Gabi Hur
Individual Lesson Plan
Part 1: An introduction page
The target learners for this lesson plan are grade 3 students. The cultural
demographic of the class is diverse (i.e. Caucasian, East Asian, South Asian) and
some students are English Language Learners. The purpose of this lesson is to do an
activity that can help children explore their ‘identities’ individually as well as
socially. I’m going to use stories to help students learn about themselves, families
and communities which is one of the big ideas of the BC curriculum for English
Language Arts 3. I’ve chosen to incorporate story into the lesson because narrative
texts, whether real or imagined “teach us about human nature, motivation,
experience and often reflect a personal journey or strengthen a sense of identity”.
The story I’m going to use is “The Name Jar” by Yang Sook Choi. I’ve chosen this
book because illustrates questions about difference, identity and cultural
assimilation. Because there are many immigrant students in Canada, I thought it was
the perfect story book for them to read about. Thus, students will use illustrations,
prior knowledge, personal stories and experiences to make meaning.
Prior to this lesson, students have already interviewed their family members
about the meaning of their names. The students will present in whatever method
(drawing or writing) the meaning of their names and have a class discussion about
them. For my assessment, I’m looking for active participation, think-pair-share, class
discussion and completed homework. Students will also be assessed by making
connections from the story to their own names and life experiences. They will
engage actively as listeners, viewers and readers to develop understanding of self,
identity and community. The students are expected to demonstrate metacognitive
strategies such as talking and thinking about learning through reflecting,
questioning. Moreover, the students should be able to focus on the speaker, asking
questions to clarify, listening to specifics, expressing opinions, staying on topic,
taking turns, and connecting with audience when having class discussion.
PART 2 LESSON PLAN
Subject: English Language
Arts
Lesson Overview
(What this lesson is about)
Grade: 3
Date:
Duration:
September, 60 min.
2021
This lesson is about how stories and other texts
help students learn about themselves, families and
communities. The students will understand the
story by making connections to their own names
from personal stories and experiences which
encompasses the core concept of “identity”.
Class Profile
Construct a hypothetical class
profile, in which you specify
how many students are in your
class, their learning challenges,
and their levels of English
proficiency
There are 20 students in our class. Five students
are in ELL, one student has ADHD and one student
has special needs with a support worker. All
students are able to communicate with varying
levels of English proficiency.
Big Idea(s)
(Select one or two big ideas from the new
BC curriculum):
-Stories and other texts help us learn
about ourselves, our families, and our
communities
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum -Stories can be understood from different
perspectives
Curricular Competencies
(What the students will do)
-use personal experience and knowledge
to connect to text and make meaning
(Select appropriate curricular
competencies from the new BC
curriculum):
-engage actively as listeners, viewers, and
readers as appropriate, to develop
understanding of self, identity and
community
- explain the role that story plays in
https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum personal family and community identity
Content Objectives
(What the students will know)
-metacognitive strategies: talking and
thinking about leaning through
reflecting, questioning, self-evaluating
-reading strategies: locating the main
idea and details in the story
-oral language strategies: listening to
specifics, expressing opinions
Language Objectives
(What new language the students will
learn)
-The students will learn about identity,
differences and similarities with each
other, family tradition, ancestors, culture,
religion, meaning of the name, nickname
Materials and Equipment Needed for this Lesson
-The Name Jar by Yang Sook Choi
-20 copies of KWL chart
-pencil, eraser
1.
Lesson
Stages
Hook
Learning Activities
-
2.
BODY
-
-
Ask pre-reading questions: What is the title
of the book? Who and what do you see on
the cover of the book? What do you think the
book might be about?
Read The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
Time
Allotted
15 min.
Ask students: “What does Unhei say in her
40 min.
new classroom when they ask her name?
Why does she do that? Is Joey being
respectful when he tries to say Unhei’s
name?”
Ask students to turn and talk with a partner
beside them
Let students know that we all make mistakes
sometimes, but that it is very important to
say someone’s name respectfully and
-
-
-
-
-
3.
