Stephanie Garcia

7th

Grade Language Arts

Lesson Title: Choosing Your Words Wisely

Text Used: “The Dignity of Humanity Is Not A Scientific Construct” by Dr. Steven A. Gelb,

University of San Diego

Essential Question: How does your word choice affect those around you?

Tennessee Language Arts Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what

the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.3

Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas

influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).

SL 7.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and

teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas

and expressing their own clearly.

Instructional Objectives:

Based on the Tennessee Curriculum Standards listed above, I have determined the following as

appropriate lesson objectives for the students.

The students will be able to say each objective by the end of the lesson:

• I can use correct capitalization, punctuation, and apostrophes in editing two

sentences and writing text structure paragraphs. (L 7.1)

• I can cite at least three pieces of textual evidence to support my conclusion of

each type of text structure (cue words). (R.I 7.1)

• I can identify and define any unknown words based on context clues. (L 7.4)

• I can identify and successfully perform my role within my group. (SL 7.1)

• I can discuss with classmates about why words are used and how they affect

others.

Real Life Relevancy:

This lesson will help students to comprehend any type of text they may come in contact with.

Throughout their lives, students will encounter text and be required to comprehend and apply

that text. Students may find text in a job, career, college classroom, supermarket, or a newspaper.

Wherever the text is found, the students will be able to quickly identify the main idea by utilizing

text features and text organization. As we always say in my classroom, “What is the point in

reading if you can’t comprehend? You are just wasting your time looking at words.” This lesson

provides students with the skills to help comprehension.

This also help the students understand how words become derogatory and can become rude or

hurtful. This would help set the standard for language in the classroom that is appropriate and

what is not. There are meanings behind words that students may not understand besides hearing

other people use them.

Integration of Other Subjects:

This could help set the tone for language in other classrooms as well. It also ties in some with

history/social studies. It mentions history of certain words and how words change over time. You

could also include history on other words as well.

Materials, Resources, and Technology needed:

Students will need a pencil, highlighter, printed essay, and dictionary.

Teacher will utilize a computer and projector, ELMO document camera, and exit tickets.

Classroom Layout and grouping of students:

Students sit in heterogeneous groups of four according to Scholastic Inventory scores (SRI) and

TCAP proficiency levels. BB=below basic, B=basic, P=proficient, and A=advanced. Students

are partnered with the person sitting beside them (or across if no one is beside), which is also

according to SRI and TCAP levels. I am unaware of some students’ performance levels as some

students moved in without taking SRI or TCAP last year.

One student sits alone at the front of the room. This was a request made by the student, because

he often had a hard time concentrating (ADHD) in his group. He was consistently getting in

trouble for disruptive work, and asked to be moved so he could work better. This student can

work with groups, and he joins group 3 for all group activities occurring in class.

The instruction will be delivered to the whole group, as well as partners or small groups.

Prerequisite Skills and Knowledge Base:

We have been working on comprehending text and strategies that help comprehension. Students

studied text features by taking notes on the topic and completing a group activity. The students

were given a piece of text and were asked to provide text features on the paper in order to help a

reader comprehend the text better. To continue working with text comprehension, we are moving

to text structure.

Students are required to cite textual evidence anytime we are working with a text. They are very

familiar with this process, and citing evidence is normal for them. Another ongoing skill we

work on is identifying unknown words using context clues. Each Friday the students are given 10

vocabulary words, and they are required to define the words by using context clues alone. We

use the following 5 types of context clues: restatement clues, example clues, contrast/antonym

clues, keyword clues, definition clues.

Instructional Procedure:

This lesson is intended to take two days.

Lesson Pacing Day 1 (previous day):

o Starter and lesson introduction (10 minutes)

o Lesson and notes (25 minutes)

o Formative assessment/Closure/Exit Ticket (10 minutes)

Lesson Pacing Day 2 (observation):

o Starter and lesson introduction (8 minutes)

o Homework/Formative assessment check (5 minutes)

o Text Structure Practice Activity (18 minutes)

o Create Text Structure Paragraphs (10 minutes)

o Closure/Reflection (4 minutes)

Starter: In their starter notebook, students will write two grammatically incorrect

sentences from the board. They will then use a red pen to edit and correct those

sentences. Two students will be selected to come up and make the corrections in front of

the class. Once the sentences have been corrected with editing marks, the students are to

write the sentences correctly in their notebooks.

