Sample Writing Lesson Plan

Writing Lesson Plan

 

Essential Question:     How much are we willing to sacrifice for the benefit of society?

Novel:                         Among the Hidden

Grade:                         9

 

Goal:                           Students will understand how to write a persuasive letter by stating their major claims and supporting them with evidence.

 

Objectives (Content): Students will understand the laws of one-child policy in China.

Students will understand the sacrifices that are made for this policy.

Students will understand how society is affected by this policy.

Students will understand that several different perspectives and opinions exist about this policy.

 

(Skill):                         Students will write a persuasive letter, using evidence from nonfiction.

Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling

Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.

 

Assessment:                Persuasive Letter

Observations of discussions

Graphic Organizer

 

Materials:                    Graphic Organizer

Rubric for essay

Sample of persuasive letter

Do Now and Exit Slips

Sequence:

5 min   Admit Slip:

How do you feel about the one-child policy?  Are you for or against the policy?

What are your three major reasons for this opinion?

 

5 min   Partner Share

 

10 min Whole Class Share

 

20 min Mini-Lesson:  How to write a persuasive letter

• Show students the outline for a persuasive letter.
• Explain graphic organizer.
• Show sample of letter and have students score the letter with a partner, based on the rubric.

 

 

20 min Guided Practice

• Students will first complete graphic organizer.
• They will share the organizer with another student for feedback.

 

5 min   Exit Slip:

What is the strongest piece of your graphic organizer?  What will make your letter effective?  What are you concerned about for your letter tonight?

 

Independent Practice/Homework:

Students will use their graphic organizer to write the first draft of their letters.

 

Extension for Lesson

Day Two:  Students will give each other feedback on their letters on the next day, using the peer response sheet.  Students will turn in their papers that day.

Day Three:  The next day, students will edit their papers, looking for errors in conventions, grammar, and mechanics.

Day Four:  Final drafts are due.

 

Differentiated Instruction

For students who struggle with reading, I will create a more scaffolded organizer—which has sentence starters for the introduction, one of the body paragraphs, and the conclusion.  I will provide individual feedback on their first drafts, pushing students on a one-on-one basis about their writing.  I will have the stronger writers, who finish first, act as “editors”.  For students who are really struggling, I will send them to the writing center for extra help during class and make myself available during lunch and afterschool.  Dictionaries will be available to assist students with spelling and thesauri will be available for students to improve their word choice.

 

Culturally Responsive Curriculum and Instruction

(1)  I’ve connected the article to something that is happening in students’ worlds.  This makes the text more relevant because they can see how this actually occurs in modern day society.

(2)  The text reflects some of the students in my class in that it is about Chinese culture.  Simultaneously it exposes students who are not Chinese to other cultures.

(3)  The letter itself is a genre in which students are familiar, thereby making the new topic easier to write about.

(4)  Students have a choice in whom they want to write to so that the audience is not unfamiliar to them.

(5)  Students have the opportunity to work with one another so that they feel more comfortable and more supported before during in final drafts.

 

 

 

One-Child Policy Letter

 

Who are you?  ________________________

 

Who are you writing to?  _______________

 

Introduction Who are you? Why are you writing? What is your major claim? What are your three reasons to support your claim?
Reason #1 What is your first reason? What two pieces of evidence support your reason?
Reason #2 What is your second reason? What two pieces of evidence support your reason?
Reason #3 What is your third reason? What two pieces of evidence support your reason?
Concluding Paragraph Restate (in different words) your major claim and the three reasons.  Make a plea to your audience that grabs their attention.

Peer Response Sheet:  Persuasive-Argument Letter

Writer’s Name:  ____________________________________________

 

Tile of Paper:  ______________________________________________

 

1. What do you like best about this letter?  What is working well?

 

 

 

 

2. Please state what you believe to be the position the writer is proving in this paper.

 

 

 

 

3. What are the others reasons for the author’s claim?

 

 

 

 

4. Do you have any problems following or accepting the reasons for the writer’s position?  Would you make any changes in the reasoning?

 

 

 

 

5. How persuasive is the writer’s evidence?  Is there enough evidence?  Is the evidence explained with detail, examples and description?  Can you suggest evidence the writer has overlooked?

 

 

 

 

6. Has the writer provided sufficient transitions to guide you through the paper, especially before and after the opposing argument?

 

 

 

 

7. If this were your paper, what would you work on before turning it in?

 

 

 

 

Reader’s Name:  ___________________________________________

Sample Writing Lesson Plan