Learning Experience Plan
Subject: English Language Arts Grade level: 12
Unit: Creative Writing
Topic: Formulating an Expository Essay through Descriptive Writing
Content Standards:
◦ CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1d Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
◦ CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2c Use appropriate and varied transitions and syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among complex ideas and concepts.
Learning Experience Outcomes
Students will:
· Make independent observations
· Apply information to appropriate categories
· Organize information into concise paragraphs
· Reflect on their learning experience
Learning Experience Assessments
· Students record the observations on the cookie and donut in their notebook
· Students take their observations and place them in the provided “senses chart”
· Students move their organized information into a more complex, expository essay graphic organizer to form their paragraphs
· Students ask two questions of their learning experience for homework that night
Differentiation
Approaching
Approaching students will be able to use the graphic organizers to their advantage. Instead of starting from the top, they will be able to build their essay piece by piece, which will ultimately make it easier to find struggling points throughout the assignment.
On-level
On-level students will be able to take the graphic organizers and focus more on the application of information. They will have no problem filling out the organizers but it is putting it in essay format that will challenge them and raise questions
Beyond
Beyond students will be able to quickly fill out the charts and move onto the expository essay. Their task will most likely focus on perfecting their writing skills and implementing the appropriate grammar and sequencing in the paragraphs
Curriculum Integration
Materials/Resources
Procedures/Strategies
Cookie/Donut
Sense chart
SmartBoard/ Chalkboard/Expository Essay Graphic Organizer
Expository Essay Graphic Organizer
Day 1
Sponge Activity (activity that will be done as students enter the room to get them into the mindset of the concept to be learned) As the students enter the classroom they will be provided with a cookie and a munchkin donut. They will be told to not eat them immediately but to first sit down and examine the two foods as well as they can and record it in their notebooks. The students will not be directed on how they should observe but rather have the opportunity to use their own instincts.
Anticipatory Set (focus question/s that will be used to get students thinking about the day’s lesson) The students will then take their information and review it against two “senses charts” (below) to see if they observed the object to the best of their abilities.. I will then direct the class towards the lesson with focus questions on the board: “What is an expository essay?” “What are the steps we should take as writers when approaching an expository essay?” “How can using descriptive language improve our writing?”
Direct Instruction (input, modeling, check for understanding) I will direct the class to the board where I will have the definition of Expository essays posted and the three steps for getting started. “Today we are going to build our expository essays through the skill of descriptive language. As you can see, the definition of expository essay is posted on the board so please copy it into your notebook: ‘The expository essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea in a clear and concise manner. This can be accomplished through comparison and contrast, definition, example, the analysis of cause and effect, etc.’ We are going to learn how to write a comparison and contrast essay, one of the types of expository essays, using two foods you observed earlier. This is where your descriptive writing using your senses will come in handy as well! Because none of you are aware of how to write this type of essay, let’s go through the beginning steps for getting started:
1. Brainstorm topic and main idea: In this case, I have provided you a topic to compare and contrast, the cookie and the donut. In the future, it is good to look for topics that are answering a focus type question and can be answered all the way through your paper. As we will see with the donut and cookie, we can answer how they are alike and different in a concise manner.
2. Do research/ take notes: Although you have listed your first observations on the senses chart, it is important to go back and make sure your language is as descriptive as possible. The more notes you take on your essay topics, the more material you will have to inform the reader. (I will then post the senses chart on the smart board for the students to come up and share their notes and receive the maximum amount of information)
3. Create and outline with paragraphs and logical sequencing: Now that we have all of our notes in an organized way, it is important that our essay is formed with paragraphs that relate back to our topic and involve supporting sentences to bring the essay fully circle. I am going to provide everyone with a graphic organizer that will allow us to break our notes down to where they belong in order to form our final expository essay (below).”
(I will then guide the students by providing them with the essay topic and subtopics in order to get them started. This will also provide them with samples of appropriate topic sentences for future expository writing assignments.)
Guided Practice (how students will demonstrate their grasp of new learning) The students will then work independently to fill out their supporting sentences in the graphic organizer. I will collect their work at the end of class in order to make personal corrections for them to improve upon. My evaluative criteria will be using the three steps I used during my direct instruction for planning out an expository essay as a checklist. The first and final draft of the expository essay will be decided after I have assessed if the students need more enforcement before moving entirely on their own with the topic.
Closure (action/statement by teacher designed to bring lesson presentation to an appropriate close) Students will be asked to write down two “I can…” statements on an index card to hand in before they exit the classroom. These statements should summarize two main skills that the students can now accomplish independently after the completion of the learning segment.
Independent Practice: “I would like everyone to go home and write down two questions you have about expository writing that you would like answered before you are asked to hand in your first draft.”
