Character Empathy

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Cameron George

LESSON PLAN TEMPLATE

Lesson Day (Include: Date, Subject, Duration, Grouping/# of students)

How will this lesson support the learning goal? (1c: Setting Instructional Outcomes)

Objective(s) (1c: Setting Instructional Outcomes) Taking into consideration the learning goal what is the objective(s) of this lesson that will support the progress toward the learning goal? The statement should be directly observable (use verbs that can be measured). PA Standards www.Pdesas.org/Standard/view or https://www.pdesas.org/Page?pageId=11

October 3, 2018 English Language Arts 23 students 1:15PM-1:45PM This lesson supports the learning goal because it helps students to identify character empathy through characters’ words and actions, and demonstrates how students can comprehend the text through empathizing with characters.

1. With a partner, students will be able to identify evidence of empathy in a picture book with evidence from the text, as well as identify a character they empathized with in the picture book in order to better understand the text. 2. Student will be able to write about how they can empathize with characters in order to better comprehend the book, as well as write or draw how they can show empathy towards others.

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FOUNDATIONAL SKILLS CC.1.1.5.E Read with accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. • Read on-level text with purpose and understanding. • Read on-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. • Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. READING LITERATURE CC.1.3.5.K Read and comprehend literary fiction on grade level, reading independently and proficiently. WRITING CC.1.4.5.I Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details; draw from credible sources.

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Cameron George N/A ISTE Standards (if applicable)

Technology Materials/ Resources (1d: Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources) What texts, digital resources, & materials will be used in this lesson? How do the materials align with the learning objective/outcomes? If appropriate, what educational technology will be used to support the learning outcomes of this lesson? How do the resources support the learning objectives? Cite publications and any web resources.

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Character Empathy Worksheet Sticky Notes Writing Utensil Smart Board Index Card Journal Prompt Worksheet Partner Worksheet Power Point Slides The following grade-level picture books will be used o NOTE: These books were hand-selected based on student interest, level, and background. The teacher should refer to his/her specific classroom context in order to choose the right books for their class.

Bunting, Eve. Fly Away Home. Illustrated by Ronald Himler, New York, Clarion Books, 1991. Daywalt, Drew. The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors. Illustrated by Adam Rex, New York, Harper Collins, 2017. Mochizuki, Ken. Baseball Saved Us. Illustrated by Dom Lee, New York, Scholastic, 1996. Nolen, Jerdine. Thunder Rose. Illustrated by Kadir Nelson, San Diego, Harcourt, 2003. Otoshi, Kathryn. One. San Rafael, Ko Kids Books, 2008. Palacio, R.J. "The Performance Space." Wonder, Alfed A. Knopf, 2012, pp. 27-30. Perkins, Lynne Rae. Pictures From Our Vacation. Harper Collins, 2007. Polacco, Patricia. The Lemonade Club. New York, Philomel Books, 2007.

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Cameron George ---. Thank you, Mr. Falker. New York, Philomel Books, 1998. Shannon, David. A Bad Case of Stripes. The Blue Sky Press, 1998. Stewart, Sarah. The Gardner. Illustrated by David Small, New York, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1995. Yolen, Jane. The Stranded Whale. Illustrated by Melanie Cataldo, Somerville, Candlewick Press, 2015.

MATERIALS RATIONALE The journal prompt worksheet was created in order to aid students in comprehending how empathy can be used to better understand a piece of text. Sticky notes are used to assist in the anticipatory set, so that students are able to reflect upon a time when they showed empathy towards another person. A writing utensil is needed to complete the worksheet, and the Smart Board is used to display the power point. The character empathy worksheet was created for students to be able to identify evidence of empathy, and be able to pull evidence from the text in order to support their response. It is also used for students to help make personal connections with the text, as well as to empathize with characters. The power point slides are used to aid the teacher in his/her instruction. The grade level picture books were selected based on the individual classroom context in which this lesson was taught. Books should be chosen based on teacher knowledge of each individual student.

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Cameron George • Anticipatory Set (1a: Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy) 7 minutes How will you set the purpose and help students learn why today’s lesson is important to them as learners? How will you pique the interest or curiosity regarding the lesson topic? How will you build on students’ prior knowledge? How will you introduce and explain the strategy/concept or skill? Provide detailed steps.

