Standards-Aligned Lesson Plan Template

Subject(s): English Language Arts Grade: 12

Teacher(s): Taylor Erickson/Mrs. Altamirano School: Segerstrom High School Date: March 20, 2017

Part I – GOALS AND STANDARDS (TPE3.1)

1. Common Core Learning Standard(s) Addressed:

Writing Standard 12.1 Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Speaking and Listening 12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with

diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

c. Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively

incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions.

d. Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and when warranted, qualify or justify

their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.

Reading for Literature Standard 12. 1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn

from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Reading for Literature Standard 12.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including

how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

Reading for Literature Standard 12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, at the high end of the

grades 11–CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently

2. State Content Standard Addressed (History/Social Science, Science, Physical Education, Visual and Performing Arts):

3. ELD Standard Addressed: (include Part I, II; Communicative Modes – A. Collaborative, B. Interpretive, C. Productive; and Proficiency Level addressing – Emerging, Expanding, Bridging)

Part I. Interacting in Meaningful Ways

A. Collaborative 9.1 Exchanging Information/Ideas Contribute to class, group, and partner discussions, sustaining conversations on a variety of age and grade-appropriate academic topics by following turn-taking

rules, asking and answering relevant, on-topic questions, affirming others, providing additional, relevant information, and paraphrasing key ideas.

Collaborative 9.3 Supporting Opinions and Persuading Others

Negotiate with or persuade others in conversations (e.g., to provide counterarguments) using a growing number of learned phrases (I see your point, but . . .)

and open responses to express and defend nuanced opinions.

Collaborative 9.4 Adapting Language Choices

Adjust language choices according to the context (e.g., classroom, community), purpose (e.g., to persuade, to provide arguments or counterarguments), task,

and audience (e.g., peers, teachers, guest lecturer).

B. Interpretive 9.6 Reading/viewing closely

b. Explain inferences and conclusions drawn from close reading of grade-appropriate texts and viewing of multimedia using an increasing variety of verbs and

adverbials (e.g., indicates that, suggests, as a result)

C. Productive 10a. Writing

Write longer and more detailed literary and informational texts (e.g., an argument about free speech) collaboratively (e.g., with peers) and independently by

using appropriate text organization and register. b. Write clear and coherent summaries of texts and experiences by using complete and concise sentences and

key words (e.g., from notes or graphic organizers).

4. Learning Objective: (What will students know & be able to do as a result of this lesson?)

Students will be able to independently reflect on a journal prompt related to the theme of “vain and

meaningless things” in the world and discuss their thoughts in small group and whole group discussion.

Students will be able to articulate the concept of alchemy, analyze a key piece of text about “living in

the present moment,” understand key terms, exchange arguments/claims informally and respond to a

series of comprehension questions in written form.

STUDENT-FRIENDLY TRANSLATION

I will reflect on a journal prompt on the

theme of “vain and meaningless things in

the world” and share with my

partners/the whole class.

I will understand the definition of

alchemy as well as other key terms in the

text. I will engage in a discussion with my

peers about “living in the present

moment,” and respond to questions

about the text by sharing out loud and

by writing my responses.

5. Relevance/Rationale: (Why are the outcomes of this lesson important in the real world? Why are these outcomes essential for future learning?) (TPE1.3)

STUDENT-FRIENDLY TRANSLATION

As senior high school students graduate the k-12 system and enter the real world, they need to reflect

on their “Personal Legend” or their true destiny. They need to learn the importance of taking risks and

seizing opportunities before them to realize their true identities, not what their parents or communities

have told them to be.

I need to reflect on the themes of this

novel in order to take my next steps to

realizing my personal destiny. It is

important to reflect on the main

character Santiago’s journey and make

connections to my own personal

journey.

6. Essential Questions (TPE1.5):

Is it worth the risk to realize your true destiny?

What is the real purpose behind living?

What is your destiny/what is your personal legend?

Is it every too late to realize your personal legend?

