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PTE Lesson – ISTC 501
Unit Title
Lesson Topic
Type of Lesson
Othello (English 11)
Decoding with Context Clues
Introductory
National Content Standard
Net-S:

Standard 4. Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects,
solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
MTTS Standards:

Standard 5: Integrating Technology into the Curriculum and Instruction. Design, implement and
assess learning experiences that incorporate use of technology in the curriculum-related
instructional activity to support understanding, inquiry, problem-solving, communication or
collaboration.
INTASC Standards:
 Principle 4: Instructional strategies/problem solving. The teacher understands and uses a variety
of instructional strategies to encourage students’ development of critical thinking, problem
solving, and performance skills.
 Principle 7: Planning for instruction. The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of
subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
NCTE standard(s):

Standard 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and
appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and
writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies,
and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence
structure, context, graphics).
MD Core Learning Goal(s):

Goal 1.1.2: The student will use during-reading strategies appropriate to both the text and
purpose for reading by visualizing, making connections, and using fix-up strategies such as rereading, questioning, and summarizing.
Judges Prior Knowledge (How do you know students are ready to learn the content in this
lesson?)

The opening activity will review that students understand the nine parts of speech. If the students
show they have no understanding of the parts of speech in activity, we would switch to teach
them the nine parts. If the review works, however, then we will be able to continue the lesson.
Many of the strategies are already used by students; we are just making them conscious of them.
Lesson Objective(s):
Unit Objective 1: Students will learn to use context clues to decode words and then use those skills to
find meaning in “The Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll.
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Assessment(s):
Assessment for Objective 1 –
Is this a formative or summative assessment?
This is a formative assessment. I will be able to judge their progress through how the decode both
passage and complete the exit ticket. There will be no grades yet, as this is an introductory lesson for
students. It is part of a larger objective in which they will paraphrase a segment of Shakespeare’s
Othello. The purpose of this lesson is to prep their skills so that they are better equipped to approach
Othello and figure out how to uncover the meaning to words they are unfamiliar with.
 1. Formative: Beach Ball Parts of Speech Review
 2. Formative: Observing students decode the gibberish passage
 3. Formative: Collecting and reviewing the Jabberwocky passage.
 4. Formative: Exit ticket
Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student learning?
This is the appropriate assessment strategy because students are not skilled enough to be graded yet.
They are learning and recognizing the strategies that they can use in regards to context clues and
unknown words. Through these formative assessments, I can tell if the student is learning the material,
if they are applying them appropriately, and if they will be ready to begin reading Shakespeare.
Materials Needed for Lesson
 Gibberish reading (scanned into SMART board)(blank and complete versions at the end of this
lesson plan)
 The Jabberwocky reading (scanned into SMART board) (blank and complete versions at the end
of this lesson plan)
o Carroll, L. (1960). Alice’s adventures in Wonderland and through the looking-glass. New
York: New American Library.
 Nine Parts of Speech Handout (at the end of this lesson plan)
o Neale, J. (1879). The Nine Parts of Speech. In Children’s Book of Poetry (p. 81).
Philadelphia: Henry T. Coaxes & Co.
 Nine Parts of Speech Rap
 Review context clues: Teachers should review this website so that are familiar with the
necessary grammar and context clue skills before teaching it to their students.
o Houghton Mifflin Company. (1997). Word recognition skills and strategies. Retrieved April
26, 2011, from http://www.eduplace.com/rdg/res/teach/rec.html
Technology Integration
 SMART board –
o Students: In this lesson, students will use the board to identify unknown words in a
passage. Using the markers, they will circle the word, replace it with a synonym, and
underline the parts of the sentence or word that helped them figure that out. If they don’t
know how already, make sure students understand how the board works, as they will need
to know how to write, draw and erase on it for the purposes of this listen.
o Teachers: The Gibberish reading and The Jabberwocky reading should already be
scanned into the SMART board. Other than this, students will be the main users of the
board.
 Nine Parts of Speech Rap – This YouTube video will be played as a motivator at the beginning of
class. Ideally, every teacher should record this rap themselves to make it more personal and
engaging for their students. Teachers should have the video up and ready before class starts in
order to avoid wait time while it loads.
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Lesson Development
Segment
Drill/Warm-up/Motivational
Activity
Instructions
Time
Show the class the “Nine Parts of Speech” rap by John
Neale. Have the students watch the video first, and then
hand out the lyrics. Use this to review the parts of speech
and prep them for this lesson. Once they have watched
the video and read the poem, have each student define
the part in their own words, and have another student give
three examples of it. A good way to do this is have a
talking ball, like a volleyball. Throw it to the student who
is supposed to answer the question, and only that student
can talk. That student can then throw it to another to
answer the next question (this also helps to create a
student led classroom). The ball, although not technically
a reinforcement of learning, does wake up students and
help engage them. Students who would sit in the back
and refuse to participate are more likely to raise their hand
for a chance to throw the ball.
10
minutes
Transition
Now that we’ve reviewed parts of speech, see if you can
use that knowledge to decode these passages.
Activity 1
Hand out the “Gibberish” passage. Have students read it
silently first. Once students have read it, read it out loud
as a class before they begin decoding it. They will then
work as a class to figure out what the gibberish words
should be. Pick one student to circle the gibberish word
on the SMART board and write a synonym for it. They
should circle the word in the color that coordinates with its
part of speech: black – noun, blue – verb, red – adjective,
and green – adverb (write this on the board so kids don’t
have to struggle to remember them). Pick another to
underline the parts of the sentence that help them figure
out its meaning. After each word is designed, ask the
class if they agree on the definition. If so, move on to the
next word.
Review (Houghton Mifflin Company, 2011):
- Semantic meaning clues - There are general semantic
clues. For example, when reading a story about cats,
good readers develop the expectation that it will contain
words associated with cats, such as tail,
purr, and whiskers. Sentence context clues are more
specific. In the sentence "My cat likes to _____," given the
sentence context and what most of us know about cats,
words like play, jump, and scratch seem reasonable.
- Syntactic or word order clue - In the previous example,
the order of the words in the sentence indicates that the
missing word must be a verb. Other parts of speech, such
as adjectives (nice, brown) or nouns (man, fence), make
no sense or don't result in what sounds like a real
sentence.
- Word structure (Suffixes –ed, ing, s, etc.) There are
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many groups of letters that occur frequently in words.
These are generally perceived by more mature readers as
clusters of letters. Among these letter groups are prefixes
(un-, re-, in-), suffixes (-ful, -ness, -est), and inflectional
endings (-ed, -ing, -es). Common prefixes, suffixes, and
inflectional endings should be pointed out to students.
Being able to associate sounds with a cluster of letters
leads to more rapid, efficient word identification.
Key Questions/Discussion
Prompts:






