Teacher: Austin Simpson

Date: 29 Apr. 2016

School: Thompson Valley High School

Grade: 10th

Title of Lesson: Write a Short Narrative

Content Area: English Language Arts
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Content (CDE) Standards addressed by this lesson:
1.2.a.iii
1.2.a.iv
3.3.a
3.3.a.i
Learning Target(s):
By the end of todays lesson
I will be able to incorporate proper parallel structure into my own writing.
Todays Warm-Up: Define
In your own words, define what parallel structure is. Then define what a short
narrative is.
Step-by-step minute procedure: (50 min classes, daily):
Warm-up (5 min.)
Mini-lecture: what is a short narrative? (10 min.)
Write a two paragraph long short narrative that includes at least three examples of
different proper parallel structure (use the OWL Purdue: Parallel Structure
handout for help with differentiating types of parallel structure) (25 min.)
Trade your short narrative with a shoulder partner and identify the three examples
of parallel structure in their writing by highlighting them. (10 min.)
Assessments:
Short narrative.
Partner identification of parallel structure.
Rationale, why this lesson matters to teach:
Parallelism is a major concept in the English language and mastery of it can
dramatically improve sentence fluency. The CDE standards for 10th grade state that
students need to be able to demonstrate command of standard English grammar and
usage when writing and speaking; and first among the grammatical elements that 10th
graders should focus on is parallelism (standards 3.3.a. and 3.3.a.i.).
Not only is parallelism a key focus in the 10th grade ELA standards, but in the
month that I have been at TVHS, it is clear that there is a need for further parallel
structure instruction. Student writing is riddled with verb tense switches and,
predominantly, with lists that are not parallel (e.g. trains and a bus are public
transportation rather than trains and buses are public transportation). Parallelism is an

easy grammatical element to lose track of, especially when trying to construct longer,
more complex sentences.