Catie's lesson plan 7/11/06

Catie Riley
BWP – Lesson Plan

Title: Big Emotions, Small Moments

Grade: 4th

Goal: TLW choose from a vast array of activities that pertain to the text and/or a feeling they have felt at specific times. TLW be actively engaged, discovering genuine purpose and meaning in writing in response to literature.

Objectives:
TEKS: Grade 4
1: A: determine the purposes for listening such as to gain information, to slove problems, or to enjoy and appreciate
3: A: listen to proficient, fluent models of oral reading, including selections from classic and contemporary works
B: describe how the language of literature affects the listener
10: A: Use his/her own knowledge and experience to comprehend
B: Establish and adjust purposes for reading such as reading to find out, to understand, to interpret, to enjoy , and to solve problems
D: describe mental images that text descriptions evoke
F: determine a text’s main (or major) ideas and how those ideas are supported with details
G: paraphrase and summarize text to recall, inform, and organize ideas
H: draw inferences such as conclusions or generalizations and support them with text evidence and experience
11: A: offer observations, make connections, react, speculate, interpret, and raise
questions in response to texts
B: interpret text ideas through such varied means as journal writing, discussion
enactment, media
C: support responses by referring to relevant aspects of text and his/her own
experiences
D: connect, compare, and contrast ideas, themes, and issues across text
14: Reading/culture: the student reads to increase knowledge of his/her own culture,
the culture of others, and the common elements of cultures
A: compare text events with his/her own and other readers’ experiences
B: determine distinctive and common characteristics of cultures through wide
reading
C: articulate and discuss themes and connections that cross cultures
15: A: write to express, discover, record, develop, reflect on ideas, and to problem
solve
C: write to inform such as to explain, describe, report, and narrate
E: exhibit an identifiable voice in personal narratives and in stories
F: choose the appropriate form for his/her own purpose for writing, including
journals, letters, reviews, poems, narratives, and instructions
16: A: write legible by selecting cursive or manuscript as appropriate
B: capitalize and punctuate correctly to clarify and enhance meaning such as
capitalizing titles, using possessives, commas in a series, commas in direct
address, and sentence punctuation
17: A: write with accurate spelling of syllable constructions, including coosed, open,
consonant before –le, and syllable boundary patterns
B: write with accurate spelling of roots such as drink, speak, read, or happy,
inflections such as those that change tense or number, suffixes such as –able, or –
less, and prefixes such as re- or –un
C: use resources to find correct spellings
D: spell accurately in final drafts
19: A: generate ideas and plans for writing by using such prewriting strategies as
brainstorming, graphic organizers, notes, and logs
F: use available technology to support aspects of creating, revising, editing and
publishing texts


Theory:
One facet of teaching that concerns me is in the area of student motivation. Motivated students can do wonders in the classroom – but what about the ones who aren’t? My goal was to find out how I can ensure that all of my students will be motivated writers. “The chief impediments to learning are not cognitive. It is not that the students cannot learn, it is that they do not wish to,” (Galda, p. 43).
An abundance of research sources have guided me in this six-week journey; I’ve had to poke and prod and pick and probe, and all of that has landed me right back in Lucy Calkin’s lap (for this particular lesson, anyway). Specifically, this lesson regards a strategy writers use to generate powerful personal narratives (Calkins, p. 32).
In my research, I discovered that there are many more factors involved with student motivation than what I had previously thought. I also learned that there are a number of ways to cultivate student motivation, which leaves me with high hopes for my future classroom. There were so many different directions I could have gone with this, but the main reason why I chose to go with this particular activity was because for myself, as a writer, I know that one motivational obstacle I face is merely getting started. Once that happens, I can get on a roll. I see myself as a writer and I want my kids to see themselves as writers – we all have a story to tell – it’s just a matter of finding the motivation to tell it.
It is imperative that students make connections from their lives outside the classroom to their lives inside the classroom. It is then that they are more likely to be motivated to learn and to participate and be fully engaged in writing activities. In this “culturally responsive instruction,” instructors “build on children’s home culture…to further develop their literacy skills,” Grambell, p. 260).
Part of what I feel blocks students’ motivation are the mundane and mind-numbing aspects of writing assignments. “…Writing Workshop may be enhanced by computer-based collaborations. When children brainstorm, write drafts, revise, edit, and publish with a word processing program, they can focus more on managing their ideas and less on tedious mechanical aspects of writing,” (Grambell, p. 320).
The way in which I am approaching this lesson should provide plenty of opportunity for student choice, which also fosters motivation. In providing students with “access to materials for reading and writing, choices in literacy activities, challenging situations, and collaborative experiences,” (McLeod, p. 63), we bestow an atmosphere that is conducive to motivation.
How am I going to motivate my students to find their place in the writing world? This is one of the many ways.
References
Calkins, Lucy and Ted Kesler. 2006. Raising the Quality of Narrative Writing.
Portsmouth, NH: FirstHand.
Galda, Lee, and Bernice E. Cullinan. 2002. Literature and the Child: Fifth Edition.
Belmont, California: Wadsworth Group.
Grambell, Linda B., et al. 1999. Best Practices in Literacy Instruction. New York: The
Guilford Press.


Procedure:

Read Mr. Lincoln’s Way by Patricia Polacco to the class.
Revisit the text, discussing different feelings characters felt throughout the story, noting on the board. When have we felt the same feelings?
Model a feeling/emotion and at what times in my own life I have felt it.
Then the students will do the same thing, in their writing notebooks, regarding one particular strong feeling.
Once they gather a few ideas that pertain to one particular feeling, they will select the one that seems the most significant.
Use the Menu provided to complete the activities.


Assessment: Authentic assessment will parallel with the students’ activities of their choosing.

Extension: Extension ideas are listed as “Desserts” on the Menu.