Part II – STUDENTS’ INFORMATION (TPE1.1,3.2)

7. Class Information: a. Total number - 38

b. English Learners/Standard English Learners -

English learners: 30

Standard English learners: 8

c. Students with Special Needs –3 students total with special needs. 2 students were diagnosed with an auditory processing disorders. 1 student

was diagnosed with a mild form of attention deficit disorder. (All SPED students are re-designated to CELDT 4)

d. Academic language abilities, content knowledge and skills in content area - The majority of the ELLs were re-designated to a CELDT

level 4 proficiency within the past 3-5 years. Judging from their persuasive essay assignments, approximately 75% of the students need extra

assistance in their writing and reading comprehension proficiencies. They need to improve their use of academic vocabulary, use of signal words,

how to write argumentative topic sentences and how to integrate textual evidence into a sophisticated textual analysis. They still need to revisit the

TEPAC (Topic, Evidence, Paraphrase, Analysis, Conclusion) in terms of structuring quality and cohesive paragraphs in their essays.

e. Linguistic background – Roughly 90% of the students are from Spanish-speaking backgrounds.

f. Cultural background (home/family) - 1 Vietnamese student, 2 Filipino students, 1 African American student, and 34 Hispanic/Latino

students.

Languages spoken at home:

Spanish-30/40 students= 75%

Vietnamese 1/40= 2.5%

Tagalog/Filipino 1/40= 2.5%

English= 8/40= 20%

g. Health considerations (if any) – N/A

h. Physical development factors that may influence instruction in this academic content area– N/A

i. Social development factors that may influence instruction in this academic content area – adolescents in general engage in high risk

management and do not want to appear intellectually inferior in front of the teacher or their peers. This risk-management factor will cause them to be

more on the “cautious” side when the teacher poses questions to the entire class to solicit student responses. They all need a “safe space” to take

risks, make mistakes and support each other through encouragement and cooperative learning activities. Usually with journal prompt sharing time, I

will need to vulnerably share from my own personal journey in order to lower the affective filter and help them open up.

The outspoken students tend to have stronger, sanguine personalities and tend to dominate the whole group class discussions. The teacher will need

to encourage all students to participate and give opportunities for the quieter students to share their thoughts aloud in whole group discussions.

j. Emotional development factors that may influence instruction in this academic content area –one student with an auditory processing

disorder may feel isolated or experience difficulty with oral instructions, lecture presentations or read-aloud activities. Other self-doubting students

need to be validated in their efforts to encourage participation. ELLs of lower proficiency may be frustrated at their inability to work at the pace of

their native English-speaking peers.

Many students also are significantly behind in their reading levels and may feel self-conscious if asked to read aloud to the entire class. Many are not equipped to

engage in higher-order collaborative discussions and so they seem to shut down.

One student is in the foster youth system, meaning that some of the instabilities of home life/his psychological insecurities about “identity” and

“belonging” can interfere with schoolwork and create attention issues/ off-task behavior.

k. Interests/Aspirations (relevant to this academic area) -Roughly 75% are community college bound, 20% are bound to a 4-year university

(CSU or UC) and 5% are bound for the military or are undecided about their post-high school future. Generally, these students are interested in

sports. About 7 of them are on the football team and the majority of them are also involved in an after-school sport. The majority of the students

listen to rap music.

8. Anticipated Difficulties (Based on the information above, what difficulties do you think students may have with the content? Please specify anticipated difficulties for English Learners, Standard English Learners, and/or students with special needs.)):

English Learners and Standard English Learners:

There may be some vocabulary terms that need clarification such as:

-Manifestation

-Vanities

-Incredulous

-Caravan

-Oasis

SPED: It may be difficult for students with auditory processing disorders to listen to and comprehend the content as we do whole group reading. If

no visuals/text is provided for them, they will easily forget my expectations for each task. Students with ADD may tune out frequently during whole

group reading.

Part III - LESSON ADAPTATIONS (TPE3.5,4.4)

9. Modifications/Accommodations (What specific modifications/accommodations are you going to make based on the anticipated difficulties? Ex:) Please specify modifications/accommodations for English Learners, Standard English Learners, and/or students with special needs.)

English Learners/Standard English Learners: I will project a PowerPoint with vocabulary definitions so students can quickly reference them as we

read the passage. I will project the discussion questions on PowerPoint for students to read and process as we read the excerpt. I will project the

comprehension questions on PowerPoint at the end of the lesson as well.

SPED Learners: I will check in with my SPED students individually during the independent reflection of the journal prompt and at the end of the

lesson to formatively assess whether they understood the content and lesson objectives.

10. 21st Century Skills – Circle all that are applicable

Communication Collaboration Creativity Critical Thinking

Describe how the 21st century skill(s) you have circled will be observed during the lesson (TPE1.5,3.3):

Communication: Students will share in groups of three their thoughts on the journal prompt. After sharing in small groups students will volunteer

to respond in a whole group discussion.

