Lesson Plans
Purposes
 Organization
 Confidence
 “Planning your lesson is germane to effective
instruction”
 Long-kind in classes and student teaching
 Format depends on district and teacher
 With experience→short kind/agenda
Steps
 Identify content and/or skill(s)/or standards
 Determine the “context” of instruction
Class size? Students? Grouping? Resources?
Methods? Needed adaptations? Pre requisite
skills? Time allotted? How to monitor
learning? Other management issues?
 Develop agenda (“meat”/ procedures)
 List materials (Find a published curriculum, if
possible)
 Determine seatwork/homework/activity/lecture
 Determine method for evaluation
Typical Steps
1. Introduce lesson
Connect skill to previous lesson or skill
Attention grabber
Explicitly state the lesson objective
Provide rationale for skill/lesson
2. Describe and model the skill or strategy
Use the “think aloud” procedure
Model each step exactly and thoroughly
Be consistent with language
3. Guided practice
Could be group work
Use scaffolding, as needed
Offer tips or reminders
Gradually reduce assistance
4. Allow independent practice
Do on your own
Homework
5. Provide feedback throughout lesson
6. Closure
Opportunity for students/teachers to recap lesson
The COPS Strategy
Illinois Learning Standard: 3.B.Ac Evaluate written
work for its effectiveness and make
recommendations for its improvement
Introduction/Set:
Attention Grabber: We’ve been learning about the
importance of using the correct punctuation in our
work. Listen as I read 2 letters written to John from
his ex-girlfriend. Both letters contain the exact
same words. Notice how the punctuation changes
the meaning of each letter. (Read both letters and
show them on overhead). Think about how the
punctuation made a difference in these 2 letters.
Review: Not applicable
Rationale: Well, today we are going to learn a
strategy to help you edit your work, so you can
convey exactly the meaning you have in mind---just
like John’s ex-girlfriend did. She knew exactly what
she wanted to say, and she used punctuation to do it.
Share lesson objectives and rationale: Today we will
learn a proof reading strategy called COPS. Learning
the COPS strategy will help you edit your papers
better, so others can better understand your message.
This strategy can also improve your grades on your
written products.
Student Expectations: (behavioral)
I expect you to keep your eyes on me, raise your
hand to answer a question or make a comment, and
do your best work.
(academic)
By the end of the lesson, you will be able to proof
read your work using the COPS strategy with very
few errors.
Objectives:
1. When asked by the teacher, “What do the letters
C, O, P, and S stand for in the COPS strategy?”
the student will correctly say, “Capitalization,
overall appearance, punctuation, and spelling”
with 100% accuracy on 3 out of 3 consecutive
trials.
2. Given written work (i.e., a paragraph) at the
student’s reading level that contains 10 errors in
capitalization, overall appearance, punctuation,
and spelling, the student apply the COPS
strategy to proof read and find 9 out of 10 errors
on 3 out of 3 consecutive trials.
Materials:
Overhead transparencies of introductory examples,
COPS examples, and passages to proof read
Overhead markers---4 different colors
Handouts for students (in groups) for guided practice
with colored pencils per group
Homework assignment 1 per student
Introduce and model strategy with overheads.
Say something like: First, I’ll model how to use the
COPS strategy, and then we’ll do some practicing
with the strategy today. We’ll also have a homework
assignment using this new strategy. I’ll be using a
different color overhead pen for each step. Let me
first provide an overview of the strategy for you, and
then I’ll model each step for you.
C stands for Capitalization- We will edit our work
to make sure we have capitalized the first word of
every sentence and all proper nouns
O stands for Overall Appearance –We will check
for any handwriting, spacing, indentation and
margin errors and messy errors
P stands for Punctuation-We will check our work
for the appropriate end mark, commas, and semi
colons
S stands for Spelling-We will check to see if our
words are spelled correctly. If we are not sure, we
will ask ourselves: Does it look right? Can I sound
it out? or Do I need to use a dictionary?
Script for the model step will be:
The first step in the COPS strategy is C for
Capitalization. In this step, I ask myself: Did I
capitalize the first word in every sentence and every
proper noun? Watch as I use the C step on my paper.
To do the C step, I will read every sentence and make
my corrections right on my rough draft.(Orally read
the paragraph which is on the overhead and circle in
a particular color all the capitalization errors).
The second step in COPS is O for Overall
Appearance. I ask myself: Is my handwriting easy to
read, on the line, and not crowded? Are my words
and sentences spaced right? Did I indent and write
close to the margin? Are there any messy errors?
(Read the paragraph orally again as it is shown on the
overhead. In a different color, make corrections right
on the rough draft.)
Next, I use the P step. P stands for Punctuation. I ask
myself: Did I use the right punctuation mark at the
end of each sentence? Did I use commas and semicolons where necessary? Watch as I use the P step on
my paper. (Orally read the paragraph once more and
make any corrections right on the rough draft.)
Last, I use the S step. S stands for spelling. I look at
any word I am unsure of and I ask: Does it look
right? Can I sound it out? Should I use the
dictionary? I make those spelling corrections right on
my rough draft.(Orally read the paragraph once more,
stopping at any spelling errors. Ask the questions
above and correct the spelling errors in a different
color).
Guided practice- The teacher will provide a short
paragraph at the students’ reading level that contains
errors in each of the categories noted. The teacher
will place the paragraph on the overhead, and with
the class, locate errors in C, O, P, and S. (This will be
similar to Daily Oral Language exercise). Students
will volunteer to find an error. The teacher will guide
the students with questions such as: What is our first
step? (C)…yes, what does it stand for? What do we
look for in the (C) step? Who can find some
capitalization errors in this paragraph? Let’s read it
and find the errors. (Do this with all steps until all
errors have been found).
Independent Practice- For homework, students will
be given a letter to the editor to proof read using the
COPS strategy.
Closure-Well, class, you found all of the errors in that
paragraph using the COPS strategy. You also were
attentive, and you raised your hands to speak. Before
you go to lunch, think of a situation where you could
use the COPS strategy. Let’s make a quick list of
those situations, and then you’ll be dismissed.