Date:11/8/19

Teacher: Mejia School:Highland High Grade: 9 Content Area:LA

Title: Lesson #:

Standard: CCSS: RL9-10 2.1.a Reading for all purposes: citing evidence, analyzing character and
thematic development

Lesson Ideas/Topic: Continuing to explore thematic and character elements in Fahrenheit 451 and
compare them to a short story with similar elements

Learning Targets: Students will be able to identify similar themes in two different stories
Students will be able to compare and contrast characters across different
stories
Students will be able to discuss ideas about why different authors write about
the same themes

Enduring Understandings (big ideas):

Different authors write about the same themes because these themes tell us something about human nature
Science fiction writers use utopian and dystopian societies to emphasize or over exaggerate problems they
perceive in society
A utopian society cannot exist because it inherently is exclusive

Building Background (links to past learning, key vocab):​ ​[Total Physical Response]
Equity; Equality; Utopia; Dystopia
“Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Higher Order Thinking Questions:

Why do different authors write about the same themes?
What do dystopian stories tell us about human nature?
How does the treatment of a society’s citizens represent that society’s ideals and values?

Procedures and Meaningful Activities:

Materials:Novel (F451), short story, writer’s notebook, writing utensil,

 Date:11/8/19
Teacher: Mejia School:Highland High Grade: 9 Content Area:LA
Title: Lesson #:

Est. Time:
Language Skills: Reading Writing Speaking Listening
Roll call, announcements for the day, look at schedule of the day’s activities
10 min
Independent reading time → confer with students on independent reading novels, progress on
keepking up with F451
10 min
Minilesson
-Introduce the quote by Margaret Atwood that will drive our lesson and target today
“Every utopia-let’s just stick with the literary ones-faces the same problem: What do you do with
the people who don’t fit in?”

-Quick review of vocab: Utopia, Dystopia, Equity, Equality

-Two big themes we had Identified for F451: Control and Conformity

Told to us in a dystopian society (utopian for some people)

We’ve talked a lot about what ​happens​ to people who don’t fit in in F451. And now we’ve
delved a lot into some of the characters of F451 and presented to each other. ]

[Create list on the board, T-chart to hold the information, one side is type of person, other side is
punishment)
4-min
In table groups, identify the ​types​ of people that do not conform in F451.
3-4
Return to group: check in to make sure everyone understands the work
minutes
Create a space on the chart for “Harrison Bergeron”
10
-In table groups, go through the story and figure out the punishments for people who don’t fit in
minutes
and types of people in Harrison Bergeron that do not fit in
Teacher​: conferring with groups to stay on task, work with groups that are struggling to work
together

Return to whole group, answer Margaret Atwood’s questions: what do utopian societies do with
Rest of
outcasts?
time
Think-Pair-Share

Closure/
Hand out exit ticket with 2 questions.
Exit Ticket
 Date:11/8/19
Teacher: Mejia School:Highland High Grade: 9 Content Area:LA
Title: Lesson #:

Differentiation (Culturally Diverse Learners, GT, etc.):

Review/
Individual Group Written Oral
Assessment:
Exit Ticket:
1. Why do utopian societies outcast people who do not conform?

2. Why did two different authors write about the same themes? What are they trying to
tell us about the human experience?

Reflection:
-​ ​What instructional strategy/strategies did you chose to implement in your classroom? Why these
strategies? (For that question, provide a rationale that addresses both the content/skills you are going
to teach and well as why this strategy was chosen for these students)

I used a workshop model, though it was a bit unbalanced. The “minilesson” was longer than I intended,
but there was need for some direct instruction in order to give some background on complex topic like
dystopian and utopian societies.I wanted to blend direct instruction an a level of inquiry to help this
group of students. These students have a short attention span and have a desire to talk. I wanted to
channel that desire and use it to my advantage so they could use that time to talk for educational
purposes.
 Date:11/8/19
Teacher: Mejia School:Highland High Grade: 9 Content Area:LA
Title: Lesson #:

-​ ​Discuss the relationship between planning and teaching in regards to your instructional strategy.
How did what you planned match with what was implemented? How did what you think your students
would engage with align with what actually happened?

I spent a good amount of time (probably an hour or more) planning the lesson and deciding how to
deliver it to the students. The number one thing I scrapped at the last second was an assessment at the
end of the lesson. I ran out of time, and I decided the students could use the next day to continue
working on the lesson and then I would take the formative assessment. My students engaged with
dystopian/utopian discussion with fairly genuine interest. I had hoped they would like the idea of
science-fiction futures, and, as I hoped, my students did a great job conversing and relating the worlds
Fahrenheit 451 and Harrison Bergeron to our own world.

-​ ​What knowledge and skills do you think students walked away thinking about after the lesson? ​For
this area I want you to provide evidence.​ Give us examples from things students said, work you
collected that let you know this is what they either learned, practiced or left thinking about.

Students came away with the ability to make connections between fictional texts and the real world.
They were able to understand why we read fiction in school. From the exit ticket (collected the next
day) students were able to answer the question “Why do utopian societies outcast people who do not
conform?”

From one student’s exit ticket. “Utopian societies want everything to work perfectly. People who do not
conform do not fit in. People who do not fit in are not perfect so they are outcast.”

-​ ​What has this experience left you thinking about in relation to your teaching and your students
learning?

I continue to need practice conforming my lessons to the time allotted. This would give my students
more time to work through inquiry based questions. I also need to continue working on my formative
assessments and what to do with them. I could benefit from better planned out unit plans