Critical Thinking: Students will respond to a series of comprehension questions after we read an excerpt from The Alchemist

11. Technology - How will you incorporate technology into your lesson? (TPE4.4, 4.8)

PowerPoint: I will project the Quick Write reflection, the lesson objectives, unfamiliar vocabulary terms and the series of questions students

should answer.

12. Visual and Performing Arts – How will you provide the students with opportunities to access the curriculum by incorporating the visual and performing arts? (TPE1.7)

Not included in this lesson

Part IV - ASSESSMENT OF STUDENT LEARNING (TPE1.8,5.1)

13. Assessment Criteria for Success: (How will you & your students know if they have successfully met the outcomes? What specific criteria will be met in a successful product/process? What does success on this lesson’s outcomes look like?)

a. Formative:

I will assess the journal quick writes as a means to assess whether they are engaging with the themes of the novel and providing concrete

connections between the literary themes and real-life.

I will assess comprehension (and attention) to the reading by asking two open-ended questions during the reading. Students will have the

opportunity to pair share and then share in whole group. I will project the questions on PowerPoint.

1. Why do you think the alchemists wrote with these secret codes?

2. Talk with your partner about this question: “Because I don’t live in either my past or my future, I’m interested only in the present. If you

can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man.”

I will also use the comprehension questions for page 82-93 as a formative assessment for their reading comprehension.

On Friday March 24, I will collect their literature circle assignment to determine whether they understood the 50 pages of text we will have read for

this upcoming week. On March 24, I will also assess their small group literature circle discussions to assess their understanding of theme/main

ideas.

b. Summative (if applicable):

NA

c. (Attach rubric here, if applicable): NA

d. How do you plan to involve all students in self-assessment and reflection on their learning goals and progress? (TPE5.3)

Students will self-assess their understanding of the novel at the end of the unit. They will determine how well they comprehended the

themes/concepts of the novel.

Part V - INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURE

14. Instructional Method: Circle one – Direct Instruction Inquiry Cooperative Learning

15. Resources/Materials: (What texts, digital resources, & materials will be used in this lesson?)

The Alchemist by Paul Coelho (class set of copies)

PowerPoint/Google Slides

Notebook paper for students to answer questions

16. Procedure (Include estimated times. Please write a detailed procedure, including questions that you are planning to ask.):

OPEN:

11:13 am

I begin class with a countdown of 4-3-2-1.

11:13-11:14 Announcement: Literature Circle Meeting on Friday March 24. Assignments will need to be completed, ready to go at the beginning of

class. Also, brief discussion regarding grades/progress report. Share the advance organizer/objectives for the day:

-Respond to a Journal Prompt

-Discussion aloud

-Read aloud pages 82-93

-Discuss a theme in the section

-Answer questions for pages 82-93

I will invite a student volunteer to read the journal prompt aloud. The prompt will be projected in large text on the PowerPoint screen.

11:15-11:30 Quick Write Reflection and Discussion:

Once the student volunteer reads it aloud, students will begin writing a one paragraph (5 sentence) response to the following prompt:

Quick Write # 6

Alchemists give up “vanities” of the world to purify themselves. They wanted to cleanse

themselves from meaningless and negative things that surrounded them every day.

What in life do you think is meaningless? What sorts of meaningless or negative things surround

you in everyday life? If you were an alchemist, how would you avoid things that are meaningless?

Vanities: things that are meaningless in the world.

Once students have written about 4-5 sentences, I ask them to start discussing with their partners. I inform them ahead of time that I will call on

students at random, because I hold all students accountable for the learning task.

I will read the prompt aloud again. I will also volunteer my own response to lower the affective filter. I will then call on a student at random to

share in a whole group discussion. I provide students adequate wait time to reflect on the prompt and share aloud. I like to provide sufficient time

for them to expand their thinking and exchange ideas with each other.

11:30-11:58 The Alchemist Interactive Read-Aloud Plus

I will verbally state a summary of text from pages 72-83 as a review. I will enunciate my words slowly and clearly for all students to listen and

comprehend. Up to this point, Santiago is now traveling with the Englishman and the camel driver. These people are on Santiago’s journey as he is

realizing his personal legend. The Englishman is trying to decode the secrets of alchemy and Santiago is trying to find his treasure. They are

traveling through the desert still making their way to the pyramids.

