LESSON PLAN 2

PLANNING

Date: April 13, 2011 Class and Grade Level: English 8

Title/Subject of Lesson: Specifics: Or in which the students learn to say what they really mean to say.

Objective(s):

  • Students will be able to identify and recognize appositives
  • Students will be able to use appositives to improve their clarity in writing

State (or District) Core Curriculum Standard(s):

  • Standard 2, Objective 3: Revise and edit to strengthen ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions.

Concept(s) to Be Taught:

  • Appositives
  • Clarity in writing

Materials Needed:

  • Taboo game
  • Model Overheads
  • Pictures of simple things around the house to practice appositives on

Strategies to Be Used:

  • Transfer skills from dinner game to writing papers
  • analyzing model texts
  • Killgallon’s sentence techniques

PERFORMING

Announcements:

Continuation from Previous Lesson: Students have been working on a persuasive piece, comparing and contrasting two viewpoints. This mini-lesson is designed to help students see how to write a non-fiction text with more clarity and personaily. This lesson will allow them the opportunity to revise their viewpoints paper, with attention clarifying vague concepts or themes within their paper.

“Hello students! So last time you handed in your rough drafts of your persuasive writing pieces. I really liked what I saw, however, today we are going got do some activities to hopefully help you make your writing even BETTER!”

Lesson Presentation:

A)Getting Started:

Ask the students how many of have ever heard of the game, Taboo. (informal assessment) If not many have before, briefly explain the rules. Break the class into groups of four and have them all compete against each other. The purpose of the game is to get their team to guess what the word is without saying the word or a word from the list around it. (Catch phrase would work as well) After a few rounds, debrief and.

B)Directing the Learning:

Q: What was the hardest thing about this game? (you couldn’t say what you wanted to say) What were some keys to success? (being really specific and descriptive about the word without actually saying the words that you aren’t supposed to. Requires a bit of creativity.) Ok, we are going to do the same type of thing, but with sentences.

[modeling] (Weaver’s Framework)

Here is a picture and here is a sentence describing the picture. (Killgallon’s sentence composing)

“The girl texted by the mirror.”

Now, if you were describing this to a friend who couldn’t see the picture, just the mental image that this sentence provides, how would you make it more specific? (get answers) These are some really great ideas, this is what I would do.

“The girl, dressed in a flowing white gown, texted by the mirror.”

Q: How does adding this phrase (highlight appositive) make the sentence more specific?

Definiton of Appositive: An appositive in a noun or noun phrase that renames the noun nearby. It is always accompanied by commas. Appositives make writing clear without including a lot of choppy sentences.

Q: How does the Taboo game tie into this new activity? (You have to describe the word without using the same word)

[guided practice]

Ok, now get into groups and I will pass out new pictures. As a class, we will try some new ways of clarifying the sentences.

“The swimmers battled for the hockey puck”

Now, if you were going to describe this picture to a friend, how would you describe it so they would understand what you are trying to say? Talk among your groups and come up with two different ways you could include an appositive in here to make the sentence more specific and clarify the mental picture. (Write down the different ideas of the groups) Great job!

[independent practice]

Ok now, I have a worksheet for you with three different pictures. The first one has a sentence already composed about the picture, so all you have to do is include an appositive, offering more clarify and description. The second picture doesn’t have a sentence, so come up with a simple sentence about the picture and then switch papers with your neighbor. Once you have a new paper, look at their sentence and include an appositive in there. For the third picture, write a simple sentence and then include an appositive in your own sentence. I will be circling the room if anyone needs help or has questions.

C)Bringing the Lesson to a Conclusion:

Ok! I am seeing lots of creative uses for appositives. Now, let’s discuss, when would be a good idea to include appositives?

All the time? (Stress that NOT every sentence needs an appositive, but they are a writers’ tool to include a lot of information without taking up a lot of space. Plus, it makes writing more interesting.)

What about in your persuasive papers? Are there places where you could specify or clarify things a bit more? Yes? No?

Assignment: Well, for your homework assignment, I want you to go through the rest of your paper and see where else you can specify nouns by using appositives. Bring your draft next time to class with your revisions highlighted. I want you to use sticky notes to tell me why you chose to revise those nouns and how you renamed them.