HCCA ENGLISH 8 — MASTER LESSON-PLANNING CONTEXT

 

1. Teaching context

• I teach English 8 at HCCA, an online charter school.
• I have roughly 300 students.
• Some classes contain both 8th- and 9th-grade students.
• Lessons are taught online.
• Canvas is the LMS.
• Student responses during live instruction need to be pollable, so use multiple-choice questions rather than open-ended responses whenever possible.
• Readings that students need during instruction should appear directly on the slides so we can read them together. This is important for UDL/accessibility.
• Slides are often presented as a PDF, so do not rely on animations, click-to-reveal, speaker notes, or custom-show functionality.
• When Grade 8 is the target, use the current Indiana Grade 8 ELA standards.
• When specifically creating Grade 9 material, use the current Indiana 9–10 ELA standards.
• Administration requires the standard near the beginning of the lesson.

2. Default lesson philosophy: MAKE IT STICK

The primary goal is not simply to expose students to a skill. Lessons should make the learning durable.

Build in:

• retrieval practice
• spaced review
• cumulative questioning
• interleaving of old and new skills
• repeated exposure over days and weeks
• comparison and connection between concepts
• transfer to unfamiliar texts or situations
• brief self-explanation
• frequent low-stakes checks
• recurring memory anchors
• cumulative weekly review where appropriate

Do not teach a skill once and abandon it.

A useful learning progression is:

Recognize → Explain → Choose → Apply → Create

Students should repeatedly retrieve previously learned skills rather than merely reread definitions.

3. Default lesson components

Unless there is a specific reason not to, lessons should contain:

1. Current Indiana standard
2. Student-friendly objective
3. Success criterion / “I will show…”
4. Bell ringer
5. Retrieval of something previously learned
6. Brief explicit instruction
7. Model/example
8. Guided practice
9. Multiple-choice checks for understanding
10. Application to a text or authentic task
11. Transfer to a new context when possible
12. In This Lesson You Learned
13. Exit ticket

The “In This Lesson You Learned” slide should come immediately before the exit ticket/assessment whenever practical.

The exit ticket should usually be:

• multiple choice
• text-dependent
• based on the actual lesson skill
• preferably a transfer question rather than a simple definition question

4. Objectives and success criteria

Objectives should be student-facing and concrete.

Prefer:

Objective: I can determine how an author uses evidence to develop a central idea.

Then:

I will show I can do this by…

• answering at least 80% of the questions correctly, or
• identifying the strongest evidence in a new passage.

Avoid vague objectives such as “Students will understand…”

5. Lesson timing formats

Several lesson structures are used depending on the day.

One 50-minute lesson

Streamline aggressively.

Retain:

• standard
• objective/success measure
• bell ringer
• retrieval
• brief instruction
• about four strong checks for understanding
• meaningful application
• “In This Lesson You Learned”
• exit ticket

Do not overload a 50-minute lesson with unnecessary slides.

Two 25-minute segments

Often:

Part 1 — approximately 25 minutes
Mini-lesson, modeling, guided practice and polling.

Part 2 — approximately 25 minutes
Students apply the skill to their own writing or another authentic task.

Two 45-minute lessons

Used for larger text-based lessons such as Amigo Brothers.

The second day should retrieve material from Day 1 rather than treating the lesson as completely new.

6. Slide design preferences

Slides should be VERY SIMPLE.

Default design:

• large readable font
• minimal wording
• one clear purpose per slide
• one main text area whenever possible
• no unnecessary decorative elements
• no unnecessary graphics
• no sidebars
• no badges
• no extra callout boxes
• no extra text containers
• no filler
• no teacher notes unless specifically requested

Do not make elaborate slides that then require deleting half the content.

Visuals are useful when they genuinely support comprehension or make an activity more engaging, but simplicity comes first.

7. How to review an existing deck

When asked to improve a lesson or PDF, review it from the last slide backward to the first.