Transition
Activity 2 –
Summary/Closure/Revisit
Objective:
Safety Valve / Creative Extra:
20
minutes
How can we use context clues in order to define
words we do not know in a passage?
How does the meaning of sentence impact it?
How does the grammar and text structure impact
it?
How does the structure of a word affect it’s
perceived meaning?
Which of these skills have you been using without
realizing it?
How will this be useful when we begin to read
Shakespeare?
Now that we’ve identified the context clues needed to
define unknown words, lets move on to a slightly more
difficult passage, “The Jabberwocky,” by Lewis Carol.
Have the students repeat the first activity. Read the story
out loud as a class once and then have the students read
it again silently on their own. They will work individually
and circle the gibberish words in “The Jabberwocky,” write
a synonym above it, and underline the parts of the
sentence that helped them to decipher it. Explain to the
class that there may be multiple answers for each
gibberish word, but as long as it fits with the tone and
context clues within the poem, it is acceptable.
Exit Ticket: List three ways you learned to use context
clues in order to uncover the definition of an unknown
word. Students can write this on the back of their
Jabberwocky assignment and hand in both at the same
time.
If students are having problems with “The Jabberwocky”
activity, or students complete the task much quicker than
expected, have them write their own passages. They will
then go back and select at least one noun, verb, adverb,
and adjective to turn into gibberish. Once students have
completed these passages, they should exchange them
with a partner. The partner should attempt to decode the
passage using the skills learned in Activity 1.
15
minutes
5
minutes
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Differentiation