Homework/Formative Assessment Check: Students completed a 6 question “quiz

yourself exit ticket” at the end of the previous class. Some students did not complete the

entire 6 questions, so they were required to complete it for homework. We will check the

work so that I can monitor student progress as we begin the second part of the lesson. If

most students did poorly on the check, we will review the previous day’s material, and

work slowly on today’s lesson. If 80% of the students passed, we will move on while

offering scaffolding and extra help to those students who did not pass the check.

Reading the Text Activity: As a class, we will read through the essay. The previous

night’s homework was to read through the text, underline/highlight any unknown or

difficult words that were not understood. As a class, we will check to see if there were

still any questions on any of the words. We will then read the essay piece by piece and

include discussion amongst each other.

o Questions to include:

What are you associations with the word retarded?

How can using this word be corrected or improved?

Are there any other words that you can think of that have social meanings

that don’t really match with their true definition?

What is the problem with using the word “retarded” in a social sense?

What can you do differently to ensure the proper use of these words in

social settings?

Closure: Students may review their notes and activities from the beginning of class and I

can answer any questions they may still have about the text. Students will respond to the

following question: How does your word choice effect those around you? And how can

you make your word choices better?

Exit Ticket and Self-Reflection: Students will be required to complete an “exit ticket”

where they must:

o Identify another word that has a negative connotation in a social sense that

doesn’t match its true definition.

o Construct a small paragraph (3-5 sentences) answering the essential question:

How does your word choice affect those around you?

o Reflect on his or her participation in the group project using short answer

questions

o Reflect on his or her ability to successfully perform each of the lesson objectives.

Assessment: o Informal: The class begins with an informal check of 6 questions from part 1 of

the lesson. Teacher will listen and guide accountable talk session, when needed.

Teacher will also listen to group discussion for understanding. Teacher will check

each student’s created paragraph to ensure that the paragraph was written

correctly. Teacher will check exit tickets for student ability to correctly identify

attitude towards certain words and change towards it.

o Formal: We will also visit the CDC classroom to speak with the teacher about her

students and what the word retarded means to her. Students will be given an essay

question dealing with the text and attitudes towards others and other words that

have the same connotation. This essay will be an extension to the exit ticket using

the essential question: How does your word choice affect those around you?

The exit ticket will be graded as formative assessment. This will allow the teacher to see if

students grasped the concepts from the lesson objectives. If students score above an 80% they

will be considered proficient. Any student scoring below an 80% on the exit ticket will be pulled

into a small-group review session the following day during RTI to revisit the text structures

mentioned in this lesson. This grade will not be entered into the grade book. The score will only

be used to determine if re-teaching is necessary for the majority of students in the class.

If 75% of the class does not pass the quiz with a 70% or higher, reteaching and retesting will

occur for the whole class. Otherwise, students with a failing grade on the quiz will receive small-

group reteaching during RTI time, and they will retake the quiz until a passing grade is earned.

This quiz will help to determine when the students are prepared to move on to the next lesson.

Extension activity: If extra time remains: Have students use their red editing pen to edit and revise their partner’s

paragraphs that they constructed. This will help with partner feedback, practice editing and

revising skills, and allow students the chance to redo the assignment to earn a higher grade if

they wish.

Adaptations for low-performing students:

Students that are low in reading and writing skills have been placed with higher performing

students for group activities to ensure that the expectations are modeled correctly. The higher

performing students can also help the low performing students.

Reference:

Steven A. Gelb, “The Dignity of Humanity Is Not a Scientific Construct,” Disability History

Museum, http://www.disabilitymuseum.org/dhm/edu/essay.html?id=40 (March 17, 2014)