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Sarah Kron

ENGL 329 Unit Rationale

I will teach students a unit centered on a polished journal entry – the kind

that gives them a good starting point but allows for a lot of creativity wherever they

feel it best fits. Students will read The Hunger Games novel as a class, and will

understand the predicament that Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark faced as they

were chosen at the reaping, as well as how they felt during their first day at the

Capitol. The Hunger Games is written in first-person perspective, focusing on the

main character Katniss Everdeen’s point of view. This will enable the students to

see what it is like to keep a journal of your thoughts and actions throughout a

difficult time, and hopefully inspire their journal entries. Their journal entry will be

based off of one of two prompts: either (1) the day their name was pulled in the

reaping, or (2) their first day at the Capitol. The grammar principles I have chosen

to focus on for this unit include participial phrases, adjectives, and prepositional

phrases.

I’ve chosen participles and adjectives because I think they are both essential

for use in writing a journal entry about something as intense as the subject matter

they have been assigned. I feel that students generally have a grasp of what

adjectives may be, but understanding the difference between participles and

adjectives (and learning about participles first, so that they can more easily

differentiate between the two) will give them more tools to add to their writing

arsenal. They will be able to learn how the use of these grammar principles will aid

them in their writing, by adding descriptors and powerful imagery to their writing.

Participles are a great choice because they are the –ed and –ing words that

modify and describe other events going on during a sentence, aside from the main

subject and verb. These are action-packed and, through learning more about them,

students will realize that they add so much more to a sentence and really increase

the stakes in writing – and make it far more interesting to read! Participial phrases

are also great to introduce to students at this stage, because they can learn how to

incorporate them into different parts of their sentences (beginning, middle, or end)

for future writing, as well. Through the first day’s lesson, I hope the cookie analogy

will help them to realize that these are to be used with caution – only when they are

truly applicable and will help enhance the writing, not distract from it!

Adjectives, like I mentioned previously, are a principle that they’re likely

already familiar with to some extent. Teaching this concept through a mini-lesson

will perhaps help clear up any misunderstandings of what constitutes an “adjective”

and will help students see just how bland most writing is without their use. I feel

that adjectives are the perfect grammar concept to use with students who are

trying to learn to be more creative – which is something I want them to feel they are

able to do in this unit assignment of crafting a personal journal entry. Because the

journal entry is based on a fictional situation, my hope is that students will take the

idea and run with it, allowing their creativity to flow – especially through the aid of

these adjectives that can really color their writing.

Finally, I chose to incorporate prepositions and prepositional phrases into my

unit, because I feel that prepositions are so commonplace that most students don’t

even realize they are using them. Additionally, in teaching a mini-lesson on the

concept, I feel that students will readily understand that they may very well be

common, but they also can really help their writing become more vivid and

descriptive, just like participles and adjectives can. This lesson will hopefully help

them to see how easy it is to add in prepositions to their own writing, and be a

doorway to their ability to use them in their own writing in the future.

These are my learning objectives for the unit; connections to common core

anchor standards are identified in parentheses. The main unit goal is identified first

and objectives related specifically to language use are underneath.

Students will be able to write a purposeful journal entry that communicates

their experience as a part of The Hunger Games from a powerfully-voiced

first-person perspective, with the aid and implementation of participles,

adjectives, and prepositional phrases.

o Students will be able to recognize different uses for participial phrases

(modify, describe, etc.). Students will be able to use participial phrases

effectively in their own writing. (Language Arts 2.3.a. Evaluate and

Revise for: Carefully chosen vocabulary to achieve voice and purpose;

2.3.a. Edit for: Correct use of commas in introductory phrases and

clauses.)

o Students will be able to recognize different uses for participial phrases

(modify, describe, etc.). Students will be able to use participial phrases

effectively in their own writing. (Language Arts 2.1.b. Choose facts,

events, or ideas and distinguish their differences or demonstrate their

similarities; 2.3.a. Evaluate and revise for: Word Choice: Carefully

chosen vocabulary to achieve voice and purpose.)

o Students will be able to recognize different uses for prepositional

phrases. Students will be able to use participial phrases effectively in

their own writing. (Language Arts 2.3.a. Evaluate and Revise for:

Carefully chosen vocabulary to achieve voice and purpose; 2.3.a.

