Mackenzie Rogers

Objective of Lesson: Students will be able to use vivid verbs that more accurately display
an action or a story. Students will also be able to relate these vivid words to better relate
or describe a characters voice. They will understand the difference between a dramatic
read and a normal read.

Grade: 4
th
Time: 80-85 minutes

Michigan Curricular Connection:
Social Studies:
L.4.3a. Choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely.

Theatre:
ART.T.I.4.1 Create and demonstrate vocal expression to support the playing of a
character.

Technology:
-Projector with screen


Source Materials:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/excerpt-diary-wimpy-kid-jeff-
kinney/story?id=12368623
http://pbskids.org/zoom/activities/games/
http://mi.gov/documents/mde/Complete_VPAA_Expectations_June_2011_356110_7.
pdf
http://mrswarnerarlington.weebly.com/uploads/6/9/0/0/6900648/types_of_verbs_cha
rt.jpg


Teaching Materials:
Passage from driving the car for the first time, passage from Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Engagement-
Active read aloud of a passage about me driving for the first time. Have the students get
in a circle around the room and perform the verbs as I say them. Ex: I scurried to the car.
Students will demonstrate scurrying.
My Passage:

AHHH! I tilt awkwardly to my left side as I regain my balance from slipping on the
intermittent black ice. Carefully now I lift my feet trying to walk at a normal pace, but
this turns useless as I slide across the sidewalk in route to the car. I reach the handle of
the car. It feels cool, stiff. I pull the handle towards me allowing for the door to swing
by my left hip. I lift my bottom and trace it across the seat. I catch my mothers voice in
my ear instructing me to be careful. As Im listening to this, I twist the key into the
ignition and the start of it overpowers my mothers voice. The strong scent of gasoline
fills the car as I ease the ginormous vehicle backwards.


Internal Assessment-
Which verbs were easiest to act out?
Are there some verbs that you couldnt act out, but still were verbs?
Which verbs were most descriptive?

Grouping: Individual, Large Group Time: 15 minutes Type: Active Read/ Drama


Introduction of Information-
Define a verb and the three different types.

-Ask the class what a verb is. Write the definition on the board. Explain the three
different types of verbs. There are action, helping, and linking verbs.

-
-Show this chart displaying the different types with examples. Put this already pre-
prepared chart on the projector screen.

- Show how correct verb usage can make something more descriptive and exciting to
read.

-Give an example of a boring action verb and how it can become more vivid:
Ex: Think of the word ran.
In a sentence you might say: The horse ran. What would be a better way to say this?
Instead try: The horse galloped. This is a more descriptive verb to show action.
-Now read the passage from The Diary of a Wimpy Kid. (Everyone will have a copy of
this at his or her seat.)
-Have students put action verbs in blue, helping verbs in orange, and linking verbs in red.
Then have them go through and replace 3 of the action verbs (ONLY) with a different
more vivid action verb as described above.
Passage from book:
First of all, let me get something straight: This is a JOURNAL, not a diary. I know what
it says on the cover, but when Mom went out to buy this thing I SPECIFICALLY told her
to get one that didn't say "diary" on it. Great. All I need is for some jerk to catch me
carrying this book around and get the wrong idea.
The other thing I want to clear up right away is that this was MOM's idea, not mine. But
if she thinks I'm going to write down my "feelings" in here or whatever, she's crazy. So
just don't expect me to be all "Dear Diary" this and "Dear Diary" that.
The only reason I agreed to do this at all is because I figure later on when I'm rich and
famous, I'll have better things to do than answer people's stupid questions all day long. So
this book is gonna come in handy.
Like I said, I'll be famous one day, but for now I'm stuck in middle school with a bunch
of morons.
Let me just say for the record that I think middle school is the dumbest idea ever
invented. You got kids like me who haven't hit their growth spurt yet mixed in with these
gorillas who need to shave twice a day.
And then they wonder why bullying is such a big problem in middle school. If it was up
to me, grade levels would be based on height, not age. But then again, I guess that would
mean kids like Chirag Gupta would still be in the first grade.
Today is the first day of school, and right now we're just waiting around for the teacher to
hurry up and finish the seating chart. So I figured I might as well write in this book to
pass the time. By the way, let me give you some good advice. On the first day of school,
you got to be real careful where you sit. You walk into the classroom and just plunk your
stuff down on any old desk and the next thing you know the teacher is saying
So in this class, I got stuck with Chris Hosey in front of me and Lionel James in back of
me. Jason Brill came in late and almost sat to my right, but luckily I stopped that from
happening at the last second.
Next period, I should just sit in the middle of a bunch of hot girls as soon as I step in the
room. But I guess if I do that, it just proves I didn't learn anything from last year."

Internal Assessment
Check in with groups to provide side coaching, assess their understanding and to answer
any questions.

-Did you change three verbs in the passage?
-Why did you change the three verbs you chose?
-How did your verbs change the reading? Did the Wimpy Kid sound like a different
character with these different verbs?
-Did the new verbs cause the Wimpy Kid to sound more feminine? Manly? Older?
Younger? Wiser? Flexible? Weaker?


Grouping: Large Group/ Individual Time: 20 minutes Type: Listening/ Discussion


Processing of Information- Students will write their own 60 second essay. Should only
be one paragraph. Will read this essay to one other person when finished.

-Give personal example that I used for warm-up activity about driving a car for the first
time. This is my example of a 60 second essay
-Dramatic read essay out loud to the class in a traditional girls voice.

-Ask the students to create their own 60 second essay in their own voice.
-Once they are done pair up with the person next to them. Read your 60 second essay to
one another.

Internal Assessment:
-Did you change the tone of your voice to show inflection to make the read aloud more
interesting?
-Was your dramatic read your voice?
-This read should have been your own voice. What does that mean? What would be a
different voice?

Grouping: Large group, individual, and small group. Time: 15 minutes
Type: Interpretation/ Writing


Sharing-
- Explain that I read this like a 16 year old traditional girl the first time. That was the age
that I first drove a car.
-Now read a replaced version of the essay.
-This time I changed some of the action verbs so that they are more of how an old man
would approach the situation. Literally change my voice to one an old man might have.
-Explain that this is still a dramatic read, but as a new character. Students do not have to
change numerous verbs if it does not work well for their new character. The focus is on
their voice and how they speak it for this part.
Students:
-Let the students take the time to change their own essay for another character.
-Each student will choose their favorite line from their original essay and their new
characters 60 second essay. They will perform these two different dramatic reads as two
different characters in front of the class.


Grouping: Individual and large group Time: 20 minutes Type: Dramatic Read

Evaluation and Closure
-What are the three different types of verbs again?
-Can you give an example of each?
-How can a verb choice enhance the sentence?
-Can it give clarity? Think of how our characters changed depending on the verbs we
used.

Grouping: large group Time: 10 minutes Type: Discussion

After the Lesson students could:

-Have students trade 60-second essays and dramatically read one anothers.
-Each student writes a short story using the character described in essay.
-Do the engagement activity again, but this time use a students 60-second essay.
-Have students read each others essay to one another but while the other is dramatically
reading have the other student drawing the scene they hear/ envision.

Notes:
-Verbs
Three different types: action (some verbs shows action), helping (help show you the
action), linking (link things together).
-Dramatic read uses different tones and inflection.

Vocabulary:
Dramatic read Helping, linking, action verbs
Character Descriptive
Enhance