of a director affect the jobs of the others involved in a production, by creating a shoebox stage. Students will critique how a set designer sets up a stage, both from the point of view of an actor and an audience member.

Teaching Approach

Model various stage setups, discuss the issues directors may have faced and how they solved them, and student individual or collaborative work.

Assessment

Presentation of shoebox stages & self-critique

Lesson Preparation

Teacher Needs

Set Design Rubric

“A Brief History of Theatre” slideshow

Various art supplies to assist student stage creation (including liquid glue, colorful paper, cardstock or cardboard, scissors)

The following videos:

1.The Ferryman

2.Ink

3.Frozen Movie

4.Frozen Broadway

5.Frozen Disney

Helpful Hints

Do not let students choose their scenes until after you discuss the sets you are analyzing. This allows them to brainstorm as you watch how others selected aspects from their play/musical and staged them, and then they can decide on their scene and stage elements from there.

Student Needs

Prior Knowledge

This is an introduction to staging a production. However, a general understanding of what is involved in a stage, how stages are used, and the general limitations of stages would be helpful.

Student Voice

Students can choose their scene, how they will adapt it for the stage and if/who they work with.

Vocabulary

Stage, fly space, wings, props, audience, visibility, levels

Evidence/Assessment of Outcomes

Students will present their stages to the class. Through this presentation, they will demonstrate the aspects of their stage design, an explanation of their staging choices and the overall “vision” of their staged production.

Students will also provide a written critique of their stage. They will assess the challenges this stage would provide them as an actor as well as a member of the audience.

Enduring Understandings

The students will leave this lesson with information on a career in set design and better understand what a set designer does everyday. They will gain knowledge about the challenges and benefits of this career.

Learning Plan

Prompt

Students will watch YouTube videos of two Tony-Nominated set designers discussing the thought behind and process of making their set. (Links 1 and 2 as described under Teacher Needs)

Hooks

Discussion of how sets affect our experience of a staged performance as actors and as audience members.

Essential Questions

• How does the design of a set change the way the audience perceives the important elements of a play or musical?
• How can critical thinking help solve issues that arise when staging a complex scene AND in our lives?

Resources

As described under Teacher Needs

Teacher and Student Performance Tasks

Day 1: Students will watch the YouTube interview with the set designers of The Ferryman and Ink. Teacher will identify the staging elements of these musicals and discuss the various challenges presented to the set designers, as well as the effect of these stages on the audience. 

Day 2: Teacher/students will discuss the “Let it Go” scene from the movie Frozen, using appropriate stage terminology from the previous “stage elements” unit (see slides from the unit A Brief History of Theatre). 

Discuss these videos in the context of the challenge of presenting this scene from Frozen (Link 3) on a stage. Students will brainstorm what the challenges of putting this scene on a stage would be, as well as a plausible solution to these issues.

Teacher will list the challenging aspects of the scene on document camera. Students will view the Broadway and Disney versions of this scene (Links 4 and 5) and evaluate how the stage director set up the stage to accommodate these issues, referencing back to the initial list of challenges and identifying how the various stage managers/set designers dealt with these difficulties. Students will break into groups and identify the scene they will be staging.

Day 3-7: Students will work individually or as a group to identify elements of the stage needed to successfully adapt their scene from the screen to the stage.

Final Review

Day 8: Students will present their scenes, focusing on the challenges they faced and how they used their set to overcome those challenges. Then, students will begin a critique of their stage, focusing on the actors and audience experience of the play because of various choices they made as a stage director.

Lesson Reflection

My students really enjoyed this project and were engaged. They have mentioned several aspects of their new learning about stage elements as we have evaluated other performances throughout the year. Often, in the past, I have found that students think every single set is perfect and have no idea how they would fix or change sets we see. After doing this lesson, they have a much richer appreciation for the work that is required to design a set.

Developed by Nicole Askew
City Day Community School
ELA/Reading
Grade Level: 7th

Introduction

Most middle school-age children struggle with issues around identity. They want peer recognition and approval and are watching their own bodies and emotions evolve. Caring adults who work with these young people try to provide tools to aid in this transformation to adulthood. Nicole Askew, teacher at City Day Charter School, created an imaginative lesson to address this issue, while incorporating Ohio standards for language arts. Nicole skillfully interlaces character traits from the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton into a group activity that she learned during 2019 Muse Machine Summer Institute. Using the device called “river stories,” presented by Ping Chong + Company artists, Nicole helps students portray the novel’s character traits in a group activity that is enjoyable and insightful. This is a lesson that is both creative and relevant for use by any middle school teacher.

