lessonplan

**LESSON PLAN RESOURCES**
Some **basic tips** about writing lesson plans...

1. [|Examples of Content-Specific Activities Linked to Specific Observable Verbs] and [|How to Avoid Five Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans] (including [|example lesson plans] in 3 content areas)

Here a few resources that you can visit (and revisit) to inspire ideas for supporting content learning with effective comprehension strategies in your lesson plan.

1. **Understanding Reading Strategies Part 1**: [|Reading Strategies in Action: Overview of the Modules] (a) A Tool for Understanding; (b) Setting the Stage; (c) Promoting Understanding; and (d) Knowing it's Working

2. **Understanding Reading Strategies Part 2:** [|MORE Reading Strategies in Action]: View video and handout examples of the main reading strategies applied to each content area by middle and high school teachers in math, science, social studies, and English. Click on each content area tab to view examples.
 * Activating Prior Knowledge
 * Asking Questions
 * Making Connections
 * Making Predictions and Other Inferences
 * Monitoring Comprehension
 * Reflecting on Reading
 * Group Work/Discussion
 * Summarizing
 * Taking Notes
 * Understanding Vocabulary
 * Using Text Features

3. **Linking Reading Instruction Ideas to Real Thinking/Learning Objectives**: [|Skills and Strategies of Effective Reading Strategies] (Greece, New York)
 * Mouseover each [|"thinking/reading" objective in this list] to access explanations and examples of related instructional strategies linked to that thinking objective
 * OR [|View an alphabetical listing] of before, during, and after instructional strategies that support learning content information

4. **Lesson Ideas for Building Vocabulary**: [|Janet Allen's Inside Words: Tools for Teaching Academic Vocabulary Grades 4-12] has some awesome strategies for teaching and assessing vocabulary knowledge. Each chapter is available for free pdf online and features a different strategy.


 * 5. Differentiated Instruction Resources**
 * [|One size fits all]: Ways to make reading assignments more engaging for all levels of students
 * [|Making a Difference:] Interview with Carol Tomlinson, who explains how differentiated instruction works and why we need it
 * [|Differentiation of Instruction in mixed ability classrooms]: Outlines principles and includes "Tomlinson's Equalizer"
 * [|Videos and accompanying materials] from an ASCD PD Online Course about Differentiating Instruction

6. [|Inspiring Middle School Literacy: Reading and Writing in Science and History] Login for free to access self-paced classroom activities designed to enhance the literacy skills of struggling readers in grades 5.8.

7. [|Literacy and Learning: Reading in the Content Area] The series supports "reading across the curriculum" and provides staff development and classroom strategies in reading for the four major content fields - math, science, social studies, and language arts. Each uses videos, interactive activities, note-taking, reading, and writing to present students with an engaging science or history topic. Each activity addresses a range of specific literacy strategies. All 15 activities promote monitoring comprehension, synthesizing, asking questions, developing vocabulary, connecting prior knowledge to new learning, and developing a topic in writing.

8. [|Reading in the Content Areas: Literacy Matters] This site provides an introduction to why reading is important in the content areas and information on strategic reading. Several resources are provided at the end of the page.

9. This short article summarizes Janet Allen's perspectives on [|The Benefits of Shared Reading with middle and high school students.] Might be interesting to incorporate some aspect of shared reading into your lesson plan.

10. [|Linking learning objectives to real careers] from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

11. A [|Periodic Table of Visualization Methods] may be just the thing to get you thinking about the MANY ways you can organize text and scaffolds to help readers more deeply comprehend what they read.

12. [|Examples of Reading Mini-Lessons] developed by college students for middle school students

13. [|Writing Quality Learning Objectives:] Quick tips from Park University

14. Digital Think-Alouds:
 * [|Fact Frenzy]- Summarizing Applet created by Read, Write, Think

15. **A Few More Lesson Models:** If you haven't been inspired yet, you may enjoy exploring the [|Adolescent Literacy Toolkit] which presents real lessons and narrative Q & A sessions with real teachers in Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts. All available in pdf format. The lesson ideas may give you some additional frameworks for how to write up your lesson plan, especially your explanations of the pre-, during, and post reading activities. Just be sure the ideas you describe in YOUR lesson plan are YOURS!

16. Knowledge Loom's [|Adolescent Literacy In the Content Area]

17. Stenhouse

18. [|The Right Way to Ask Questions in Your Classroom] (from Edutopia)

19. [|The Middle Years: Goverment of South Australia] - suggestions for literacy across the curriculum with matrices framed in Luke and Freebody's Four Literacy Resources

20. [|The Power of Strategy Instruction] (for All Learners) - outlines general strategy use for literacy and content area learning, and describes the University of Kansas' Strategy Instruction Model (SIM) with links to research-based projects they are conducting.

21. [|The Reading Room:] Doug Beuhl's monthly columns about reading strategy instruction from the Wisconsin Education Association Council

22. [|Internet Activities for Foreign Language Students]

23. **Writing to Learn:**
 * [|Video clips from college professors] of various content-areas discussing how they integrate writing-to-learn activities into their courses

24. [|Teacher's Domain: Inspiring Middle School Literacy] (Walmart Middle School Initiative) - These self-paced classroom lessons are designed to enhance the literacy skills of struggling readers in grades 5–8. Each uses videos, interactive activities, note-taking, reading, and writing to present students with an engaging science or history topic. Each lesson addresses a range of literacy strategies, which are listed in the accompanying teacher's guide.

Other ideas: 1. [|AP courses get influx of atypical students] (e.g., struggling readers and writers)

2.