University of Utah, Department of Special Education: Lesson Plan

Content Area:
Pelt

ELA

Grade level:
Date:

7th

Instructor Name:

Megan Van

Core Standard:

Instructional Objective:

Behaviora

W 7.10: Write routinely over extended

time frames (time for research,
reflection, and revision) and shorter
time frames (a single sitting or a day
or two) for a range of disciplinespecific tasks, purposes, and
audiences.

Students will respond to a writing

prompt on the white board at the start
of class. Students will write for seven
minutes, their response will be written
in their writing journal and will include
a minimum of five sentences.

Students w
answering
lesson.

W 7.3:
a. Engage and orient the reader by
establishing a context and point of
view and introducing a narrator and/or
characters; organize an event
sequence that unfolds naturally and
logically.
b. Use narrative techniques, such as
dialogue,
pacing, and description, to develop
experiences, events, and/or
characters.

IEP Goal:
1. In 10 weeks, when asked to
write a narrative paragraph,
[Student G] will write a minimum
of five sentences on 3
consecutive narrative writing
probes. The elements of the
paragraph will include 1 topic
sentence, 3 supporting
sentences, and 1 conclusion
sentence. The narrative
paragraph will be evaluated
using a holistic rubric.

Students will highlight and then

correct their grammar, punctuation,
and spelling errors on yesterdays
assignment. The corrected document
will be placed in their writing
notebooks.

[Student A
response d
prompted
the instruc
recorded a

Writing a paragraph: Students will

practice writing a paragraph with five
sentences. One topic sentence, three
detail sentences, and one concluding
sentence.

Content (concepts, information,

skills, new vocab, etc.):
Paragraph writing: one topic
sentence, three detail sentences, and
one concluding sentence. Main idea.
Supporting Details. Conclusion.
Reinforce narrative text structure.
Review of vocabulary terms related to
narrative text structure and narrative
paragraph writing.
Narrative: I or third person.
Story elements: characters, setting,
problem/solution, plot, sequence of

Lesson
Plan 5:

Instructio

Lesson pla
Lined pape
Blank shee
Pencils/col
sharpeners
Highlighter
Thesaurus
each
Dry erase
board eras
Sound amp
instruction
hearing im
1

events,
B-M-E (beginning, middle, end)
Main idea/details
Transition/sequence words
Can be fiction or realistic fiction
Adjectives and sensory details,
figurative language.
Writers voice.
Text features: A narrative story may
have some truth and fiction. Told in
third person or I. Written to entertain
readers. May teach a lesson have a
theme. The story is based on strong
characters with a problem that they
need to resolve. Uses pronouns like
she, he, her, his.
Narrator calls characters by their
names.
Personal: (self)
Personal Narrative: (self-story) A story
in which the author tells a story about
himself or herself.
Transitions:
(Green light) For one thing, To start
with, At the beginning, It started
when, Initially, As soon as, To start, To
begin.
(Yellow light): Next, Then, Later, Later
that day, After that, Meanwhile, Also.
(Red light): Finally, At the end, At last,
In conclusion, All in all, In the end,
Last.
Procedures/Activities
:
1. Get students
attention
(including starter)
(11m)
2. Academic review
/Gather background
knowledge (8m)
3. State instructional
objectives (1m)
4. Review behavior

Scotch tap
White glue
Poster boa
Scissors

A sentence
with mista
be taped o
grammar r

11 x 14 wh
examples)

Poster boa
Sentence s
extra)

Over-plann
The book
Idea?, Kob
16 - 4
paper.
16 cro
to be
a

Teachers Role/What Im doing:

1. I write the objective for todays lesson on the board before the
first bell rings. I write the daily starter on the white board. The
starter consists of one writing prompt, one example of a response
to that writing prompt, and the minimum sentence requirement.
I say hi to the students as they enter the classroom to get their
attention. I remind todays wordsmiths (3 students each class) to
please pick up a thesaurus and dictionary on the way to their
seats. I use a positive statement towards [Student B] to
reinforce/encourage his preparedness and organization for class.
Lesson
Plan 5:

expectations (1m)
5. Instruction (31m)
a. Model
b. Guided Practice
c. Guided Group
Practice
d. Independent
practice
e. Error Correction
Procedures
6. Wrap up (6m)
a. Review key
concepts/ Check
for understanding
b. Review objectives
c. Clean up

make eye contact with [Student A] and ask him a question that
requires a verbal response. I interact with [Student C]: using a sof
voice I will ask her a question or give her a compliment. I initial
the students daily planners. I hand out materials needed for
todays class.

