Lesson Plans

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.

Content Standard I, 3: All students will focus on meaning and communication as they listen, speak, view, read, and write in personal, social, occupational, and civic contexts.

5. Employ multiple strategies to construct meaning while reading, listening to, viewing, or creating texts. Examples include summarizing, predicting, generating questions, mapping, examining picture cues, analyzing word structure and sentence structure, discussing with peers, and using context and text structure.

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.

4. 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:

Students must know how to write sentences and what a paragraph is. They must be familiar with the terms “central idea”, “main idea”, and “supporting detail”.

Cue Set:

Holding up a blank graphic organizer form, the teacher will pose the question:
- “How does a graphic organizer like this help you write?”
The teacher next holds a written piece as well as the organizer and asks:
- “What does this simple form have to do with this written work?”
The teacher then accepts responses from the students and leads a class discussion as to the form’s possible uses and purposes. Students who are familiar with the use of graphic organizers are encouraged to share their experiences with the rest of the class.

Best Shot Instruction:

First Day:
1) The teacher begins instruction with a review of the terms “central idea”, “main idea”, and “supporting details”. Then labeled parts of a concept map, with an explanation of each highlighted part, are shown with PowerPoint created slides on the computer

2) The teacher then shows completed organizers made with the Inspiration program and the pieces written using them. A volunteer reads one of the pieces while the other students refer to the colored graphic organizer shown on the large monitor. The teacher points with the mouse-directed arrow to the part of the graphic organizer which correlates to the section being read by the volunteer. After the reading is finished, the teacher leads a discussion about what the students observed while listening and viewing the screen.

3) The students then are asked to fill in blank graphic organizer forms with the correct labels and brief explanations of the three basic parts.

Second Day:
1) After a review of the previous day's discoveries, several class members take turns reading the short passage “Driver Ants” aloud while the others follow along on their copies.

2) The teacher then leads the discussion to identify the central Idea, main ideas, and supporting details of the passage.

3) Next the teacher shows the sixth slide in the PowerPoint presentation. The slide shows a colored graphic organizer of “Driver Ants” previously created by the teacher with Inspiration. Printed color copies are distributed to each small group of students. After being reminded of the class discussion which identified the central and main ideas and all the supporting details, the students confirm the accuracy of the graphic organizer.

4) The next two slides in the presentation are shown. One is a written piece about driver ants. The other is the same piece with each sentence shown in a color from the graphic organizer.

5) Using the concept map and focusing on one main idea and its supporting details at a time, the teacher discusses the paragraphs shown in the next three slides. The correlation of each animated colored sentence with its corresponding colored part of the concept map is stressed. Discussion ensues. (“Is this sentence about the central idea, a main idea, or a supporting detail?” “Where is this information located on the map?” “Is it a main idea?” “...a supporting detail?”) Students are encouraged to predict what paragraph will be shown on each slide and tell what parts of the map will be used. Then as each sentence appears, they are asked to predict what color will be next, where on the map the information will be located, what kind of sentence it will be, etc.

6) The colored written piece, in its entirety, is shown again. The same is done then with the uncolored work. Discussion follows about how the concept map made it easy to remember and catagorize the important information from the passage and then transform it into a well-organized and complete composition.

Next Day:

1) The lesson begins with a brief review of the previous day’s observations and continues with a group reading of a short passage. Then with class discussion and using the Inspiration program, the teacher creates a colored graphic organizer on the computer. Enough colored copies are printed so each group of students has one for reference during the next activity.

2) Using the information on the colored graphic organizer, the class composes a written summary of the passage which was read earlier. Sitting at the keyboard, the teacher uses ClarisWorks, or any program with color capabilities, to process the class-created piece. Discussion includes a plan for paragraph order and continues as each sentence is added (What color should this sentence be? What part of the organizer should be used next? Where should we look to get information for the next paragraph? ...topic sentence?, etc.) until the summary is complete.

Next Two Days:

1) After a quick review, an assignment with the reversed process is done. A written piece with colored text is shown on the large monitor (fourteenth slide) or given as a handout. The students are directed to create graphic organizers which will correspond to the composition. They use colored pencils to write information in the appropriate location as well as the correct color.

2) A handout of a correctly colored graphic organizer is distributed so students can check their work. Discussion focusing on paragraph divisions and content follows.

3) Next, each group is given copies of another short passage to read. Working in groups, the students make colored graphic organizers of the important information. The final slide is shown which reminds the students of the assignment.

4) The teacher circulates, assisting only when necessary.

5) Upon completion of the organizer, the group writes a summary of the passage. The sentences are underlined with the color of their respective sources on the map.

6) Each group shares its organizer and summary with the class.

7) The students then respond in writing to the question:

“How does a graphic organizer help you write a summary, report, or essay?”

Final Assignment:
1) A new passage is read by the class as a whole group.

2) Each student independently creates a colored graphic organizer and writes a summary of the passage. Colored pencils are used again to identify the different components of the graphic organizer and to underline the corresponding sentences in the written piece.

Reteaching and Enrichment:

Student or group summaries are exchanged. Each student or group then does a colored graphic organizer which will correspond with the other's summary. Then the two compare their newly created organizers with the originals for each summary.
Students create colored graphic organizers and summaries in response to a writing prompt.

Review and Closure:

1) Students share both their concept maps and summaries with the class. They identify on their organizers the sources of their opening, topic, and closing sentences as well as show how their detail sentences relate to and support the main ideas on the maps and then in their summaries.

2) The class analyzes each student's work and determines whether the graphic organizer is used effectively and correctly. Afterwards each student evaluates in writing his use of the graphic organizer in creating the summary. He considers the class critique and sets a personal goal for improvement as well as lists additional uses for an organizer in school

3) A class discussion is conducted with a focus on uses of this pre-writng tool in situations other than schoolwork including lab reports by scientists, project reports by engineers, forms of creative writing by authors, etc.

Assessment:

Formative Assessment:

The teacher makes observations of students participating in discussions, answering questions, and making predictions in whole class activities. Observations of student involvement in the small group projects are also made. As the students work alone, the teacher notes whether an individual is focused and progresses without difficulty.
Quizzes at each step in the lesson will consist of: 1) the labeled graphic organizer form, 2) the student-created colored graphic organizer in the “reversed process” assignment, and 3) the written answer to the question, “How does a graphic organizer help you write a summary, report, or essay?”
The student evaluates in writing his use of the graphic organizer. He sets a personal goal for improvement as well as makes plans for implementation in other classes.

Summative Assessment:

Each student demonstrates mastery by writing a well-organized piece containing: 1) opening and closing sentences derived from the central idea, 2) main idea and related supporting detail sentences, and 3) appropriate paragraph divisions.
The student is able to discuss the correct usage of the graphic organizer as a pre-writing tool.

East Detroit Public Schools Lesson Design

East Detroit Public Schools
Lesson Design