Writing Mini-Lesson Template

Name: Holly Hughitt Date: 4/23/2013

Grade: 3rd Writing Trait: IdeasFocus Area: Using Pictures to Aid in Adding Details and Imagery

Curriculum StandardsSOL(s):3.9 The student will write for a variety of purposes.b) Use a variety of prewriting strategies. e) Use strategies for organization of information and elaboration according to the type of writing. f) Include details that elaborate the main idea.

Essential Question(s):How can we use pictures to help us make our sentences and, in turn stories, more detailed and interesting?Lesson Objectives:

The students will be able to create a list of details about a familiar item, utilizing a picture of the

item, 100% of the time.

The students will be able to utilize their detail lists when adding details to sentences 100% of the

time that the students develop them.

Assessment of Objectives:

I will collect evidence that individual students have indeed met the lesson objectives through

observation of guided practice, discussion with students, and my review of each student’s work (detail list

and evolution of their sentences) as I circulate throughout the room from pair to pair.

Explicit Explanation/Direct Instruction:

Teacher: “This week we’ll be using details to support and elaborate on topics. Today we’re going to be

doing an activity today that draws on detail use in a big way, especially imagery. We’re going to be looking

at pictures today. Why are we using pictures and what does this have to do with writing you ask? A lot more

than you may think actually. Have you all ever heard the expression, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words?’

Well, this is not to say that pictures are better than words, rather, for any given picture, there are many things

that can be said about it and lots of information that can be gathered from it.’

‘If you are having a hard time identifying details about something, looking at a picture of it, or even

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

simply picturing it in your head, can be a great place to start.”

Model (Mentor Text, Teacher Writing):

“So how do we actually do this? Well let’s use a sentence that I’ve written and we’ll figure it out

together.’

‘I’m writing a story about a king. One of my sentences simply says ‘The king sits on his throne.’

‘Is this sentence very exciting or interesting? It is detailed or descriptive? If I were to remove the words

‘king’ and ‘throne,’ (the two nouns in the sentence?) so that the sentence simply said, ‘The ___ sits on his

___’ would you have any idea of what my sentence was about?’

‘Well I don’t think that I would if it wasn’t my own sentence. I’m not satisfied with my sentence, I want

to make it more interesting, but I’m not sure how to start doing that.’

‘Both mental and literal pictures come in handy here, there are several ways that I can use them to help

me make my sentence more detailed.’

‘If I’m having trouble visualizing my king, remember visualizing means forming my own picture

in my head, one simple way to use pictures to help me come up with details and ways to make my

sentence more interesting is to find a actual picture of a king to look at. ’

‘A second way that I can use pictures is to visualize, or form a picture in my head, of my king and

use the picture that I created in my head to gather details for my sentence. I could picture him sitting

on his throne.’

‘A third way to use pictures to help you is to draw your own picture; in this case I would be drawing

a picture of my king. I, personally, really like this way, however it tends to take longer than the other

two that I just talked about with you. Also, this way can be hard to do if you do not already have a

mental picture, a picture in your head, of what your king looks like. So if you have trouble

visualizing, then this way may be difficult.’

‘Today we are going to use the first method, or way, of using pictures to help us make our sentences

more interesting. We will be adding details that we gathered by looking at our picture of our object that we

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

want to describe with more detail and making a list of all of the details that we notice or observations that we

have. If the picture makes you think of something, we can even write down. Then we will be able to use the

list that we created to add detail to our sentence and make it more interesting.”

(Show students pre-selected picture of a king. You can also have multiple pictures and ask the students

which one they think you should use.)

(The following is assuming the first king, the one wearing the blue robe, is selected.)

Teacher: “Here I have a picture of my king. So what did I say that we should do first guys?”

Students: “Look at the picture and write a list of details.”

Teacher: “Great job guys, exactly! I am going to look at the picture of the king and I am going making a

list of all of the details that I notice and observations that I make. If the picture makes me think of something

or seems to have a certain characteristic, I am going to write down that down too. So, after I’ve made my

list, then what do I do? Am I done, mission accomplished?

