Annotating a lesson plan (1)
LESSON PLAN
Integrating Quotations into Writing (51 min) OVERVIEW/RATIONALE As we reach the middle of the unit on Of Mice and Men, this lesson will focus on formal writing techniques, allowing students to organize their thoughts into analytical writing and bring in textual evidence to support claims they are making in their writing. ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS Students will understand how to include quotes from text in their writing using paraphrasing and quoting, integrating quotations, and paraphrasing. GOALS/OBJECTIVES
MATERIALS
PROCEDURES OPENER/DO NOW Vocabulary Quiz (10 min) BODY OF LESSON
CLOSURE
ACCOMMODATIONS Having students work on their own at the end of class gives me time to give individual attention to anyone who might be struggling. Likewise, if students finish early, look over their paragraphs with them, suggesting things they might improve. ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION Students will demonstrate an understanding of the lesson through the adjustments they make to their writing assignment. Do they have a topic sentence that considers the quotes they chose? Do they provide context for the quotes? Do they incorporate the quotes into their own sentences? Do they provide analysis explaining why the quote supports their topic sentence? |
In English class, it is important not only for students to be able to read and answer questions about literature, but also to organize their own thoughts into formal analytical writing. Since claims about literature need to be backed up by evidence, this lesson focused on how students can incorporate direct quotes into their writing.
Everyone in the class is at an “advanced” level, but competency in specific skills varies across individuals. The class is also diverse in terms of students’ cultural backgrounds and language skills - though there are no current ELL students in the class, there are several students for whom English is not their first language. The character portrait activity addresses this diversity by engaging multiple intelligences and allowing students to work as a group to interpret the character. This means that students can answer each other’s questions for the most part, while I am present to moderate if necessary. Planning this lesson, it was very important for me that I was not doing all the talking. Rather than lecture, I tried to give students the reins when possible. Students worked autonomously on their character portraits, and though I lectured a bit when going over the handout on incorporating quotes, we worked together to practice the skills that were introduced. Then, students practiced on their own. Despite these efforts, having completed this lesson, I realize that I am still struggling with balancing student talk time and teacher talk time. A couple times, trying to increase student talk time disrupted the flow of the lesson. For example, while going over the handout, I stopped at the word “concise” to make sure the students understood, asking if someone could give me the definition. By the time one or two students had given me answers that were not quite correct and I had finally told them what the word meant, we had gotten off track. From this, I can see that I need to learn when it is appropriate to ask the students to “do the teaching” and when I should give them the answer in the interest of moving from minute details to the bigger picture. The handout on incorporating quote, as well as the reading guide that was assigned for homework are reproduced below. |