Before reading, I will project a slide with the following vocabulary definitions to function as a scaffold for EL/SPED/visual learners who might not

process my oral explanations of the terms.

Manifestation (page 82): appearance or sign

Mania (page 83): strong enthusiasm, obsession

-Elixir (page 83): magical potion

-Primitive (page 86): undeveloped

-Bedouins (page 86): Arab who travels and migrates

-Caravan (page 90): group of travelers

-Hospitality (page 91): act of being friendly and serving

The needs of strangers

-Oasis (page 82): fertile spot in the desert

I will use flashcards with students’ names on them to call on students at random to read aloud.

Stop at page 85. Show them a PowerPoint slide of Alchemy Codes.

“Alchemists are trying to purify metals into gold and they’re writing all these obscure/secret codes in their journals. “

Talk with your partner about the following question:

Question (on PowerPoint): Why do you think the alchemists wrote with these secret codes and made them so complicated?

After 2-3 minutes, I will call on a few students at random to solicit responses.

Continue reading and calling on a wide range of students to read aloud in class. All students need the opportunity to read aloud, especially ELs.

Because I have lowered the affective filter, they feel comfortable in my classroom to read aloud.

Stop at page 87 and project a slide with a quote from the text:

“Because I don’t live in either my past or my future, I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a

happy man.” (page 87)

Do you agree with the Camel Driver’s comment that we must always concentrate on the present? Should we not think about our past or our

futures?

Students will have 3-4 minutes to independently reflect and share with their partners. Then I will call on students to share whole-group.

11:58-12:08 Questions

Students will independently answer the questions by writing their responses on their own notebook paper. These questions will be projected on a

PowerPoint slide in large text.

1. What did alchemists devote their lives to?

2. What is the “Master Work” and why was it considered important?

3. Why did alchemists use secret codes in their writings as they tried to turn metals into gold?

4. Do you agree with the camel driver’s comment that we all must live in the present (page 87)? Explain

why.

5. What is an apprentice?

6. What does the narrator mean when he says “Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate

the date trees?” (page 89)

7. Look up the reference to A Thousand and One Nights (page 90). What are these folktales about?

8. What are the rules of war on the oasis? Why are they neutral places? What do you think life would be like

on an oasis?

9. Predict what you think will happen to Santiago on the oasis.

12:08-12:10 Closing

-Summary of main points of discussions: concept of vanity, alchemy, whether “life is a grand festival.” Remind students to turn in their writing

responses to my designated classwork box.

-Students pack up and exit the room

:

.

Part VI – REFLECTION (TPE6.1)

1. Please include your rubric data here. Include 5 student work samples – low, medium, high, EL, & Student with Special Needs

(Samples on other attachment)

Quick Write Reflection (5 points)

-States a clear argument (2 point)

-Provides 1-2 examples (2 points)

-Provides an analysis (1 point)

Comprehension Questions (10 points)

Students will primarily use the novel to answer the questions for pages 82-93. Their responses will need to be 1-3 sentences covering the main

points in my answer key.

The assignment is worth a total of 10 points for their classwork/participation grade.

Each question is worth a different amount of points, as indicated in parentheses above.

I will assign partial credit if (.5/1, ½, 1/3) if a student demonstrates partial understanding of the question. This grading method/rubric is subjective

because students have their own lexicons and have their own way of describing/defining/articulating concepts.

Answer key:

1. What did alchemists strongly believe? (/1)

Alchemists were men who dedicated their entire lives to the purification of metals in their laboratories.

The believed that, if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself with all its individual

properties. They also wanted to “purify” themselves from the vanities of the world.

2. What is the “Master Work” and why was it considered important? (/2)

The Master Work was called the Elixir of Life, it cured all illnesses and kept the alchemists from growing old.

The liquid part was the Elixir of Life, the solid part was the philosopher’s stone. It took a significantly long time

to “master” and required that alchemists purify themselves from vanities of the world.

3. Why did alchemists use secret codes in their writings as they tried to turn metals into gold? (/1)

They didn’t want people to find out about it. It requires “effort” and a “pure mind” to understand the

symbols.

4. What is an apprentice? (/1)

Someone who learns under the guidance or mentorship of another person.

5. What does the narrator mean when he says “Maybe God created the desert so that man could appreciate

the date trees?” (page 89) (/1)

Without suffering we wouldn’t appreciate the blessings in life. There needs to be balance in order to fully

understand the nature of things.