Click here to view/download this lesson plan as a PDF

Inspiration

During Muse Machine’s Summer Institute 2019, Ping Chong + Company presented the topic of Understanding and Self. They taught us a writing/storytelling method called “River Stories” to help students understand this topic.

 

Overview

Summary

In this lesson, students will collaborate with their peers to answer questions about a passage after reading it by citing textual evidence. They will then refer to the novel The Outsiders to write textual evidence of some of the characters on a “stone” and place it on the paper river. Students will also explain the reasoning behind their choice. They will then take that evidence and, as a class, create a River Story.

Standards

• 7.RL.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn.
• 7.RL.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot.)

Objectives/Outcomes

• Students will be able to analyze a text.
• Students will cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of literary text as well as support for inferences
• Students will be able to identify and analyze character traits.

Teaching Approach

Whole group & small group instruction

Assessment

• Oral (Student responses of text evidence)
• Written (River Stones of evidence)
• Character Sketch based on evidence (River Story)

Lesson Preparation

Teacher Needs

-The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (Students should have the first four or five chapters read prior to this lesson.)  

-3 sheets of chart paper (Draw a river on each one and label one heading: Ponyboy, another one: Johnny and the third one: Dally)

-Teacher-created small pieces of paper shaped like stones (provide each student with 3 stones)

Selections from Who Is Tom?

“My Shadow” poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

Character Sketch (the adjectives list may help students create better character descriptions)

Helpful Hints

Showing students samples and creating a few “stones” together helps to make the directions clearer. Teacher should also be aware of Information about students’ backgrounds and a sensitivity to their need for privacy in certain situations.

Student Needs

Prior Knowledge

Students will have been previously introduced to identifying main ideas and supporting details which will assist with providing textual evidence. Students will also be familiar with most of the characters in the novel prior to this lesson. Students have written stories before; however, this is an introduction to River Stories.

Student Voice

Students can work with peers of their own choosing

Vocabulary

Main idea, details, textual evidence, character traits, character sketch, analyze 

Evidence/Assessment of Outcomes

Students will create a brief character sketch (one to two paragraphs) about one of the three characters mentioned in this lesson based on the evidence they provided on the river stones.

Enduring Understandings

Students will understand that citing specific textual evidence adds necessary information and credibility to the analysis of a text.

Learning Plan

Prompt

I will ask students the following question: How can you tell that I am a reading teacher? (They may respond by pointing out some of the items they see around the room, posters, books, things we’ve done in class, etc.)

Hooks

Teacher will display and read aloud the first stanza of “My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stevenson to the class (dramatically or in some other voice).

Essential Questions

• How do you define evidence?
• What do you think of when you think about evidence?
• How do the traumatic events in one’s life shape behaviors?

Resources

As described under Teacher Needs

Teacher and Student Performance Tasks

Warm-Up: Project/display “My Shadow” by Robert Louis Stevenson and refer to the first stanza. Ask students to cite evidence that Stevenson is talking about his shadow (very, very like me, jumps before me when I jump into my bed).

Guided Practice: Ask students what the word evidence means (ex. obvious, a thing or things helpful in forming a conclusion or judgment, a sign). Ask students what they think of when they think about evidence (ex. evidence submitted in a court to prove a case). Explain that writers include evidence in their stories to help the reader understand the characters and the events happening in the story.

Project/display page 1 of Who is Tom? and read the text aloud. Ask students to characterize Tom (ex. he is forgetful). Ask students why he is forgetful. Students may say the text doesn’t allow for inference. Then display page 2 of Who is Tom? and read the text aloud. Ask students why Tom is forgetful. (ex. Mom was too busy to wake him up in time to get ready for school. Tom may be stressed himself because of twin babies in the house, dad working long hours, etc.) Point out that the author gives plenty of textual evidence to help the reader understand Tom’s problems.

Issue teacher-created small pieces of paper that are shaped like stones. Explain to students that they will write down textual evidence on the stones that answer questions about some of the characters in The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. We will then list at least two character traits for Ponyboy, Johnny and Dally (three separate rivers).

