Unit Topic: Friendship

Lesson Plan 1

Unit Rationale: Teenage years are hard for students. They are trying to figure out who they are, while at the same time trying to fit in and be part of a group. The desire to be accepted, coupled with peer pressure often results in a child acting in a way that is contrary to their values. This unit provides students the opportunity to reflect on the idea of friendship and examine how friendships can either negatively or positively affect an individual’s life. Students will be able to relate this unit to their own lives and relationships, thus, helping them to identify the nature of their friendships. Students need to realize that it is ok to reject negative friendships and embrace the positive friendships.

Grade Level: Grade 9

Lesson Topic: What is friendship?

Length of Lesson Period: 50 minutes

Lesson Rationale: This lesson provides students with an opportunity to explore the idea of friendship and the possibility that there is a negative friendship and positive friendship. It allows students to see that just because you fit into a particular group it does not mean that the people in that group are really your friends. This lesson will allow students to make connections between their own lives and the text.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to define what friendship means to them.
Students will be able to recognize the negative effect of peer influence.
Students will be able to relate their own experience to the text (movie).
Students will be able to share their personal experiences with other members of the class.
Students will be able to participate in small group discussion.
Students will be able to participate in large class discussion.

Learning Outcomes from English Language Arts Curriculum Guide:

General Curriculum Outcomes:

Speaking and Listening

(1)Speak and listen to explore, extend, clarify and reflect on their thoughts, ideas,

feelings and experiences. P20

(2) Communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and critically. P20

Reading and Viewing

(2)Interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies. P21

(3)Respond personally to a range of texts. P21

Writing and Representing

(1)Use writing and other forms of representation to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings, experiences and learning; and to use their imagination.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

Speaking and Listening

(1)Examine others’ ideas in discussion to extend their own understanding. P26

(3)Articulate, advocate, and support points of view, presenting viewpoints in a convincing manner. P26

(4) Listen critically to assess the adequacy of the evidence speakers give to evaluate the integrity of information presented. P26

(5) Participate constructively in conversation, small group and whole group discussion, and debate using a range of strategies that contribute to effective talk. P27

(9) Demonstrate active listening and respect for the needs and rights, and feelings of others. P28

Reading and Viewing

(1)Select text that address their learning needs and range of special interests. P29

(8) Express and support points of view about text and about issues, themes, and situations within text, citing appropriate evidence. P31

(9) Critically evaluate information presented in print and media text. Assess relevance and reliability of available information to answer their questions. P32

Writing and Other Ways of Representing

(1)Use a range of strategies in writing and other ways of representing; to extend

ideas and experiences, explore and reflect on their feelings, values and attitudes, consider others’ perspectives, reflect on problems ad responses to problems, describe and evaluate learning processes and strategies, reflect on their growth as language learners and language users. P33

(3) Make informed choices of language to create a range of interesting effects in imaginative writing and other ways of representing. P33

(6) Analyze and assess responses to their writing and media production. P34

(11) Integrate information from several sources to construct and communicate meaning. P35

Materials/Resources Needed for Lesson:

35 blue cue cards
Chart paper
Colored Markers
Movie: Mean Girls
T.V
DVD player

Organizational Approach: This lesson will include individual work, group work and whole class discussion. First, students will work individually to create a definition of friendship. Secondly students will discuss the definitions in groups of 4. Thirdly, students will watch the video clip as a class. Fourthly, students will break off into their groups to discuss the video. Finally there will then be whole class discussion about what each group discovered. The same procedure will follow for the second video clip. The students will watch the video as a class, discuss the video and the definition in groups of 4 and then there will be class discussion. The journal that is to be passed in the next class is to be completed individually.

