Casey Pearson –Narrative 1
Narrative Unit: Seminole Indians
Casey Pearson
READ 7140 A
Valdosta State University
May 30, 2007
Prewriting Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 4th Grade
Content Area: Social Studies
Content Area GPS:
A. SS4H1 The student will describe how early Native American cultures developed in North America.
a. Locate where the American Indians settled with emphasis on Arctic (Inuit), Northwest (Kwakiutl), Plateau (Nez Perce), Southwest (Hopi), Plains (Pawnee), and Southeastern (Seminole).
b. Describe how the American Indians used their environment to obtain food, clothing, and shelter.
Previous content area lessons: The students would need to have a moderate understanding of the Seminole Indians. They would need to know where the Seminole Indians lived, what they ate, what they wore traditions and other information about the way they lived.
Genre/mode of writing: Narrative, simulated journal writing
Stage of Writing: Prewriting
English Language Arts GPS
A. ELA4W2 The student demonstrates competence in a variety of genres.
The student produces a narrative that:
b. Establishes a plot, setting, and conflict, and/or the significance of events.
c. Creates an organizing structure.
d. Includes sensory details and concrete language to develop plot and character.
h. Provides a sense of closure to the writing.
B. ELA4W1 The student produces writing that establishes an appropriate organizational structure, sets a context and engages the reader, maintains a coherent focus throughout, and signals a satisfying closure. The student
a. Selects a focus, an organizational structure, and a point of view based on
purpose, genre expectations, audience, length, and format requirements.
c. Uses traditional structures for conveying information (e.g., chronological order,
cause and effect, similarity and difference, and posing and answering a question
Student Materials
20 blank graphic organizers
20 copies of graphic organizer checklist
20 copies of web address with instructions.
InternationalReadingAssociation,NationalCouncilofTeachersof
English,MarcoPolo(2006).Story Mapping.Retrieved May 13, 2007,from the Read, Write, Think website: http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/storymap/index.html
Root,T.(n.d.).Simulated Journal graphic organizer.RetrievedMay 13, 2007,fromDr. Root’s website: http://coefaculty.valdosta.edu/troot/eced4300/Graphic%20Organizers.htm
Seminole Indian Fact Sheet, Native American Facts for kids. Retrieved May 14, 2007 from, the Geocities website: http://www.geocities.com/bigorrin/seminole_kids.htm
Teacher Materials
20 blank copies of rubric
Copy of blank graphic organizer on transparency
Copy of completed graphic organizer on transparency
Pearson, C. (2006). Narrative graphic organizer rubric, unpublished rubric, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, GA.
Pearson, C. (2007). Simulated Journal Checklist, unpublished checklist, Valdosta State University, Valdosta GA.
Piazza,C.(2003).Journeys:Theteachingofwritinginelementary
classrooms.Columbus,Ohio:MerrillPrenticeHill.
Root,T.(n.d.).Simulated Journal graphic organizer.RetrievedMay 13, 2007,from Dr. Root’s website: http://coefaculty.valdosta.edu/troot/eced4300/Graphic%20Organizers.htm
Grouping Arrangements
Whole Group:
During the modeling and practice activity the instruction would take place in a whole group setting. This would be done for purposes such as time on task. The teacher would teach to the whole class during this time and discuss the expectations for the students writing and trouble spots for the whole class. During the assessment activity the teacher would conference with individual students.
Grouping: During the assessment activity, the students will work individually. However, they will be seated in groups. There would be five groups (four groups of four students and one group of three students). The groups would be developed based on developmental, cultural, and linguistic needs. During this time, the teacher will walk around to the students’ desks to assess if the students have picked a topic from the time line and that they understand how to fill in the graphic organizer. This will also be a time for the teacher to help students brainstorm ideas and decide if their topic is an appropriate one to write about.
Developmental: The students would first be divided by their developmental needs. The first group of students is exceeding most of the classroom expectations. These students still need some teacher assistance and scaffolding but are mostly able to work independently. The second group of students is working on an average level. These students should be able to meet most of the expectations and would need some scaffolding from the teacher. The third group of students is working on a lower average level. These students are not working at such a high level of independence and are beginning to need more teachers scaffolding. Some of these need constant redirection and specific work from the teacher. The fourth group of students are working on a below average to low level. All of these students have some sort of learning disability, and other health impairments. These students need a lot of teacher guidance and scaffolding. The fifth group of students is working on a low level. One of these students has developmental delays and the other two students have more severe learning disabilities, and other health impairments.
Linguistic: No linguistic grouping is needed for prewriting.
Cultural: There are two Hispanic students who will be grouped together in group four. These students may need specific help based on their language disability and the students will be grouped together to ensure teacher scaffolding when needed.
Instructional Procedures
Genre/Mode of writing instruction
Each type of writing has a different structure. Today we are going to discuss the structure of narrative writing.
The beginning of the story should accomplish four tasks. First the characters should be introduced. Then the setting should be described. At least tell when and where the story takes place. Other aspects of the setting will be described later in the story. Third the problem or conflict should be established. This may be conflict between characters, between characters and nature, internal conflict, or conflict between a character and society. The final purpose of the beginning is to assure the reader will be interested in the story. If the reader is not interested in the beginning they will more than likely not want to continue reading the story.
