Providence College

Teacher Certification Program

Lesson Plan

Name: Tucker Duclos

Date: January 11, 2016

Lesson Topic: Introduction to Romanticism.

Course and Grade level: English Language Arts Grade 11. One 63 Minute Class.
Class Description: Twenty-eight Honors 11 Students, 12 females and 16 males. No IEPs,
504s, or ELLs.

Essential Question: What significant historical events and ideas inform American
Romanticism?

Expected Outcome(s):
1. To understand how significant historical events lead to the advent of Romanticism.
2. To identify and explain specific characteristics of the Romantic movement in literature.
3. To use during reading strategies in order to engage and discuss a text.

Common Core Standards (Written):

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support
analysis, reflection, and research.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative
discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11-12
topics, texts, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and
persuasively.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.11-12.1.D Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives; synthesize
comments, claims, and evidence made on all sides of an issue; resolve contradictions when
possible; and determine what additional information or research is required to deepen the
investigation or complete the task.
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.

RIPTS:
RIPTS1.1 know their discipline/content areas and understand how knowledge in their discipline/
content area is created, organized, linked to other disciplines, and applied beyond the school
setting
RIPTS 3.3 create age-appropriate lessons and activities that meet the variety of developmental
levels of students within a class
RIPTS 8.1 use a variety of communication strategies (e.g., listening, restating ideas, questioning,
offering, counter examples) to engage students in learning
RIPTS 9.7 use information from their assessment of students to reflect on their own teaching, to
modify their instruction and to help establish professional development goals

Materials: Romanticism Handout, Romanticism Group Instructions, Romanticism Group

Questions, Romanticism KeyNote (PowerPoint), (4 per student) Sticky-notes, (8) Group Poster
boards.

Objectives:
1. Students will be able to identify and summarize the major historical and literary events that
lead up to and informed The American Romantic Movement in literature. (DOK 1)
2. Students will be able to interpret a painting through identifying its Romantic characteristics.
(DOK 2)
3. Students will be able to compare and contrast the prevailing ideas of The Enlightenment with
that of Romantic philosophies. (DOK 3)

Provision for Individual and Cultural Differences: This lesson uses a

PowerPoint presentation that engages visual learners through the use of pictures. A Romanticism
Handout is given to every student so that they can focus on listening rather than trying to
simultaneously take a multitude of notes. The handout also contains a picture that students will
respond to by interpreting it according to the characteristics of Romanticism, which will help the
information more easily connect with their long-term memories by having them immediately
engage with the material in a meaningful way. This lesson randomly groups students of varying
ability levels, while providing scaffolded step-by-step instructions to ensure that the group
activity accounts for positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation, and
simultaneous interaction. The process of structuring steps in increasing complexity is known as
elaboration. This lesson also uses a Kagan Think Pair Share that will have students interacting
and explaining new information to each other, while Cold Calling will keep students engaged.

Assessment/Evaluation: Multiple types of Formative Assessment will take place in the

form of Cold Calling, Teacher-Questioning, and Teacher-Monitoring. The lesson introduction
will use Cold Calling to ensure that students pay attention and Teacher-Questioning to elicit prior
knowledge of The Enlightenment Period. Teacher-Questioning will also take place at the end of
group work so that students can demonstrate understanding of new concepts on an individual
level. Lastly, I will be collecting class work so that I can definitively measure the amount each
group member contributed. An objective assessment incorporating key concepts from todays
lesson will also be given the following week.

Time:

Activity

10min

Engage: Hook/ Do Now: Politely greet

students and direct their attention to the Do
Now activity on the board. Remind students
to retrieve todays handouts.
Take attendance.
On Board: Please respond to the following
prompt in your journals. What does this
quote mean to you? Follow Your Heart.
Class Discussion: Discuss as a class.
Introduce Topic: Can anyone guess what
we might be learning about today?
Homework Board.
State Boarded Class Objective: I will
learn about the origins of Romanticism and
significant events surrounding, informing,
and defining the literary movement.

5min

15min

Elicit: Use Cold Calling to elicit prior

knowledge pertaining to the The
Enlightenment as well as the significant
historical events that precede the 19th
century and the advent of Romanticism
(See PowerPoint).
Explain: Using the PowerPoint and the
Romanticism Handout, the teacher will
introduce the class to the main concepts of
Romanticism. The students will refer to
their Romanticism Handout to follow along.
Activity: After talking about the tenets of
Romanticism, students will use what they
have learned to explain how the concepts of
Romanticism relate to the painting
Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Caspar
David Friedrich.

Rationale
The Do Now activity will immediately
engage students as they enter the
classroom, getting them thinking about
todays topic: Romanticism. The written
responses will provide them with a
reference for the subsequent class
discussion, so that their thoughts can be
thoroughly articulated. Furthermore, the
question appeals to personal world view,
which generates interest in the topic by
making it relevant to their lives. (See
PowerPoint Slide One for Prompt)
Cold Calling will keep students engaged,
as they may be selected to provide a
response on the spot. Establishing prior
knowledge of The Enlightenment will help
set the stage for our introduction to
Romanticism, as well as give the students
more context.
The PowerPoint uses visuals to engage
with visual learners while the
Romanticism Handout enables students to
focus their attention the information,
rather than trying to decide which
information is most important. At the
bottom of the handout is a place where
students can write their own notes,
expanding upon the concepts we discuss in
class.

The activity enables students to

immediately apply these new concepts on
a deeper level, which Cognitivist studies
show makes the information more likely to
be retained in the longterm memory. A
quick Time Pair Share will generate
interaction among group members and
interest in the topic. Time Pair Share will
also allow both voices to be heard, and a
positive response, such as Thanks for
Time Pair Share: Turn to the student to
sharing will be supplied as a form of
your left or right and share your responses. class building. Class discussion will give
the students a chance to share with the
entire class, generating further interest and
interaction with the subject.

Time:

Activity

Rationale

Teacher Modeling: Today in class, I am

going to divide you up into groups and
assign roles. Your group will work together
to answer questions about last nights
reading. (See Romanticism Group
Instructions).

Explaining how the learning process is

going to be structured will help facilitate a
smoother transition from one activity to
the next. It is equally important to model
the group learning activity and provide
them with written instructions to avoid
confusion (see Romanticism Group
Instructions).

15 min Explore: For this activity, the class is

divided into groups of four. Each member
of the group has a short list of questions.
They must consult their textbooks in order
to answer the questions. There is no
speaking during the first part of this
activity. (See Romanticism Group
Instructions for the specifics). Monitor
groups and provide assistance.
15min

Explore/Explain: For the second part of

this activity, students will teach their group
members about what they have read. The
teacher will Cold Call members of each
group to answer the questions. As the class
responds to each question, the teacher will
ask additional, related higher-order
thinking questions as the opportunity
arises.

3min

Cold Call for a summary about what we

learned today. If time allows, go over the
back of the Romanticism handout (The
Devil and Tom Walker).

The process of having students respond to

individual questions, then teach their
group members about the material they
covered, and assessing with Cold Calling
accounts for the Kagan concept of PIES,
or, positive interdependence, individual
accountability, equal participation, and
simultaneous interaction. Having the
students respond to their questions using
sticky-notes (see Romanticism Group
Instructions), allows me to an opportunity
to Formatively assess individual students
over the course of the activity. This will
also help me provide additional assistance
to those who need it.

The final moments of the class will give

the students an opportunity to reflect upon
what they learned today. Cold calling will
ensure that students continue to remain
engaged. I will collect the work the
students did in order to get individual
feedback of student participation. If time
permits, a discussion preceding tonights
homework will prepare them to enter it.