Lesson Plan Title : Response to Literature/ Final Review
Age Range: Grade 9 through Grade 12 (High School Level)
Duration: 45 minutes
Content Objectives (s): Students will be able to: Write a response to literature essay that:
Establishes and develops a controlling idea
Supports arguments with detailed evidence
Includes persuasive techniques
Excludes irrelevant information
Attributes sources of information when appropriate
Language Objective:
Students will demonstrate their English usage and grammar through writing events in a personal narrative.
Materials:
Prentice Hall, Writing and Grammar Book, pencils, paper, writing tools folder, dictionary, thesaurus, copies of W. H. Auden's poem "The Unknown Citizen" and A. E. Housman's poem "To an Athlete Dying Young."
Key Vocabulary: persuade, culture, heritage, diversity, acculturation, assimilation, argument, supporter, opponent, argument
Activities:
We will begin a unit that will focus primarily on writing a response to literature essay. For our presentation, we will explain to students that through the process of writing this piece, they will be exposed to all the writing components. We will also point out that they will emphasize on correcting sentences and applying extended sentences to every paragraph in their essay. We will explain that their essay will have to have a variety of sentences beginnings, lengths and forms that will make their essay flow together. Students will also have to incorporate persuasive techniques into their piece, as well as, rich vocabulary. We will explain that the objective for this unit, as a whole, is to apply all the writing elements of the AIMS assessment to their writing. By the end of this unit, students will have created a response to literature essay that contains one extended sentence per paragraph, quotes, rich vocabulary, correct conventions, and evidence to support their arguments from the text.
Practice/Application: Students will be given copies of the two poems on consecutive days to introduce the concept of theme and author's message. Students will also go through the writing process organizing their essay from the pre-writing stage to first draft (Using a T-Chart, Venn Diagram etc.), evaluating, revising, editing and publishing. Students will apply what they have learned about complete sentences, extended sentences, and sentence combining to make complex sentences into their writing.
Assessment: Students will be assessed using the six trait writing rubric, as well as, with class participation and the process they follow as they write. Students will turn in each component of their essay and will be evaluated on individual pieces of their essay such as the introduction, conclusion, and body paragraphs. Their writing will also be evaluated using a teacher created Essay Components Checklist, which will evaluate the students' use of persuasive techniques, rich vocabulary, and sentence fluency, as well as proper grammar and syntax.
Extension: Students will transfer the concepts they have learned into the next response to literature essay, which they will encounter often in college.
Students with learning disabilities: All of the activities will be learned by all students. However, certain modifications will be made such as:
Extended amount of time to work on activities
Cooperative working groups and peer tutoring
Decreased number of exercise items
Any extra modification specified in student's IEP
Lesson Sequence Day 1
Students will walk into class and work on bell work for the first five minutes. Introduction of Response to Literature- PowerPoint presentation explaining the purpose and format of a RTL and an explanation of theme in literature. Students, in groups of two, will be given a paper with a series of passages and excerpts and will be asked to identify the particular theme for each one.
Review for Final-Verb tenses and the different types of verbs
Lesson Sequence Day 2
Students will work on bell work for the first five minutes. RTL Cont.-Students will receive a lesson on poetic elements in preparation for analyzing the poem "The Unknown Citizen" by W.H. Auden. Students will then form groups to read and analyze the poem. Students will be given a RTL worksheet and write a short response to the poem based on the format.
Review for Final- Subject-Verb Agreement
Lesson Sequence Day 3
Students will work on bell work for the first five minutes. RTL Cont.- Students will form groups and receive a copy of "To an Athlete Dying Young" by A. E. Housman. They will read the poem and answer the questions which pertain to it. Students will then write another short RTL on the aforementioned worksheet.
Review for Final-Verb Tenses, Irregular Past Tense
Lesson Sequence Day 4
Teacher instructs students on how to cite sources using MLA Style formatting. Students will do a group exercise on properly citing various sources. Students must choose a short story to write a RTL essay due on Tuesday.
Review for Final-Verb Tenses, Irregular Past Participle
Lesson Sequence Day 5
Students will bring a rough draft of their essay and we will do a peer editing exercise. Review for Final- Sentences, Direct Objects, Subordinating Conjunctions, Prepositions