Name:

Jennifer Adkins_____

Date of Lesson:

18 November 2014__

Lesson Title: __Capstone Paper Writing Workshop__________

Part of what unit? __Writing a Research Paper___________________________
English Language Arts Integration Plan: Technology will be integrated when showing a video about
Thesis Statements. The SmartBoard will also be used when we are working through some example thesis
statements. I will incorporate screen casts for students to access when formatting their papers and works
cited pages.
Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.11-12.1
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.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2a
Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element
builds on that which precedes it to create a unified whole; include formatting (e.g. headings),
graphics (e.g. figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.4
Present information, findings, and supporting evidence, conveying a clear and distinct
perspective, such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning, alternative or opposing
perspectives are addressed, and the organization, development, substance, and style are
appropriate to purpose, audience, and a range of formal and informal tasks.
NCTE Standards:
Standard 5
Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process
elements appropriately to communicate with difference audiences for a variety of purposes.
Standard 11
Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of
literacy communities.
Language Objectives (SIOP):
(1) The students will be able to comprehend text content and content vocabulary of their research
sources. If ELL students are confused with a particular vocabulary word or content area,
encourage them to use context clues to help find the meaning and promote discussion within their
groups to debate what the answer may be.
(2) The students will be able to summarize, in writing, what their papers are about through their
thesis statements that they will be drafting in class. It is important for ELL students to be able to
read a text in English and be able to pull the main points from the content and create a summary
of the section.
(3) The students will be able to understand/interpret graphic organizers and other visual cues, such as
the video for creating thesis statements and topic sentences. Graphic organizers and visuals
provide ELL students with the opportunity of possibly placing unfamiliar words or concepts into
something they can put an image with. By putting the thought process into a visual aid such as a
film, ELL students are more likely to understand the overall concept and the goal that they are
trying to work towards.

Check all that apply for this lesson: Instruction in

Readin Writing
Speaking/Language/Listen Nong
ing
Print

Critical
Thinking

Languag
e (SIOP)

INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES:
I.O. #1
Given the information and tools to create a thesis statement, students will be able to write and peer edit
drafts of their thesis statements for the research paper assignment. This will be demonstrated by writing
the thesis statement in class to turn in at the end. Mastery will be determined by the teacher who will be
circulating the room to track progress and will also assess mastery upon reading the thesis statements after
class.
I.O. #2
Given the Capstone manual and the requirements for the research paper, students will be able to identify
and implement the correct formats into their own papers. This will be demonstrated by the students being
able to correctly format their papers. Mastery will be determined by the teacher checking each persons
paper based off a rubric once it has been turned in.
I.O. #3
Given the thesis statement drafts and what students have written of their paper, students will be able to
peer edit each others work. This will be demonstrated by breaking into groups of 3 or 4 people and
providing constructive feedback in regards to the content of the work to their peers. Mastery will be
determined by the teacher who will circulating the room to provide her own feedback and to ask questions
that will further student thinking.

TASK ANALYSIS:
Prerequisite Knowledge and
Prior Knowledge
Students should come to this
lesson prepared with any
materials they have for their
research papers (i.e. drafts,
sources, outlines, etc). We have
reviewed the Capstone manual
in class and they know what is
expected of them in terms of the
requirements for the research
paper. They should have the
pre-requisite knowledge from
writing last years research paper
in English III. Therefore,
students should be familiar with
the principles and concepts,
alongside many aspects of MLA
formatting in a paper.

Desired Knowledge/
Essential Learning
The students should be able to
understand the concept and
importance of the thesis
statement within their papers.
They should also be able to
distinguish between a thesis
statement and a topic sentence.
By the end of the lesson,
students will know how to
format their papers and where
they can find MLA resources.

Enrichment/Extended
Knowledge
Enrichment will be experienced
through the type of activity that
will be done in class. When they
create drafts of their thesis
statements, students will be able
to share them with partners and
get feedback on what could
improve it. The activity will
require students to be more
active and engaged throughout
the lesson. This concept of
active engagement and
differentiated instruction proves
to enrich the learning of the
students and reach the point of
having an extended amount of
knowledge on the given subject.

LESSON PLAN:
PRE-PLANNING

Accommodations/
Differentiation

Assessment (based on objectives)

Formative

Summative

Pre-assessment has been down by

analyzing data obtained from work
that has been turned in thus far. Many
students have had questions about their
thesis statements and the formatting of
their papers. Most of the outlines and
paper drafts I have looked over thus far
have had either no thesis statement or
extremely weak ones that need much
more editing. This is how I decided
that the students needed more direct
instruction in writing thesis statements.
The students will be formatively
assessed through the work they are
completing during class. When they
are in small groups reviewing each
others drafts, the teacher will be
circulating the class to check for
student understanding and progress.
This will help identify what students
are continuing to struggle with the
writing process and what ones are fully
grasping the concepts.