All students should have a copy of anything that is put onto the SMART board. Some students will
need to have the passage directly in front of them, both because of visual impairment issues and
ADHD issues. This will help students to remain engaged and focused with the lesson.
Be aware of color-blind students in your class. When students circle the words on the board in the
appropriate color, you should make sure that you or the student announces what it is. For
example, if the student does not say the color, you could ask “Why did you circle that one red,
Steven?” or “Ok, red for adjective, does everyone agree?” This avoids making any students feel
awkward.
For physical tactile and high energy students, using the volleyball in the introduction will help get
students engaged and excited for the lesson. It may not have educational value, but getting
students relaxed and excited gets the limbic system prepared to learn. Additionally, students will
also enjoy using the board rather than sitting in their seats. This, once again, will help to get
students who are normally reluctant to participate to come to the board because they want a
chance to use the SMART board.
For auditory learners, make sure that all of the passages are read out loud in addition to being
read silently. This provides for two different vehicles with which to delivery the information.
Beyond auditory learners, multiple forms of delivery help all students comprehend the reading
better.
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JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
`Twas brillig (dark, adj), and the slithy (creepy, adj) toves (trees, noun)
Did gyre (shake, verb) and gamble (quiver, verb) in the wabe (wind, noun):
All mimsy (creepy, adj) were the borogoves (shadows, noun),
And the mome (sneaky, adj) raths (snakes, noun) outgrabe (slither, verb).
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub (type of bird, adj) bird, and shun
The frumious (dangerous, adj) Bandersnatch (lizard, noun)!"
He took his vorpal (sharp, adj) sword in hand:
Long time the manxome (fearsome, adj) foe he sought -So rested he by the Tumtum (type of tree, adj) tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish (quiet, adj) thought he stood,
The Jabberwock (dragon, noun), with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling (barreling, verb) through the tulgey (dense, adj) wood,
And burbled (roared, verb) as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal (sharp, adj) blade went snicker-snack (slice, Onomatopoeia)!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing (running, verb) back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock(dragon)?
Come to my arms, my beamish (courageous, adj) boy!
O frabjous (glory, adj) day! Callooh (yay, interjection)! Callay (wahoo,
interjection)!'
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig (dark, adj), and the slithy (creepy, adj) toves (trees, noun)
Did gyre (shake, verb) and gamble (quiver, verb) in the wabe (wind, noun):
All mimsy (creepy, adj) were the borogoves (shadows, noun),
And the mome (sneaky, adj) raths (snakes, noun) outgrabe (slither, verb).
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JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought -So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.
`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Carroll, L. (1960). Alice's adventures in Wonderland and through the looking-glass. New York: New
American Library.
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THE NINE PARTS OF SPEECH
BY
JOHN NEALE
Three little words we often see,
An ARTICLE, a, an, and the.
NOUN'S the name of anything,
A school, or garden, hoop or string.
ADJECTIVES tell the kind of noun,
As great, small, pretty, white or brown.
Instead of nouns the PRONOUN stands,
John's head, his face, my arm, your hand.
VERBS tell of something being done,
To read, write, count, sing, jump or run.
How things are done, the ADVERBS tell,
As slowly, quickly, ill or well.
A PREPOSITION stands before
A noun, as in, or through a door.
CONJUNCTIONS join the nouns together,
As men and children, wind and weather.
The INTERJECTION shows surprise,
As Oh, how pretty! Ah, how wise!
The whole are called nine parts of speech!
Which reading, writing, speaking teach.
Neale, J. (1879). The Nine Parts of Speech. In Children's Book of Poetry (p. 81). Philadelphia:
Henry T. Coaxes & Co.
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From Wilson the Football’s Perspective
(Gibberish Reading)
Woah dude, I’m like totally dizzy. That was a flickerboast spiral I was spinning in. Man,
that was definitely a danely high jump I had, probably the danest jump in my whole career. Heap
caught me tight, dude – I could not even hurlen. Oh no man, don’t tell me, he’s totally pulling a
Sharpie out of his serit. He doesn’t mourve me. The league mourves me, I’m an official game
ball! Really I’d never willingly get a tattoo of this hotshot’s John Hancock.
Flickerboasted – Adj. Like awesome/amazing
Danely – Adv. Like wildly
Danest – Adj. Like wildest
Hurlen – Noun. Like move/breath
Serit – Noun. Like pocket/sock
Mourve – Verb. Like own
Mourves – Verb. Like owns
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From Wilson the Football’s
Perspective
Woah dude, I’m like totally dizzy. That was a
flickerboast spiral I was spinning in. Man, that was
definitely a danely high jump I had, probably the danest
jump in my whole career. Heap caught me tight, dude – I
could not even hurlen. Oh no man, don’t tell me, he’s
totally pulling a Sharpie out of his serit. He doesn’t mourve
me. The league mourves me, I’m an official game ball!
Really I’d never willingly get a tattoo of this hotshot’s John
Hancock.