6. What are the rules of war on the oasis? Why are they neutral places? What do you think life would be like

on an oasis? (/3)

Oases are neutral territories whereby war and storing/using weaponry is prohibited. They are safe places where

women and children reside. Life would seem boring on an oasis and would feel like a “dog day” everyday,

suffering from the sweltering heat. Because it is an Islamic community, women also must abide by strict

regulations such as not talking to men in public and wearing clothing that covers virtually their entire body.

7. Predict what you think will happen to Santiago on the oasis. Will he meet anyone important? Will

something good or bad happen to him? (/1)

(Any response will do). Students may respond in the following ways: Santiago will fall in love and marry a girl he loves, he will find his treasure, he

will lose his sheep, he will be de-railed on his journey, he will be killed in war.

2. Were the students successful at achieving the lesson objective?

Partially yes and partially no. I have a wide range of students in this class, from ELs with CELDT 3 to GATE/honors students. Given the broad range

of ability, it is difficult to declare a definitive “yes” and “no” when it comes to achievement of the learning objectives.

a) If so, explain which areas in which students were successful, according to your data analysis.

95% of the students were successful at meeting the speaking and listening objectives for discussing in small group and whole group. I had 1-2

students who remained disengaged during the think-pair-share time. In the middle of our reading, I had them respond to this prompt on a Power

Point slide:

The camel driver says: If you concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man...Life will

be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now. (page 87)

Do you agree with this statement? Will we be happy if we always concentrate on the present?

Why or why not?

From my qualitative observations, the majority of the students met this learning objective to discuss a theme of the novel aloud with their peers

and in whole group.

b) If not, explain which areas in which students were not successful, according to your data analysis. Why do you think they were not able to achieve the lesson objective in these areas?

60% of the students met the objective in terms of responding to the prompt and providing analysis. Many students are able to provide

concrete examples of “vanity” in their everyday lives (reality TV, negative people, make-up), but did not explain why such things were vain

and why it was important to avoid vanities. Overall, I need to challenge this class to conduct higher-order thinking, to draw conclusions from

their evidence to support their claims. Many of the students are CELDT 4 ELs and struggle with their writing skills. They need more sentence

frames to help them conduct higher-order thinking. They also need me to pose more prompting/probing questions when they discuss their

ideas.

“It is important to avoid vanities like reality TV and social media because…”

75% of the students were successful at meeting the reading/writing objectives for the guided comprehension questions. Many students did

not respond completely to #6 which asked about the “rules of war” on the oasis and “why the oases were neutral territories.” Many

students also did not fully comprehend the “master work,” of the alchemists which involved finding the Elixir of Life that cured all illnesses. I

will need to review this concept with the students to ensure they are understanding these concepts.

3. What instructional strategies did you use to help students achieve the lesson objective? Which subject-specific pedagogical skills did you employ to help students be successful? (Reference TPE Part 2: Subject-Specific Pedagogy)

Subject specific pedagogy: “[Beginning teachers] understand how to plan and deliver instruction of increasing complexity in reading, writing, speaking, listening,

and language to assure that students meet or exceed the standards,” (CTC, June 2016, p.22). In this lesson students engaged in all 4 modalities: writing in

response to a journal prompt, sharing (listening/speaking) their ideas in small group/whole group discussions, reading/listening to a section of text recited aloud

and writing their responses to comprehension questions.

Instructional Strategies:

Journal Quick Write

Students reflected independently by writing their responses on a piece of paper. This is especially helpful to provide Els informal writing practice to

expand their expressive mode of the English language. This also helps more reflective learners prepare for the lesson of the day.

Think-Pair Share/Whole Group Share

This speaking/listening strategy is an important scaffold for ELs to help them process their responses in their own native languages and to prepare

a more articulated response in a whole group discussion.

Subject specific pedagogy: “[Beginning teachers] understand how to teach formal and informal speaking and listening skills, including collaboration,

conversation, and presentation of knowledge and ideas,” (CTC, June 2017, p. 22). We regularly incorporate think-pair-share and whole group sharing in our novel

discussions. This has helped lower the affective filter and I’ve been able to successfully include the “quieter” students to ensure all voices are heard in the

classroom.