During this lesson, students will be

writing their thesis statements to turn in
for review. They will be assessed off of
clarity and thoroughness within the
statement. It should reflect what
message they are sending across to their
reader and what they hope to
accomplish through their paper. This
summative assessment will provide
data of student learning and
understanding. The teacher will be able
to gauge if this activity was helpful for
student understanding or if teacher
performance needs to be adjusted to
help all students reach mastery of the
content.
The final paper will be due on
November 25th. It will act as one of the
primary summative assessments for the
semester. Student papers will be
assessed over a rubric that is created by
the district that encompasses content,
format, grammar, and research.

Assessment accommodations:
For students with IEPs in my
classes, they will be graded
against different expectations
than other students. Those
students will also be given the
opportunity to receive more
individualized help from the
instructor in terms of extra
explanations or additional
guided practice. For example,
the students with IEPs will be
only required to write 1,150
words whereas the majority of
students are required to write
2,300. These students will be
graded with leniency on the
Capstone paper rubric that is set
by the district.
Assessment differentiation:
Students are given different
forms of assessment to ensure
that all students have the
opportunity to demonstrate what
they have learned. They are
given the opportunity to write
continuous drafts of something
before turning the final paper in.
This gives students different
times and ways of getting their
work assessed and receiving
feedback to make their paper
better.

Materials
Students will need paper and writing utensils to brainstorm and create drafts of their
thesis statements.
Instructional materials include the SmartBoard for the thesis statement examples and
the computer to present the video and tips for writing thesis statements.
Integration of Technology
Teacher Use: The teacher will use the SmartBoard and computer to present
directions and instructions during the lesson.
Student Use: Students will be given the opportunity to use their personal cell
phones to look up anything in relation to their papers. The laptop carts were
unavailable for this day as students school-wide are required to complete surveys
during certain blocks.

LESSON DESIGN

Adaptive Technology
The teacher will be visually
presenting instruction,
directions, and examples for all
students to be able to
comprehend what is being asked
of them. A text to speech
program is available for
students to listen to their own
papers to hear how sentences
may sound and catch any errors
that may be there. This type of
adaptive technology can also be
used outside of the classroom
when students are completing
work at home they would be
able to have their papers read
back to them at home to review
them for grammatical errors as
well as content.

Time

Accommodations/

90
minutes

Differentiation

Anticipatory Set (1-3 Focusing )Attention Signal

Attention Signal

Stand quietly until students settle down and put their

eyes on me.

Anticipatory Set

To begin the class, I would ask a series of questions

to gather data on student readiness in terms of their
thesis statements. The questions I will ask are: On a
scale of 1 to 5, 1 being you have no idea how to
begin a thesis statement and 5 being you already
have a pretty solid draft of a thesis statement done
for your paper. Pick one of the students that put up a
4 or 5 and have them explain what a thesis statement
is. What is the difference between a thesis statement
and a topic sentence?

Access/Review:
Student misconceptions will be identified during the anticipatory set and the teacher
will be able to correct them for the particular student as well as address the same
question from other students that were hesitant to ask. During the beginning of
class, the teacher will be eliciting student knowledge of content through asking
questions and checking for understanding with each individual student. When
wrong answers are given, the teacher should review the content and ensure that all
students understand the concept by having them repeat the information back to her.
Prior Knowledge:
Students should come to this lesson prepared with any materials they have for their
research papers (i.e. drafts, sources, outlines, etc). We have reviewed the Capstone
manual in class and they know what is expected of them in terms of the
requirements for the research paper. They should have the pre-requisite knowledge
from writing last years research paper in English III. Therefore, students should be
familiar with the principles and concepts, alongside many aspects of MLA

Ensure to calmly
get everyones
attention,
especially focus on
students that may
have attention
problems or can
get easily
distracted.

The teacher needs

to be able to
identify what
students lack in
terms of previous
knowledge and
concepts that they
may have missed
or not understood
in previous lessons
or in the previous
year when they
wrote their
research papers for
English III. The
instructor must
also realize where
each student is at

formatting in a paper.

in terms of grade
level abilities for
researching and
writing.

Behavioral Expectations:
The students should be very familiar with the behavioral expectations of the
classroom, especially for the duration of the group activity. Students will be
expected to behave in an appropriate manner for the classroom. During the class
period, each student should be respectful of each others answers and only provide
constructive feedback. No student should feel ridiculed for an incorrect answer or
for misunderstanding content. Students should work collaboratively or the peer
editing will be discontinued until they can work together fairly and cooperatively.

