Writing Leads Lesson Plan
Common Core State Standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.2.A: Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
Objective: Students will choose and use leads for their personal essay.
Materials:
· Chart
· Handout
· Writing binders
· Personal essays
Procedure:
1. Lesson Introduction/Objective and purpose:
· “This week you have started writing your personal essays about a topic of your choice. You started by making boxes and bullets in order to state your thesis and figure out your supporting details. Today, we are going to work on revising your introductions to have a hook. A hook is used to grab or catch the reader’s attention so that they want to read more.”
2. Teach and model:
· “Today I want to share my writing journal with you. I also began planning my personal essay. This is my boxes and bullets. My thesis is “I love sports” and my three supporting details are “They keep me fit”, “Sports are fun”, and “I get to be with my friends and meet new people”. For each of my details I also have a supporting example. Lets look at my opening paragraph. I want people to read my essay and be interested in my topic. In order to do this, I need a better hook that grabs my reader’s attention.”
· “What are some types of hooks I could use? I have created a chart that we can use to brainstorm some ideas.”
o Brainstorm list of leads.
· “So, in order to grab my audience’s attention, I would want to pick one of these leads to use in my introduction paragraph. I was looking up quotes about playing sports and I found “Sports do not build character, they reveal it” –Heywood Broun. This quote may hook readers to continue reading my personal essay because they will want to know more about sports.
3. Guided Practice:
· “Using a quotation is just one way to hook my readers into reading my story. I would like you to turn and talk with your partner about a different lead I could have used and create an example for my piece.”
4. Assessment:
· You will be able to determine that the lesson was a success if, after introducing leads, they are able to brainstorm leads, gives another example of a lead for my personal essay, and effectively use a lead in their story.
5. Closure:
· “Today and every day we as writers should use leads to introduce our topics and hook the reader into continuing reading. To practice this, today in writers workshop, I would like you to try using one of the leads we talked about in your personal essay.”
· “This handout if for you to use while revising your personal essay. It gives the different hooks we talked about today with an example for each in case you need a reminder. You can also refer to the chart we made together.”
Common Core State Standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.4.2.A: Introduce a topic clearly and group related information in paragraphs and sections; include formatting (e.g., headings), illustrations, and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.
Objective: Students will choose and use leads for their personal essay.
Materials:
· Chart
· Handout
· Writing binders
· Personal essays
Procedure:
1. Lesson Introduction/Objective and purpose:
· “This week you have started writing your personal essays about a topic of your choice. You started by making boxes and bullets in order to state your thesis and figure out your supporting details. Today, we are going to work on revising your introductions to have a hook. A hook is used to grab or catch the reader’s attention so that they want to read more.”
2. Teach and model:
· “Today I want to share my writing journal with you. I also began planning my personal essay. This is my boxes and bullets. My thesis is “I love sports” and my three supporting details are “They keep me fit”, “Sports are fun”, and “I get to be with my friends and meet new people”. For each of my details I also have a supporting example. Lets look at my opening paragraph. I want people to read my essay and be interested in my topic. In order to do this, I need a better hook that grabs my reader’s attention.”
· “What are some types of hooks I could use? I have created a chart that we can use to brainstorm some ideas.”
o Brainstorm list of leads.
· “So, in order to grab my audience’s attention, I would want to pick one of these leads to use in my introduction paragraph. I was looking up quotes about playing sports and I found “Sports do not build character, they reveal it” –Heywood Broun. This quote may hook readers to continue reading my personal essay because they will want to know more about sports.
3. Guided Practice:
· “Using a quotation is just one way to hook my readers into reading my story. I would like you to turn and talk with your partner about a different lead I could have used and create an example for my piece.”
4. Assessment:
· You will be able to determine that the lesson was a success if, after introducing leads, they are able to brainstorm leads, gives another example of a lead for my personal essay, and effectively use a lead in their story.
5. Closure:
· “Today and every day we as writers should use leads to introduce our topics and hook the reader into continuing reading. To practice this, today in writers workshop, I would like you to try using one of the leads we talked about in your personal essay.”
· “This handout if for you to use while revising your personal essay. It gives the different hooks we talked about today with an example for each in case you need a reminder. You can also refer to the chart we made together.”