Interdisciplinary Lesson Plan Example

1. I’m pursuing certification in grades EC-6, all core content areas. I will be targeting my lesson plan to Language Arts and Social Studies.

2. I’ve selected 2 texts to share with my students during this lesson. The first is a news article about MLK Jr. and the second is an historical fiction storybook about a girl and her father who ride a bus to Washington DC to hear Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. I selected these two texts because we learn about MLK Jr each January in social studies and I can connect the story of Janie and her father to teach the theme of a story.

https://www.dogonews.com/2022/1/12/honoring-the-life-and-legacy-of-dr-martin-luther-king-jr

3. 113.16 Social Studies, Grade 5

(5) History. The student understands important issues, events, and individuals in the United States during the 20th and 21st centuries. The student is expected to:

(A) explain the significance of issues and events of the 20th century such as industrialization, urbanization, the Great Depression, the world wars, the civil rights movement, and military actions;

(C) identify the accomplishments and contributions of individuals and groups such as Susan B. Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, the Tuskegee Airmen, and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in the areas of civil rights, women's rights, military actions, and politics.

110.7 English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 5

(8) Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts–literary elements. The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts. The student is expected to:

(A) infer multiple themes within a text using text evidence

4. Objectives for Social Studies – ● The students will be able to explain the contributions Martin Luther King Jr. made to the

Civil Rights Movement ● The students will be able to explain the significance of the Civil Rights Movement.

ELAR objective – ● The students will be able to infer multiple themes in a fiction storybook and support

their thinking using text evidence.

5. Warm-up – The teacher will show the video that accompanies the current event article to introduce MLK Jr and his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement. After watching the short video have students Turn and Talk –

● Why did MLK Jr feel the need to speak up and rally others to speak up? ● What if your civil rights were being violated? How would you feel? How would you

want to call attention to these issues? ● Why did all those people go to Washington DC? ● How do we see MLK Jr.’s influence in society today? ● How do you think these events were seen through the eyes of children your age

at the time?

Today, I’m going to read a book about a young girl that attended the March on Washington with her father. As I read, we are going to look for themes in the story. Does anyone know what I mean when I refer to the word “theme”?

6. Instructional Strategies

The first instructional strategy I will use is a read-aloud and teacher think-aloud that focuses on the reading strategy of finding the theme of a story. As I read the book, I will stop at key events in the story to point out clues that point to a variety of themes. As I read, I will build an anchor chart in order to make my thinking visible and to model for students how to support the theme with text evidence.

● Stop on the page where the author discusses the bus not being able to find a place to eat that will serve everyone on the bus. Ask – How does Janie’s father react to this issue and model an appropriate reaction for is daughter? How does Janie react to this issue? What does the author want us to understand about some people being denied service?

● A theme can be thought of as a lesson the author wants to teach us. What is the author trying to teach us on this page? Let’s add that to our anchor chart. The teacher will create a T-chart. At the top the teacher will write “Theme – What is the author trying to teach us?” The teacher will label one section of the T-chart with “text evidence” and the other part of the T-chart with “lesson or message”. The teacher will record the event of being denied service because the bus was mixed with both black and white people under “text evidence”. Then record the message as Janie and her father will not eat anywhere that will not serve everyone on the bus. Explain that this is called social justice and that everyone no matter their skin color or beliefs should not be discriminated against.

● Stop after Janie and Mrs. Taylor are able to get the key to the ladies’ room and ask – How did Janie stand up for Mrs. Taylor’s rights? Why do you think the boy gave in? Do you think he would have given Mrs. Taylor the key if she was by herself and not with a little white girl? Why or why not? What lesson is the author trying to teach us?

● Record this event from the story on the anchor chart under “text evidence”. Then under the message or lesson write, “It’s important to stand up for others when they are being

discriminated against.” Janie is letting the boy know that she believes all people should be treated equal. Do you think this is one of the author’s messages or lessons?

● After returning to the bus, Mrs, Taylor begins to sing. Stop and ask the students, “Why does Janie say that the words make sense this time?” The teacher will model her own thinking by explaining that Janie has now seen how Mrs. Taylor has been discriminated against twice now by the restaurants refusing service and almost not being able to get the key to the restroom. Explain that Janie is starting to realize that fighting for civil rights is the responsibility of all people and not just the people being oppressed. How is the author making this clear to us? Record event and message on the anchor chart.

● After Janie realizes that the “Dream” MLK Jr is speaking about belongs to all people, including the boy at the gas station that almost didn’t give them the key, stop reading and ask – Why is MLK Jr’s dream even for people like the boy at the gas station? What is the author trying to teach us? Record this on the anchor chart.

● After finishing the book review the anchor chart and model by brainstorming words that could name a few of the themes of the story based on the text evidence recorded on the T-chart – social justice, equal treatment, bravery, racism, peace, peaceful protest, oppression, segregation. We will discuss how each of these themes is present in this story.

Integrating social studies into this lesson

After reading the book and finishing the mini-lesson on theme, the teacher will ask students to work in groups to create a bubble map about MLK Jr. and his contributions to the civil rights movement. They will use evidence from the current event video shown at the beginning of the lesson and the book, Riding to Washington. Each group will share their bubble maps with the class. The teacher will review strong responses about MLK Jr’s contributions in order to highlight the most important contributions.

The teacher will then close the lesson with a turn and talk by asking students to talk with their partner about the significance of the civil rights movement and how examining the theme of the story helped them understand the civil rights movement. After talking with their partners, each student will respond to this question in their own words on Padlet. The teacher will read some of the responses out loud and facilitate a discussion about which Padlet responses are the strongest and why.

7. Materials – link to current event article, Riding to Washington by Gwenyth Swain, anchor chart, and Padlet. Students will use technology themselves in the lesson by typing a response into Padlet. For summative assessment – The book, Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7279Q0JCio

8. The closing is the activity in Padlet. Formative assessment occurs during the reading of the story as the teacher and students build the anchor chart together. The bubble maps and the Padlet responses are formative assessments for the social studies objectives.

9. Summative assessment – The teacher will provide students with a their own copies of the text from the book, Back of the Bus by Aaron Reynolds. The teacher will read the book-aloud with no commentary. The students will have their own copy of the text of the book to read as many times as they need to. They will create a T-chart and record the themes present in the story and the text evidence to support each theme. The students need to identify and support at least 3 themes. Then the each student will answer the following questions/prompts in their own words.

● Based on the video and both stories explain three contributions MLK Jr had on the civil rights movement. Why is this important?

● What is the significance of the civil rights movement? Do you think we are still fighting for civil rights today? Why or why not? Why is it important that we learn about the civil rights movement? Why is it important that we listen to stories about that time like the two stories we read today?

10. Reinforcement – The next day we will revisit both books and compare and contrast the themes in each book. Students will choose one of the themes and create a poster that summarizes MLK Jr’s direct influence on the theme. Then each student will write a personal statement about how the civil rights movement personally impacts them today.

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