For each problem, identify:

• slide number
• opening words/title so the slide can be located
• KEEP / DELETE / REPLACE / MOVE
• exact replacement wording when something should change

Check:

• standards accuracy
• objective alignment
• assessment alignment
• pacing
• repetition
• student cognitive load
• reading amount
• answer choices
• visuals
• lesson boundaries
• whether students actually practice what the objective promises

Do not simply say “tighten this slide.” Give the replacement text.

8. Multiple-choice question rules

Live student responses need to be multiple choice/pollable.

Usually use A–D.

Important standing rule:

Do NOT make the longest answer disproportionately likely to be correct.

Correct answers should vary in:

• position
• length
• wording
• specificity

Distractors should be plausible and approximately comparable in length.

Avoid obvious throwaway distractors.

Questions should increasingly move from:

recall → recognition → reasoning → application → transfer

Whenever possible, students should have to use the text rather than guess from general knowledge.

9. Text accessibility / UDL

When a passage is needed to answer a question:

• put the relevant passage on the slide
• do not assume students have another tab/document open
• read important passages together
• chunk long readings
• pair text with concise directions
• avoid overwhelming slides

Students should not have to hunt through Canvas during a live question.

10. Sticky instructional anchors already developed

STAR — Point of View / Character Perspective

S — Says
T — Thinks
A — Acts
R — Reacts

Students examine STAR evidence and then make an inference about a character's point of view.

Recurring schema:

STAR → inference → strongest evidence

Use STAR repeatedly rather than teaching it once.

A particularly useful repeated reminder:

Evidence first → inference second.

SEE

Used as a visual/memory aid:

Spot → Envision → Explain

CUPS

Students are expected to know the parts of CUPS from memory.

Continue using retrieval so this becomes automatic.

IDEA

A previously created punk-themed instructional anchor exists and may be reused where relevant.

11. Greek and Latin roots / affixes program

This is a major standing program.

Goal: cover all Grade 8 roots and affixes students are expected to know.

Indiana Grade 8 standard 8.RC.10 requires students to use Greek/Latin roots and affixes to determine the meanings of multisyllabic words.

Important: questions should test word meaning in complete sentence context, not merely isolated root definitions or phrases.

Routine

Teach approximately five new word parts per week.

Daily roots work should take approximately 5–7 minutes.

The established routine uses four slides per day:

1. cumulative root/affix recall
2. new word part
3. word breakdown
4. ILEARN-style contextual application

The larger sequence was built as approximately:

31 instructional days × 4 slides = 124 slides

Each week's quiz should include:

• the newest word parts
• previously learned word parts

This creates cumulative retrieval.

Roots/affixes already included or discussed include:

• ced / cede / ceed
• sol
• -ist
• re-
• techn
• in-
• tang / tact
• onym
• mar
• flex
• geo
• graph
• bio
• mort
• struct

Do not limit review to only that week's five roots.

12. ILEARN / checkpoint priorities

Important Grade 8 standards in checkpoint preparation include:

• 8.RC.1
• 8.RC.2
• 8.RC.10
• 8.RC.11

Students receive ELA skills work primarily Mondays/Tuesdays and Thursdays/Fridays.

There are online checkpoint practice tests and later in-person ILEARN testing.

Questions should increasingly resemble ILEARN-style reading and reasoning rather than simple classroom trivia.

13. Current/recurring major skills

Important instruction has included:

• central idea
• text evidence
• inference
• point of view
• author's purpose
• author's perspective
• claims
• reasoning
• evidence
• argument
• theme
• context clues
• vocabulary
• similar meanings
• figurative language
• roots and affixes
• summary
• media
• propaganda
• writing revision/editing
• hooks
• CUPS

Skills should be revisited across texts rather than isolated by unit.

14. Context clues work

One successful approach uses nonsense words.

Students infer the meaning of an unfamiliar/nonsense word from surrounding context rather than relying on prior vocabulary knowledge.

This isolates the actual context-clue skill.

15. Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass materials have included an escape-room format.

Skills can include:

• careful reading
• central idea
• evidence
• vocabulary
• inference

Escape-room questions should still assess actual ELA skills rather than merely becoming puzzles.

16. The Hobbit

The Hobbit has been used for skills practice.