Students: “No, you’re not done yet.”

Teacher: “Wait, you’re telling me that just writing a list of details and our topic isn’t enough to make

my sentence more interesting and descriptive?”

Students: “No, you have to use them.”

Teacher: “Use them? Oh that’s right, after I’ve made my list of details, then I’ll be able to use that list

that I created to add details to my sentence and make it more interesting. I’m sure glad that I have all of you

to keep me straight and remind me about things like this. I don’t know what I would do without you all!’

‘Well I think that I’m ready to start writing down details.”

(Create a list of details pertaining to or describing the picture, identify the first few details on your own,

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

all the while illustrating and modeling for students how to identify details be verbally telling them your

thoughts and the reasons for your choices stream-of-consciousness. Then, after modeling for students,

ask for student advice in determining and identifying details about the picture to write down on your list.)

*An “Elmo” or an equivalent device is optimal for activities like this, however you could also write your

list on a white board or flip chart.*

Example List:

Blue robe

Lined with white fur

Majestic

White and Gray hair

Shoulder length

gold crown on head

seems confident

scepter

beard

Heavy gold medallion necklace

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

Sword

Jewels in scepter, crown, sword, and on fingers

Light wood throne

Seems calm

Every piece of metal that he’s wearing appears to be gold

Old

Healthy

Seems wise

Red shirt

Wealthy

Teacher: “Wow guys, this is a great list of details. Look at how many we were able to come up with!

We’ve got some really awesome details in here too! Let’s see, we have ________, wow, I like that one a lot,

______, and _______, we did a really good job with these guys! I think that we can make a great sentence

with these.’

“So I think that the word majestic would work really well in our sentence. Let’s say, ‘The majestic king

sits on his throne.’ What other details do you all think we should add?”

(Ask for student suggestions and add more details to the sentence one by one. Be sure that the students

can see both you and the sentence and that you are orating everything that you do and any vital thought

processes about choices that you make in regard to detail placement and the reconstruction of your

sentence. When your sentence is completed have a volunteer read it aloud. Leave the sentence in plain

sight for the remainder of the lesson for the students to use as a reference if needed.)

(Below is an example of a possible end product. This sentence is fairly elaborate and I encourage you to

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

use your discretion as to how much detail you want to add to your sentence.)

The majestic king sat confidently upon his wooden throne, the large amounts of gold jewelry which he wore

everyday shone in the torchlight, the gems embedded in his crown and scepter glittering.

Guided Practice:

“Class, today we are going to be separating into pairs and each pair is going to get a note card with a

picture on it and a simple sentence, which has that object as the subject, written out next to it. I want you and

your partner to work together to create a list of details that describe this object or that you can apply to this

object. Remember, if the picture makes you think of something or seems to have a certain characteristic, go

ahead and write that down in your list too.’

‘Each pair should have three pieces of paper and two pencils. You need three pieces of paper because

even though you will be creating you list as a pair afterwards you will each choose details from your list and

rewrite the sentence in a way that you feel is more interesting.’

‘After both you and your partner have written your sentences I want you to read them to each other

and discuss them. Give each other suggestions and feedback on the sentences. I would also like for you to

discuss what is similar about your sentences, what is different, and whether or not the meaning of either of

the sentences has changed.’

‘Please stay on task, but also have a good time with this guys, it can be lots of fun. Are there any

questions about what we’re going to be doing?”

(It is important to take a minute to answer any student questions about the activity and to clear up

confusion that the students might have.)

“I will be coming around, talking to groups, looking at what you’re coming up with, and answering

any questions that might come up. Remember to raise your hands if you have a question or need help. I will

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

come to you.”

(Circulate throughout the classroom, moving from pair to pair, observing student work and discussion,

answering questions, and providing guidance and scaffolding, in the form of prompts and suggestion,

where needed.)

