50 Strategies Lesson Plan - Template
Title: Mapping Out Parvana and her Thinking
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Strategy and Rationale: I will be using the Open-Mind Portraits on pages 77 and 71. I
choose this strategy because the students are reading The Breadwinner in class and I want
to teach them how to develop a character. The students will use The Breadwinner text to
create a drawing of the main character and to describe her thinking throughout the book.
It is necessary for students to know this particular strategy because it helps students
understand a character and think deeply on the story and how it has shaped the characters
in the book.
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Audience:
• Describe your students. There are 22 students in this seventh grade English class.
Only two of the students are from Latino households who speak both English and
Spanish at home. The majority of the class is made up for males. The majority of the
class is also made up from students with some form of learning disabilities. That is
why this class is a team taught class with two teachers to better help the students.
• I am assuming based on prior knowledge that the students are able to use their text to
find passages that will help them in drawing of the main character and use the text to
provide evidence to show why they drew the character that way. They have done an
open-mind portrait before therefore I know they are capable of doing this strategy.
• The accommodations that I am going to make is to have printed handouts for the
students with boxes designated for the class discussion and for where to draw their
character. Having a handout will take the anxiety out of organizing their notes and of
trying to draw the character in perfect dimensions. We will be using the book to
collect evidence, so I will be carrying my book around in class if a student forgot
theirs.
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Length of Lesson: This lesson will take 30 minutes to complete in its entirety. I will
break this lesson up into three ten minutes sections. The first ten minutes will be used for
the students to draw and find passages in their text to support their drawing. The next ten
minutes will be used for the students to create their thinking pages. These pages are used
to show the character’s thoughts and key points in the story. The last ten minutes will be
used for the students to share their completed open-minded portraits. In this sections the
students share their portraits with other students in the class and talk about the words and
pictures they used to describe the main character.
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Materials Needed:
Materials Needed:
By Teacher:
• 25 copies of the Open-Mind Portrait chart.
• Document camera
• The Breadwinner book
By Students:
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50 Strategies Lesson Plan - Template
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Writing Utensil
Handout (Provided by teacher)
The Breadwinner Book
Lesson Objective: The students will use The Breadwinner text to create an open-mind
portrait of the main character and use at least 5 pieces of direct evidence and descriptions
from the novel to accurately depict the main character.
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Grade Level Content Expectation (GLCE):
R.NT.07.01 identify how the tensions among characters, communities, themes, and issues
are related to their own experiences in classic, multicultural, and contemporary literature
recognized for quality and literary merit.
R.NT.07.04 analyze author’s craft including the use of theme, antagonists, protagonists,
overstatement, understatement, and exaggeration.
R.IT.07.03 explain how authors use writer’s craft and text features including metaphors,
similes, captions, diagrams, and appendices to enhance the understanding of central, key,
and supporting ideas.
R.CM.07.02 retell through concise summarization grade-level narrative and
informational text.
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Assessment: The students will use The Breadwinner text to create an open-mind portrait
of the main character and use at least 5 pieces of direct evidence and descriptions from
the novel to accurately depict the main character
The way I will measure this objective is by making sure the students use direct evidence
and description from the book when creating their character portrait.
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What is Happening in the Lesson
What is Being Said in the Lesson
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50 Strategies Lesson Plan - Template
Classroom Management
• I will keep the students in their
assigned seats because this activity
is meant to be done individually,
but if they need help from a
neighbor they are close enough to
collaborate with them. If the
students are talking too much I will
simply use the timeout method and
then the students know we need to
stop talking and refocus on the task
ahead. I have chosen to keep the
students in their assigned seats so
they know this is going to be a
lesson the needs individual effort
and that everyone needs to
participate.
• My behavior expectations for the
students are going to be the same
as every other day of teaching. The
students know to be respectful to
the teacher when he/she is talking
and to raise their hand when they
have a question or if the are
contributing an answer to a
question. .
• The students will be instructed to
grab the handout before they sit
down at their desk. Once all the
students have their materials I will
instruct them on how to begin their
Open-Mind Portrait.
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Throughout the whole lesson I will
make sure to be constantly moving
from student to student to make
sure they are following along and
to check up on their progress. It is
important to monitor their progress
to make sure they are getting the
most out of the lesson and to check
myself as a teacher to see what
area of the lesson needs to be
slowed down or go faster based on
(Students walking through the door) Hi
good afternoon make sure you pick up the
daily handout for today’s lesson. When
you have everything please sit at your desk
and wait for every one else to get their
materials.
Me- Does everyone have the Open-Mind
Portrait handout?
Nate- I don’t have one Mr. Adams.
Me- class Where can Nate go to get his
handout?
Class- Front table!
Me- Thank you class. Okay now that
everyone has their materials lets get
started.
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My behavior expectations for the
students are going to be the same
as every other day of teaching. The
students know to be respectful to
the teacher when he/she is talking
and to raise their hand when they
have a question or if the are
contributing an answer to a
question. The students will work
independently as they are drawing
and looking through passages in
their books to use for their
drawing.
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50 Strategies Lesson Plan - Template
Orientation 2 minutes
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I will direct a class discussion about
character development. The students have
been writing narratives all year so they
know how to include characters in their
writing and what is needed for character
development.
I will then tell the students that they will
be drawing the main character from The
Breadwinner and talk about how she
develops as a character throughout the
story.
The Open-mind Portrait helps students
with comprehension of a story by
reviewing what major events took place in
the story and how that has affected the
characters.
Me: Alright class today we are going to
talk about character development and what
makes a good character. I know you have
had the opportunities to write narratives in
class and had to create your own
characters, so what do you think makes up
a great character?