Activities have included:

• reader's theatre
• Lake-town
• Smaug
• Arkenstone
• textual evidence
• inference
• character analysis

A two-lesson roots/affixes and Hobbit practice plan has also been developed.

17. Amigo Brothers

This was developed as a two-day lesson/readers' theatre experience.

Because class is online:

• readings should appear on slides
• responses should be MC/pollable
• Day 2 should retrieve Day 1 knowledge

Reader's theatre roles established for Day 2:

• Narrator 1
• Narrator 2
• Narrator 3
• Antonio
• Felix
• Announcer
• Antonio's trainer
• Audience Member
• Charlie
• Referee

The original text should be preserved for the reader's theatre rather than rewriting it unnecessarily.

A teaser/movie-trailer-style Day 2 introduction was also developed.

18. Día de los Muertos Escape Room

Story concept:

Students stayed too long exploring a special Day of the Dead exhibit at a museum.

The lights flicker.

The museum closes.

A Night Curator message sets up the escape challenge.

The escape room included four locks around skills such as:

• Greek/Latin roots
• central idea
• text evidence
• careful reading

Backup/easier questions were created for locks so struggling students could still progress.

Questions were made multiple choice.

Halloween comparison reading/questions were also incorporated.

Visuals were created for the escape room and individual locks.

19. Romeo and Juliet

This is the current major work.

Lessons are being designed for approximately 50 minutes.

Skills that can be integrated include:

• retrieval
• text evidence
• inference
• theme
• language
• claims/evidence/reasoning
• media/propaganda
• summary
• exit-ticket transfer

A Romeo and Juliet escape room has been developed.

The assignment instructions should be short and Canvas-friendly so students do not have to scroll excessively.

A code used in the escape activity was:

Verona-Rose

Multiple plausible alternatives were generated because the code question is being made multiple choice.

Important recent correction:

Students had NOT yet been taught about the Prince or the prohibition against fighting in the streets.

Therefore, do not use prior knowledge of the Prince's decree in a bell ringer or question before students encounter that information in the lesson.

A previous bell ringer involving that knowledge was rejected and needed replacement.

20. Review-game structure: Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me

A major cumulative review format was created based on Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me.

Weekly structure:

Wednesday: preparation/review
Thursday: game
Friday: test

Rounds include:

1. Trivia
2. Three Stories, One Truth
3. Skills Panel
4. Limerick Challenge
5. Lightning Round

Limerick Challenge

Answers should rhyme appropriately.

Distractors can be humorous while still functioning as viable choices.

Lightning Round

Students receive approximately 30 seconds each.

Contestant structure

• Three students compete in a round.
• The winner stays.
• Two new contestants enter.
• A student who wins twice becomes a Champion and retires from competition.
• Audience members participate through polls.
• Contestants answer through chat.

A final showdown/final question can be used.

Review content has included:

• CUPS parts from memory
• recognizing hooks/first lines from previously studied stories
• roots/affixes
• vocabulary
• reading skills

21. Canvas alternative for nonparticipants

Students who do not participate in the live review game need a Canvas version.

That version should:

• be multiple choice
• cover the same skills as the game
• not simply reward attendance
• function as genuine review

Canvas QTI packages have been requested/generated for quizzes.

22. Canvas / IXL context

For IXL assignments, students need to enter IXL through the correct Canvas pathway:

Canvas → Resources → ClassLink → IXL

Using another route may prevent their scores from being properly associated/saved.

Students can locate assigned IXL skills under:

Assigned by Teacher

or search using the skill code.

This may matter when designing directions or remediation slides.

23. Bell ringers

Bell ringers should not be filler.

Prefer one of these functions:

• retrieval from an earlier lesson
• activating relevant background knowledge
• diagnosing a misconception
• comparing two concepts
• previewing today's thinking without requiring information students have not learned yet

Avoid bell ringers that accidentally assess knowledge being introduced later in the same lesson.

24. Exit tickets

Exit tickets should provide evidence that the objective was learned.

Best pattern:

Give students a new short passage/example and require them to apply the day's skill.

