RUNNING HEAD: ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 1
Annotated Lesson Plan
Chelsea Rousselot
National University
Nanci Hanover
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 2
Sample Lesson Plan
Subject: Writing
Topic: Personal Essay
Grade: 4th
Goal: Students will use the story “Jabari Jumps” to help them make a claim and supportive
reasons in preparation for a personal essay.
Objective: Students will plan for their essay by making a claim and naming supportive reasons
for that claim. They will begin writing their claim from their plan and talking through it with
their peers.
Standards: CA WS: 1:abcd, 2:abcde
Accommodations for ELL and Special Education: Jabari Jumps text translation, use of book
visuals, writing in native language first and then translating
Key Words/ Vocabulary: Opinion essay, topic sentence, thesis statement
Materials and Tools: Jabari Jumps book with Spanish translations inserted on the page, writing
notebook, pencil
Procedure:
Introduction (7 min): Read Jabari Jumps to the class. As we are starting to learn how to write
personal essays it is important to have some tools or skills that help us learn to make a claim
with supportive reasons for that claim. Writers, I want you to learn that sometimes a story is a
great way to support a claim.
Class Activities (30-34 min):
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 3
Turn and talk with your partner about a claim that you think you can make about Jabari Jumps.
Remember to focus more on a statement that can apply to anything not just the story. So
instead of saying “Jabari learns it is important to face your fears” use open ended statements
that can apply to anyone like “It is important to face your fears because …”. Now you and your
partner will discuss your claims with each other and you can start organizing them in a boxes
and bullets fashion. I place my claim in the box and my supportive reasons underneath the box.
Teacher demonstrates making a boxes and bullets outline.
Group Work:
After discussing ideas with their partner, students will be placed in heterogeneous small groups
to help develop their ideas further. This step is important to help develop ideas further and to
give students the opportunity to articulate their ideas and learn from higher learners. Higher
learners also benefit by acting as tutors.
Closure (4min):
Now I want you to start finding three reasons that support your claim. If you get stuck, think
back on what happened in the story and how Jabari solved his problem. What kind of lesson did
you learn from the story. If you end up writing all three supports then you can go ahead and try
writing your first paragraph. You can start with your claim and reason one. Don’t worry about
making the sentence perfect just try fast and furious writing for now and you can go back and
edit.
Class or group share:
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 4
At the end of the session, student will be placed back in their groups to start sharing ideas. No
criticism is given. Students may share what they enjoy with the class. Teacher may decide to
have certain students share their examples with the entire class.
Assessment and Evaluation (Ongoing):
Oral and written statements from the students in their notebook. Students will spend 20
minutes discussing their plans with their partner(s) before independent work. They will then
write for another 15 minutes independently.
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 5
Handout for English Learners
Jabari Jumps Story Translation
“I’m jumping off the diving board today,” "Estoy saltando del trampolín hoy", le dijo
Jabari told his dad. Jabari a su padre.
“really?” said his dad. "¿En serio?", Dijo su padre.
The diving board was high and maybe a little El trampolín era alto y tal vez un poco
scary, but Jabari had finished his swimming aterrador, pero Jabari había terminado sus
lessons and passed his swim test, and now he clases de natación y había pasado su prueba
was ready to jump. de natación, y ahora estaba listo para saltar.
“I’m a great jumper,” said Jabari, “so I’m not "Soy un gran saltador", dijo Jabari, "así que
scared at all.” no estoy asustado en absoluto".
Jabari watched the other kids climb the long Jabari observó a los otros niños subir la larga
ladder. They walked all the way out to the escalera. Caminaron hasta el final del tablero,
end of the board, as big as tiny bugs. Then tan grandes como pequeños insectos. Luego
they stood on the edge. They spread their se pararon en el borde. Extendieron sus
arms and bent their knees. And sprang up! brazos y doblaron sus rodillas. ¡Y surgió!
Up! Up! And then they dove down, down, ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! Y luego se sumergieron,
down. bajaron, bajaron.
Splash! ¡Chapoteo!
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 6
“Looks easy,” Jabari said. "Parece fácil", dijo Jabari.
But when his dad squeezed his hand, Jabari Pero cuando su padre le apretó la mano,
squeezed back. Jabari le devolvió el apretón.
Jabari stood at the bottom of the ladder Jabari estaba parado en la parte inferior de la
He looked up. escalera
Él levantó la vista.
