Lesson Plan: Informative Writing


Story: Tadpole to Frog
Author: Fay Robinson
Grade: 1st Grade
Objective: To construct an informative sentence based on the reading Tadpole to Frog.
Standards and Grade Expectation:
L/S: 1.1, 1.3, 1.5
R: 1.3
W: 1.2, 1.3, 1.4

Integration with: Science and Art

Materials and/or Technology

-Textbook (Tadpole to Frog from Reading Take a Closer Look 1.2)
-Pictures
-Drawings
-Flashcards
-CD of Story
-CD player
-Construction Paper
-Notebook
-Worksheet
-Crayons
-Scissors
-Markers

Day 1

1) Students will review title of the story.
2) Students will listen to the story (CD).
3) Students will read vocabulary words.

Day 2

1) Teacher will activate prior knowledge about the story.
2) Teacher will ask what was the author’s purpose of writing the story.
3) Teacher will ask what they learned about tadpoles and frogs.

Day 3

1) Students will be asked to think about what they learned about tadpoles.
2) On the chalkboard, teacher will write frog and tadpole facts using a web diagram.
3) Teacher will tell students that Tadpole to Frog is a story that gives the reader information about a real animal. By letting students know this, they can understand that it is a nonfiction story.

Day 4

1) Students will recall aloud some of the things they learned about tadpoles and frogs.
2) Teacher will tell students these are facts and they give us information.
3) Teacher will put some words on the flashcard holder with which the students can use to write their information on frogs and tadpoles.
4) In their notebook, students will write a fact about tadpoles or frogs.
5) Students will take turns to read their sentences out loud to the class.

Day 5

1) Teacher will tell students that today they will receive a construction paper and they will write their informative sentence on the paper.
2) Students will illustrate their sentence.
3) At the end, all pictures will be collected by the teacher and a class book will be formed for the reading center.

Day 6

1) Students will receive a frog activity sheet.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/profbooks/tadpole.pdf
2) Students will complete the sheet as a closing activity.

Comment on "Using writing in disciplinary, subject-matter courses"

I found Elbow's article "Using writing in disciplinary, subject-matter courses" to be very valuable for any teacher, not just writing or English teachers, because I believe writing really is an important part of any education, in any field, and the only way to expose students and get them to write freely and fluently is through practice and exposure. Also, he suggests many different strategies that help make this easier on both the teachers and the students, especially to motivate teachers to adopt his suggestions.

In my case, I have incorporated more formal aspects of writing, such as research or short oral reports, but the problem with this is that parents usually help the students at home, so the result is not entirely the student's. I have not used informal writing as much, and I now plan to do so at least once a week to help my students in their learning process and get to know their own style or needs better.

Lesson Plan

Theme: Descriptive Writing
Grade: 2nd Grade

Standards and Grade Level Expectation
- L/S: 2.3
- R: 2.3, 2.4
- W: 2.3, 2.4

Objective: Students will construct a sentence describing one of the animals in the story.

Materials:
- Story Book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?

Initial Activities:
1- Greetings
2- Teacher will review vocabulary words.
3- Teacher will review characters of the story.
4- Teacher will review what is an adjective.

Developmental Activities:
1- Teacher will present the picture of character (Brown Bear) and ask students to describe him.
2- Teacher will do a concept web organizer using bear and the descriptions given by students.
3- Teacher will students to construct a sentence to describe Bear.
4- Students will construct the sentences out loud and teacher will copy it on the board.

Closing Activities:
1- Students will choose a worksheet with a picture of another character and will construct their own descriptive sentence.
2- Students will write their sentence on the worksheet and color the animal.
3- They will present their sentence in front of the class.

Benefits of Low-Stakes Writing

Elbow's suggestions happen to be of great interest to me, given the fact that most students in Puerto Rico are reluctant to learning a second language. Implementing low-stakes writing in our ESL classroom on a daily basis can be of great benefit since practice makes perfect. It might be of great help for our students because it keeps them busy, it lowers anxiety, serves as a relaxation technique, and makes them practice frequently at the same time. Probably by the time our next standardized tests are due, our students can preform better in their writing section. I'm inspired to implement it with my students this coming school year.

What teachers Make.

Once again through this video, it is seen how our profession is underestimated by those who forget that they are what they are thanks to a teacher. Taylor Mali on this video, through comedy, presents the common sterotype of a teacher through the eyes of other professionals. He domonstrates how our work goes unknown by other professionals and how we are put aside by them. Our salary may not be like any lawyer, doctor, or other professional's salary, but the passion and dedication that teachers feel is more valuable than money, and, at the end of the day we can say that we make a difference.

Tecnología o Metodología

This video shows how they try to disguise the same method of instruction with enhanced technology. There is no point to have so many materials and resources if they are not to be used in a dynamic and involving these instruments. There are times when you have more current knowledge but no resources. New methods should be taken into consideration since teachers usually always opt for the "easy way" and use more archaic methods. The different student needs (special needs, large amounts of students) sometimes motivate this problem of lack of evolution in teaching strategies.

A Proposal for a Taxonomy of ESL Writing Strategies

After reading Congjun Mu's "A Proposal for a Taxonomy of ESL Writing Strategies", I share Mu's position that research strategies are

"based on individuals and individual reports [so] they are sometimes completely different."

Therefore, we sometimes find the ideas, classifications, and categories listed in these researchers' theories to be difficult to put into practice in the ESL teaching process.


His goal in conducting the study was to build a basic frame for the classification of ESL writing strategies. He divided them into five main branches: communicative strategies, rhetorical strategies, meta-cognitive strategies, cognitive strategies, and social/affective strategies. I believe that this is the most organized and concise division that has been presented, despite the limitations he himself established. It may, however, then lead to other studies and new perspectives from other researchers that can be more relevant when put into practice.