The first lesson with ThinkCERCA will be crucial in building students’ readiness levels for independence with other lessons down the road. The first lesson will allow teachers to set and scaffold expectations, engage students in discussion and collaboration frequently, and introduce the format of the Applied Reading & Writing lesson.

This lesson plan is a suggested implementation of the first ThinkCERCA lesson. It can be customized to support any CERCA Set and Direct Instruction and Applied Reading & Writing lesson combination. Please note that each teacher may integrate this differently and the template is purely for guidance.

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

• Understand teachers’ expectations around an Applied Reading & Writing lesson
• Navigate the six steps of the Applied Reading & Writing lesson and use the tools within the lesson to support their application of skills
• Engage in a discussion with peers about the key question of the set
• Respond to an argumentative prompt, using evidence from the text in response
• Effectively apply the skill from the Direct Instruction to the final written task of the Applied Reading & Writing lesson