Lesson Planning with Your Intern:
An Option for Site Coordinators
An option for a Partial Observation is a lesson planning session that can provide your
intern with a different level of support.
Steps in Lesson Planning With Your Intern.
1. You plan with your intern. This planning has two parts:
a. Meet with your intern for approximately one hour to discuss a
lesson. The intern should come prepared with a specific lesson in
mind. The goal of this discussion is to help the intern “flush out”
the lesson. The intern should leave this planning session with a
clear idea of what they are going to teach and how they are going
to teach it.
b. The intern writes up the lesson plan and emails it to you. You review the lesson
and make one or two changes, additions, and/or suggestions that will help the
intern keep the lesson focused and succinct and return the lesson plan.
2. You type up your notes from the planning session (include What we did and
Comments) and send them to the Preparation Coordinator (lisa.higbie@stanleybps.org).
Be sure to include the lesson plan (with your feedback) that you returned to the intern.
The lesson you help your intern plan may or may not be a lesson you observe. The intern
will complete a reflection about the planning session.
When planning with an intern the site coordinator can:
• Shape both the intern’s beliefs and practice
• Add coherence to a lesson
• Help the intern know why he or she is doing something
• Expand the range of issues an intern considers in planning a lesson
Stanley British Primary School Teacher Preparation Program
Site Coordinator Lesson Planning Documentation
Intern: Intern
Mentor/Grade: Mentor 3/4/5
Wilderman
School: Stanley BPS
Date: 5/13/2008
Site Coordinator: Roxanne
Lesson: Intro to Division
Note: These notes are a record of a lesson planning session.
What we did:
• Intern and I met for one and a half hours to plan a lesson to introduce division. Intern
will be doing this lesson before school ends. Intern came to our planning session with a
plan in his head and a division worksheet he made for the students.
• Intern and I discussed division. We discussed how we would conceptualize what we do
when we divide. We discussed the relationship between division and multiplication
(multiplication puts equal sets of items together while division separates items into equal
sets). We also discussed the idea that multiplication is repeated addition while division is
repeated subtraction.
• After our broad discussion about division, Intern focused on just what JS wanted the
students to know and be able to do as a result of this lesson (lesson objective). Intern also
decided on the purpose of the lesson.
• Our next step was to look at the worksheet Intern made. We went through each
problem on the sheet and discussed what the problem “asked” of the students (what steps
will they have to take in their heads in order to solve the problem?).
• Finally, we stepped back and discussed whether Intern wanted this whole lesson to be
more inquiry based or teacher directed. Intern ended up deciding to have it be more
inquiry based with him being more directed during the closing to help students
consolidate the knowledge they had built during their inquiry.
Comments:
• I think beginning the planning session with a broader discussion of what one “does”
when one divides helped both Intern and I think more carefully about what, exactly,
Intern wanted the students to do and understand. It also helped us think about what the
students would do or say that would provide evidence of this understanding.
• I believe our discussion about division helped both of us look through the problems on
the worksheet with a new “lens.” This thoughtful look at the “demands” of the problems
(how is it worded, how will the kids have to think in order to solve it, is it a problem with
a missing divisor or a missing quotient, etc.) was especially helpful and an idea I will use
again as an advisor when helping interns plan for or evaluate their lessons.
Lesson Planning Session Documentation, continued
Note to Intern:
I found the following information at http://www.321know.com/div34dxl.htm:
Division and Multiplication Relationship
There is an inverse relationship between multiplication and division.
The equation 45 - 5 = 9 has the inverse relationships following are also true:
5*9 = 45
9*5=45
Similar relationships exist for multiplication. The equation 3*7 = 21 has the relationships:
21-3 = 7
21-7 = 3
• Dividing by Repeated Subtractions
The result of division is to separate a group of objects into several equal smaller groups.
The starting group is called the dividend. The number of groups that are separated out is
called the divisor. The number of objects in each smaller group is called the quotient.
The results of division can be obtained by repeated subtraction. If we are separating 24
objects into 6 equal groups of four, we would take (or subtract) four objects at a time
from the large group and place them in 6 equal groups. In mathematical terms this would
be: 24-4-4-4-4-4-4.
Example—Feedback is highlighted
Intern Name
Curriculum Unit Lesson
Greek Myths
Standards Addressed: Reading and Writing 1: Students read and understand a variety of
materials. Reading and Writing 3: Students write and speak using conventional grammar,
usage, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
Objectives:
Students will be able to describe the characteristics of a Greek myth. Students will
brainstorm ideas for writing their own Greek myth and record a plan for a myth that
includes something in nature that has to be explained through a problem that has to be
resolved, a god that helps resolve a problem and amoral for the reader.