Students have seven minutes to write their response to the starte

on the white board. When four minutes have passed I announce,
You have three minutes to finish your starter. When six minutes
have passed I announce, You have one minute to finish your
starter, does anyone need additional time? Students will write
their responses to the prompt in their writing journal. When
instructional time permits, students who volunteer may read their
starter aloud to the class.
2. Thank you for sharing your responses with the class!

I am handing back yesterdays assignment, after we make

corrections this organizer needs to be placed in your writers
notebook. I want you to highlight the grammar, punctuation, and
spelling errors that I underlined in green. Using your highlighter,
like this[I demonstrate on the board with a response I have
prewritten in large font and taped to the front board, the students
have done this before but some hesitate each time, so I am using
an explicit model, again, to illustrate how to highlight their errors i
punctuation, spelling, and grammar on assignments I return to
them.] Lets review these errors and correct themwe will start on
the left side of the room today. [I go around the room and ask
students to identify one error they made; some students will
indicate another student has already corrected the error they
made].

Thank you guys! Now lets review the text features of a narrative
story, we will be thinking about these features as we write. What
are some of the text features of a narrative story[The responses
am looking for include: A narrative story may have some truth and
fiction. Told in third person. Written to entertain readers. May teac
a lesson have a theme. The story is based on strong characters
with a problem that they need to resolve. Uses pronouns like she,
he, her, his. Narrator calls characters by their names.].

3. Today you will practice writing a paragraph with five sentences.

Your paragraph will include one topic sentence, three detail
sentences, and one concluding sentence.
Lesson
Plan 5:

4. While we are working in class today I want you to be thinking

about how you show respect to others. We will show respect by
raising our hand when we have something to say or a question to
ask, we will show respect by listening to others while our hand is
raised and we are waiting our turn to speak, we will show respect
to others by not interrupting when someone else is talking.
If time permits, I will ask the students, How will we show respect
in class today? This prompt replaces a portion of the above
script.

5. Instructional Practices:
a. Writers are readers. Everyone (in unison as I give the
signal) Writers are readers. Thank you! Lets read a couple
of paragraphs to identify what a paragraph contains and what a
paragraph needs. The first thing we identified was a main idea
and topic sentence, what does a paragraph need? In unison,
everyone, main idea and topic sentence. Thank you! Second, we
said a paragraph has five sentences, everyone, five sentences.
Awesome! Third, a paragraph has three detail sentences,
everyone, three detail sentences. And finally, the last sentence in
a paragraph is a concluding sentence, everyone, a concluding
sentence. What are the five sentences in a paragraph?

b. Guided practice: Lets write a few paragraphs together. First,

Lets start with a list of possible topics. What are some of the main
ideas we could write about today? [I anticipate animals,
particularly pets, will be one suggestion, food will be another,
probably candy or ice cream].

The first topic is What is your favorite pet? The first sentence I
write is our topic sentence. This sentence will answer the question
What is your favorite pet? I will also need details to support
my topic sentence. Why is a cat my favorite pet? I will write out 3
reasons why a cat is my favorite pet. These will become my detai
sentences My favorite pet is a cat. That is my topic sentence.
It states the main idea of my paragraph. I will write this sentence
on my lined paper (a blank lined chart I have hung on the board).
The first sentence of a paragraph needs to start on a new line an
needs to be indented. Like this