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The goal and importance of the lesson should be written on the smart board. o GOAL: Our goal is to learn about how characters show empathy to one another in the books we read, and how this can help us better understand the book. o WHY DOES THIS MATTER? (IMPORTANCE): It is important that we recognize what showing empathy towards someone is, and for us to show empathy to all people. I want us to think back to the Second Step Lesson we learned on Empathy. Can anyone help me refresh my mind about some of things we learned? Great! So we learned about who we can have empathy for (everybody, friends, teachers, parents). We learned about how having empathy for another person can help you respectfully respond to any situation. Why is it important to respond in a respectful manor? T should pass out sticky notes Can we think back to a time when we showed empathy toward someone? I want you to write it down on this sticky note. Now I want you to really think back to a time in your own, personal life you showed empathy towards someone. I know you all put in some awesome effort when we wrote about how to be a good citizen, so use that as a way to activate your background knowledge. T should take up to 3 student responses So bridging off of our own personal experiences, I now want us to think about something called character empathy. What immediately comes to mind when I say the phrase “character empathy?” Excellent! So today, the goal of our lesson is to learn about how characters show empathy to one another, and how we can use this to understand the book. The importance of our lesson is so that WE can learn not only about how characters show empathy in the books we read, but also that we can show empathy in our own lives. MODEL: 15 Minutes

Instructional Activities (1a: Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy; 1e: Designing Coherent Instruction) minutes

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T will ask students to take out their copies of “Wonder.” Now I know we already read this section of the book, but it provides us with a perfect example of character empathy that I want us to go back and reanalyze it.

Cameron George 45 Minutes Total Exploration (Model): How will students explore the new concepts? How will you model or provide explicit instruction? Guided Practice: How will you provide support to students as they apply the new concept? How will you allow them to practice (with teacher support)? Independent practice: How will students review and solidify these concepts to be able to use this new knowledge? How will you monitor and provide feedback? Provide detailed steps.

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5 Please turn to page 27, “The Performance Space.” I am going to start reading from the very bottom of page 27.” T will read from the bottom of page 27, starting with, “While she was talking…” and finish on page 30, ending with “And he smiled back…” During the read-aloud, T should stop at the following points to model his/her thinking regarding which characters are showing empathy and which are not. o STOP 1: Finish at page 28, “Yeah I nodded…” ▪ So I can see here that Julian is clearly not showing empathy towards August because of the rude jokes he is making regrading August’s interest in the science elective. ▪ I also notice how Charlotte is showing empathy towards August because of the way she is encouraging him to become involved in different electives. Through her encouragement, she is helping August to feel welcome in a new school. o STOP 2: Finish on page 30, “And he smiled back…” ▪ So if I look back on what I just read, I understand that Jack Will was showing empathy towards August by smiling at him after Julian made a rude comment. ▪ Through a character’s actions and words, I am able to tell whether or not they are showing empathy towards the other characters. ▪ Julian’s comment about August looking like he was burned in a fire shows me that Julian is not being empathetic with August. ▪ I also want us to keep in mind that when we think about why characters are not empathetic toward one another, we are not making excuses for them, we are simply trying to put ourselves in that characters’ position. We are using empathy to help us understand the book. ▪ I also want to take some time for us to empathize with August. • So if I were to empathize with August, I would think about a time that I was new to something or when I felt uncomfortable in a situation. None of us know what it is like to be born with a deformity, but we can empathize with August and understand where his

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Cameron George feelings are coming from. From this, we can be like Jack Will and Charlotte who are showing empathy towards him. And we definitely do not want to be like Julian who is showing us an example of how to not show empathy. GUIDED PRACTICE: 20 MINUTES • • • •

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T will group students ahead of time in order to differentiate instruction T will choose which picture book each group will read. T will have set up books around the room o Sticky note with partner names on it o One worksheet So now we are going to put what we have just learned about into action. I have partnered you all, and selected a picture book that I think you both will enjoy reading. They are around the room. After I am finished giving the directions, you are going to search around the classroom for your book, and begin working together. Here are the directions T will post the directions on the board and guiding questions With your partner, I want you to assign one person as the reader and one person as the recorder. One of you will read the book aloud, and the other will write down your responses as you discuss while reading. During reading, I want you to talk with your partner about how the characters were showing empathy towards one another, and one way that you empathized with one of the characters in the book. Talk about if you did not think the characters were showing empathy. I want each of your statements to be backed up with evidence from the book.” It is important that we are also empathizing with the characters ourselves in order for us to practice showing empathy AND to understand the book. I want you to use these guiding questions to help you think about empathizing in order to understand what is happening in the book and to connect with it on a different level. All of the directions are posted on the smart board so before asking me or Mr._____, please try to work with your partner to answer the question. Remember to be a problem solver!

