Pathwise Instruction Plan
Teacher: Rebecca Lynch & Andrea Houtman
Grade: 4th
Mentor Teacher: Mrs. Sutton
Co-Teaching Method: Team Teaching
Subject: Reading
1. Learning Objectives
What are your objectives for student learning in this lesson? That is, what do you intend
students to learn?
Given the story, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, students will relate the text to their own
lives using a “connect the text” worksheet.
Why have you chosen these objectives?
We feel like our students will have different, unique ways that the text relates to their own lives.
The table we are using will allow the students to each write how the story specifically relates to
them.
What Standards (National or State) relate to this lesson?

Benchmark: LA.4.2.1.5
o Benchmark Description: The student will respond to, discuss, and reflect on
various literary selections, connecting text to self (personal connection), text to
world (social connection), text to text (comparison among multiple texts)
o Subject Area: Reading/Language Arts
o Grade Level: 4
o Strand: Literary Analysis
o Standard: The student identifies, analyzes, and applies knowledge of the elements
of a variety of fiction and literary texts to develop a thoughtful response to a
literary selection.
2. Content Knowledge
What content knowledge do you possess in this area?
We chose the book Tuck Everlasting because we both really enjoyed reading this book when we
were younger. We feel like the students will really enjoy this story too. This book has action,
mystery, a lead female character, a lead male character, and adventure. We feel like our students
will be able to relate to the characters in the story.
How did you prepare for understanding the content of this lesson?
We are both already familiar with the story. We will explain to our students what making
connections means and why this is something important for them to learn.
What will be “tricky”?
To the best of our knowledge, our students have not completed an activity that involves them
relating the text to their lives, other text, and to the world. It is a somewhat unfamiliar idea to
them. The best way to overcome this is to use examples and modeling to show how they each
personally relate to the story.
3. Student Grouping
How will you group students for instruction?
The students will be in whole group during the reading of the story. Students will work
individually on their connections worksheet.
Why have you chosen this grouping?
The students listen and pay attention very well while sitting on the floor while we read to them.
This allows the students a chance to get out of their desks. We also feel like this makes the
reading more personal.
Each student will have their own personal experiences and knowledge. It’s important that the
students work individually for the worksheet so that all of the experiences are original.
4. Methods
What teaching method(s) will you use for this lesson?
Direct Instruction
Modeling
What students need specific accommodations in this lesson?
Alexander
Shay
Anton
William
Bethany
Aquarius
What specific accommodations have you made for these student needs?
These students are ones in our classroom who sometimes struggle both behaviorally and
academically.
To accommodate their behavior, we are sitting all of the students together on the floor during the
reading. This enables us to watch and monitor the behavior of all our students at once because
they are all sitting together. The group setting also deters bad behavioral choices, because both
teachers are present in the group. This is helpful for all students but is particularly beneficial to
the students mentioned above who sometimes have trouble paying attention.
To assist these students academically, we will give explicit examples while modeling how to
complete the worksheet. Our modeling will give students a clear and concrete example of how
to relate the text to their lives and be specific in showing them what we are looking for.
Why have you chosen this method or these methods?
We chose both of these methods because they are simple to do and easy to incorporate into the
lesson. Both of these accommodations can be beneficial to all students in the classroom as well.
These accommodations also allow us to help a targeted group of students without singling them
out in front of the class.
5. Activities
What activities have you planned?
Activities
Time Allowed
Main activity/activities:
Opening: We will have to explain what making connections means.
R: “Today we will continue reading our book, but first I would like to share something new with
you! Today we are going to be making connections with the story.”
A: “Making Connections is making a link between a piece of text with what is already known.
We make connections in three ways: Text-to-Self: A part of the text reminds you of a similar
experience. Text-to-Text: A part of the text reminds you of something you have previously read.
Text-to-World: A part of the text reminds you of what you already know of the world around
you.”
R: “While reading be thinking in your head about how a part of the story relates to your own life
or what came to your mind. We will be using this information after the story.” Rebecca starts
reading the chapter. Andrea then reads the next chapter.
10minutes
(During this activity our students are working on knowledge and comprehension in Bloom’s
Taxonomy. Students must find and remember information while reading. Students must also
understand the reading to be able to use later in the lesson.)
R: “Okay boys and girls we are quietly going to go back to our seats to show how the story
relates to our own lives.” We will pass out the worksheets.
A: “Let’s do the first one together! Winnie Foster runs away. Hmm. What did this make me
think of when I read it. Well it made me think of a time when I was little and was going to run
away. I grabbed my bicycle and my stuffed animal and was ready to leave. I made it to the end of
the road before my dad caught me. This helped me better understand the story because I know
what it feels like to become frustrated and always told what to do.”
Closing:
R: “Okay now we want you to put how that relates to your own life. Continue to fill out the
worksheet and raise your hand when you are done. We will share some of our experiences if we
have enough time.”
(During this activity our students will be working on application and analysis in Bloom’s
Taxonomy. Students will take the information apart and analyze the information in order to be
able to make a connection and accurately write in section of handout. Students will have to
create new ideas with previously learned knowledge in order to build connections with the
story.)
5-10 minutes
If students finish within 5 minutes we should be able to have several students share their
answers.
Important questions to ask:
How does this story relate to your past experiences?
What picture did you see in your mind after this chapter?
6. Materials
What instructional materials will you use, if any?
 Tuck Everlasting by: Natalie Babbitt (enough copies for each student)
 Making Connections Worksheet
Why have you chosen these materials?
We feel like it is important for students to be able to see the text, hear the text, and follow along
while reading. We also feel like students should be able to relate their own experiences to the
text in an easy- to- use way.
7. Evaluation
How and when do you plan to evaluate student learning on the content of this lesson?
Students will finish the worksheet after reading.
Why have you chosen this approach to evaluation?
Our students are not very familiar with making connections so we want to introduce this to them
without overwhelming them. We chose a short worksheet and gave them a few parts to reflect
on. We feel that by giving them ideas they will have an easier time filling out the worksheet.
Collecting the worksheets will also give us an opportunity to evaluate how our students were
able to connect to the text. We can determine, based upon the depth of their answers, if we need
to be more explicit in our instruction and review this type of a lesson, or determine if we can
begin to further the instruction in this area and develop deeper connections to the text.
Name _____________________
Thinking About Our Connections
When I read/heard the part
about…
 Winnie Foster runs
away.
 The spring water
makes you live
forever.
 The woods were
magical and
It reminded me of…
This helps me understand
the story better
because…
forbidden.
Adapted for University of Florida Pathwise Instruction and Reflection Form by Vicki Wilson for Salt Fork (Region
10) RPDC and Muskingum Valley Educational Service Center/Muskingum College Goals 2000