Evaluate and Revise for: Sentence Fluency: Varied sentence structure

(i.e., include complex and compound sentences).)

Sarah Kron

ENGL 329 Lesson Overviews

Lesson 1

This lesson will take place directly after the students have finished reading the novel The Hunger Games as a class. This lesson asks students to understand both the meaning and importance of using participial phrases in writing. This will serve as an introduction to the rest of the unit, where students will be discovering other grammatical means of improving their writing (moving into adjectives and later into prepositional phrases). In starting with participial phrases (and the cookie analogy), I hope to help students understand that in every form of writing – especially narrative/expository, as they are doing with their journal entries – that descriptors can be incredible writing tools to enhance their writing and make it more interesting to readers. I decided to use both sentence imitation and sentence scrambling in this lesson. I chose to use sentence imitation for all of my lesson plans with examples directly from the book itself, because I feel that this is a great way to get students to see examples they are familiar with and how the author uses this concept (in this case, participles), before moving into their own constructing of sentences. By using the sentence imitation framework, students are more comfortable move into creating their own sentences. I then use sentence scrambling in this lesson, as it is a fun way for students to see and understand that participles can come at the beginning, middle, or end of a sentence, although it does change the meaning of the sentence slightly depending on where you place it.

Lesson 2

In this lesson plan, we work on using adjectives to enhance our writing and make it more descriptive. By starting with the School House Rock video clip, students are able to quickly see how many different people, places, and things can be described (plus, who doesn’t love a little video clip/SHR to start off their day? ). Then by going off of the previously set-up framework from the last lesson of using examples from The Hunger Games, students will be able to clearly see how the author used adjectives in her writing. I give students the opportunity to practice with sentence imitation like they did in the previous lesson, to see that it is simple to use Suzanne Collins’ outline to make up their own sentences. Then I hope moving into a sentence expansion exercise with a sentence-starter will enable the students to have a nice springboard to go off of in their journal entries, if they haven’t yet started them or are having difficulty deciding what their feelings might have been if they had this experience themselves. Learning about the proper use of adjectives will hopefully help students understand how to use them to color their writing in the future – even when writing other non-narrative-type pieces.

Lesson 3

This lesson comes last in the sequence because I feel that sometimes the little details are best to be saved for last. Prepositions and prepositional phrases are frequently overlooked because they are so common in writing. However, this typically also means that they are glazed over in writing, as well, because they don’t come off as the most exciting sentence enhancers. Hence why I’m saving “the best for last!” Because the true surprise here for the students may be that prepositions help the reader understand more specifically what is going on in a sentence, by relating the main subject and verb to the people, places, and things around it. I start off with sentence imitation, for the same reasons as previously outlined in the aforementioned lesson plans. I feel this helps students to see the framework of the author they have been reading, and encourages and inspires them to more easily transition into creating similar sentences of their own. I then move into sentence expansion by starting them with a photo prompt of Peeta Mellark during the movie “The Hunger Games” during the reaping ceremony for District 12. I initially thought this might be a fun hook for the beginning of the lesson, but later decided it would be a better transition into the students working directly on their own journal entries. This is because the use of this photo so expand

the sentence “Peeta Mellark is ________________” will help students see that if they can literally place themselves in his current situation, they can come up with a handful (or more!) of prepositional phrases to describe themselves in their journal entries. This will give them a basic understanding of prepositional phrases that they can take with them to empower their writing (and even their speaking) when describing things in relation to one another.

Sarah KronENGL 329 Lesson Plan #1

PLANNING

Date: 27 November 2012 Class and Grade Level: Grade 9Title/Subject of Lesson: Using Participial PhrasesObjective(s): Students will be able to recognize different uses for participial phrases (modify, describe, etc.). Students will be able to use participial phrases effectively in their own writing.State (or District) Core Curriculum Standard(s):

2.3.a. Evaluate and Revise for: Carefully chosen vocabulary to achieve voice and purpose.2.3.a. Edit for: Correct use of commas in introductory phrases and clauses.Concept(s) to Be Taught:

Correct use of participial phrases Correct use of commas in adding participial phrases into writing