Subject: English Language Arts Grade level: 12
Unit: Creative Writing
Topic: Formulating an Expository Essay through Descriptive Writing
Content Standards:
◦ CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1d Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
◦ CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.2c Use appropriate and varied transitions and syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among complex ideas and concepts.
Learning Experience Outcomes
Students will:
· Make independent observations
· Apply information to appropriate categories
· Organize information into concise paragraphs
· Reflect on their learning experience
Learning Experience Assessments
· Students record the observations on the cookie and donut in their notebook
· Students take their observations and place them in the provided “senses chart”
· Students move their organized information into a more complex, expository essay graphic organizer to form their paragraphs
· Students ask two questions of their learning experience for homework that night
Differentiation
Approaching
Approaching students will be able to use the graphic organizers to their advantage. Instead of starting from the top, they will be able to build their essay piece by piece, which will ultimately make it easier to find struggling points throughout the assignment.
On-level
On-level students will be able to take the graphic organizers and focus more on the application of information. They will have no problem filling out the organizers but it is putting it in essay format that will challenge them and raise questions
Beyond
Beyond students will be able to quickly fill out the charts and move onto the expository essay. Their task will most likely focus on perfecting their writing skills and implementing the appropriate grammar and sequencing in the paragraphs
Curriculum Integration
Materials/Resources
Procedures/Strategies
Cookie/Donut
Sense chart
SmartBoard/ Chalkboard/Expository Essay Graphic Organizer
Expository Essay Graphic Organizer
Day 1
Sponge Activity (activity that will be done as students enter the room to get them into the mindset of the concept to be learned) As the students enter the classroom they will be provided with a cookie and a munchkin donut. They will be told to not eat them immediately but to first sit down and examine the two foods as well as they can and record it in their notebooks. The students will not be directed on how they should observe but rather have the opportunity to use their own instincts.
Anticipatory Set (focus question/s that will be used to get students thinking about the day’s lesson) The students will then take their information and review it against two “senses charts” (below) to see if they observed the object to the best of their abilities.. I will then direct the class towards the lesson with focus questions on the board: “What is an expository essay?” “What are the steps we should take as writers when approaching an expository essay?” “How can using descriptive language improve our writing?”
Direct Instruction (input, modeling, check for understanding) I will direct the class to the board where I will have the definition of Expository essays posted and the three steps for getting started. “Today we are going to build our expository essays through the skill of descriptive language. As you can see, the definition of expository essay is posted on the board so please copy it into your notebook: ‘The expository essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea in a clear and concise manner. This can be accomplished through comparison and contrast, definition, example, the analysis of cause and effect, etc.’ We are going to learn how to write a comparison and contrast essay, one of the types of expository essays, using two foods you observed earlier. This is where your descriptive writing using your senses will come in handy as well! Because none of you are aware of how to write this type of essay, let’s go through the beginning steps for getting started:
1. Brainstorm topic and main idea: In this case, I have provided you a topic to compare and contrast, the cookie and the donut. In the future, it is good to look for topics that are answering a focus type question and can be answered all the way through your paper. As we will see with the donut and cookie, we can answer how they are alike and different in a concise manner.
2. Do research/ take notes: Although you have listed your first observations on the senses chart, it is important to go back and make sure your language is as descriptive as possible. The more notes you take on your essay topics, the more material you will have to inform the reader. (I will then post the senses chart on the smart board for the students to come up and share their notes and receive the maximum amount of information)
3. Create and outline with paragraphs and logical sequencing: Now that we have all of our notes in an organized way, it is important that our essay is formed with paragraphs that relate back to our topic and involve supporting sentences to bring the essay fully circle. I am going to provide everyone with a graphic organizer that will allow us to break our notes down to where they belong in order to form our final expository essay (below).”
(I will then guide the students by providing them with the essay topic and subtopics in order to get them started. This will also provide them with samples of appropriate topic sentences for future expository writing assignments.)
Guided Practice (how students will demonstrate their grasp of new learning) The students will then work independently to fill out their supporting sentences in the graphic organizer. I will collect their work at the end of class in order to make personal corrections for them to improve upon. My evaluative criteria will be using the three steps I used during my direct instruction for planning out an expository essay as a checklist. The first and final draft of the expository essay will be decided after I have assessed if the students need more enforcement before moving entirely on their own with the topic.
Closure (action/statement by teacher designed to bring lesson presentation to an appropriate close) Students will be asked to write down two “I can…” statements on an index card to hand in before they exit the classroom. These statements should summarize two main skills that the students can now accomplish independently after the completion of the learning segment.
Independent Practice: “I would like everyone to go home and write down two questions you have about expository writing that you would like answered before you are asked to hand in your first draft.”