“You can go ahead of me if you want,” he
told the kid behind him. "Puedes ir por delante de mí si quieres", le
“I need to think about what kind of special dijo al niño detrás de él.
jump I’m going to do.” "Necesito pensar qué tipo de salto especial
Jabari thought and thought. voy a hacer".
Jabari started to clumb, up and up. Jabari pensó y pensó.
This Ladder is very tall, he thought. Jabari comenzó a andar, arriba y arriba.
Esta Escalera es muy alta, pensó.
“Are you okay?” called his dad. "¿Estás bien?", Llamó a su padre.
“I’m just a little tired,” said Jabari. "Estoy un poco cansado", dijo Jabari.
“Maybe you should climb down and take a "Tal vez deberías bajar y tomar un pequeño
tiny rest,” said his dad. descanso", dijo su padre.
A tiny rest sounded like a good idea. Un pequeño descanso sonaba como una
buena idea.
Cuando llegó al fondo, Jabari recordó algo.
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 7
When he got to the bottom, Jabari "¡Me olvidé de hacer mis estiramientos!", Le
remembered something. dijo a su padre.
“I forgot to do my stretches!” he said to his "El estiramiento es muy importante", dijo su
dad. padre.
“Stretching is very important,” said his dad.
"Creo que mañana podría ser un mejor día
“I think tomorrow might be a better day for para saltar", dijo Jabari.
jumping,” Jabari said. Levantaron la vista hacia el trampolín juntos.
They looked up at the diving board together. "Está bien sentir un poco de miedo", dijo su
“It’s ok to feel a little scared,” said his dad. padre. "A veces, si me siento un poco
“Sometimes, if I feel a little scared, I take a asustado, respiro profundamente y me digo a
deep breath and tell myself I am ready. And mí mismo que estoy listo. ¿Y sabes qué? A
you know what? Sometimes it stops feeling veces deja de sentir miedo y se siente un
scary and feels a little like a surprise.” poco como una sorpresa ".
Jabari loved surprises. Jabari amaba las sorpresas.
Jabari took a deep breath and felt it fill his Jabari respiró hondo y sintió que llenaba su
body from the ends of his hair right down to cuerpo desde las puntas de su cabello hasta
the tips of his toes. la punta de los dedos de sus pies.
Jabari looked up. He began to climb. Jabari levantó la vista. Él comenzó a escalar.
Up and Up. And up and up. Arriba y arriba. Y arriba y arriba.
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 8
Until he got to the top. Jabari stood up Hasta que llegó a la cima. Jabari se puso de
straight. pie derecho.
He walked all the way to the end of the Caminó hasta el final del tablero.
board.
Sus dedos de los pies se curvaron alrededor
His toes curled around the rough edge. del borde áspero.
Jabari looked out, as far as he could see. He Jabari miró hacia afuera, por lo que pudo ver.
felt like he was ready. Se sintió como si estuviera listo.
“I love surprises,” he whispered. "Me encantan las sorpresas", susurró.
He took a deep breath and spread his arms Respiró hondo, extendió los brazos y dobló
and bent his knees. las rodillas.
Then he sprang up! ¡Entonces él se levantó!
Up off the board! ¡Fuera del tablero!
Flying! ¡Volador!
Jabari hit the water with a splash. Jabari golpeó el agua con un chapoteo.
Down, down, down he went. Abajo, abajo y abajo él fue.
And then back up! Whoosh! ¡Y luego retrocede! ¡Whoosh!
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 9
“Jabari! You did it!” said his dad. "¡Jabari! ¡Lo hiciste! ", Dijo su padre.
“I did it!” said Jabari. “I’m a great jumper! "¡Lo hice!", Dijo Jabari. "¡Soy un gran
And you know what?” saltador! ¿Y sabes qué?"
“What?” said his dad. "¿Qué?", Dijo su padre.
“Surprise double backflip is next!” "¡Sorpresa es doble backflip el siguiente!"
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 10
Annotation
This writing lesson is modified and adapted for secondary English learners including 9-
year old student Anabel from Guatemala. This writing lesson is in the style of Columbia
University’s Teacher’s College program called The Reading and Writing Project. This program
is taught the school that I currently teach at as well as thousands of schools across the country.