Step-by-Step Lesson Activities and Estimated Times:

Activity 1: The lesson will begin with students creating his/her own definition of what they think “friendship” means. Each student will be given a blue cue card to write their definition on. (5 min)
Activity 2: When students have completed writing their definition of friendship on the cue cards they will be placed in groups of 4. Within the groups they will discuss what friendship means to them and they will combine their ideas to form list of all the characteristics you need to have before you can be labeled a “good friend”. Each group will be given a piece of chart paper and a colored marker to record their lists. ( 7-10 min)
Activity 3: Next each group will share the characteristics of friendship they came up with to the class. The teacher will write each group’s response on the white board. Once every group has had chance to share the class will group the characteristics that are on the white board into categories which the teacher will record on a sheet of chart paper. The chart paper as well as the blue cue cards will be stuck on the classroom wall for reference during the unit. ( 15-20 min)
Activity 4: Upon completion of the discussion students will watch a video clip from the movie “Mean Girls”. (This video has been okayed by administration) The clip that students will watch is when Regina (Rachel Adams), the leader of “the plastics” or “A list girls”, invites Cady (Lindsay Lohan), a new student who was raised in the African bush, to have lunch with “their” table. During the clip Regina (Rachel Adams) is extremely nice to Cady (Lindsay Lohan). Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is very excited about her new friends because growing up in the African bush she did not have had many friends, not to mention, popular friends.

(7-10 min)

Activity 5: After the video students are going to return to their groups and discuss whether the clip from the video coincides with the classes definitions of friendship. Each group will create a compare and contrast chart using chat paper and in point form explain why they think that the video clip fits the definition or why they do not think that the video clip fits the definition. (7-10 min)
Activity 6: Next each group will report back to the class why they thought that the definition of friendship fit the movie or why it did not. ( 7-10 min)
Activity 7: Next the class will watch another clip from the same video. However, this time Regina (Rachel Adams) is not so nice to Cady (Lindsay Lohan). In this clip Regina (Rachel Adams) tricks Cady (Lindsay Lohan) into saying mean things about another one of their friends while they are all on three way calling.

(7-10 min)

Activity 8: After the movie students will return to their groups again and discuss whether this clip from the video coincides with thee class definition of friendship. Again each group will create a compare and contrast chart using chart paper and in point form explain why they think that the video clip fits the definition or why they do not think that the video clip fits the definition. ( 7-10 min)
Activity 9: Next each group will report back to the class and explain why they thought that the definition of friendship fit the movie or why it did not.
Activity 10: Upon completion of the discussion students will have to complete either a journal entry or a drawing. The drawing or journal can be but is not limited to: a personal experience when a friend was really nice or really mean to you, a time when a friend convinced you to do something you would not regularly do, a description of how you felt when you watched the video clips. Or the students can write/draw about something that they learned, found interesting, liked/disliked, surprised them, or they did not understand. If there is time students will start this assignment in class but if not then it will be assigned as homework to be finished and passed in the next class.

Assessment:

Students will complete Class Participation rubrics at the end of class.
The teacher will evaluate 5-7 students with a Collaborative Participation Rubric
Refer to Appendix C for a copy of the Rubrics

Plans for Reflection:

What went well?
What went poorly?
What do I need to do differently next time?
Were the students engaged in discussion?
How can I better engage the students in discussion?
Was the movie and effective text to use?

Plans for Follow up Lesson(s): The next lesson will be What is Friendship to me? This lesson will begin by students filling out a Sequential Roundtable Alphabet worksheet which they will share with the class. The students will be read a poem called Friend is…” by William Arthur Ward. After the reading of the poem the students will create their own poems, and be given an opportunity to share their work.

Lesson Plan 2

Unit Topic: Friendship

Grade Level: Grade 9

Lesson Topic: What Friendship Is To Me

Length of Lesson Period: 50 minutes

Lesson Rationale:

This lesson will allow students to explore what friendship means to them personally. It will allow students to think back to previous experiences, their friends, and the qualities these people possess or lack. It will also give students an opportunity to look at themselves and decide whether they have the qualities to make them a good friend to someone else. This lesson will allow students to identify the nature of the friendships they are a part of and decide whether the people they are friends with have the necessary qualities desired in a friend. Therefore opening student’s eyes to the fact that some of the friendships they have are negative.

Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to brainstorm terms and associations connected to friendship
Students will be able to work in a group
Students will be able to share their ideas with the class
Students will be able to recognize the nature of their own friendships
Students will be able to reflect how they are as friends
Students will be able relate the poem to their own life
Students will be able to work individually
Students will be able to create their own meaningful poem
Students will share feel comfortable sharing their poems with the class.