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Cameron George • • • •

T should be walking around listening into student conversation and taking notes on sticky notes. T should provide ten and five minute warnings to students T should bring the group back together and ask that one group member come up and hand in their response sheet and another hand in their book. If group members finish early, they can participate in Sustained Silent Reading, Sudoku, or any other assignment they need to finish. INDEPENDENT PRACTICE: 10 Minutes

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Closure (1e: Designing Coherent Instruction) 8 minutes How will students share or show what they have learned in this lesson? How will you restate the teaching point and clarify key concepts? How will you provide opportunities to extend ideas and check for understanding? How will this lesson lead to the next lesson?

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T will instruct students to return back to their seats Everyone did an excellent job! I want to touch on some points of conversation that I heard: T will read what he/she recorded on the sticky note o Will vary depending on classroom context So for our final activity, we are going to be doing some writing. This is going to be a journal prompt and we are going to be using what we learned about empathizing with characters to complete our prompt. T will pass out journal prompt sheet. I want you to read the prompt and answer both questions as best you can. I want to see evidence of your thinking. Please work on this quietly. T will collect journal prompts from students. T will flip back to the slide that highlights the goal and importance of the lesson Through today’s activities, we can see how we accomplished our goal and why this is relevant to our own personal lives. Today, tomorrow, and always empathizing with characters AND people in our own lives will matter. Showing respect and compassion counts. Now I am going to pass out an index card. On the Smart Board, you will notice a key. On the index card, I want you to choose one of the following o !: Something that excited me or that I found interesting o ?: Something I am still confused about o *: Something I learned that I did not know before Please be sure to put your name on it.

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Cameron George • • •

Differentiation (1e: Designing Coherent Instruction) What differentiated support will you provide for students whose academic development is below or above the current grade level? What specific differentiation of content, process, products, and/or learning environment do you plan to employ to meet the needs of all of your students? How does your lesson support student differences with regard to linguistic, academic, and cultural diversity? How will your lesson actively build upon the resources that linguistically and culturally diverse students bring to the experience? How will your lesson will be supportive for all students, including English Language Learners, and build upon the linguistic, cultural, and experiential resources that they bring to their learning? How will your lesson is designed to promote creative and critical thinking and inventiveness?

T will ask if any student would like to share his or her index card When you are done, hand the index card to me Thank you for your cooperation and listening during the lesson!

Above: Students will be partnered with someone who is below level, and who will motivate them to stay on task. Through my knowledge of each of the students, I selected partners based on who I thought would be able to motivate as well as assist their partner. Students who are above level are provided with a more challenging book, and they can assist their partner in comprehending the book, as well as motivating them to complete the assignment. Below: Students will be partnered with someone who is above level, and who will challenge them during reading. Through my knowledge of each of the students, I selected partners based on student interest, and students who I knew would help each other stay on task. All partners were based on interest, different levels, as well as to combat certain behaviors to assist in motivation, engagement, and ensuring the work is completed with neatness and pride. ELL: Students who are ELLs will have the assistance of the power point to have all directions written for them. They are also able to rely on their partner to read the story and take the role of recorder in order to practice their writing skills. They will be able to follow along with book, as well as hear it being read a-loud to them. If they choose to be the reader, they will gain practice reading in English in a low stakes setting. The books chosen represent a variety of themes, cultures, and interests of each student. The lesson provides an opportunity to bridge home and school culture through a variety of literacy based activities.

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Cameron George Accommodations (1e: Designing Coherent Instruction) What classroom accommodations do you plan to employ to increase curriculum access for students identified with special education needs or 504? Describe how these accommodations align with the current Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for each student as applicable (avoid using actual names of students).

Modifications (1e: Designing Coherent Instruction) What curricular modifications and/or changes in performance standards, if any, do you plan to employ to facilitate the participation of students identified with special education needs?

Assessment (Formal or Informal). (1f: Assessing Student Learning) How will you and the students assess where the learning objectives, listed above, were met? Each formal or informal assessment should describe how it is aligned to the above objective(s).

For a student who has a hearing aid, I will the necessary equipment in order for the student to hear me clearly. All directions will be posted so that if the student does not hear something, they will have the written directions to refer to. The student who has an IEP is not with us during our literacy block

PROCESS/PRODUCT: For students who have difficulty comprehending and/or writing, they may participate in a picture sort instead of the final Journal Entry. The teacher will set up a large T chart. On one side will be a column for “Showing Empathy” on the other side, a column for “Not Showing Empathy.” The student (s) will be given a variety of images of people who are performing empathetic and unempathetic actions. The students job will be to sort the image cards into the correct column.