Topic presentation:
Type of instruction: Direct instruction during the time when the teacher is explaining
the directions and modeling for thesis statements as well as . Interactive instruction
occurs throughout the activity in the sense that it is student-centered and requires them
to interact with one another in order to reach new understandings of the concepts.
Content Vocabulary Needed (SIOP): Thesis Sentence, Topic Sentence, Works Cited,
MLA Formatting
Steps of Instruction:
1. Begin class with the openings listed above.
2. Students will watch the video over thesis statements and topic sentences.
3. We will discuss the different ways to write thesis statements and what they should
include. (Direct Instruction)
4. Students will work on the drafts of their thesis statements independently.
5. After the students have finished the first draft of their thesis statement, the will pair
up with a nearby partner to peer edit each others statements. The teacher will
circulate the room to listen in to the pairs discussing their thesis statements. I will
provide individualized feedback as I walk around. (Interactive Instruction)
6. I will select students to read their thesis statements aloud for the rest of the class to
hear and reflect give positive and constructive feedback. This will model the thesis
writing process for the students to be able to complete on their own.
7. After the students are finished drafting their thesis statements, they will be turned in
to be reviewed by the teacher.

Time

Accommodations
& Differentiation
Students will be
receiving
differentiation of
content by
learning profile
through the visual
aid of the video as
well as verbally
discussing the
concept in class.
Accommodations
will be made for
any students who
may need them.
For instance, the
instructions and
material will be
read aloud for
those students
who do not have a
high enough
reading
comprehension
level to read from
the presentation or
to comprehend the
short film. This

8. For the remainder of class we will work on formatting their papers correctly to
follow MLA guidelines.
9. At the end of class, the teacher will make sure to track where each student is at in
terms of writing their paper.
Modeling:
The teacher will model the instructions and procedures for writing a thesis statement.
Examples will be given on what should and should not be done when constructing their
statements. The teacher will also model the behavioral expectations so that students
will be able to clearly see how they should be behaving towards each other and the
instructor when editing their thesis statement drafts.
Guided Practice (Monitoring Learning):
For the duration of the class, the teacher will monitor student learning. When there
appears to be mass confusion or misconceptions on a particular topic, the teacher
should lead the class through a guided practice of the question in order for each student
to reach comprehension of the content. The students will also be monitoring each
other within their pairs and the teacher should also be monitoring the successes and
failures within each group. Guided practice may also be needed in the lesson to make
sure that students are following procedures and taking the activity seriously as a way to
apply their knowledge of the material to something more creative and applicable to
their own lives.
Independent Practice:
The students will be working independently when they are creating their thesis
statement drafts.
Closure:
At the end of the class period, I will ask again on a scale of 1 to 5 how students feel
about their thesis statements and the overall writing process. I will take note of any
students who are continuing to hold up a 1 or 2 and set aside time in a separate class
period to provide more individualized help.
Feedback and Evaluation:
Evaluation will be determined throughout the class period through listening to the
students discussions and evaluating each pair as well as individual students.
Evaluation will also occur after the thesis statement has been turned in for review.
They will be graded against a rubric designed for the Capstone paper. I will give
individualized feedback for each student and his or her thesis statement and paper
drafts.

will give all

students an equal
opportunity to
understand the
instructions and
follow them
accordingly.
UDL
Recognition:
Present the
information and
activities in
multiple styles
such as giving an
example on the
SmartBoard,
saying it aloud,
and having
students reiterate
it in their own
words.
UDL Strategy:
Provide different
opportunities for
students to express
themselves
through the pairs
activity for peer
editing their thesis
statements as well
as working on
their statements
independently and
getting feedback
from the
instructor. This
makes learning for
the students more
equitable because
it gives multiple
opportunities to
demonstrate their
knowledge how to

write a strong
thesis statement.
It also makes
learning more
efficient in that the
students are
completing the
task in multiple
formats and doing
several drafts.
UDL: Affective
Networks:
Students will be
engaged
throughout the
lesson. They will
be motivated to
demonstrate their
abilities in writing
a thesis statement
and formatting
their papers
correctly. They
will also be
engaged through
peer editing each
others thesis
statements. Some
students learn
more and will
listen more to their
peers than they
would a teacher.
Modifications:
For the students
with IEPs,
modifications will
be made to their
rubrics for the
Capstone Paper.
This will make
learning for those

students more
equitable and the
learning that they
do will also be
more effective
because those
students will not
be as worried
about being
graded to the same
standards as those
not on an IEP.