Materials Needed:

Participial phrase examples:

1) Concealed by a clump of bushes, I flatten out on my belly and slide under a two-foot stretch [of fence] that's been loose for years. (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

2) When I finally do come to my senses, I lie still, waiting for the next onslaught of imagery.(Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

3) The team works on me until late afternoon, turning my skin to glowing satin, stenciling patterns on my arms, painting flame designs on my twenty perfect nails.(Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

Overheads of the examples above, as well as the imitation and combining exercises (on separate pages at the end of the lesson plan)

Strategies to Be Used: Modeling, guided practice, independent practice Sentence imitation, sentence scrambling

PERFORMINGAnnouncements: (none)

Continuation from Previous Lesson: We just finished reading the book The Hunger Games as a class last week. Students have been using their imaginations and working on their drafts for a journal entry of either (a) the morning they found out their name was drawn to compete in The Hunger Games, or (b) the first day they spent at the Capitol. To help expand their ability to create voice and purpose with their writing, we’ve started looking at ways participial phrases are used and today students will have a chance to look at some examples of these from The Hunger Games, create their own sentences, and incorporate them into their own writing.

Lesson Presentation:A) Getting Started: [anticipatory set/hook]

[modeling] Begin by reminding students of yesterday’s discussion of what a participial phrase is. Ask for a definition from one of the students. If none is given, use this one:

i. A participial is a verbal (or form of a verb) ending in -ing or -ed and used as an adjective (to modify or describe). Participles show action (like verbs) but also describe (like adjectives). Participles are removable and are punctuated with commas.

[modeling] Show students two different homemade cookies: one with chocolate chips and one without. Explain that any regular sentence with just a subject and a verb is like the cookie without chocolate chips – it is good, but you know that it would be really easy to make it WAY better, by adding in some chocolate chips! The cookie with the chocolate chips is, of course, way better – just like a sentence with participial phrases is way better than one without!

[modeling] Begin by showing students, one at a time, quotes from The Hunger Games using participial phrases via the overhead. Ask students if they can identify the participial phrase(s) in each one.

i. In (1) and (2), be sure to emphasize, as Constance Weaver states, that “participial phrases bring the description [in a sentence] to life.”

ii. In (3), take a moment to discuss the fact that there is more than one participial phrase in a single sentence (there are actually three!). Ask the students if this is okay, and if it is (it is!), then why.

iii. Explain to students that adding even more than one participial phrase can make the sentence even more exciting and descriptive – just like a MONSTER cookie (show this) is more exciting than a regular old chocolate chip cookie! But just like you don’t always need to put a bunch of extra ingredients into the cookie mix, you don’t always need to add a ton of participial phrases in your sentences. Only when it seems appropriate and makes logical sense – like when you are teaching a class full of your peers (Pass out cookies for students to enjoy as you move on to the next step.)

B) Directing the Learning: [learning activities] [guided practice/sentence imitation] Okay, so now we’re going to

imitate the structure that Suzanne Collins used, together. (Display second page up on the overhead screen.) This first one is a fill-in-the-blank model from the last sentence we just worked on. What are some ways we can fill in these blanks in different ways? (Ask students for answers, give praise as necessary.)

[guided practice/sentence imitation] This second fill-in-the-blank is not a sentence we have looked at already, but it is also from The Hunger Games. Using your knowledge of participial phrases, get out your Writer’s Notebooks and write down an idea or two for a participial phrase that you could fit in this blank. (Give students time to discuss, then ask for answers, give praise, and discuss briefly.)

[guided practice/sentence scrambling] Alright, so now that we know how to construct participial phrases, let’s move right into how we can construct sentences with these participial phrases. (Move page up on overhead screen). Looking at this jumble of phrases, can we pick out the participial phrases? (Have students identify “landing on” and “waiting motionlessly”). Now, with a partner, I want you to construct one sentence together, using only the phrases up on the board, in any order you want. The only rules are that you must use all of the phrases, Note: you CAN add in the word “and” or any commas, as necessary. (Give students time to work on this in pairs, and then have them write their completed sentences up on the whiteboard when they have finished.)

i. Okay, it looks like we have a lot of different sentences that have formed as a result of this little exercise, even though we all had the same words. (Share and discuss the different examples the students have come up with). Is it okay for the participial phrases to come at the beginning of the sentence? Middle? End? (Yes!) What is the role of the comma/use of the word “and” in these sentences? (Separates the thoughts from one another, creates a list, sets the scene.)

