Ryan Gerbrandt
Education 4353
Dr. Heather Stephens
29 October 2004
Mini Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 8
Lesson Topic: Using appropriate variety in sentence length.
Lesson Rationale: To provide students with a number of editing tips in order to help them improve the flow of their writing, in the process making it more effective.
Lesson Length: 10 minutes
Organizational approach: whole class
Materials needed:Laptop and projector (if there was a traditional overhead projector in the room I would use that.) Photocopies of three paragraphs would also be provided for each of the students.
Step-by-Step approach:
-Show an example of a paragraph composed completely of short sentences, reading the paragraph aloud haltingly to emphasize the choppiness of it. Ask students how it sounds
-Then show an example of a paragraph composed entirely of long sentences and read it as well, asking students the same question.
-Read a third paragraph with some variety in the sentence length and ask students if this paragraph sounds better.
-Work through the paragraph of very short sentences as a class and inserting vertical lines through each punctuation mark. Ask students to note the length of the sentences.
-Ask students for suggestions as to how to change the sentences, rewriting the paragraph together.
-Reread the altered paragraph.
Reflection/Assessment: Do students demonstrate an improvement in their choice and variety of sentence length in subsequent writing assignments.
The main character in the book Under the Ribs of Death is Sandor Hunyadi. Sandor lives in the north end of Winnipeg. Sandor lives there because he is a Hungarian immigrant. All of the Hungarian immigrants live in the north end of Winnipeg. Sandor wishes that he was not Hungarian. Sandor wishes that he could be someone else. He wants to grow up and leave the neighbourhood that he lives in. Sandor wants to have lots of money. He wants to be somebody important. When Sandor grows up, he changes his name to Alexander. Sandor does this so he can become important and makes a lot of money. When he makes all of his money, he does not talk to his family anymore. In the end though, he loses all of his money. Alexander then realizes what is truly important. He goes back to visit his family. The book tells the story of how Sandor discovers who he really is. The main theme of the book is identity.
The main character in Under the Ribs of Death, Sandor Hunyadi, is a young Hungarian boy who lives in the north end of Winnipeg where all the other Hungarian immigrants live. Sandor does not like being Hungarian, and wishes he could be somebody else, somebody important, and that he could have lots of money, so he works hard and earns lots of money and then changes his name so that he can be important but when he does, he stops visiting his family. He eventually loses all of his money and realizes that his family is important, and his search to find out who he really is shows that the most important theme in the book.
The main character in Under the Ribs of Death, Sandor Hunyadi, is a young Hungarian boy who lives in the north end of Winnipeg. He lives there because he is an immigrant and that is where all the Hungarian immigrants live. Sandor very much dislikes being Hungarian and wishes that he could be someone else. Growing up his greatest desire is to be important, and most of all to have lots of money. He works hard to achieve his goals and is eventually able to do so. In the process however, he changes his name and stops visiting or talking to his family. His wealth and prominent position do not last though, and when he loses everything, he realizes that his relationship with his family is what is truly important. Sandor’s journey to discover who he really is shows us that identity is the main theme in the book.