Interactive Read Aloud-Plus

I read the novel aloud in a dramatic/enthusiastic tone to help stimulate interest. I paused periodically throughout the excerpt (10 pages) to help

make the text more comprehensible/accessible. I paused the reading to explain more about the definition of alchemy and projected a PowerPoint

slide featuring alchemist codes. I asked students to respond to a higher-order analytical question: “Why did the alchemists use secret codes in their

journals?” Students were able to digest this by discussing with each other. I also paused several pages later to discuss a literary theme about “living

in the present moment.” Students were able to discuss this with each other. This strategic fragmentation of the text helped sustain interest and

attention spans throughout our 30-minute reading period.

Reading aloud is important for all students, especially English Learners to help them hear the oration of fluent expressive English language. This

frequent, daily exposure will help their receptive listening/reading skills and eventually expand their lexicon.

Subject specific pedagogy: “They understand how to make English Language Arts comprehensible to students at various English language proficiency levels

and the need for students to use all forms of language as tools for thinking, learning, and communicating.” (CTC, June 2016, p. 22). By fragmenting the text,

pausing to discuss a theme, stopping to briefly define terms, providing visuals of unfamiliar vocabulary, I provided scaffolds to make the content comprehensible

to students of all proficiency levels.

Visual/Vocabulary Scaffolds

To explain the concept of alchemy, I projected an image of alchemy codes. I also provided textual descriptions of the anticipated unfamiliar

vocabulary terms we would encounter in the 10-page excerpt. I also included images of a desert “oasis” to help students visualize the setting of this

section in the novel. Lastly, I projected a slide with text featuring the discussion prompt to help maintain focus and clarity during our discussion.

Leveled Guided Reading Questions

Students, especially Els need reading questions leveled at their current language acquisition stage. Though I am still required to use academic

language in the ELA classroom, I ensured that the terms I used were simplified enough for all students to comprehend.

(Closing Summary of Main Lesson Points)

Though I had originally planned to do a closing summary of the main points of the lesson, students were all finishing their questions the last

remaining minutes of class, so I was not able to allot the time to do a closing summary. The ending portion of lesson gets “jerky” for me because all

students complete their independent work at different rates, and I do not want to disrupt my more reflective thinkers who take longer to complete

assignments.

4. What would you change about the lesson and why (according to your data analysis)?

I would have changed/simplified the prompt and provided an example of something that was “vain.” One of my EL students (see sample) struggled

with this concept and consequently was unable to respond to the prompt. Some other students struggled slightly with understanding a “vanity.”

Though my goal is to ask higher-order analytical/evaluative questions, I need to ask them in a simple and clear way to ensure all learners

understand what I am asking. To change the prompt, I would probably include a real-world example of a vanity as well as sentence frames.

Alchemists give up “vanities” of the world to purify themselves. They wanted to cleanse

themselves from meaningless and negative things that surrounded them every day.

What in life do you think is meaningless? What sorts of meaningless or negative things surround

you in everyday life? If you were an alchemist, how would you avoid things that are meaningless?

Vanity—something that has no meaning or purpose. Example: reality television, drugs, celebrity gossip

During my interactive read-aloud, I also could have expounded upon the alchemy description. To be honest, I am not entirely sure how well-versed

I truly am in the subject of alchemy—I am not entirely sure whether I imparted as much knowledge as I could have. I could have provided more

visuals of alchemy and I could have made more real-world connections of “alchemy symbols” to the “texting symbols” that teenagers are immersed

with every day with their phones. It is important to take the content of the novel and make it “relevant” to their personal adolescent worlds.

During the discussion of the camel-driver’s comment, I could have added sentence frames on the PowerPoint slides to provide a verbal scaffold for

ELs.

The camel driver says: If you concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man...Life will

be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now. (page 87)

Do you agree with this statement? Will we be happy if we always concentrate on the present?

Why or why not?

Sentence Frames:

I believe that we must always concentrate on the present because…

I believe that we don’t need to concentrate on the present because

I believe that life is the moment we are living now because…

I do not believe that life is the moment we’re living now because…

Instead of answering questions, I could have required students to write an “exit ticket,” by selecting their favorite quote from the passage and

explaining why it “spoke” to them personally. This gives them an element of choice/self-direction in their learning. I may consider incorporating this

in future lessons to vary my instructional activities (students may feel as though we are routinely satiating on comprehension questions at the end of

every class period)

Classroom Lessons ONLY: After presenting your lesson in your BST classroom, please review and reflect on student work related to this lesson.

Make copies of student work for levels of high, middle, low, EL, and Student with Special Needs, and write your comments on the copies.