Writing Lesson Template

Payton Blair

Big Idea: “We all fit together.”

LESSON RATIONALE
In their reading unit, students have been learning about theme and how to determine what the theme is of a story. For this writing
activity, students will draw a random theme out of a bowl and be instructed to write a story that portrays their theme. Students
will eventually publish their stories in blank books and read them to the class. The class will then have to try and guess what
theme they have portrayed in their story.

For this lesson, students are getting ready to start the drafting process of their stories. We will do a mini lesson over word choice
and how using appropriate words can help paint a picture for your readers. It is important for students to learn about word choice
when writing because it makes their writing more interesting and helps them get certain points across. This connects to the big
idea of “we all fit together” because it shows how your words fit together to tell a particular story.

READINESS
I.Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s)—Students will understand how to use strong word choice in their writing to help portray a certain theme.
B. Objective(s)— During the drafting stage of their writing, students will construct sentences with rich word choice that
help readers infer their theme.
Students will use resources such as dictionaries and encyclopedias to guide them in choosing strong word for their writing.

C. Standard(s): 5.W.3.3 Write narrative compositions in a variety of forms that –

● Develop the exposition (e.g., describe the setting, establish the situation, introduce the narrator and/or characters).
● Develop an event sequence (e.g., conflict, climax, resolution) that unfolds naturally, connecting ideas and events using
transitions.
● Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing to develop experiences and events or show the responses of
characters to situations.
● Use precise and expressive vocabulary and figurative language for effect.
● Provide an ending that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

II. Management Plan-

Time:
Anticipatory set: 5 mins
Introducing trait: 7 mins
Writing: 20 mins
Conferences: 2-3 mins per student (more time allowed if a student needs extra help)
Sharing/Closure: 3-4 mins

Space: Students will be at the carpet for the mini lesson and at their desks (or other spots around the ..
room if approved by teacher) for the writing and sharing portion. The teacher will walk around to each
student’s desk to conduct the writing conferences.

Materials: Wonder by R.J. Palacio, mad libs book/paper, doc cam, story template for drafting stage

Expectations: Students will work hard independently during the writing stage and listen actively as
their peers are sharing their stories with them. Students will listen during the mini lesson and be actively
engaged in answering questions and participating.

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

III. Adaptation to Individual Differences and Diverse Learners—
 Students who struggle with writing will be able to use text to speech software or type their stories
 Students will be able to look up words online instead of using dictionaries and encyclopedias
 If needed, the number of sentences and sentence lengths will be minimized for students.
 For students who have disabilities in writing, they will be allowed to express their thoughts through pictures and
verbally tell their story with the help of a scribe to write out what they say.

IV.Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)

 Mini lesson (Whole Group)

1 Revision Date: October 31, 2018

Anticipatory Set: “Alright class, before we start our lesson today we are going to do something so fun. How many of you have
created a mad lib before? Students raise hands. We are going to do one together as a class and when I ask you for a part of
speech, I want you to raise your hand and I’ll call on someone to give an answer. Teacher calls out each part of speech and calls
on students to give random answers. Now, let’s read our story together that we created! Teacher displays the mad lib on the
screen and reads it aloud. Our story was so funny but it didn’t really make sense, did it?”

Purpose Statement: “Like you can see in our mad lib, the words we choose to use in our sentences is one of the most important
parts of writing. Without the right words, it’s hard for your readers to understand you and what you’re trying to say. Today, we
are going to learn how to make good word choices when writing stories and how to choose words that will help portray our
theme in a story.”

