Birthday Parties Co-Teaching

LESSON  PLAN  FOR  WRITER’S WORKSHOP: CO-TEACHING

Class: Indra                                                       Date: March 20, 2012

Time: 9:15am- 10:15am                                    Subject: Language Arts (Writing)

Other Participants: Lisa, Margaret, Fern

Curriculum Expectations

Overall Expectation:1. generate, gather, and organize ideas and information to write for an intended purpose and audience

Specific Expectations

1.2: generate ideas about a potential topic, using a variety of strategies and resources

2.2: establish a personal voice in their writing, with a focus on using familiar words that convey their attitude or feeling towards the subject or audience

Materials

Writing paper

Picture (birthday celebration)

Chart paper

Resources

Ministry of Education : Language (2006)

Writing Styles Photo Prompts (Edu. Press)

LESSON PLAN

Lesson Plan/Instruction Method/Length                                    

Activation

* Ask students to turn to a partner and share what happened at his/her birthday party or a birthday party they have attended             ( whole group 2 mins )

* Recall students and invite them to share their experiences

* On chart paper teacher records birthday words

Lesson

* Have chart paper with B M E on it

       * Place birthday picture in Middle section

* Ask students to brainstorm with partner

-         what happened before the picture

-         what is happening in the picture

-         what happened after the picture  (15 min)

* Recall students and invite them to share their ideas

* Send students with partner to make a B M E about The Best Birthday Ever (20 mins)

CONSOLIDATION/DEBRIEFING (15 mins.)

* Put up all B M Es on board and let students talk about them

* Pair students with another partner to talk about their B M E

Extensions and Accommodations

*Students write independent story – add more birthday words to list if presented by students

*Write transition words on chart for students needing them (First, Next, Then)

*Some students draw pictures and add labels

Debriefing Notes

• students generally used the BME organizer well (Beginning, Middle, Ending)
• some pairs worked well together, while others needed some further modeling as to how to work cooperatively
• less time should be spent on the Think Pair Share, as the students got off topic after a couple of minutes
• use different strategies for the Think Pair Share (rather than always knee to knee), e.g. Mingle to Music (students have 20 seconds to talk to partner before music starts again)
• students were very literal in their interpretation of the Ultimate Birthday Party
• some students were writing in full sentences in the BME
• some students were very slow writing high frequency words
• students thought they had to record their ideas in order, from the beginning, middle and then the ending

Next Steps:

• practice writing all the words they know in five to ten minutes (only with students struggling to write the words they know quickly) either once a day or week --> by this point in Grade 2, students should be able to write 80 words (minimum) in 10 minutes --> give clues as to how to increase the numbers of words, e.g., friends' names, rhyming words, small words
• when group brainstorming about a topic is not part of a lesson, students should brainstorm a vocabulary list or ideas list on the back of the graphic organizer before completing the BME
• review that the ideas can be place in the BME in an order (e.g., if you have an idea for the ending, write it down near the end of the E)

Learning Goals:

• Grade 1 students and students on an IEP in Grade 2 will continue to work on generating ideas (Curriculum Expectation 1.2, Ontario Curriculum Documents)
• Grade 2 students will move on to Expectation 2.2 from the Ontario Curriculum Document (establishing personal voice) and Expectation 2.5 (point of view)

Assessment Goals:

• By the end of April, redo Adventure Story assessment (from EQAO document) to compare to initial results.