Leading Questions:
How can you compare/contrast how Johnny and Ponyboy feel about Dally? What kind of person is Dally? What evidence can you find to support that?

Independent: After all the stones have been placed on the river, students will then choose a river (character) to write a character sketch about. Students will write approximately two paragraphs that describe the character of their choosing based on the river stones.

Final Review

Closing Activity: Have a few students share their character sketches with the class and have them explain why they included at least one of the pieces of evidence in their sketch.

Exit Pass (optional): Have students write one thing they learned, one thing they liked, and one question they still have on a half sheet of paper.

Lesson Reflection

I was unsure how I would incorporate the River Story into a reading lesson. However, I must say that I rather enjoyed the response from my students. They really enjoyed the activity. It helped them to think about how well they knew each character from the novel and if they needed to analyze the characters some more.

Implementing this lesson gave me ideas of other ways that I can possibly use the River Story idea. I am sure that I will teach this lesson again with other classes. In the future, however, I will take a little more time to explain character traits at the start of the lesson. Though my students had previously learned about character traits and had also completed other activities regarding the topic, a few of them seemed to struggle with what to write on their stones about each character. Overall, I think the lesson went well.

Developed by Laura Daehnke
The Overfield School
Language Arts, Mathematics, Visual Arts
Grade Level: Kindergarten

Introduction

Dr. Laura Berk, developmental psychologist states that, “…self-development begins with the dawning of self-awareness in infancy and evolves into a rich…organized view of the self’s characteristics and capacities during childhood and adolescence.” It is important for adults to work with very young children as they begin to understand the self as a separate entity. Teacher Laura Daehnke from the Overfield School used ideas that she learned during the 2019 Muse Machine Summer Institute to help her Kindergarteners learn about the concept of belonging. Using a team building tool, Laura helped her children construct a tool for tracking treats that they will make together for the animals that live on school grounds. The Night Tree sharing is a community event that is a long-standing occasion for the school, but Laura’s approach using the concept of belonging, is a new one that will likely be used for many years to come!

Click here to view/download this lesson plan as a PDF

Inspiration

At the 2019 Summer Institute for Educators, made possible by Muse Machine, Ping Chong + Company shared the topic of Identity, Belonging, and Sense of Place. Embedded in the “belonging” piece was the making of agreements and the use of team building exercises. This along with projects happening in our classroom inspired this lesson plan.

 

Overview

Summary

Students will share their theories of what it means to belong. Once there is an agreement on what belonging is, they will discuss ways to be sure everyone attending our upcoming Night Tree celebration has a treat to hang outside for the animals, thus being included and belonging. Students will develop a way to document the amount needed prior to the event, as well as, a way to track them as the treats are being made.

Standards

Visual Art Standards 

• 1PE Describe the meaning in the marks they make on paper.
  PE Explore their environments and experiences for artmaking ideas.
• 2PR Generate ideas and images for artwork based on observations, memory, imagination and experience.
• 2RE Show confidence and pride in their artistic accomplishments.
• 6RE Recognize and point out the similarities and differences between artistic styles.

Math Standards

• K.CC.A.1 Count to 100 by ones and by tens.
• K.CC.A.2 Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1).
• K.CC.A.3 Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).
• K.CC.A.4 Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.

Language Arts Standards

• S.L.K.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
• S.L.K.3 Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

Objectives/Outcomes

The children will come to an agreement on what belonging means. Using this agreement, the children will figure out how many treats are needed for our class’s upcoming Night Tree celebration. They will then find a way to document the amount of treats we complete as they are being made over the next few weeks. A plan for this way of tracking will be made and if time permits, the actual structure will be made.

Teaching Approach

Co-creating and facilitating student-led activities

Assessment

Teacher will join the small group to facilitate discussion. Teacher will take notes and record observations as the children come to agreements and share their ideas. Teacher will assist in providing the necessary materials to make plans and potentially a chart for tracking. Teacher will also take notes on the number sense of each child as they work together on the latter portion.

Lesson Preparation

Teacher Needs

• Table for small group of children
• Notebook and pen for documentation
• Paper and Pens for the children
• Clipboards
• Large paper and Markers, if they get the actual Chart
• Belonging Pennant

Click here for Pinterest: Belonging Activities

Some more ideas for helping set the scene for “belonging” with very young children!