Purpose:
Students will begin to gather (it sounds like they've already gathered ideas and with this
lesson you want them to consolidate some of their understandings about how myths
“work” by writing one) thoughts and ideas related to Greek myths. These ideas will help
direct the students in writing their own Greek myths.
Materials: Greek myth story books, paper and pencil.
Introduction:
I am going to spend the first part of this period just reviewing what a Greek myth is and
how they were developed over the years. I am going to show a large chart out lining some
of the characteristics that make up a myth that we have already discussed in class.
Good—this ties right into our session on genre last Thursday—they cannot unpack (e.g.
identify the characteristics/elements) then write myths until they’ve read enough of them
and it sounds like they’ve been ready myths already. After we discuss the topics
(characteristics/elements) that make up a myth I am going to tell them how we are going
to begin writing our Greek myths. I will read them the Greek myth I have written to give
them a short example. See Greek myth example. This is a good, clear example.
Lesson/Activity:
This is our first writing assignment for writing our Greek myths. I am going to spend the
first part of this period just reviewing what a Greek myth is and how they were developed
over the years. I am also going use this opportunity to read the students a myth I have
developed as an example.
After the example has been given out I am going to tell the students their goals for this
writing period. The student's job is to come up with something in nature that they believe
could use an explanation of why it's that way. For example, why cows have black and
white spots. How the seasons change etc... The students also have to come up with a
moral for their story. Finally, they must come up with at least one God or Goddess to be a
character in their story.
Next, the students will brainstorm and come up with these ideas through drawings and
writing. After they have a basic idea then I will allow them to begin writing. It's
important that they organize their story and have a goal before they start writing.
Your worksheet will provide an important scaffold for the students. Note that I added an
element (question) to your worksheet so the worksheet matches up to what you have been
teaching about myths.
Differentiation:
1. For students who are visual, I will have an outlined example for them. I will
also
have a sheet pre-made so they can fill out their nature selection, characters and
morals they wish to solve.
2. For students who are auditory learners, they can simply listen to the Greek
myth
story I read to them.
3. For kinesthetic learners, they will be able to draw pictures and ideas related to
their myth. This will help them come up with creating an image and idea in
their
mind before writing.
What will you do if you have kids who aren't able to come up with the parts
to their myth you want them to come up with even though you've given them
good examples on the worksheet?
Conclusion:
At the end of the activity I will bring the students back together to see what
creative ideas the students have begun to brainstorm. I will also, allow them to
share anything they have written.
Assessment:
My assessment for this lesson will be to collect the student's sheets and see how
many of them were able to fill out a God or Goddess, moral and something in
nature. I will mark down on a checklist the students that were able to successfully
brainstorm these ideas.
Extension:
This entire lesson is going to continue to build onto itself. I plan on it lasting at
least a week with the students writing their myths. Overall, the extensions will
change each writing period with how well the students are doing from the previous
lesson.
Example—Feedback is highlighted
Myth Worksheet
Name _____________________________________
________________________
Date
Based on the myth I wrote please fill in the following questions.
What part of nature did I want to give an answer to?
What problem had to be resolved? (add this question because it is one of the elements
you are teaching).
What were the names of my Gods and what did they do to resolve the problem?
What was the moral of my story?
Now I would like you to begin to think about your myth. Before you start writing, it is
more important to come up with ideas and a topic. I would like you to use the back of this
sheet to draw any ideas you need to help you think of a god, a piece of nature you would
like to describe or and (change or to and - you did both and you're asking the kids to do
both) a moral you wish to imply. Then begin to fill in this sheet. DO NOT lose this sheet.
It is your guideline to help you write your great Greek myth.
What part of nature do I want to answer? I wanted to answer why cows are black and
white. You might want to…(give them some support with examples here like you did
below).
What problem needs to be resolved?
Finally, who are your gods or goddesses and what will they do to solve the problem?
Bono, sang a song that brought peace to all the cows so they could become friends again
and not starve. Maybe your god makes it so everyone smiles.
What type of moral do I want to solve (I'm not sure you "solve" a moral—I’d state this
just like you did above – “what will be the moral of my story?”). I wanted to show that
more is accomplished with everyone's help. Maybe you want to show how sharing is
good. You might also want to show how being kind can make everyone happy.
Stanley Teacher Preparation Program
Site Coordinator Lesson Planning Documentation
Name of Intern:
Mentor:
Lesson:
School:
Date:
What we did:
Comments:
Site Coordinator: