Wilmington University
Pathwise Lesson Plan Format
Teacher/Student
Teacher
Grade:
Subject:
Date:
Sheila Chillingworth
4
ELA – Reading and Writing
August 13, 2009
1. Briefly describe the students in this class.
Summarize the class profile (grade level, age range, numbers of students and make up of the class);
if relevant, include special needs of the group and any concerns that the teacher may have or an
observer may need to know before viewing the lesson.
This is a class of 25 students of diverse ethnic backgrounds, with limited creative writing experience,
ranging in ages from 9 to 10 years. There are 13 girls and 14 boys in the class.
2. What are your goals for the lesson? What do you want the students to learn?
Describe what will be taught to the students and what expectations the teacher has of them by the
completion of this lesson. Meaningful objectives and goals define the terminal behavior expected of
the learner. Terminal behavior can be defined by identifying and naming the observable act that will
be accepted as evidence that the learner has achieved the objective.
Welcome to the Digital Flat Stanley Project!
What happens when a normal boy finds himself flattened by a bulletin board and is sent through the
mail to places all across the country? Students around the USA will find out during this fun project,
based on the 1964 book written by Jeff Brown! When we are finished, anyone can read about each
class's experiences on our blog!
The students will be taught the basic components of writing original stories, text-to-text
connections, style, voice, tone, narration, dialogue, description, sensory images, vivid word choice,
formal/informal language, varying sentence structure, audience, purpose.
This intermediate English language arts unit has as its focus the tools that writers use to create
stories which appeal to a specified audience. Through the reading of several pieces of children’s
fiction and the writing of original stories, as well as the making of a personal recommendation about
children’s books which are especially effective at reaching their audiences; students come to
understand that writing for a given audience requires much thought, imagination, and skill.
We will use a virtual Flat Stanley in collaboration with The Center for Interactive Learning and
Collaboration in a project called “Flat Stanley Goes Web 2.0.” Working with 15 other schools and
about 350 students, we will share our findings about where Flat Stanley has visited and what he has
learned about each place.
3. Why are these goals suitable for this group of students?
Describe how these goals are developmentally appropriate, appropriate for the ability levels of
students in the classroom, the types of thinking skills and/or learning styles these goals promote, etc.
These goals are suitable to this group of students because it will help them develop their writing
skills keeping in mind who their audience is – (other students across the country). It will build upon
their technology experience by giving them the opportunity to participate in distance learning
activities with other students their age, nationwide, and it will give them a chance to use their
creativity to design their own Flat Stanley, or Flat Stella, based on their own vision of what the
character would look like and be like.
4. How do these goals support the district’s curriculum, state frameworks, and/or content
standards?
Link the goals to the relevant performance indicators of the Delaware Student Content
Standards.
The goals adhere to the following standards:
Standard 1 ELA
1.1 Writers will produce texts that exhibit the following text features, all of which are consistent with the
genre and purpose of the writing: development, organization, style, and word choice.
Development
 Develop an interesting idea for writing
 Create a title that reflects the subject and engages the reader.
 Use dialogue, description, and narration when appropriate.
 Use sensory images to describe feelings, events, and/or characters when appropriate.
Organization
 Organize writing to engage the reader (e.g., experiment with chronology, literary forms or genres).
 Use paragraphs to transition between ideas and control and enhance message.
 Develop an introduction/hook, which is separate from the body, that hooks the reader.
 Use transition words/phrases that show chronology(e.g., as soon as, later, then) or relationships
(e.g., on the other hand, similarly, of course).
 Develop a conclusion.
Sentence Structure (&Style/Voice)
 In order to capture the audience’s attention and establish a style, tone, and voice
Vary kinds of sentences (declarative, exclamatory, interrogative, imperative).
Vary sentence beginnings to capture audience’s attention.
Word Choice (&Style/Voice)
 Use vivid and precise words with audience’s needs and writer’s purpose, style, voice, and tone in
mind. The writer will
Use action verbs when possible
Use a purposeful range of formal/informal language depending on the audience.
Standard 4 ELA
4.1e Connect own experiences to those of literary characters by seeking other literary texts and media as
the result of literary experience.
 As a result of reading a literary text, students will connect to other texts using the following as
guides for connections:
What does this remind me of in another book I’ve read?
How is this text similar to other things I’ve read?
How is this different to other books I’ve read?
Have I read something like this before?
Seek other texts and media with similar themes and connections.
4.2a Using literature appropriate for age, stage, and interests, students will be able to respond to literary
text and media using interpretive, critical, and evaluative processes by making strongly implied inferences about content,
events, characters, setting, and identify appropriate support in the text.
4.2c Using literature appropriate for age, stage, and interests, students will be able to interpret the impact
of the author’s decisions such as word choice, style, content, and literary elements; understand the author’s
intent in choosing a particular genre, identify the effect of author’s choices (word and content) on the reader, describe
how the author’s writing style influences the reader.
5. How do these goals relate to broader curriculum goals in the discipline as a whole or in other
disciplines?
Demonstrate or describe how these goals link to big ideas, curriculum concepts, or to concepts being
taught in other discipline areas. Describe how this lesson fits into the sequence of the instructional
unit or curriculum.
The big idea:
Writers make strategic choices to reach their audiences and convey their messages. Flat Stanley will
be “virtually visiting” any place the student would like – from the United States, Across the Globe,
even Outer Space. Each student’s Flat Stanley will reflect how he or she perceives the character to
be, how he looks, what he wears, where he goes.
Links to concepts being taught in:
Art: Students make their own Stanleys, coloring them and adapting them to their own preferences.
