Tiffany Weidman
TED 5780
Sandra Rall
October 10th, 2014
Lesson 3
Requirements:
1. Demographics: This lesson is taught in a third grade writing class, to a class of 32
students, in a self-contained classroom. This particular classroom consists of a very
diverse student body, with many different cultural backgrounds. There are several
students that are bilingual, speaking both Spanish and Arabic. There are an equal amount
of boys and girls in this classroom. This lesson will take approximately 45 minutes to
finish. The title of this lesson is “Past, Present, and Future”.
2. Rationale: This lesson will help students become a better writer, because it shows them
how to use the clues authors give in writing to understand if they’re talking about
something in the past, present or future. By learning more about flashbacks and
foreshadowing, students will be better equipped to predict what will happen during a
story, or even how it will end. This lesson will help students learn how to write more in
the past tense, present tense, and future tense. Students will also be working on their
reading and listening skills when they read aloud a story (as a class).
CCSS.ELA- W. 3. C
Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.
3. Outcomes (objectives/performance indicators): Each student will be able to spot a
moment in the book, where the author refers to the past, as well as when they return to
talking about the future. Students will learn how to bring up events from the past and
imagine events for the future, in order to strengthen their writing. Students will learn
where it’s appropriate to add a flashback, or fore shadowing as well (to work that they
have already created, or a new story they write).
4. Materials Needed:

Dry-erase Board

Marker

Writer’s Workshop Notebooks

Pencils

Little Red Riding Hood; by: Charles Parrault

Additional book option: The Summer My Father was Ten; by: Pat Brisson

“Flashback” and “Foreshadowing” Signs
5. Teacher Procedure/Development:
a. Introduction: The teacher will begin the lesson by asking students what they think
foreshadowing and flashbacks are. After giving the students sufficient time to think,
the teacher will hear their responses, making sure to write them down on the board.
Next the teacher will tell students that we will see if their predictions are right by
introducing flashbacks and foreshadowing. They will explain that “foreshadowing” is
when and author mentions something that will happen in story in the future. Then
they will explain that “flashbacks” are when the author refers back to something that
a main character is remembering. While the teacher is explaining what each word
means, they will be writing key words on the board for students to see (eg.
“Foreshadowing” and “flashback”)
b. Methods/Procedures: Next the teacher will give examples of a flashback, and a part of
the story where there’s foreshadowing. An example of a flashback would be, “I
thought back to a time when my mom told me not to jump on the bed, and realized
that if I had listened to her, I wouldn’t have gotten hurt”. An example of
foreshadowing, could be when a story is beginning and the author says, “It was a dark
and cloudy night, and I could tell that something horrible was about to happen.” This
should take almost 15 minutes.
Then the teacher will explain to students that good writers often jump back to a memory,
so that the readers can have more details, giving them a better understanding of the
characters. The teacher will have paper-passers give each student a set of signs, one of
which says “flashback” and another that says “foreshadowing”. The teacher will instruct
students, that whenever they hear a flashback or foreshadowing in the story, that they are
supposed to hold the corresponding sign up in the air. The teacher will also mention the
fact that we are doing this activity to show how writers create flashbacks, by making a
character remember a story that someone had once told them. Now, the teacher will read
Little Red Riding Hood, which has an example of foreshadowing and flashbacks. While
reading the story, the teacher will go through a Power Point presentation that has
additional pictures of the characters from the story being read. The teacher will be
watching students’ movements, making sure that they are raising their signs at the correct
times. At the end of the story, the teacher will review the foreshadowing and flashback
moments that were present in the story. The teacher will also make sure to include some
Spanish vocabulary, for students that speak the language or are interested in learning it
(eg. Red/rojo; wolves/lobos (the school mascot), etc.). This should take about 15 minutes
to finish.
c. Closure: For the last part of the lesson, the teacher ask a student to read a narrative
from their Writer’s Workshop Journal, and will show the class an example of how
they could add foreshadowing and flashbacks to their story in a way that makes sense.
Then, as a class, write a new story, that includes an example of foreshadowing and
flashbacks. This should take approximately 15 minutes. For homework, have students
write a new story (on their own), which includes foreshadowing and flashbacks and
return it the next day.
6. Technology Use:
a. I went online, specifically looking for images that would supplement me reading the
story to the students, and made a presentation including these. I wanted the images
being shown in the Power Point to give students a clear visual for the idea behind
foreshadowing (looking into the future), and flashbacks (looking into the past).
b. I used the Power Point presentation to engage my visual learners, because they
remember details better by seeing images. For my other students, this step was just
another facet of deepening their understanding of what we were reading as a class.
7. Accommodations/Adaptations:
a. A main safety issue which must be addressed, is the fact that none of the emergency
exits can be blocked. This means that no student can block an aisle or doorway of the
classroom, along with the class supplies being stored in a safe spot (which is out of
the way).
b. I will differentiate instruction by including many points of interest for visual learners,
such as the key words on the board when I’m explaining each concept, along with the
visuals playing on the PowerPoint while the stories being read. I am accommodating
my lesson for my kinesthetic students, because I’m including an activity that involves
holding up signs when the appropriate part comes up in the story being read.
c. I’m adapting my lesson to fit the learning style of my linguistic students, because I’m
doing a read aloud, along with discussing the concept with the whole class. I’m
adapting the environment, making it very student-centered, by asking students what
they already know about the subject and building off of that.
8. Assessment/Evaluation:
a. The first formative assessment is when the teacher asks the students what they might
already know about the concept that’s about to be taught. Another formative
assessment that takes place, is when the students hold up either sign for what is taking
place in the (either foreshadowing or flashback). There will be a formative
assessment taking place during the class discussion, when students give their
examples of how to include a foreshadowing and flashback in their narratives. The
summative assessment happens when students turn in their homework, and the
teacher gets a clear understanding of just what they understand.
b. I will use the students’ responses throughout the lesson as evidence of their
understanding of the concept. I will also use the examples that they give in their
homework, as well as in the whole class discussion.
Teacher Reflection: I wish that I would have had additional time for students to reflect (as a
class) on the lesson, so that I know what areas to improve on for my next lesson on this concept.
I feel like students could have really benefitted from a group activity, especially since they could
have shared more ideas, and gathered more details for a more interesting story. I think that
having students at the front of the class (sitting on the floor together), could have made the time
where the teacher was reading the story more fun.
Signs Students Hold up During the Story
Flashback
Foreshadowing