Classroom Rules

Model Lesson Plan

Grade: 4

Subject: All Contents

Lesson Cycle

Details

Anticipatory Set

Teacher says: “Have you ever heard of the saying, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’? It is known as the Golden Rule. What does it all mean? See, we are all very sure about how we want to be treated by others—and that’s good to know! But for some reason, we don’t always treat other people as we would like for them to treat us. That can be a lot harder to do! In our class, I have a simpler way of saying the Golden Rule: Be Kind.”

Objectives

(Note: These will not be from the TEKS)

The Learner will:

· Understand what an expectation is

· Identify at least one person known for kindness

· Recognize the value of “Being Kind,”

· Identify synonyms and antonyms for “kind”

Input

Teacher says: “I have two expectations for our class. The first expectation is to Be Kind. The second expectation is to Work Hard. Today, we are going to spend time with the expectation to Be Kind. Tomorrow, we will talk about my expectation to Work Hard .”

Teacher points to a VIP (Visual Instructional Plan)—a poster with the word and definition of EXPECTATION.

Teacher says: “Folks, please look at my poster. I told you that I had two expectations for the class, and now I want to be sure you know what an expectation is. An expectation is a strong belief that something will happen. I strongly believe that you will Be Kind to one another. I believe that because I am going to emphasize it. Being Kind is really a guideline for success. Successful people are kind to others. One person that you have already studied in third grade who was kind was Mother Teresa. Her kindness made her successful and memorable. She gave us the advice to be kind, too.”

Model

“I do”

The teacher transitions to an activity to help define kindness. Before class, in the center of each table, the teacher put a stack of papers with the definition of expectation and a word bank, similar to the poster.

Teacher says: “Let’s continue to explore what kindness is and what kindness isn’t. Please quickly and quietly take one paper from the center of your table and put it in front of you. Now, pencils in hand. Show me. You have ten seconds to put your name in the upper right hand corner. Pencils down and eyes on me. Look at the word bank I have at the bottom of my poster. Follow along as I read each of the words. Some of the words in my word bank are synonyms for kind. Some are antonyms, words that mean the opposite, to Kind. We are going to code each word! ‘S’ is for synonym. ‘A’ is for antonym. Let me do the first word for you. The first word in the word bank is ‘harsh.’ I am going to code that with an ‘A’ because that is an antonym for kind. A person who is ‘harsh’ is a person who is not being kind. Let me do one more. The next word is ‘humane.’ I am going to code that ‘S’ for synonym. A person who is ‘humane’ is a person who is kind.”

Check for Understanding

Teacher says: “Let me be sure you understand the coding system before we move on to guided practice. Remember the letters we learned from sign language last week? We are going to use those letters right now.”

Teacher reminds students of how to make the letter A and S with their hand.

Teacher says: “If I find a word on the word bank that is a synonym, I will code it with what letter? Show me with your hand in front of your chest on the count of 3. 1-2-3. If I find a word that is an antonym, I will code it with what letter? Show me with your hand in front of your chest on the count of 3. 1-2-3…”

Guided Practice

“We do”

Teacher, giving clear directions, asks the students to code the next 3 words in the word bank before stopping. The teacher walks quickly around the room monitoring student work. Next, the teacher calls on a student to come up to the document camera to write his/her code beside the first assigned word. The teacher monitors for accuracy. The teacher repeats this process for the remaining 2 words.

Teacher says: “Wow! We are really starting to get a pretty good picture of what kindness is and what kindness isn’t!”

Teacher moves to independent practice with the remaining words on the list.

Independent Practice

“You do”

Teacher says: “Please use this same process to work independently to code all of the rest of the words in the word bank on your own paper. I am starting the timer. You have 2 minutes.”

While students are being active in this structured process, the teacher will ‘work the room’ using proximity to prevent off-task behaviors.

When time is up, the teacher uses the document camera to review all answers.

Closure

Teacher says: “Tomorrow, we are going to move our synonyms and antonyms to a T-Chart Poster. We will use that poster as an anchor chart to help remind us what kindness is (and isn’t) every day. In the next week, we will continue to do activities to help us understand my expectation to Be Kind!”

Now that we understand a bit more about what I mean by Be Kind, I want to have you do one more thing. Please find the small Post-it-Note pack I put in the middle of your tables. I want the ‘materials handler’ to give one Post-it to each student at your table—you have 10 seconds. Eyes on me. Now, pencils in hand. You have 10 seconds to neatly write your name on the back of the Post-it. Pencils down. Eyes on me.”

Teacher walks students through self-assessment of their behavior for the morning before collecting the Post-it notes.