Learning Outcomes from English Language Arts Curriculum Guide:

General Curriculum Outcomes:

Speaking and Listening

(2) Communicate information and ideas effectively and clearly, and to respond personally and critically. P20

(3)Interact with sensitivity and respect, considering the situation, audience, and purpose. P20

Reading and Viewing

(4)Interpret, select, and combine information using a variety of strategies, resources, and technologies. P21

(5)Respond personally to a range of texts. P21

Writing and Representing

(2)Use writing and other forms of representation to explore, clarify, and reflect on their thoughts, feelings, experiences and learning; and to use their imagination.

Specific Curriculum Outcomes:

Speaking and Listening

(2)Examine others’ ideas in discussion to extend their own understanding. P26

(5) Participate constructively in conversation, small group and whole group discussion, and debate using a range of strategies that contribute to effective talk. P27

(9) Demonstrate active listening and respect for the needs and rights, and feelings of others. P28
Reading and Viewing

(2)Select text that address their learning needs and range of special interests. P29

(4)Using cuing systems and a variety of strategies to construct meaning in reading and viewing increasingly complex print and media text. P29

(7)Respond to some of the material they read or view by questioning, connecting, evaluating and extending. Move beyond initial understanding to more thoughtful interoperations. P31

(11)Respond critically to text of increasing complexity. Analyze and evaluate a text in terms of its form structure, and content. Recognize how their own ideas and perceptions are framed by what they read and view. Demonstrate awareness that personal values and points of view influence both the creation of text and the readers/viewer’s interpretation and response. Explore and reflect on culture and reality as portrayed in media text. Identify the values inherent in a text. P32

Writing and Other Ways of Representing

(3) Make informed choices of language to create a range of interesting effects in imaginative writing and other ways of representing. P33

(5)Demonstrate an awareness of the effect of context on writing and other forms of representing. Make appropriate choices of form, style, and content for specific audiences and purposes. P34

(8)Consistently use the conventions of written language in final products. P35

(10)Demonstrate a commitment to crafting pieces of writing and other representations. P35

(11)Integrate information from several sources to construct and communicate meaning. P35

Materials/Resources Needed for Lesson:

35 Copies of Sequential Roundtable Alphabet (refer to Appendix B)
1 Transparency of Sequential Roundtable Alphabet
1 Overhead projector
35 copies of the poem “Friend is…” by William Arthur Ward (refer to Appendix A)

Organizational Approach:

This lesson will include group work, whole class work and individual work. The lesson will begin as a whole class in which I will model the Sequential Roundtable Alphabet strategy. Then students will work in groups of four and as a team complete the rest of the work sheet. Next one member of each group will share their answers with to the rest of the class. Following this we will read the poem “Friend is…” by William Arthur Ward. After reading the poem students will individually write their own poems. Finally, each student will be given an opportunity to share their poem with the class.

Step-by-Step Lesson Activities and Estimated Times:

Activity 1: To introduce the topic of what friendship means to each student we will begin the lesson with a Sequential Round Table Alphabet worksheet. Students have extensive background knowledge about friendship and this worksheet will help get their creative juices flowing. I will model the first couple of letters and show students that they need to generate a related term or association that begins with each letter of the alphabet (5 min)

Activity 2: After I have modeled a couple of letters and the students understand what they have to do they will be put into groups of 4. In these groups students will fill in as many boxes as possible with terms or associations. Although students are working in groups each students is responsible for filling out his/her own Sequential Roundtable Alphabet worksheet because he/she will need it for a later activity. (15-20 min)

Activity 3: When the groups have completed their Sequential Roundtable Alphabet worksheets one student from each group will share with the class the term or association that they have come up with for each letter. This will help the students who were part of another group that had problems with a difficult letter. (10-15 min)

Activity 4: Nowthat students are familiar with numerous terms and associations related to friendship, as a class we will read the poem “Friend is…” by William Arthur Ward. I will read the poem aloud to the students and they are expected to follow along and pay attention to vocabulary and structure. (5 min)