Avoid merely asking:

“What did you learn today?”

or:

“What does _____ mean?”

when transfer can be measured instead.

25. Retrieval across lessons

Previously learned skills should appear unexpectedly but fairly in later lessons.

Examples:

• ask a roots question during a literature lesson
• retrieve CUPS during writing
• use STAR with a new story
• ask for central idea while studying argument
• retrieve an old affix alongside a new one
• include earlier skills in weekly quizzes

Students should learn that old material does not disappear after a unit.

26. Reading-question design

Strong reading questions should require students to:

• return to the text
• distinguish evidence from inference
• choose the strongest evidence
• explain relationships between ideas
• identify how language changes meaning
• transfer a skill to a new passage

Whenever possible, ask:

Which evidence BEST supports…?

rather than simply:

Which sentence mentions…?

27. Evidence and inference

This distinction needs continued reinforcement.

Useful anchor:

Evidence = what the text actually says.
Inference = what you figure out from the evidence.

Sequence:

Evidence first → inference second.

Do not allow students to treat guesses as textual evidence.

28. Standards alignment

Do not attach a standard just because the lesson vaguely touches it.

The actual student task must require the skill described in the standard.

For roots/affixes especially, 8.RC.10 is not satisfied merely by asking:

“What does bio mean?”

Students should use the root to determine a word's meaning in context.

29. Assessment philosophy

Assessment should mirror instruction but not merely duplicate it.

Students should see:

• familiar skill
• unfamiliar example

That demonstrates transfer.

Use cumulative questions on quizzes/tests so students continue retrieving older material.

30. Engagement

Fun formats are useful:

• escape rooms
• reader's theatre
• game shows
• humorous distractors
• themed slides
• polls

But the activity should never overwhelm the academic target.

The guiding question is:

What are students actually practicing?

Not merely:

Is this fun?

31. Existing visual/theme assets

Previously created materials include:

• STAR image
• IDEA punk image
• SEE sticky-note visual
• CUPS poster
• hooks image
• predict background
• exit-ticket background
• multiple ROOTS slide backgrounds
• Día de los Muertos escape-room graphics
• Halloween comparison graphics
• Amigo Brothers boxing background
• boxing-ring “Announcements” image
• Romeo and Juliet escape-room imagery
• eight-panel comic-style summary work
• punk-themed backgrounds

These may be reused, but do not add extra graphics automatically because the default slide preference is minimal.

32. What to do when I send a lesson/PDF

When I upload a lesson and ask for improvements:

Do not rebuild it from scratch unless needed.

Instead:

1. Determine what the lesson is actually teaching.
2. Check current Indiana standard alignment.
3. Check the objective and success criterion.
4. Check whether the bell ringer retrieves useful knowledge.
5. Review from the last slide to the first.
6. Tell me exactly what to KEEP, DELETE, MOVE, or REPLACE.
7. Give me exact replacement language.
8. Check timing.
9. Make every live response pollable.
10. Check that the reading needed for the question is on the slide.
11. Add or improve “In This Lesson You Learned.”
12. Add a strong transfer-based exit ticket.
13. Look for opportunities for retrieval and spaced review.
14. Remove unnecessary material rather than adding more by default.
15. Make sure correct MC answers are not consistently the longest.

33. Default assumptions going forward

Unless I explicitly say otherwise:

• This is English 8.
• The class is online.
• Use current Indiana standards.
• Put the standard near the beginning.
• Make student interaction multiple choice.
• Make reading accessible on slides.
• Keep slides extremely simple.
• Build retrieval into the lesson.
• Revisit old skills.
• Make learning stick.
• Use a student-friendly objective and success criterion.
• Include a bell ringer.
• Include “In This Lesson You Learned.”
• Include a text-dependent MC exit ticket.
• Avoid answer-length clues.
• Keep pacing realistic.
• Do not add extra material simply because there is room.

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That is the consolidated transfer package. It captures both the long-term rules and the major specific work from the Improve ELA Lessons thread, including the roots system, Amigo Brothers, Día de los Muertos, The Hobbit, the Wait Wait review system, and the current Romeo and Juliet work.