What are the reasons we listed for a cat being our favorite pet?
These details are important because they support our main idea.
The first one was, I like to hold cats in my lap. This will be my first
detail sentence. This sentence supports the main idea of our
Lesson
Plan 5:

paragraph it supports the statement that our favorite pet is a ca

I will write this in my paragraph. The second detail I wrote down is
cats are soft and fuzzy. This will become my second detail
sentence. The third detail I wrote is cats do not grow really big.
This detail supports our main idea, the main idea in our topic
sentence. The third detail is that cats do not row really big. This
will be my third detail sentence. This statement also supports the
main idea in my topic sentence My favorite pet is a cat. I need t
write my third sentence in my paragraphNow I will restate the
main idea and end my paragraph with a concluding sentence. The
conclusion to my paragraph needs to support the main idea in my
topic sentenceCats are my favorite pet. I need to write my
concluding sentence in my paragraph.
What is your favorite pet?
My favorite pet is a cat. I like
to hold cats in my lap. Cats are
soft and fuzzy. Cats do not grow
really big. Cats are my favorite
pet.

c. Lets write another paragraph together[We will write two or

three more paragraphs, following the same procedures/script
above, I will gradually use fewer and fewer prompts, as the
students become more familiar with paragraph writing].
Lets think to our stories and newspaper clippings we were
reading about the moon. Lets create a web of the interesting fact
we read about the moon. Good readers and writers use strategies
and creating a web of information we know is a good strategy to
identify details about the moon that we can then put into our
paragraph. I begin to draw on the white board and students
respond to questions about the moon. The information we gather
should include:

There are many interesting facts about the moon.

The moon is covered with craters.
On the moon, it is hot during the day and cold at night.
There are eight phases of the moon.
Neil Armstrong was the first astronaut to walk on the moon. He did
this on July 20, 1969.
There are many more facts about the moon.
[The above facts will be turned into a paragraph.] This will model
composing a paragraph.
Lesson
Plan 5:

Additional paragraphs to use during guided practice:

What is your favorite food?
My favorite food is pizza. Pizza
tastes delicious. Pizza is hot and
gooey when it comes out of the
oven. Pizza is a great food at
parties. Pizza is my favorite food.
Other potential topics:
What is your favorite sport?
Summer is the best time of the year.

When I am done with a paragraph I use my rubric to check my

work. Did I indent my paragraph? Did I capitalize each sentence?
Did I use punctuation at the end of each sentence?

d. Now I want you to write a paragraph with your group. Lets tak
one minute to get in our groups, take your writing notebooks with
you and move quietly. You have your group assignments for the
week (identifies who is spokesperson for the group, who is the
wordsmith, who is the scribe, and who is the discussion leader in
the group). Today I want each wordsmith to come back to the
table and pick up the supplies you will need. This includes 5
sentence strips, a poster board you will attach your sentence strip
to, and a rubric to check your work. You will have five minutes to
plan out your paragraph, and five minutes to write your paragraph
I will be walking around the room to help you. Do you have any
questions? Okay, lets move now.
You have five minutes remaining. You should be writing your
sentences on your sentence strips.
You have two minutes to finish your paragraph. You should be
gluing your sentences onto the poster board.

I want you to take an extra minute and check your paragraph wit
the paragraph rubric. Most of you have already done this but each
of you is responsible, so lets check it one more time. What are th
questions on the rubric? Did I indent my paragraph? Did I
capitalize each sentence? Did I use punctuation at the end of each
sentence? Are their spelling mistakes?
Please send your poster board to the front with your
Lesson
Plan 5:

spokesperson.

