Wilmington University
Pathwise Lesson Plan Format
Teacher/Student
Teacher
Grade:
Subject:
Date:
Sarah Marsteller http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LASteinbecksNovelOfMiceAndM enNewspaperAssignment911.htm
9 th grade Honors
Language Arts/English
2/25/2010
1. Briefly describe the students in this class.
Summarize the class profile (grade level, age range, numbers of students and make up of the class); if relevant, include special needs of the group and any concerns that the teacher may have or an observer may need to know before viewing the lesson.
2. What are your goals for the lesson? What do you want the students to learn?
In this lesson, students will learn how to work in a group to create a final product. Students will be required to depend on one another for a successful grade. Students will also learn how to write a complete newspaper article and the process of creating an actual newspaper. Students will be required to use their writing and creativity skills.
3. Why are these goals suitable for this group of students?
These goals are appropriate because students just completed a unit of the components of writing and know the importance of an introduction, body, and a conclusion. This lesson also serves different learning styles (verbal, intrapersonal, kinesthetic).
4. How do these goals support the district’s curriculum, state frameworks, and/or content standards?
1.1
Write expressive (author-oriented) texts
-Demonstrate techniques which could include dialogue, characterization, a natural use of language, or effective point of view.
4.1d Using literature appropriate for age, stage, and interests, students will be able to respond to connect
their own experience to those of literary characters by-
- Explaining the reasons for a character’s actions.
-Identifying with characters based on a clear understanding of motivation and situation.
4.2f Identify point of view
-Analyze how point of view affects a literary text.
-Analyze how point of view impacts the reader.

5. How do these goals relate to broader curriculum goals in the discipline as a whole or in other disciplines?
Demonstrate or describe how these goals link to big ideas, curriculum concepts, or to concepts being taught in other discipline areas. Describe how this lesson fits into the sequence of the instructional unit or curriculum.
6. How do you plan to engage students in the content? What will you do? What will the students do? (include time estimates).
Describe the steps or components of a lesson that are a part of this lesson. Possible steps or components are listed below:
 Mindset or “Warm-Up” Activity o Students will get into group of two and make a list of current newspaper publications that their parents read or that they are familiar with.
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State objective or purpose of the lesson o Students are expected to work in groups of four and create a newspaper based on the novella “Of Mice and Men.” o Students will be given a handout with requirements for newspaper.
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Model o
Read the handout and explain the requirements. o
Show a finished product of what is expected from the student.
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Check for understanding o Questions will be asked about the time setting of “Of Mice and Men.” Do students understand the structure of a newspaper? o
Each part of the requirements will be defined and explained.
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Guided Practice o
Students divided into groups of four. o Each student must write at least one article for the newspaper. o Each person will be assigned one of the following jobs: editor, layout artist, proofreader (2). o Students must assign roles and articles to each member. o
The newspaper is required to have a title, front page headlines, date, and cost. o The articles must include a news article about an event from the novella, a cartoon based on a theme, advertisements based on setting, editorial on a theme, and an additional article of the group’s choice. o Students must blog about their individually written article on our classroom blog. This will allow their classmates to read what they have written.
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Closure Activity o
Students will brainstorm ideas for a newspaper title in the last 5 minutes of class, individually. This will prepare students to begin working on the assignment again in the next class.
7. What difficulties do students typically experience in this area, and how do you plan to anticipate these difficulties?
Students may experience difficulty in converting the elements from the novella into a newspaper article. Also, students may experience problems in the blogging process and setting up their blog.

8. What instructional materials or other resources, if any, will you use?
List all equipment and materials needed. Include:
 The novella “Of Mice and Men.”
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Computers for research/blogging
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Paper
9. How did you plan to assess student achievement of the goals? What procedures will you use? (Attached any tests or performance tasks, with accompanying scoring guides or rubrics.)
Students will be tested through their final product: a newspaper with a title of paper, front page headlines, date of paper, cost. Must include advertisements, cartoons, articles relevant to the story, editorial, human interest story. Students must create this newspaper with these requirements. Also, students must successfully post their individually written newspaper article to a blog so that others in the class may read what they have written about the time period from their own perspective.
10. How do you plan to use the results of the assessment?
I plan to use this assessment to determine if students understand the time period of the novella “Of Mice and Men.” I also plan to use it to determine if students understand the parts of a newspaper story and newspaper. If they do not understand these things, I will need to go over the material again .