This lesson plan is open-ended and allows for differentiation. The design of this lesson promotes
student thinking and collaboration with other students. Hall Haley (2014) states:
Direct observations reveal that teachers do most of the talking in classrooms, making
about twice as many utterances as do students. . . . In over half of the interactions that
teachers have with students, students do not produce any language. . . . When students do
respond, typically they provide only simple information recall statements. This pattern of
teacher– student interaction not only limits a student’s opportunity to create and
manipulate language freely, but also limits the student’s ability to engage in more
complex learning. (as cited in Ramirez, Yuen, & Ramey, pg. 17)
Group interaction is probably the most important aspect of any lesson because this is where
English learning students will be able to practice the English language and learn to articulate in a
language other than their native language. Hal Haley also stresses the importance of keeping the
teacher-led moments to a minimum as students do not get English practice during lectures.
In order to allow for group collaboration and student critical thinking, teacher lectures
must be as concise as possible. This lesson utilizes the picture book Jabari Jumps by Gaia
Cornwall as a springboard for students to brainstorm possible claims for a personal essay. The
teaching point of this mini-lesson is “using a story is a great way to support a claim.” While
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 11
reading the story to the class, it is important to pause and ask students to come up with a theory
about the book with their partners. When we ask kids for a theory we open up possibility which
can lead to deep thinking.
This mini-lesson also tends to English learners. Along with the visuals of the picture
book, the English learners are given a handout with the English words and the corresponding
Spanish translation alongside them. By doing this, English learners are hearing and discussing
the story in English but they can double check what they are hearing by reading along with the
English words and seeing the Spanish translation. Lucy Calkins (2013), founder of The Reading
and Writing Project, explains:
Workshop classrooms are organized in such clear, predictable, consistent ways that
children quickly become comfortable participating in their ongoing structures. Very early
in the school year, ELL children come to understand that writing workshops start with the
teacher giving a minilesson, and that during the minilesson they learn strategies that they
are then expected to apply to their independent work. (pg. 78)
Consistency and predictability are very important aspects of the lesson plan. English Learning
students become comfortable with the format and know what is expected. They know that there
will be opportunities for them to voice their opinions, write about them, and utilize the strategies
that they are learning. They will start to learn sentence stems that they will use to express their
thinking. Calkins (2013) also states:
The level of consistency, as well as predictability of activity and language, gives
language learners not only a space for learning language but a place to practice. Whether
your English language learner is a beginning speaker or an advanced one, she will have
the opportunity to work on her writing and language skills each day. Repetition and
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 12
practice are two important scaffolds that English language learners need to grow their
literacy skills. (pg. 79)
After the mini-lesson, students understand that there will be a writing element of some kind
every day. In most lessons, I would like my students to write their ideas first in their native
language, in Anabel’s case it would be Spanish, then attempt to write their ideas in English as
well. Overtime, the students will not need to translate their writing word for word and will be
able to begin thinking in English as they write. Eventually, they may not need to write in their
native language first. However, I would encourage students to write in their native language as
well as English in order to promote higher thinking. They may have more access to deeper
thinking in their native language. Then, as they translate, they will learn how to articulate these
ideas in English.
After the mini-lesson, students break into partner/group work. This is the most important
aspect of the lesson as English learning students get demonstrations from their peers and get to
practice voicing their ideas in English. Lucy Calkins (2013) explains, “Children in the early
stages of learning English benefit from being in triads, not partnerships; ideally one child in that
triad will share the new arrival’s native language but be more proficient in English and the other
child will be a native speaker of English (and language model)” (pg. 81). These are important
aspects to consider when choosing partners for English learners like Anabel. Anabel would do
well to be in a triad with a fellow English learner and a native English speaker. This would give
student’s like Anabel the opportunity to translate and assist other English learners while learning
to master the English language.
The final aspect of the lesson is to use what the students have learned in mini-lesson and
groupwork and allow time for students to try writing and using their new skills on their own.
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 13
English learning students such as Anabel will be instructed to write their ideas in their native
language first. This encourages them to think deeply and articulate using their native language
first and then practice articulating in English.
While this lesson adapts very nicely to English learners, it is also open-ended enough to
differentiate for high achievers and students with learning disabilities. The differentiation will
come with small group placements and individual work. Teachers can help push students to
higher thinking and even offer students to continue the essay writing process at a faster pace than
the rest of the class. While some students may need longer group work time, high achievers can
discuss with partners or small groups and immediately go to their desks to begin collecting
evidence for their claims and start writing a rough draft.
ANNOTATED LESSON PLAN 14
Resources
Hall Haley, M., & Austin, T. Y. (2014). Content-Based Second Language Teaching and
Learning: An Interactive Approach(2nd ed.) [ebook]. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education. Retrieved from
https://nu.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780133347944/cfi/3!/4/4@0.00:16.4
Calkins, L. (2013). A Guide to writing workshop. Print. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
