Microteaching Lesson
Name: Kurt Van Deren Age/Grade Level: 9th Grade
Subject Area(s): Language Arts Unit Title: Our Oregon Stories:
Writing Personal Narrative
Lesson Title: Steps in the Writing Process Estimated Time: 15 minutes
Purpose/Rationale for Lesson: In this micro-lesson I will draw on portions of three lessons of a larger unit on writing personal narrative, which I taught in a ninth grade English class in January. The elements I will focus on in this micro-lesson are choosing a topic, writing an effective opening, and writing a solid ending. The theme for the unit is “Our Oregon Stories,” which was based on and derived from Oregon Stories, a collection of short narrative essays published by Ooligan Press in 2010 to commemorate Oregon’s sesquicentennial. Throughout the unit, students were exposed to a variety of the essays in Oregon Stories, which were used to various aspects of writing narrative. Students were free to write about whatever they wished, as long as the essay had something in it that revealed each student’s tie to Oregon.
Curriculum Framing Questions:
Essential Question: What do our stories reveal about what we find important?
Unit Question that applies to this lesson: What are the elements of personal narrative?
Lesson or Content Question(s): How do you choose a topic for your narrative essay? What makes for a strong opening in a narrative essay? What makes an effective ending to an essay?
Goal: By the end of this lesson, students will have a better understanding of several of the steps in the process of writing a narrative essay.
Learning Objective(s):
● Students will be able to choose a topic for the narrative essay.
● Students will be able to explain what makes for a good opening to a narrative essay.
● Students will be able to explain what makes a strong ending to a narrative essay.
Curriculum Standard(s):
Writing Applications: Narrative Writing: Write narrative, expository, and persuasive texts, using a variety of written forms—including journals, essays, short stories, poems, research reports, research papers, business and technical writing—to express ideas appropriate to audience and purpose across the subject areas.
*Suggested word length: High School, 500-1,500 words.
EL.HS.WR.21 Write biographical or autobiographical narratives or short stories:
Relate a sequence of events, and communicate the significance of the events to the audience.
Locate scenes and incidents in specific places.
Describe with concrete sensory details the sights, sounds, and smells of a scene and the specific actions, movements, gestures, and feelings of the characters; use interior monologue to depict the characters' feelings.
Pace the presentation of actions to accommodate changes in time and mood.
Make effective use of descriptions of appearance, images, shifting perspectives, and sensory details.
Materials Needed: Handout packets that include T-charts, the “Glossary of Good Beginnings,” and the “Glossary of Happy Endings”; computer and external hard drive with film clips.
Background knowledge or skills students need prior to lesson: Students need some background in the writing process and some knowledge in the uses and importance of narrative, both topics of the previous lessons.
Hook or Introduction: Why is storytelling important in so many cultures around the world? Why do we tell stories about ourselves?
Procedures:
1. Begin hook (1-2 minutes).
2. Choosing a topic (3-4 minutes).
Explain the objective of the unit (i.e., to write a narrative essay about something that ties each student to Oregon.
In general, what do you think makes for a good topic in a narrative essay?
Some guidelines:
A. Something that stirs your emotions as a writer—either something you really like or even something you hate—can make for a good topic. Why?
If you feel strongly about your topic you will find it easy to write about it in detail.
B. Also, an event that is outside your ordinary experience can be a good topic to write about. Why?
These events will often stand out in your memory and be easy to write about precisely because they are unusual.
Have students spend a few moments filling in ideas in the T-charts about things they either love or hate about Oregon (3-5 ideas per side)
After students have had a few moments, ask several to share ideas and brainstorm how they might write about those ideas.
3. Writing an effective opening (3-5 minutes).
Now that you have an idea for your topic, how will you write an effective opening to your essay?
A good opening catches the reader’s attention, makes the reader want to read more, and is appropriate to the purpose of the essay.
Have students take a moment to skim the “Glossary of Good Openings.” Do any of those stand out to you as particularly effective?
Show opening scenes to “Pi,” “The Twilight Zone,” and “Star Wars.” Which technique from the “Glossary” does each illustrate? Why is it effective (or not)?
4. Writing an effective closing (3-5 minutes).
Now that we have looked at effective openings, we also need to think about effective endings to our writing.
What makes for a good ending?
Have students skim “Glossary of Happy Endings”; which do you find effective? Why?
If time permits, show the ending to “Rudy” and discuss why it is a powerful ending.
Differentiation/Accommodation: While teaching these lessons I used visuals as much as possible to reinforce for struggling readers and ELL students what I was teaching. In addition, when I had students working in groups I grouped students so that those who struggle with reading and writing were working with students whose skills were stronger so that the students could support one another.
Attention to Literacy: Again, the use of visuals as reinforcement for written and spoken concepts was designed to aid literacy.
Assessment and Evaluation of Student Learning: Assessment during this lesson would have been largely informal. The discussion and a review of students’ T-charts would serve to allow me to evaluate understanding.
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