 

Helpful Hints

• Be prepared to counter the question of what it means to belong with, “What does it mean to not belong?”
• Decide whether each child can document independently or if there needs to be one way of doing so.

Student Needs

Prior Knowledge

Children will need to understand what Night Tree looks like and why we are making treats at all. They will also need some understanding of how a conversation works.

Student Voice

Students will offer theories on what it means to belong. They will share their ideas on how to determine the number of treats needed. They will also share and agree on a way to track the treats.

Vocabulary

• Belong: include everyone equally
• Night Tree: a celebration in December where families come to school. While there, the Night Tree by Eve Bunting is read, holiday songs are sung and the children and their families hang treats on the trees outdoors for the animals to eat. The families are then welcome to enjoy hot chocolate and treats indoors.
• Treats: pinecones rolled in bird seed; cereal, apple pieces, cranberries and popcorn strung, oranges sliced and strung
• Track: a way to keep a count of how many treats we have and how many more are needed

 

Evidence/Assessment of Outcomes

The students will show through conversation their understanding of what it means to belong. They will share their ideas with others, as well as, listen to their peers. Together they will work through these ideas as a way of coming to an agreement or shared definition of the word. The students will discuss and work together to figure out how many treats our K-2 classes need. They will then formulate a plan (either verbally or through drawing) of how to track the number of treats being made.

 

Enduring Understandings

• Sharing ideas and listening to others is a way to rethink your own ideas. This allo ws you to evaluate your own thinking and either make changes as you hear from others, or hold firm to your own ideas.
• Drawing is another method that can be used to share thoughts and ideas.
• Interviewing and recording data will help you learn new things and retain said information.
• Charts can be used in progress or as a way to show information at the end.

Learning Plan

Prompt

As you know, our Night Tree celebration is only 10 school days away. Our decorations have to be finished in 7 days, but we have a few extra to complete the treats that we’ll all get to hang on the trees for the animals.

Hooks

Before we think about making treats, I want us to think about a special word…. BELONG. Use the family pennant to help the students understand what BELONG means in the context of this lesson.

Essential Questions

• What does it mean to belong?
• What does it mean to NOT belong?
• How do you know if you belong?

Resources

• Images of previous Night Tree treats
• Paper, Pens, Clipboards
• Access to each child’s name (Lockers)

Teacher and Student Performance Tasks

• Teacher says, “As you know, our Night Tree celebration is only 10 school days away. Our decorations have to be finished in 7 days, but we have a few extra to complete the treats that we’ll all get to hang on the trees for the animals. Before we think about making treats, I want us to think about a special word….BELONG. What does it mean to belong?”
• The children begin a discussion on their understanding. Perhaps they will all agree immediately, or perhaps they will have some back and forth. The teacher will facilitate the conversation as needed to help the children with the art of communicating as a way to help them come to an agreement on what it means to belong.
• If they are struggling, try asked what is means to NOT belong, how it feels to not belong or how one knows whether or not they belong.
• “Now that we all agree on what it means to belong, we need to think about Night Tree treats. We want everyone to feel like they belong at Night Tree and therefore we will need enough treats for everyone who comes. I’m wondering if we can figure out how many people might be at our K-2 Night Tree…”
• The children will share ideas on how to collect this data. Decide if this data can be collected independently or whether the entire groups needs to go about it in the same manner.
• The data will then be added together to get a grand total.
• “As we make the treats, how will we be able to keep track of how many we have? We can’t keep re-adding the treats every time we make a new one…”
• The children will discuss ways to track the treats. They will converse to make a plan for their agreed upon way of tracking.
• If time allows, they will begin following their plan.

Final Review

Students will share their chart/tracking method with the entire class, explaining how to use it so that everyone can do so on their own. The children will show understanding by following the directions and filling in the tracking device throughout the next 10 school days.

Lesson Reflection

The word belong has multiple meanings. I was hoping they would define it as including everyone, but instead they were more focused on the word in terms of ownership, like “My toys belong to me.” Had I flipped the question and asked, “What does it mean to NOT belong, would they have come up with the definition I was hoping for? Children’s literature could have helped define, as well.”

That would have been a good time to write the word on the board and add each child’s description around it, forming a web of sorts.

I was pleased with the idea of using dice to help add each number together, which was entirely an idea from the children.

As it turned out, we needed to have 91 treats for the celebration and were able to produce 116!