C) Bringing the Lesson to a Conclusion: [independent practice/accountability] Okay, take a look through

your Writer’s Notebooks and find a sentence from one of your past prompts where you think you could add in a participial phrase. How have we learned that participial phrases can change our writing? (Bring out the cookie analogy again if necessary!) Good! Look for some sentences that you feel could use a little extra “flavor”, where it will add to your writing – and not overwhelm it! (Circulate and monitor students and ensure that they understand the assignment, give feedback and praise as necessary.)

Assignment: You must include at least two participial phrases in the final draft of your journal entry. Please highlight and annotate the phrase (within the sentence, with a “PART” next to each one) for me.

Evaluation: [Questions to ask myself: How well did the lesson flow? Were the students receptive to the lesson? Were there activities during which they were confused? How can I change my lesson plan so that it is more successful the next time I use it?]

Overhead Examples:

Concealed by a clump of bushes, I flatten out on my belly and slide under a two-foot stretch [of fence] that's been loose for years.

(Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

When I finally do come to my senses, I lie still, waiting for the next onslaught of imagery.


The team works on me until late afternoon, turning my skin to glowing satin, stenciling patterns on my arms, painting flame designs on my twenty perfect nails.


"The team works on me until late afternoon, __________________________, ______________________________, and painting flame designs on my twenty perfect nails." (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

He locked those blue eyes on mine now, _______________________. (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

landing on my backI dozed offone timefell ten feet to the groundwaiting motionless for game to wander bywhen I was in a bind in a tree


PLANNING

Date: 28 November 2012 Class and Grade Level: Grade 9Title/Subject of Lesson: Using AdjectivesObjective(s): Students will be able to recognize different uses for participial phrases (modify, describe, etc.). Students will be able to use participial phrases effectively in their own writing.State (or District) Core Curriculum Standard(s):

2.1.b. Choose facts, events, or ideas and distinguish their differences or demonstrate their similarities.2.3.a. Evaluate and revise for: Word Choice: Carefully chosen vocabulary to achieve voice and purpose.Concept(s) to Be Taught:

Correct use of adjectives to add to voice and color students’ writing.Materials Needed:

Example phrases with adjectives:

4) The capitol has a misty, haunted air.(Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

5) Which also means that kind Peeta Mellark, the boy who gave me the bread is fighting hard to kill me. (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

6) The cost of this medicine must be astronomical. Not one but many sponsors have contributed to buy this tiny pot. (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

Overheads of the examples above, as well as the imitation and expansion exercises (on separate pages at the end of the lesson plan)

Strategies to Be Used: Modeling, guided practice, independent practice Sentence imitation, sentence expansion


Continuation from Previous Lesson: Yesterday students had a mini-lesson on participial phrases. They looked at examples of participial phrases from The Hunger Games and started creating some of their own to add into their journal entries. To help enrich and develop their voices in their writing and make their journal entry more descriptive, students will have a chance to look at examples of adjectives from The Hunger Games, create their own sentences, and incorporate them into their own writing.

Lesson Presentation:D) Getting Started: [anticipatory set/hook]

[modeling] Show students the video “Unpack your Adjectives” from School House Rock (link: http://www.schooltube.com/video/964198d6a8d99911f4dc/)

[modeling] After watching the video clip, ask students if they understand what an adjective is. Ask for a definition from one of the students. If none is given, use this one:

i. An adjective is a word or phrase naming an attribute, added to or grammatically related to a noun to modify or describe it.

E) Directing the Learning: [learning activities] [modeling] Show students, one at a time, quotes from The Hunger

Games using adjectives via the overhead. Ask students if they can identify the adjectives in each one.

i. Ask students how the sentences would change if the adjectives were taken out of the sentence. Would it still be a complete sentence? What does the adjective add to the sentence? What makes it necessary (if it is necessary)? Emphasize the detail and description that it adds to the sentence – just like how participial phrases help our sentences to come alive! Just in different ways.

ii. Remind the students that, just like the Monster Cookie example in class the day before, adjectives need not be over-used. They can definitely color the writing, but there is no need to overwhelm the writing so it is too distracting!