(If you have sufficient time ask the pairs to switch note cards or give each pair a new note card and have

the students repeat the activity with their new picture and sentence. This is a great opportunity to scaffold

back in places where scaffolding was originally provided. If certain pairs finish earlier than others,

provide them new pictures and sentences. It would be beneficial for these to be a bit more challenging

than the original ones since these pairs are likely finishing early because they are finding the activity to

be less challenging for them than it is for their classmates.)

*Wrap-up and reinforcement of skill/concept from seeing examples of work from multiple peers:

When the students have completed the activity ask for volunteers to read their sentence or sentences

to the class. Ask the volunteers to read their original sentence as well as their rewritten format of it.

(Remember to encourage the students, provide constructive criticism, and commend the students on

achievements and work well done.)

Rationale:

It is my strong belief that lessons which succeed in optimizing interactive learning opportunities for

students and which present the content and skills, for which mastery is a desired outcome of the lesson, in an

abstract method, format, or manner, typically have more impact on the students and therefore are more

effective than using the same presentation manner, format, and methods of teaching which the students have

come to find commonplace, and in far too many instances, uninteresting. I am not ignorant of the fact that

some, in fact I suspect many, would baulk at utilizing the level of familiarity and informality entertained by

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

some of the language and phrasing which my lesson utilizes, and admittedly perhaps imposes, upon the

teacher and his or her students. I recognize that this concern is probably particularly valid in a direct

instruction situation. However I would challenge the very existence of this concern by posing the question:

“How can we, as conscientious educators, ever, even merely for the time span of a single lesson, willfully

submit ourselves, our teaching, and most importantly, our students, to a situation in which there is no room

for familiarity between the teacher and his or her students? I find the morality behind such a decision is

highly questionable. The possible justification for such a decision I find hard to fathom and suspect that

upon the presentation of said a justification, if there is one, that I would find myself innately critical of this

justification and liable to be extremely dubious of its soundness. I will clarify that I would not be closed to

the possibility of the existence of a sound justification, nor would I fail to entertain the words of one who

claims to present such a justification, in fact, I would welcome it. It is extremely important to always be

receptive of information which conflicts with a belief which we currently posses and also to do one’s best to

consider this information without bias. This is how we learn, grow, and evolve.

Even in my lesson I challenge the students by presenting them with tasks with which they are unfamiliar

and which, to them, may very well seem backwards. I have entertained the notion that we learn best when

we are put off guard. It could be suggested that by briefly interrupting the stream of assumptions which our

students (our brains) are constantly making, as they should, we open up a “crack” in their shield which for

them defines what “is” and rejects what “isn’t.” I feel it could reasonably be suggested that in a second hand

way, this experience shared some of the same aspects and ideas of dissonance. Essentially, if we take away,

or open up for editing, a student’s definition or idea of what is, we have an opportunity to broaden that

student’s way of thinking. This is obviously walking a fine line in some aspects and we, as educators, must

be extremely conscientious of this. An open mind is an amazing thing, however we must be cognizant of

what we present to a student who is doing us the honor of putting their trust and faith completely in our

hands. An open mind is soaring over mountaintops and gazing down through the eyes of an eagle; it is

venturing into space without so much as a rocket; it is coming to your enemy’s defense of their stance which

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

directly conflicts with yours; it is a pacifist considering human sacrifice as one of a set of theoretical possible

best outcome to a situation; it is anything and it is everything, and that is the beauty of an open mind.

We tell students that they can do something; and so, they can do it.

Outside Resources:

1. http://www.proprofs.com/games/puzzle/sliding/upload/209984_1259987234.jpg

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

1.

2. http://api.ning.com/files/eUgqes-rAcPHryPXqvmKGN0YYmUkGWeEGyysFV0ag1zJ60Gq4bV10e8dffGB7GB8BWrX1EbbNXTFjOEgjJ4*qcfJ43NcFNi8/tonga11.jpg?width=721

2.

3. http://www.dreamstime.com/medieval-king-thumb14882721.jpg

3.

Below are a few pictures that I will be using and that are samples of pictures that could be utilized in this activity:

Writing Mini-Lesson Template

Writing Mini-Lesson Template