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Jason: Characters need a lot of detail.
Me: Good, yes characters need detail so
the reader can picture them. What else do
characters need?
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Ashley: They need to go through a
problem don’t they?(Comprehension)
Me: That’s great Ashely! Yes characters
need to go through a problem or have to
face some kind of struggle. Now as a class
I want you to talk about what struggles
Parvana goes through in the book.
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Me: Walking around, listening to
conversations.
Nate: Parvana has to help her dad at the
market.
Joey: Parvana is a girl so she is at risk of
being caught by the Taliban. (Application)
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Me: Great discussion. Now that you have
remembered some of the struggles Parvana
has gone through I want you to draw a
portrait of her and her thinking throughout
the story.
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50 Strategies Lesson Plan - Template
Making a portait of the character (10
minutes)
In this sections the students draw and color
a large portrait of the head and neck of the
character in a story they’re reading.
With the handout that I gave the students
they will begin to draw a picture of
Parvana by using the text to back up why
they gave her the attributes that they did.
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I will give the students ten minutes to
draw and indicate what passages of text
they are using to draw their character
from.
If you decide to vary this at all – indicate
what steps you are omitting and why
you’ve made this choice. Also indicate
any steps you’ve inserted and indicate why
you made this choice. Teachers vary
lesson sequences often – you just need to
justify this.
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Describe how the lesson will unfold –
what you will be doing.
Me: Now everyone should have their
open-mind portraits. Correct?
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Class: Yes, Mr.Adams
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Me: Okay, with this handout I want you to
draw a portrait of Parvana from the neck
up. Hold on hold on hold on! Don’t get
started yet. I want you to use your text to
find passages that explain why you are
drawing her that way. Does anyone have
questions?
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Ted: What do you mean by use passages
from the text? (Analysis )
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Me; Great question Ted. I mean that you
need to include direct quotes from the
book to use as evidence to support your
drawing.
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Ted: OHH okay, now I get it.
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Me: anymore questions?
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Jamie: Can we work with a partner?
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Me: I don’t want you to work with a
partner because I don’t want you to get
ideas from one another. Draw your own
picture and use only passages you find and
then at the end we will have a class
discussion about the passages everyone
used. If you have any more questions
when you are drawing I will be walking
around to help.
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50 Strategies Lesson Plan - Template
Design the “thinking” pages (10 minutes)
After the students have completed their
portraits of the main character I will then
instruct them in creating the “thinking”
pages of the character. In this step the
students will use additional blanks pages
to write and draw about the characters
thoughts throughout the story. These
pages will show the characters thoughts at
key points in the story. I will be walking
around to make sure the students are
using direct examples from the book
during this section.
Me: Now that everyone has created their
own Parvana I want you now use your
additional blank pages and we are going to
write or draw Parvana’s thinking
throughout key points in the story thus far.
This is the point when you really need to
include direct quotes from the story as
evidence that supports why you drew an
image or wrote a sentence to depict
Parvana’s thinking.
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Billy: Mr. Adams can we use passages
from the beginning of the book?
(Comprehension)
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Me: Yes, of course. It would be a good
idea to use passages from the beginning up
to chapter ten where we just ended. You
want to find passages that describe
Parvana’s thinking after key points in the
book such as when her father was arrested.
What were her feelings about it, what
might she thought when her dad was being
arrested? Think of events like this. Okay?
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Class: Okay!
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Me: Just as before if you have any
questions when you are looking for
passages or drawing, I will be around to
help.
I omitted the cut out the portrait and
thinking pages because it is wasted time
during the exercise. The main thing I want
the students to get from this strategy is
using their text to provide evidence and to
help with their comprehension of the story.
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50 Strategies Lesson Plan - Template
Share the completed open-mind portraits
(10 minutes)
In this section of the strategy the students
share their portraits with classmates and
talk about the words and pictures they
chose to include on the “thinking” pages.
During this time I will first have the
students share with their neighbors to get
them comfortable with sharing their
artwork. As the students are doing this I
will be walking around and just observing
the students interactions with one another.
I want this to be a student led discussion
so that they can truly grasp the material.
Me: Alright class now we are going to
transition into a class discussion. I want
you to talk with your neighbor and share
your portrait and thinking pages with
them. Talk about why you drew something
the way you did or why you included a
certain passage as evidence for Parvana’s
thinking.
As you are sharing with one another ask
your neighbor questions about their
thinking and why it is important to include
a characters thinking into a story. As you
are doing this I will just be walking around
and listening to what you have to say.
After the students have been talking with
their neighbors about their portraits and
“thinking” pages. I will then ask if anyone
wants to share something they talked
about with their neighbor. I will also ask if
they noticed any similarities or differences
in their “thinking” pages and what those
similarities or differences were.
Briefly describe how you will close the
lesson.
Class: Neighbors sharing their portraits
with one another.
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Me: Okay, who can share something that
they talked about with their neighbor?
(Synthesis)
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Chelsea: Katie and I talked about how we
drew Parvana differently. Katie drew
Parvana more as a girl because that’s how
she was at home, but I drew her looking
more like a boy especially because when
she wears a hijab.
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Me: That’s great! Thanks for sharing. Does
anyone else want to share what they talked
about with their neighbor?
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Chris: Matt and I were talking about our
“thinking” pages. I talked about Parvana
getting the gifts on her blanket at the
market and who she thinks they are
coming from. Matt talked about Parvana’s
thinking to make money for her family by
collecting bones of the dead.
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Me: That’s great! I liked how you two told
of specific examples in the text and then
elaborated on Parvana’s thinking.
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50 Strategies Lesson Plan - Template
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