Conceptualizing Essay & Lesson Plans

This assignment will assess your ability to plan lessons for diverse learners.  The assignment also evaluates your ability to use authentic and real-world resources to plan lessons.

Planning Your Lesson

For this assignment, you will develop two lesson plans (one fiction and one nonfiction) that utilize aspects of balanced literacy that we discussed in class: shared reading, read aloud, interactive writing, shared writing, etc. You should include essential literacy strategies across the lesson plans such as: vocabulary development, phonics, phonemic awareness, however, you MUST focus on ONE comprehension strategy (making connections, predicting, questioning, determining importance, monitoring for meaning, visualizing, analyzing, synthesizing) for each lesson plan.

You will select a grade level as your target population within your certification area.  Then, select a text that you will use.  The text should be developmentally appropriate and be an appropriate level based on the aspect of balanced literacy you utilize.  For your nonfiction lesson, your text/topic should connect to another content area: science, technology, social studies engineering, arts, math. 

Once you have your objectives for your lessons, you will develop two full lesson plans using the MEC Education Department lesson plan template provided. 

When planning (Conceptualizing essay), be sure to address the elements on the lesson plan template.  Describe the assessments you will use for literacy teaching and why you chose them and how you will differentiate. Describe the main literacy goals and objectives you hope to cover and align them to curriculum standards in New York, including the NYS Next Generation Standards. Describe the range of teaching methods you will employ to meet the needs of the full range of learners in your class (i.e., do not forget to plan for accommodations and alternatives to meet the needs of both typical and atypical learners). Address the key issues we explore in this course (i.e., the role of phonics in learning how to read, and strategies for learning to read). 

Preparing Your Conceptualizing Essay

In developing your lessons, locate 3-4 sources to support your planning and decision-making.  Write a paper in APA format (reference list included) in which you address the topics below.

• Explain how you used various aspects of the class profile to plan your lesson.
• Explain how your lesson connects to reading, writing, and/or spelling development based on the grade level and profile of the students.
• Discuss the literacy content to be learned.  Make sure your lesson addresses an essential comprehension strategy. 
• Discuss the interdisciplinary content to be learned by students.
• Explain the rationale for your instructional strategies and how they are developmentally appropriate.
• Explain the rationale for assessment strategies and how they are developmentally appropriate.

Where did you get the knowledge base that you will use to teach the lesson? (Reference sources, which can include resources from this course and previous courses.)

Submit your final conceptualizing essay and lesson plans as one Word document.  Your file should be organized using APA format with the expectations of the essay, lesson plan, and reference list.

Early Childhood Education Lesson Plan Template