East Detroit Public Schools
Lesson Design

Author: Nina Hardiewich
Content Area: Language Arts
Grades: Lower and Later Elementary
Course: Language Arts
Title: The Writing Process

Length of Lesson: Five one-hour periods
Materials Needed:
Power Macintosh G3 computers
T.V. monitor
printers

software:
ClarisWorks for Kids
Encarta 98 Encyclopedia
ClarisWorks

Standards-Based Outcomes (MDE):

English Language Arts:

I. Meaning and Communication

Content Standard I, 2: All students will demonstrate the ability to write clear and grammatically correct sentences, paragraphs, and compositions.

1. Write fluently for multiple purposes to produce compositions, such as stories, reports, letters, plays, and explanations of processes.
2. Recognize and use authors’ techniques in composing their own text. Examples include effective introductions and conclusions, different points of view, grammatical structure, and appropriate organization.
3. Plan and draft texts, and revise and edit in response to suggestions expressed by others about such aspects as ideas, organization, style, and word choice.

V. Skills and Processes

Content Standard V, 7: All students will demonstrate, analyze, and reflect upon the skills and processes used to communicate through listening, speaking, viewing, reading, and writing.

1. Develop and use a variety of strategies for planning, drafting, revising, and editing different forms of texts for specific purposes. Examples include brainstorming, revising with peers, sensitivity to audience, and strategies appropriate for purposes, such as informing, persuading, entertaining, and inspiring.

Prior Knowledge:

The students should be familiar with the program ClarisWorks for Kids. The children should be able to keyboard, indent, and delete.

Cue Set:

The students will research a subject with the software program Encarta Encyclopedia 98 and then brainstorm all the information on the topic. They will create stories which feature their topics.

Best Shot Instruction:

The children learn to research information with Encarta, brainstorm a topic, map or outline their own stories, create rough drafts, peer edit, conference with the teacher, and write their final copies for publishing. These are skills that publishers, writers, editors and copywriters use in their careers.

The students perform the following activities with a minimum of assistance after the teacher has modeled them on the board:

1. Brainstorm and list ten items about their topics;
2. Create story maps that list the characters, settings, events, problems, and solutions;
3. Write rough drafts of their stories;
4. Work in pairs to edit their papers;
5. Rewrite their papers so they can hand in final copies.

These steps will also be used to determine whether the initial teaching was successful.

Once the students have rewritten their papers, they use a word processing program and the computer to type up their final drafts for publishing.

Reteaching and Enrichment:

Once the students have peer-edited and corrected mistakes, they submit the papers for teacher-editing and conferencing. At this time each child shows the teacher the ten items on the brainstormed list, the story map, the rough draft, the student edit, and the rewrite. The teacher assesses whether the student understands the writing process and is working to his/her fullest potential. The teacher may help the child reflect on the lesson as well as explain the core ideas. If the results fulfill the student's potential, the teacher and student then follow the peer-editing techniques. (i.e. The writer whisper reads the story. The editor then makes a sandwich with the first layer being one compliment, second layer being a question, and third layer being a suggestion.) Finally, the teacher-editor and writer edit the grammar and spelling so the final draft can be completed for publishing.

Review and Closure:

The student exhibits understanding by completing a teacher-created writing packet. (The contents include forms for brainstorming and story mapping, two sheets for the rough draft, two self-editing sheets, and a scoring sheet.) Using the computer to write and publish a final draft, the student finishes the project.

Assessment:

The completion of the sheets in the writers’ packet as well as participation in conferencing are recorded as formative assessments. The final writing product serves as the summative assessment. It is assessed according to the writing proficiency goals appropriate for the students’ grade level with predetermined rubrics. The final draft receives a score aligned with the four point rubric for scoring writing associated with the MEAP Test. The second rubric is in the following format:

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