Closure
Adaptations for
English Language
Learners
correctly
“What name does Unhei pick? Why does she
keep her given name, Unhei? Unhei knows
two languages. Do any of you speak two or
more languages?”
A student points out, “we didn’t get to
choose our names when we were born”.
Explain to students about how many people
do not use the name they were given at
birth. This can be because of nicknames,
family changes, gender identity or personal
preference.
Explain to students that people’s names are
often very important to them, and that
people name their children what they do for
a variety of reasons including: family
tradition, ancestors, culture, religion,
meaning of the name, a favorite book or
movie character, nickname, etc.
Explain something about the origin of your
name or ask students who may know the
origin of their name.
Ask students to take out their homework.
Then, use the popsicle sticks to have
students take turns presenting the meaning
of their names to the rest of the class.
5 min.
-
Ask students, “What have we learned about
our names?”. Explain that all of our names
have different meanings to them and it’s
important to address people by the name
they want to be called.
-
Ask students to hand in the homework at the
end of the class.
-
Students who are multilingual and know a language
such as Arabic, Korean or Chinese, they could illustrate
their name in those characters just as Unhei did when
she wrote her name on the chalkboard for her class.
Assessment/Evaluation
of Students’ Learning
-
Assessment for this lesson will be mostly
informal. Teacher will observe students'
comments and reactions during class and smallgroup discussions. By paying attention to their
individual responses and conversations, teacher
can assess their comprehension of diversity and
their ability to apply this comprehension by
exploring their own differences.
-
The homework assignment is the only formative
assessment for this lesson
Reflection
Reflect on your process of
developing this lesson plan.
Explain how your lesson
plan relates to some of the
theoretical concepts
acquired in this course so
far.
It is natural for young children to notice differences.
Names serve as a familiar starting point for students
and educators to get to know each other and show
respect. This lesson is a wonderful way to start the
school year because it offers an opportunity to build
classroom community by giving students a chance to
share and learn about each other’s names they want
to be called. Reading the book, The Name Jar by Yang
Sook Choi, as a class provides a wonderful
opportunity to discuss ally behavior and community
support with students. One of the learning objectives
of this lesson is to teach children to accept and
embrace the many ways students may choose to be
addressed. After the reading and discussion, each
student will share their name and let their class
community know how they want to be addressed.
This lesson also provides an opportunity to talk about
names and help students gain important social skills
and understanding that it is important to address
people by the name they want to be called.
Part 3: Appendix
I elaborated this lesson from the TP1 assignment. The assignment is attached below.
Lesson 9 – Name Design
<DAY 1> I wanted to modify this lesson by adding few more components in the grade 3
level. I would first make a KWL chart in the classroom so students can have a discussion
and write down what they (K)now and (W)ant to know about their names. The
(L)earned column of the chart will be filled the next day after the students have learned
about their names. The students will take home a sheet of questions that explores the
meaning behind their names by asking their families.
The questions may include but not limited to:
-What’s the meaning behind my name?
-Who named me?
-Why did you choose this name?
-Is this a family name?
<DAY 2> In the BC curriculum for Grade 3 English Language Arts, one of the big ideas is
“stories and other texts help us learn about ourselves, our families and our
communities”. Before going back to the KWL chart, I would read a picture book that
illustrates the meaning behind one’s own name.
The suggested books are:
-The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi
-Thunder Boy Jr. by Sherman Alexie and Yuyi Morales
-Alma and How She Got Her Name by Juana Martinez-Neal
The class can have a class discussion about one of the books chosen and make
connections to their own names. I want the students to “use personal experience and
knowledge to connect to text and make meaning” (curricular competency). Then, I
would go back to the KWL chart and fill in the (L)earned part together as class.
<DAY 3> The students will make a name tag where they would colour, draw, or
decorate things that represents who they are. They can use glue, construction paper,
sparkles, markers and pens, or anything they would like.
I chose to modify this lesson into 3 parts so students can deepen their understanding of
self, identity, family and community