Some look like the Stanley in the book. Others look like the students who made them. Still others
have an identity all their own. Students practice their art skills in creating the flat friends that they
will send off into the world. Digital photos will be put onto our blogspot for anyone to view.
Geography/Social Studies: Students also learn about cultures of other places by what Stanley's new
friends do with him while he is visiting. For instance, a Stanley that visited New Orleans in the
spring might visit preparations for Mardi Gras. Or a Stanley that visited New York might go on a
ferry to the Statue of Liberty. On a smaller scale, a Stanley in any city might attend a flea market or
a stage production or go ice skating, all the while learning how things are done in other places.
Integration of Technology: Flat Stanley will “visit” wherever the student chooses -- other countries,
or even outer space beginning with the use of GoogleEarth to select Stanley’s destination.
The class will participate in a collaborative partnership with15 other schools nationwide in a “Flat
Stanley Goes Web 2.0” project http://www.cilc.org/search/collaboration-result.aspx?id=662 in
which the children will participate in sharing their findings about the different places Flat Stanley
“visits” which will provide students with additional information about geography and show students
and teachers the impact of distance learning with other students.
Students will be able to use several online research sites, including http://www.factmonster.com/ in
order to include information about the world, the people, etc. relevant content in their selected
destination for Flat Stanley.
6. How do you plan to engage students in the content? What will you do? What will the
students do? (include time estimates).
Describe the steps or components of a lesson that are a part of this lesson. Possible steps
or components are listed below:
 Mindset or “Warm-Up” Activity
Introduce Flat Stanley to the class, read some of the Falt Stanley stories, and use a kid-friendly
search engine to find out some neat information about Flat Stanley and his adventures:
 Three to five minute activity to get students interested in the lesson
Get students interested in the project by setting up a skype with some of the other schools that will
participate in the program. Use any Flat Stanley’s previously created for the project either in a
previous class, or from a student or teacher in another school.
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o
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o .
State objective or purpose of the lesson
o Students will develop their writing skills by creating an adventure for Flat
Stanley – anywhere they want. Students can access Yahooligans.com to
research specific information about culture, customs, weather, food, music,
etc. that Flat Stanley will experience in his visit.
o Students will participate in an Interactive learning experience using Flat
Stanley’s Adventures on Web 2.0
o Students will create their own Flat Stanley – in whatever way they see
him/her.
Students can write their stories using MS Word.
Provide Instructional Input
After reading hard copy Flat Stanley books, will direct students to Google Earth
to help them select where they want Flat Stanley to visit.
Will assist students in developing an organized way of presenting the stories of
Flat Stanley’s visit – details of the geographical locations, how to explain them to
the reader, any customs or unique features of the location, preparing a “virtual
postcard” using MS Word, to send to our collaborative partners
Model
o Go through the process and explain to the students what to do and how to do
it.
o Show a finished product of what is expected from the student: An earlier Flat
Stanley or a teacher-created one.
Check for understanding
o What questions will you ask to determine if students understand the concept(s) or
skill(s) being taught in the lesson?
o Specifics including what would Flat Stanley wear where he is visiting, what language
would he speak, what kind of food would he want to try while he was in town, etc. to
be sure students are accessing the information they need. Would also ask questions
such as “What is the most exciting thing Flat Stanley learned or experienced in this
place?” In order to teach students the way to change up the tone of their writing,
move more into “story telling” versus reporting of facts, etc.
o How will you know that the students are ready to go on with practice
activities? Review of information obtained in the research and writing portion.
 Guided Practice
o Activities students will complete individually or in groups to practice use of
7. What difficulties do students typically experience in this area, and how do you
plan to anticipate these difficulties?
Describe any special concerns you may have about this material, the methodology, or the
equipment that you will be incorporating into this lesson as related to the students in this class.
Explain how you plan to address these concerns.
Students will be excited to work with other students from across the country, but may become
distracted by that aspect and not focus on the lesson which is learning to write to an audience. Will
need to keep them on task and show that the collaborative work is more productive and fun, when
the detail work is complete.
8. What instructional materials or other resources, if any, will you use?
List all equipment and materials needed. Include:
 Selected books from the Flat Stanley series.
 Computer equipment – Internet Access, as well as Digital Cameras to take pictures
of our Flat Stanleys for our blog.
 Craft materials – outline for Flat Stanley, crayons, scissors, etc..
9. How did you plan to assess student achievement of the goals? What procedures
will you use? (Attached any tests or performance tasks, with accompanying scoring
guides or rubrics.)
Assessments can be conducted in both formal and informal ways. Assessment is an ongoing activity
and can be done at various stages in the lesson. A final, formal evaluation might occur at the
conclusion of teaching a concept or skill. Examples of assessment can include observation of
students, checking for understanding, guided practice activities in the classroom, independent
practice, quizzes, tests, demonstrations, etc.
Finished product will include hard copy and digital photo of Flat Stanley, individually written stories
about Flat Stanley’s adventures which will be reviewed by teacher, guided practice and usage on the
computer for research, geography notes, completeness of information. A class blog will host the
completed project, as well as hard copy of printed stories and hand-crafted Stanleys.
10. How do you plan to use the results of the assessment?
Describe the way in which the assessment will be used? Examples include evaluation of student
comprehension before moving on to a more complex concept, grading, assessment of a student
achieving a standard, interim assessment of a concept, meeting the needs of an individual
instructional plan (IIP or IEP), etc.
Students will be assessed on the completeness of their project in terms of presentation, organization
of thoughts and material, variation in tone through telling “stories” about Flat Stanley’s adventures,
and a follow up skype with all participating teachers to review results, and plan for future
collaborative online projects.