Lesson Plan

Reflecting on Decisions

  • Decision Maker Moves
  • Language Arts

Students will:

  • Apply their understanding of the decision moves
  • Practice writing processes and conventions

Moving beyond simply knowing what to do to make a good decision, to applying this knowledge, helps solidify students’ understanding

  • Language Arts: write to a character in a novel, poem, story or invite students to write a letter between fictional characters they have created.
  • Social Studies: instead of writing to a fictional character, invite students to write to a historical figure
  • Paper & pencil, or device (per student)
  • A fiction text students have read recently

DECISION MAKER MOVES: Thinking beyond the pros & cons list

Main Lesson Flow

  1. The lesson begins with students reflecting on a decision made by a character in a book they have read recently (could be done as individuals or as a whole class)
  2. The main task requires students to write a response to the main character, focusing on a decision that character made and offering feedback to improve their decision making process or skills
  3. Finally, students will share their reflections and advice. Suggestions for how sharing could happen are included.

Introduction:

  1. Ask students to think of a book they have read recently (or a TV show/movie they watched; or a book you are reading as a class) and give them some time to reflect on the guiding questions:
    1. What decisions did the main character have to make?
    2. Do you think it was a good decision? Why/why not?
  2. Have students share their thinking with a partner and start to discuss what they might have done differently if they were in the character’s shoes
  3. Bring the class back together to discuss – what problems did they discover with how the characters made decisions? Make a list for the class to see.

Main Event

  1. Students write a response to the main character of the book they read, focusing on analyzing the decision(s) made by the character, offering feedback next time.
  2. Some guiding questions for students to consider and use in their response:
    1. What was the decision the character made? Summarize it clearly.
    2. What was the outcome of the character’s decision? Do you think this was the outcome that they hoped for? Why or why not?
    3. What other options do you see for the character? Which one do you think is best? Explain.
    4. What could the character have done differently when making their decision?
    5. Do you have any other advice to offer the character about making decisions?

Closure

Students could share their responses with each other in one of the following ways:

  • chat with their desk/elbow partner
  • carousel chat where students circulate around the classroom and talk briefly with several peers
  • a “book talk” where students share their book and reflection with a group of peers (this would work best when students have all read different books)
  • as part of a lit circle meeting (if using lit circle books for reflection)

Differentiation:

  • Students might use technology or a scribe to support their letter writing
  • Asks pairs to brainstorm before beginning to write

Optional extensions:

Success Criteria:

  • Identifies the Decision Maker Moves
  • Clearly explain their thinking, moving beyond just offering suggestions to include the ‘why’

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