[guided practice/sentence imitation] Okay, so now we’re going to imitate the structure that Suzanne Collins used, together. (Display second page up on the overhead screen.) This first one is a fill-in-the-blank model from the last sentence we just worked on. What are some

http://www.schooltube.com/video/964198d6a8d99911f4dc/

ways we can fill in these blanks in different ways? (Ask students for answers, give praise as necessary.)

[guided practice/sentence imitation] This second fill-in-the-blank is not a sentence we have looked at already, but it is also from The Hunger Games. Using your knowledge of adjectives, get out your Writer’s Notebooks and write down an idea or two for adjectives that you believe could fit in these blanks. (Give students time to discuss, then ask for answers, give praise, and discuss briefly.)

[guided practice/sentence expansion] Alright, so now that we know how to construct sentences with adjectives, let’s move right into building some of our own. (Move page up on overhead screen). Looking at these two sentence starters. Now, with a partner, I want you to construct one sentence together, using the framework up on the overhead, adding in whatever adjectives you feel could fit. (Students can choose whichever sentence prompt they chose for the topic of their journal entries. Give students time to work on this in pairs, and then have them write their completed sentences up on the whiteboard when they have finished.)

i. Okay, it looks like we have a lot of different sentences that have formed as a result of this little exercise, even though we all had the Okay, it looks like we have a lot of different sentences that have formed as a result of this little exercise, even though we all had the same sentence starter. What are the different emotions/feelings that come across through the different sentences we have constructed? Can we construct a sentence solely off of a previously-determined emotion? (Ask students for a suggestion of an emotion, such as “fear”, and then take suggestions for adjective ideas to make the sentence personify “fear,” such as “afraid,” “nervous,” “shy,” etc.)

F) Bringing the Lesson to a Conclusion: [independent practice/accountability] Okay, take a look through

your Writer’s Notebooks and find a sentence from one of your past prompts where you think you could add in an adjective or two. How have we learned that adjectives, like participial phrases can change our writing? Look for some sentences that you feel could use a little extra “flavor”, where it will add to your writing – and not distract from it! (Circulate and monitor students and ensure that they understand the assignment, give feedback and praise as necessary.)

Assignment: You must include at least eight adjectives in the final draft of your journal entry. Please highlight and annotate the adjectives (within the sentence, with an “ADJ” next to each) for me.


Overhead Examples:The capitol has a misty, haunted air.


Which also means that kind Peeta Mellark, the boy who gave me the bread is fighting hard to kill me.


The cost of this medicine must be astronomical. Not one but many sponsors have contributed to buy this tiny pot.


The cost of this medicine must be _______________. Not one but many sponsors have contributed to buy this __________ pot. (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

My legs, arms, torso, underarms and parts of my eyebrows have been stripped of the stuff, leaving me like a plucked bird, ready for roasting. I don’t like it. My skin feels ________ and __________ and ____________. (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

When they called my name at the reaping, I immediately felt ___________ and _____________.

My first day at the capitol I felt ___________, ____________, and _______________.


PLANNING

Date: 29 November 2012 Class and Grade Level: Grade 9Title/Subject of Lesson: Using Prepositions and Prepositional PhrasesObjective(s): Students will be able to recognize different uses for prepositional phrases. Students will be able to use participial phrases effectively in their own writing.State (or District) Core Curriculum Standard(s):

2.3.a. Evaluate and Revise for: Carefully chosen vocabulary to achieve voice and purpose.2.3.a. Evaluate and Revise for: Sentence Fluency: Varied sentence structure (i.e., include complex and compound sentences).Concept(s) to Be Taught:

Correct use of prepositions Correct use of adding prepositional phrases into writing

Materials Needed:

Participial phrase examples:

7) The playful romance we had sustained in the cave has disappeared out in the open under the hot sun with the threat of Cato looming over us. (Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

8) I had taken a step back from my mother, put up a wall to protect myself from needing her.(Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

9) “If we make it back you won’t be a girl from the Seam, you’ll be a girl from the victor’s village.(Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games)

Overheads of the examples above, as well as the imitation exercises (on separate pages at the end of the lesson plan). Also, the “Preposition Guide” handout is at the end of the lesson plan. And the photo of Peeta at the reaping (also at end of lesson plan).