Introduce Trait: “Now I know all of you have chosen a theme for your stories and have done some brainstorming already.
Before you start drafting, we are going to talk about how to use appropriate word choice to get your theme across to your readers.
You want to make sure you use strong words that help your reader infer what your theme might be about. When writing your
stories, you’ll never clearly state what you theme is. The details and word choice you use will help construct your story and allow
your readers to discover your theme. We always want to use juicy words to help paint a picture in our readers minds. If your
readers can picture what’s happening in the story, it will help them put all of the pieces together and develop a theme of their
own. Let’s look at some quotes from the book Wonder. We’ve already discussed that the theme of Wonder is kindness and
friendship. I’m going to read some quotes from the story and I want you to think of what word or group of words help you infer
the theme. The teacher reads the following quotes and allows students to raise their hand and answer which words they think
portray the theme:
 “Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel
us, on occasion, to greatness.”
 “When given the choice between being right or being kind choose kind.”
 “We carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness.”
 “But I really believe, and Daddy really believes that there are more good people on this earth than bad people, and the
good people watch out for each other and take care of each other.”
I want you to remember when beginning to write your stories to use a variety of words that will give readers a hint at what your
topic is. Your main goal is for your writing to paint a mental picture inside your readers heads and one way you can do that is
through the words you use. If you have trouble thinking of certain words, feel free to use the dictionaries or encyclopedias to help
you out! Now we are going to transition into our writing time. Raise your hand if you are still in the prewriting phase. Students
raise their hands. Alright and who is ready to start drafting their stories? Students raise their hands. While you are writing, I’m
going to be coming around and doing writing conferences with people so be ready to show me what you’ve been working on!”
Students are dismissed to their seats.

Writing: “For those of you still prewriting, let’s make a goal of trying to finish that up today. I want to make sure you have
plenty of time to work on the other parts of the writing process! I’ll be coming around to those students first to check in and to
give those of you in the drafting stage some time to write before I come around. If you are drafting, I’d like you to use the story
template so I’m able to see what each page of your book will say. Remember we are not worrying about illustrations right now,
that will come later. I’m going to set a timer for 20 minutes and I’ll give you a two-minute warning before time is up so you can
finish up your thoughts!” Teacher will walk around and quickly conference with those still in the prewriting stage to check their
progress and see if they will be ready to move onto the drafting stage soon. For those in the drafting stage, the teacher will come
around have them read what they have written so far. She will ask questions concerning word choice and ask students to point
out what words or phrases give the reader a hint at what their theme is. The teacher will take notes during each conference
detailing how students are doing and if they’ve shown progress in their word choice. Each conference will last around 2-3
minutes and whoever the teacher does not meet with today, she will meet with over the next few days.

Sharing (Whole Group): “Now that writing time is up I want you to turn to your shoulder partner and read some of what you’ve
written so far. I want each partner that isn’t sharing to be an active listener when your friend is reading their work and at the end I
want you to tell them one place in their writing where they used good word choice!”

V. Check for understanding

 Students will show if that understand how word choice connects to the theme of a story by pointing out the words
in quotes from Wonder
 While walking around during writing conferences, I will check to see if students are using strong word choice and
if they need more support, I will guide them in how to choose richer words by using dictionaries and
encyclopedias

2 Revision Date: October 31, 2018

  For students that are still prewriting and not drafting, I will meet with them on a later day and check to see how
strong their word choice is and if it connects to their theme
 If many students need more support, we will revisit the trait of word choice as a class

VIII. Review learning outcomes / Closure

“Before we transition into math, I’d like a few students to brag on their classmates. Who would like to share something
their partner read to them that they thought was great and maybe even share a place where they used good word
choice?” Teacher allows a few students to share and then transitions into math.

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

Informal Assessment: I will walk around and observe student’s writing during conference time. I will assist students in finding
stronger words to use and take note of which students have accomplished using good word choice and which students need more
help.

Formal Assessment: When students have completed the drafting process on their templates, I will read each page of their story
and check for strong word choice throughout. I will also check to see if their word choice helps paint a picture in the readers
mind to determine the theme of the story.

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
2. What were my strengths and weaknesses?
3. How should I alter this lesson?
4. How would I pace it differently?
5. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
6. What adjustments did I make to reach varied learning styles and ability levels?
7. Did students understand how to use word choice to help portray their theme? If not, how could I change
the instruction?
8. Were students able to access resources such as dictionaries and encyclopedias to help guide them in their
word choice?

3 Revision Date: October 31, 2018