[If time permits, we will read and correct the paragraphs today, bu
this will likely take place tomorrow.]

e. Error correction procedures:

Reading errors: the mispronunciation or misuse of a word I will
say, thats a tricky worda challenging worda difficult word
lets try that again
I will then say the word correctly, before I give the signal for the
students to repeat the word back to me in unison. I will then use
the word again, and for a second time, give the signal for the
students to repeat the word back to me in unison. Depending on
the context of the error, and the word mispronounced or misused,
have a running word list during each lesson on the white board.
Before I give the second signal, I will often walk to the white board
and spell the word, saying the letters aloud as I write, then I return
to the error correction procedures (at the second signal).
Sometimes I want to reinforce the word with an audio and visual
spelling on the board. At the end of class, if time permits, we read
each word on the list in unison, if further time permits, I ask the
students to define the word and use the word in a sentence. I kee
a list of these words in my instructional notebook. This list
provides me with the opportunity to identify different contexts to
reintroduce the word, to reinforce the proper pronunciation, and to
check for understanding.
6. Wrap up: If we are coming back from small group/peer group
practice , or independent practice, I encourage students to share
any questions that came up in their groups, and to complete the
group feedback sheet. Students know when they work in groups
that one group member is assigned to be the spokesperson for
each group at the end of class.
a. Check for understanding: In your assignments section of your
writing notebook. Lets write out what a paragraph includes, and
how we check a paragraph when we are done writingwho can
share the first thing a paragraph needs [

b. Today we practiced writing paragraphs with five sentences. W

wrote a topic sentence that tells the main idea. We wrote three
detail sentences that supported the main idea in our topic
sentence, and we wrote a conclusion sentence to close our
paragraph. We used a rubric to check our work. We indented our
first sentence. We used capitalization and punctuation, and we
Lesson
Plan 5:

checked our grammar and spelling.

c. Thank you for placing your writing notebooks and journals on

the back table as you leave. Thank you for your participation
today! You guys really hung in there. I appreciated your
comments in class today! I am really impressed by all the grea
questions asked in class today.
Adaptations/Modifica
tions/
Accommodations:
Sound amplification
system for student with
hearing impairment.

Reinforcement Procedures:

Assessments:

Positive praise to reinforce

desired behaviors.

Pre: Check for understanding. I

am reviewing the concepts
related to writing a narrative
paragraph that we have been
discussing this week. This
review will check for
understanding of the concepts
and vocabulary related to
writing a narrative paragraph.
Who can tell me what a
personal narrative is? What
does a personal narrative
describe? How do authors
help us, their audience,
visualize a mental picture of
what we are reading? How
many sentences do we need to
have in our paragraph? I ask
questions to check for
understanding before, during,
and after each lesson. Based on
how the students respond, I ca
identify what concepts of the
previous lesson I need to mode
again, and if this model should
begin with I Do or We Do.
Checking for understanding als
helps me identify which
student(s) need small group
instruction with me, and which
students can begin to work
more independently in peer
groups.

Specific positive praise will be

given for meeting behavioral
expectations.
Positive praise statements will
include:
Thank you for raising your
hand!
I loved how you raised your
hand and waited for me to call
on you!
Thank you for not interrupting.
You waited so patiently for me
to come back around to you!
Thank you for participating
today!
Undesired behaviors will be
ignored.
Praise around strategy will be
used if a student puts their head
on their desk. I will reinforce the
desired behavior of staying
attentive, thank you for looking
forwardthank you for
participatingthank you for your
response

During: Check for

Lesson
Plan 5:

understanding. Lets review the

text features of a narrative
story.

The first thing we identified wa

a main idea and topic sentence
what does a paragraph need? I
unison, everyone, main idea
and topic sentence. Thank you
Second, we said a paragraph
has five sentences, everyone,
five sentences. Awesome!
Third, a paragraph has three
detail sentences, everyone,
three detail sentences. And
finally, the last sentence in a
paragraph is a concluding
sentence, everyone, a
concluding sentence. What are
the five sentences in a
paragraph?
Post: Check for understanding.

What are the five sentences in

a paragraph? (One topic
sentence, three detail
sentences, and one concluding
sentence.)
When do we indent a
paragraph? (The first
sentence).

What other things do we chec

in our paragraph look at the
paragraph rubric.

Complete an instructional
journal entry that includes a
self-evaluation of todays
lesson. The journal entry will
answer three questions: What
went well? What didnt go well?
What would I do differently nex
Lesson
Plan 5:

time?

Lesson
Plan 5:

10