The middle of the story is the body of the story. This section contains seven major components. The first thing to know is the middle is the longest part of the story. This is the part where the problem gets worse or the conflict becomes greater. The middle of the story is where the events are revealed. The events have characters trying to solve the problem or conflict. This is also where the characters are really revealed. The writer may tell how the characters look, how they feel, what they do, and how they react. The writer should include dialogue and monologue. Dialogue is what the characters say and monologue is what the characters think. The middle stage is also where the character will encounter roadblocks that interfere with the character solving the conflict. This section of the narrative is very important for the reader. During the middle the reader will become engaged in the story and empathize with the character. There will be a relationship created between the reader and the characters. Finally the middle is where the climax of the story is. This means the characters are about to solve the conflict or the conflict is resolved. This should come at the end of the middle, because this separates the middle of the story from the end of the story.
The end of the story has four parts. First the character will solve the conflict. Then the character will also overcome and defeat all of the roadblocks that were presented in the middle of the story. The end is where all of the loose ends are tied up. This is when the reader understands and knows what happens with each character. The reader should not be left wondering a lot about what happened. This creates frustration with readers. Finally the readers will release the emotions they built throughout the story. The end is the place where the readers feel more relaxed and have a good piece of mind with the story.
You know the structure of your writing will be narrative, but you will also be writing a simulated journal. In a simulated journal you, the student, will pretend like you are a person from history and you will write you story as if you are that person. For example, if we are studying Christopher Columbus, you would write a journal entry about sailing to America pretending to be Christopher Columbus. When you are writing a simulated journal entry you need to remember to use the personal pronoun “I” because you are pretending to be that person. You also need to include historical events and make sure your whole story is based on the time period in which you are writing about. If you are writing about Christopher Columbus, you would not want to write about him watching T.V. because that is not something that was factual of that time. Just make sure your story is organized and follows the same time period.
Stage of writing instruction: Prewriting
Today we will be learning about the prewriting stage of the writing process. The prewriting stage is the first stage in the writing process. The prewriting stage is the getting ready to write stage. Before you begin prewriting it is important to know what the structure of your writing will be. Does anyone know what different forms of writing could be? (Story, poems, journal, bibliography, and others) Today you will be writing a narrative journal entry. Once you know what type of writing you will do, you should choose a topic. Each person should write about a day in the life of a Seminole Indian. You will pretend like you were a Seminole Indian and write about a day in your life. If you have a hard time thinking of a story to write, there are several things you can do. You can read different books about the Seminole Indians, you can look back at the information we have studied about Seminole Indians, you could search on the Internet for information about Seminole Indians, or you may draw pictures and write down words that may help you think of a story. Once you have written a topic you should complete some type of graphic organizer. A graphic organizer is just a way to organize your thoughts so you are able to write a good story. There are many types of graphic organizers, such as: topic organizers compare and contrast organizers, correspondence graphic organizers, and a story map. You will be using a story map for your narrative writing, specifically we will be using a simulated journal story map. The prewriting is also the stage where you should consider who your audience will be and the purpose of your writing. Your audience may be yourself, because you write to express and clarify your ideas and feeling, or you may be writing for others. For example, if you were writing a story about your grandmother, you may want to give your story to your grandmother when you are done. Therefore, your audience would be your grandmother. The purpose of your writing is what you are writing for. You may be writing to entertain, inform or persuade. Having a purpose for you writing helps your personality come into your writing, and it helps you have a much more clear paper.
I will use a guided writing structure for the instruction of the lesson. I will give the students a topic and guide the students as needed. The students will be giving me most of the information and ideas verbally and I will write the information on the transparency. This will increase the amount of time on task spent during the instruction.
Modeling
Practice Activity
When practicing prewriting the teacher will have a blank simulated journal graphic organizer on a transparency. The students and teacher will fill the graphic organizer out using the overhead projector. The teacher should dictate for students to keep the pace of the lesson. The graphic organizer includes information such as characters, setting, events, and conclusion. The students and teacher should pre write about the Seminole Indians Native American tribe. The class should pretend to be a member of the Seminole Indian Tribe and write about a day in our life. The students and teacher will use the checklist to ensure all necessary components of prewriting are included.
Assessment Activity
Each student will receive a copy of the graphic organizer.
Now it is your turn to pre write. You will each complete your own graphic organizer. Each graphic organizer will have your name and the title of your story. Then you should have the main characters and their personality in characters. Your main character should be the person who you are writing about. Remember to use the pronoun I because you will be pretending to be the historical person. Your story should include other characters to help make the story come alive. Next, you will write your problem, remember the problem can be positive or negative, and should be the main point of your story. The setting of the story should include as many of the categories as possible. When you have completed the setting, you should move on to the events. You should write the event and then write the details of that event. The more details you have the easier time you will have when you write your story. Also remember you should have at least three events, but the more the better and you have no limit. If you want to write more than four events, just write them on a piece of notebook paper. When you have all of your events and details write your conclusion. Remember to include your feelings, and how the story ends. Also remember to refer back to your checklist to help you remember what I expect from each one of you!
Modifications and/or Accommodations of Instructional Methods
1. Accommodations and/or Modifications for Needs of Students from Differing Stages of Development
The students who have learning disabilities, emotional behavior disorders, and other health impairments will be grouped according to their level. These students will be closely monitored and the teacher will provide the appropriate amount of scaffolding as needed. If needed I will break the graphic organizer down into smaller sections and I will give the students more key words to help them successfully complete their graphic organizer.
2. Accommodations and/or Modifications for Needs of Students from Differing Cultural and Linguistic Backgrounds