1. With a partner, students will be able to identify evidence of empathy in a picture book with evidence from the text, as well as identify a character they empathized with in the picture book in order to better understand the text. i. Formative Assessment: The teacher will use the partner worksheet as a way to see if students grasped this objective. The questions asked align directly with this objective. 2. Student will be able to write about how they can empathize with characters in order to better comprehend the book, as well as write or draw how they can show empathy towards others. i. Formative Assessment: The journal entry prompt will assess not only if students understand how empathy is used in a story, but also will allow them to connect empathy to their own personal lives. The teacher should center in on the

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Cameron George second prompt to see if students are able to successfully write about how they show empathy towards others. Reflection on Instruction At the conclusion of the lesson you should reflect on the lesson. The reflection should go beyond simply answering the question “Was this a good lesson?” Below are some questions to assist you in your reflective process (Danielson, 2008): •

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What evidence did you collect to demonstrate that your students have met or are progressing towards the learning outcomes/objectives? View student work samples. What do they reveal about the students’ level of engagement and comprehension? What changes, if any, would you make to the lesson if you teach this lesson in the future? What misconceptions, if any, do you need to clarify before teaching the next lesson? Did you stray from your lesson plan? If so, how and why? Comment on your classroom procedures, student conduct, and your use of physical space. To what extent did these contribute to student learning? Comment on different aspects of your instructional delivery (e.g., activities, grouping of students, materials/resources utilized). To what extent were they effective?

The evidence I collected stemmed from the worksheets I asked students to complete. I also went around and was able to listen in on student conversation and take notes. Looking back, I feel as if I should have made the empathizing to understand question on the partner worksheet clearer. Some students were confused and looking at their responses proves they did understand part of the question, but when asked to write about how it helps them to understand the book better, many struggled. Only a handful of students were able to complete the entire partner worksheet. I believe this is due to the fact that the second question could have been more straightforward or worded differently. A few changes I would make to the lesson are allowing for turn and talk time during the modeling section. As I was writing the lesson, I was not thinking about this strategy, but it would have fit perfectly into the questions I asked during the modeling section of the lesson. I did stray from my lesson plan. During the guided practice, I was not able to circulate and take as many notes as I wanted to on student conversations. Some students were out at band practice, leaving our new student with no partner. I acted as her partner for the guided practice portion of the lesson, so I only had about 3 minutes to circulate the classroom. I think I did a good job controlling the classroom, student conduct, and using the space. Since I have been in this classroom for a while, I am familiar with the students and was able to handle any behavioral issues that arose. I remembered to focus on wait time and not call on the first person who raised their hand to answer the question. At the beginning of the lesson, I did not have every students’ attention, so I explained that I would wait until I had full body listening from everyone. One of the students explained she was doing something else and I simply said, “we are focusing on this lesson right now so please put what you are doing.” She immediately put her things away. I had made sure to set up the books and worksheets before beginning the lesson. This was also a part of the movement aspect and excitement of the lesson. The students had to “hunt” around the room for their book. Each book was labeled with a sticky note of two students names and a worksheet was placed under the book. This eliminated wasting time passing out papers and books, as well as added to the overall engagement of the students. At one point I looked up and every single

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Cameron George student was engaged. This is something I am extremely proud of. I really enjoyed teaching this lesson, and will be tweaking the empathizing to understand question on the partner worksheet in order for more students to complete it.

NEW EMPATHIZING TO UNDERSTAND QUESTION (From partner worksheet): Where in the book did you empathize with a character? Did this help you to better understand the book? Why or why not?

Cameron George

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**Accommodations and Modifications Students with disabilities may need accommodations or modifications to their educational program to participate in the general curriculum. Both are essential to consider when planning an equitable educational experience for students with disabilities. Accommodations refer to changes in how a student learns the material but they do not change knowledge content. With accommodations, a student receives the SAME education as other children, but the student can access content or express knowledge in different ways. Modifications refer to changes of what is taught or what students with disabilities are expected to learn. This may include adaptations made to instruction and assessment that change or reduce learning expectations. (Please refer to the SLO User Guide and SLO template for additional explanation.) When completing these two sections, you need to describe, if appropriate, how you will ensure that students will access the material based on the accommodations or modifications listed within the IEP or 504 plan. There should be a direct connection within the Anticipatory Set, Instructional Activity, and Closure section of the lesson plan template.