50 Strategies Lesson Plan
Amber Banks
Inside the Mind of Charlie Gordon
Strategy: Open mind portrait. I’m using this strategy to enhance comprehension
in the characterization of the main character in Flowers for Algernon, Charlie
Gordon. He has distinct change in personality after his brain operation, so it will
aid students in understanding these changes.
Audience:
 There are about 25 students in the class. It is an advanced 7 th grade English
class. The class is made up of mostly Caucasian students, and about 5
Hispanic or other ethnicities represented in the class. There is one bi-lingual
student. (although my field placement classroom doesn’t have any students I
need to accommodate for, in this lesson plan I will describe a more diverse
group to accommodate for in my lesson) Represented in these students will
also be a hearing impairment, English language learners, and visual
impairments.
 They have been reading “Flowers for Algernon”, so by the time I do my lesson
they will either be done or almost done reading it. They have already talked
about the differences in Charlie’s personality so they should be able to think
about this on their own or in their groups.
 The students in this advanced English class will not need
accommodations/modifications, but I can describe 3 other students. For the
students with hearing impairments, I will type a description of the activity we
are going to do, so that they have guidelines written out just in case they miss
something that is said. I will also be sure to speak loudly and repeat when
necessary if I see these students are struggling to hear and understand what
is being said. For the English language learners I will be sure to give an
example of the activity so they can already have a visual of what they will be
doing in the lesson. For the students with visual impairments, I will project a
copy the activity on the board so that there is a larger example of what they
will be doing. I will also allow them to work as pairs to create their portrait if
they are struggling with this visual representation.
Length of Lesson: This lesson will take a total of 50 minutes.
Classroom Management: 2 minutes
Orientation: 2 minutes
Step 1: 10
Step 2: 10
Step 3: 24
Closing: 2 minutes
Materials Needed:
Projector to show an example
Completed portrait to show as an example
Page numbers listed to indicate the different sections they need to represent,
copies to give to each group
Lined paper to brainstorm
Construction paper for each student to create their portrait plus 3 pieces of
regular paper to put behind their first drawing
Stapler
Markers, crayons, colored pencils
Lesson Objective: Students will describe changes in thoughts and feelings of
the main character, Charlie Gordon, in Flowers for Algernon, with visual and
written representation.
Grade Level Content Expectation (GLCE):
L.RP.07.05 respond to multiple text types when listened to or viewed
knowledgeably, by discussing, illustrating, and/or writing in order to anticipate
and answer questions; determine personal and universal themes; and offer
opinions or solutions.
Assessment: Each student will create their own portrait, and after working in
groups will have a completed portrait showing changes in personality of the main
character Charlie Gordon before surgery, right after surgery and after the
operation has failed. Students will show what they have learned through visual
and written representation on each page of their portrait.
What is Happening in the Lesson
Classroom Management (expected
length of this part): 2 minutes
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How will you organize the
students during the lesson?
What are your behavior
expectations for them and how
will they know these?
How will you manage time,
materials, and transitions?
What signal(s) will you use to
get students’ attention?
What routines, language, rules
of engagement, etc. of the
teachers will you maintain and
why?
What is Being Said in the Lesson
Clearly script what you will say to help
students understand your expectations
for the lesson.
We will start by moving the desks into
groups of either 4 or 5 students.
In order to remind them about behavior
expectations, I will put the responsibility
on them: I know you can behave well
and I expect you to give me respect
while we are doing this activity today.
Just as Mrs. Forster, I expect you to
pay attention and engage in your group
conversations, so please keep the
unrelated side conversations out today
since we have a lot to do!
To get students attention if there is
excessive talking or if they aren’t
paying attention, I will do the “if you can
hear my voice clap twice” method that
my mentor teacher also uses because
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it is something they are familiar with
and they know this means to pay
attention.
Orientation: 2 minutes
Briefly describe the anticipatory activity
you will use.
Remember, the orientation should
activate prior knowledge, establish the
lesson’s purpose, and motivate the
students for engaging in the lesson.
I will respond to questions and answers
by calling on students with raised
hands. My mentor teacher does this
and it will be easier to communicate
using this method.
Today we are going to focus on the
main character Charlie Gordo and do
an activity with his changing character
traits. We will be comparing his
thoughts, actions, and feelings from
before he had surgery to after he had
surgery (COMPREHENSION)
Get out your lined sheet of paper and
let’s brain storm some of his character
traits before the surgery.
(KNOWLEDGE) Does anyone have an
example?
“Naïve”, “Innocent”, “Honest”, “Happy”
Step 1: Make a Portrait of a character:
10
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.
Step 2: Cut out the “portrait” and
“thinking” pages: 10 minutes
Very good, now we are going to move
on for sake of time. We are going to do
an “open mind portrait” to further think
about Charlie’s character traits.
On your table, you have construction
paper and markers. So you are going
to draw a portrait of what you think
Charlie looks like.
“Are you serious, we have to draw”
Don’t worry about your artistic skills,
this is not a drawing contest. Just draw
the basics if you need to: eyes, nose,
mouth, ears. Try to be a little more
creative if you can though. It’s your
interpretation of Charlie’s appearance.
(APPLICATION)
Now I would like you to cut your portrait
out and trace it out onto 3 blank white
pages. After you have traced the head
shape, you can cut those out as well,
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and staple your drawing in front with
the 3 blank cut-outs to the back of
them.
Step 3: Design the “thinking” pages: 8
Everyone turn to your first blank page
minutes for each section (24 minutes)
after your drawing of Charlie. I am
I’m changing this step slightly, to give
passing out the section you are going
them a chance to work in groups and
to look at for this next part. I want you
discuss a little. Each table will be given to re-read parts of this section; try to
a different section to look at when
remember what you have discussed in
showing the character’s thoughts and
class already and what Charlie is
character traits. Then they will switch
writing about. You are going to draw
sections, so that each group ends up
pictures and write words to fill Charlie’s
doing all sections, but they have time to head with what he is thinking at that
think about specific spots in the story
point in the story, what is important to
and to discuss them with their group.
him, what are his character traits at this
point (ANALYSIS,
COMPREHENSION).
You may discuss with your group as
well if you get stuck or want to share
ideas between each other.
Now we are going to switch to the next
blank page. As I’m passing the next
one out finish up your first one. Again
think about his character traits, what is
important to him at this point, what he
is thinking and feeling (ANALYSIS,
COMPREHENSION).
Share the completed open-mind
portraits: 0
Closing (expected length of this part): 2
minutes
This should be short, concise, and tell
students what they have learned today.
Usually it includes
 revisiting your lesson objective
Now we will work on the last page.
Remember if you get stuck you can
discuss with your group members.
Since they were just in groups
discussing and sharing ideas with each
other, I will not be using this step due
to time. They got a chance to share
with people while they were in their
groups.
Alright, let’s stop working and bring
your attention back up here, as we are
running out of time. Thanks for staying
focused and working hard today. This
is a great tool to use as you are doing
character studies, you don’t always
need to do the first drawing and staple
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reflect on learning
help students to see how this
lesson will be applicable in the
future
the pages behind, but even making a
list helps you to think more deeply
about a character (KNOWLEDGE).
Note: You will also be evaluated in the following four areas:
 Is your writing clear and focused?
 Is your lesson plan clearly organized?
 Does your style and voice enhance the writing?
 Did you use conventions and mechanics of English appropriately?
Ultimately, it is the rubric that will guide my evaluation of your work, so make sure
you consult it prior to turning in your lesson plan. This template is meant to help
you with the formatting of your lesson plan.
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