Strategies to Be Used: Modeling, guided practice, independent practice Sentence imitation, sentence expansion


Continuation from Previous Lesson: Yesterday we had our lesson on adjectives and building sentences with adjectives into our writing. We learned all about how adjectives and participial phrases (from the previous day) can color our writing and make it more detailed and descriptive. To continue to help expand their ability to create voice and purpose with their writing, we’ve started looking at ways participial phrases are used and today students will have a chance to look at some examples of these from The Hunger Games, create their own sentences, and incorporate them into their own writing.

Lesson Presentation:G) Getting Started: [anticipatory set/hook]

[modeling] Begin by drawing a face up on the board. Then draw a fly and talk with the students about all the places the fly could go (in the ear, out the mouth, on the head, above the nose, between the eyes, etc.).

i. Ask students what kinds of words they had to use to describe where the fly was (prepositions!).

ii. Ask for a definition of a preposition from one of the students. If none is given, use this one:

1. A word governing, and usually preceding, a noun or pronoun and expressing a relation to another word or element in the clause.

H) Directing the Learning: [learning activities]

[modeling] Hand out the “Preposition Guide” handout for students to reference to. Then show students, one at a time, quotes from The Hunger Games using prepositions and prepositional phrases via the overhead. Ask students if they can identify the prepositions in each one.

i. Explain to students that the prepositions are the words expressing the relation of one word (or set of words) to another. The words that follow the preposition make up the prepositional phrase.

[guided practice/sentence imitation] Okay, so now we’re going to imitate the structure that Suzanne Collins used, together. (Display second page up on the overhead screen.) This first one is a fill-in-the-blank model from the last sentence we just worked on. What are some ways we can fill in these blanks in different ways? (Ask students for answers, give praise as necessary.)

[guided practice/sentence imitation] This second fill-in-the-blank is not a sentence we have looked at already, but it is also from The Hunger Games. Using your knowledge of prepositions and how they help build sentences, get out your Writer’s Notebooks and write down an idea or two for a prepositional phrase that you could fit in this blank. (Give students time to discuss, then ask for answers, give praise, and discuss briefly.)

[guided practice/sentence expansion] Alright, so now that we know how to construct prepositional phrases, let’s try creating some of our own. Looking at the photo (show to class as a whole, and then pass around a few copies) of Peeta at the reaping, what are some words we can use to finish this sentence, describing where he is at the reaping in relation to what is around him? (Write up on the white board “Peeta is _______________. Give students time to discuss with a few of their peers around them, and then have them call out some of their suggestions and write them on the board. Give feedback and praise as necessary)

I) Bringing the Lesson to a Conclusion: [independent practice/accountability] Okay, take a look through

your Writer’s Notebooks and find a sentence from one of your past prompts where you think you could add in a prepositional phrase. How have we learned that prepositional phrases can change our writing? Look for some sentences that you feel could use a bit more description. (Circulate and monitor students and ensure that they understand the assignment, give feedback and praise as necessary.)

Assignment: You must include at least five prepositional phrases in the final draft of your journal entry. Please highlight and annotate the phrase (within the sentence with a “PREP” next to each one) for me.


Overhead Examples:

The playful romance we had sustained in the cave has disappeared out in the open under the hot sun with the threat of Cato looming over us.


I had taken a step back from my mother, put up a wall to protect myself from needing her.


“If we make it back you won’t be a girl from the Seam, you’ll be a girl from the victor’s village.”


“If we make it back you won’t be a girl ____________(preposition) __________(noun), you’ll be a girl __________ (preposition) _________________(noun).”


I can’t help thinking ___________(preposition) __________________________(noun).


Prepositional Guideaboardaboutaboveacrossafteragainstalongamidamongantiaroundasat

beforebehindbelowbeneathbesidebesidesbetweenbeyondbutbyconcerningconsideringdespite

downduringexceptexceptingexcludingfollowingforfromininsideintolikeminus

nearofoffonontooppositeoutsideoverpastperplusregardingroundsavesincethanthroughtotowardtowardsunderunderneathunlikeuntilupuponversusviawithwithinwithout

Sarah Kron

ENGL 329 Unit ReflectionWow. It continues to amaze me how much work it takes to craft, draft, and

create a lesson plan, much less an entire unit. I know this unit really just comprised

three mini-lessons, but even that was a lot of work just trying to get it all to be

cohesive and yet effective and yet interesting! It’s a lot more work to be a teacher

than I ever thought, and I know this is only the beginning of writing these plans. But

I have loved every moment, so that’s a good sign – right?

Teaching grammar in context. That might mean something different to me

than it does to a lot of my peers in this class. And part of that might have something

to do with the fact that I am a Theatre Education major and only an English

Teaching minor…but that’s no problem. It doesn’t change the fact that teaching

students something in context – in direct relation to something that is meaningful to

them – is by far the most effective way to teach.

I’ve had more English teachers over the years that have tried to drive the

grammar nail into my head with all the wrong tools – specifically by using

grammatical teaching techniques that are in no way applicable to any real facet of

my life or learning process. I remember, in middle school especially, being subject

to worksheet after worksheet where I was forced to identify all of the adjectives in a

sentence or write out all the prepositions I could think of in under a minute. And I

hated every moment of it. Certainly there was some sense of accomplishment when

I found out (by lucky, mostly) that I had found the correct number of adjectives or

was able to write down more prepositions than the kid sitting next to me. But that

feeling of accomplishment dissipated rather quickly after that moment, and my

knowledge of these grammar concepts faded right along with them. There wasn’t

an real application – so why did I, as a 13-year-old 7th grader, really need to care

about any of this grammar stuff?

It wasn’t until I took an AP Language course my senior year of high school

that I really learned to appreciate what I know recognize as teaching grammar in

context. I had an incredible English teacher (who was really the driving force behind

my desire to minor in English teaching) who seemed to be teaching life skills more

than she was teaching us grammar – or any other English-related principles.

Everything flowed seamlessly when she taught, and we went right from reading a

book to pulling concepts from that book to pulling those concepts into our own

writing and on into our next writing assignment which helped us on our college

application essays and it just seemed like this never-ending purposeful teaching

circle of life. It was wonderful. I felt (and still feel) like everything I was taught in

that class was 100% applicable to my life, and that I would actually use the skills I

learned in that class later on in my life, as well.

These are the exact kind of results every teacher can achieve in their

classrooms if they teach grammar in context as Weaver’s framework outlines,

especially with the aid of Killgallon’s sentence composing techniques. I have

structured this lesson plan (that I am sure I will use and revise and re-use

throughout my career, just perhaps with different novels) in a way that reflects all of

these principles and techniques and, to be completely honest, they are lesson plans

that I feel like I would be excited to learn from if someone was teaching them to me.

And that’s what I feel makes a great lesson plan – knowing that you yourself (as the

teacher) would have fun being a part of it!

However, it’s not just about finding a novel and dissecting the pieces and

parts of it and calling that teaching grammar in context. You need to make sure that

your students are on board 100% of the time, learning alongside you, asking

questions and even fielding one another’s answers along the way, with you as their

guide. Certainly pulling thoughts and ideas from texts that they are familiar with or

studying specifically (as I have done with The Hunger Games) can be a very helpful

tool, as that helps students see the examples of these grammar concepts firsthand

from a source they have already grown comfortable with. But this is only the first

step in leading your students down the path to be true grammarians – or at least

have a better understanding of these grammatical concepts enough to feel

comfortable incorporating them into their own writing, and seeing the value of

doing so.

I’m so glad I was taught how to teach grammar in this way this past

semester. I feel like I’m a broken record saying this by this point, but oh my

goodness this has not been an easy journey. Teaching grammar in context is

definitely not the “easy” way out when it comes to teaching. But teaching shouldn’t

be about finding the “easy” way to plan and do things – it should be about

addressing the needs of your students and ensuring they are being provided the

best learning opportunities out there. And that is exactly what teaching grammar –

or any concept, for that matter – in context is all about.

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