Writing Lesson Plan Template

CAEP K-6 Standards

LESSON RATIONALE
This lesson is important because students need to practice developing their voice within their personal writing. Students
will utilize these writing skills throughout the rest of their lives, through a series of collaborative, and guided instructional
activities students will deepen their understanding of voice in writing.
(CAEP K-6 1.a)
Relationship to Science content.

READINESS
I. Goals/Objectives/Standard(s)
A. Goal(s)—Students will create a narrative explaining the Earths layers and their changes over time.
B. Objective(s)—
1. Students will draft a narrative incorporating a pre-determined voice of their choice.
2. Students will be able to draft a narrative that supports their previous knowledge on the Earths formation.
C. Standard(s):
- 4.W.3.3 Write narrative compositions in a variety of forms that – Use dialogue and descriptive details to
develop events and reveal characters’ personalities, feelings, and responses to situations.
- 4.W.4 Apply the writing process to – • Generate a draft by developing, selecting and organizing ideas
relevant to topic, purpose, and genre; revise to improve writing, using appropriate reference materials (e.g.,
quality of ideas, organization, sentence fluency, word choice); edit writing for format and conventions (e.g.,
spelling, capitalization, usage, punctuation).
- 4.ESS.3 Describe how geological forces change the shape of the land suddenly and over time.
(CAEP K-6 3.c)
II. Management Plan- Time per lesson element, use of space, list of materials. Describe expectations and procedures.
Time: 45 minutes
Space: Classroom; they will have specific spots around the classroom to work on their writing. In the beginning they will
be at their seats until notified.
Conference- I will meet with 4-6 students during this writing time. I believe the other students have full capability to work
on their own and produce quality work after my initial instruction. There are 2 students I will work one-on-one with and
the other 4 I will pull aside in a group. During this time I will take anecdotal notes and guide students in the desired
direction, redirecting when need be.
Materials:
- YouTube
- Paper/ pencil
- Clipboards
- Background pictures (google)
Expectations/ Procedures:

I am fortunate to have both Mrs. Cooper and a student teacher in my practicum classroom. Therefore, they are able to
walk around and assist students as need be. Students know they are expected to work quietly at their designated spot
while they are writing. For the students I see working efficiently and quietly, I will award classroom dojo points. Students
respond very well when they know Dojo points are on the line. In the beginning of the lesson, students will be expected to
participate in class discussion and answer questions. The two other teachers and I will watch for students who are on task
or falling behind.

PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

III. Adaptation to Individual Differences and Diverse Learners-- Demonstrate your understanding of individual
differences and diverse families, culture, and communities unique to the students in this class as you describe the
specific instructional opportunities provided in this lesson. (CAEP K-6 1.b)
A. Remediation: I have a student diagnosed with ADHD. Paying attention/ sitting still in class is more difficult
for him. He also has a hard time grasping the concepts unless it is explained to him in greater depth one on
one; mainly due to the fact that he does not pay attention in class. For him, I would go up and talk to him
after giving initial instruction, and explain it to him, providing him with more guidance. I will also have the
teacher or the assistant in the classroom keep an eye on him, making sure he stays on task. Also, I would
allow him to work at the standing desk quietly by himself if I notice him walking around distracted.
B. Another one of my students was diagnosed with a learning disability. She struggling with writing, reading,
and typing. For this student, I would assign a helper with her to transcribe as she told them what to write.
She could also draw pictures or make a clips expressing her chosen voice.

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 a. I will observe how well some of the struggling students are doing and make adjustments as
needed. For example, I will inform some students they have to write five sentences for me, rather
than a whole paragraph writing assignment.
C. Enrichment: For my more advanced students, I will encourage them to continue writing and expand upon
their writing. For example, they could switch up their voice and write it from a different perspective, or
they could go back and forth between to voices.

IV. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)

 Include a variety of teaching strategies that encourage elementary students’ development of critical thinking and
problem solving.
 Include a variety of practices that support motivation and engagement in learning for all learners. (CAEP K-6 3.f)
 Differentiate instruction according to learner readiness, strengths, weaknesses, interests, and motivators of
individual students. Include differentiated content, processes, and products. (CAEP K-6 3.d)

o Mini-lesson (Whole Group- 8-10 minutes)

 Anticipatory Set
Show this short video (.30-2.55) about different character voices. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV9odpHu7to
“What did you notice? What voice did you like the best?”
 Purpose Statement
“Today we are going to do some creative writing! I hope the video I showed you will inspire your writing. It is important to
practice writing with different voices because you will use writing for the rest of your life. It is important to develop voice in
personal writing in order to get different points across and create more interesting and engaging writing. Almost everything
you do, you need to do some sort of writing for it. And, it can be fun! Let’s explore.”
 Introduce Trait
- “What do you think when you think of voice?” Wait for student response. “Voice is the personal tone and flavor
of the author’s message.”
- Who are your favorite characters (TV, movies, and video games)? Make a list on the board of what the
students say.

 Share Examples (Short Text/Read Aloud)

“For our writing activity today we are going to write about the Earths layers and formation, what we learned in science the
other day. Listen to my example and try and figure out what my specific voice is.” Read example writing piece.
Teenage Girl:
- “You will literally have no idea what I learned the other day. So this thing we live in, Earth is made up of three
different layers. Pretty much like an orange or an onion! So, first off there is the core which just like it totally
sounds is the center of the Earth. It is super dense, like super hard I bet, but I don’t really know because I have
not seen it. Then, surrounding the inner core is a mantle, like the thing above my fire place… I love mantles they
are like super cute. I always take pictures in front of them with my friends, anyway, not the same thing. The
mantle is made up of fluid like rocks similar to wax in a candle. Parts of the mantle will cause the continents
plates to shift, like isn’t that unreal. Can you believe we are constantly shifting on the Earth? The final part of
the Earth is its crust. Just like a pizza crust, which I don’t eat because ew carbs, is where life exists. It was like
super cool learning about the way our Earth moves and the different layers of the Earth.”

“What do you think my voice was? Who was I?”

 Provide Information (Model)
“What did I include in my writing that gave away that I was a dramatic teenage girl?” Wait for student response. “It is
crucial to add flavor to the writing by including specific details related to your ‘voice’.”
 Supervise Practice (Shared Writing)
For example, what is one voice that you liked from the video clip I showed _______?” Ask a specific student and wait for their
reply. What might I include in my writing to give away that I chose ________ as my voice?”
 Check for Understanding
“Are there any questions about voice before we begin our writing activity?”
o Writing (25 minutes)
“You will be connecting some of the ideas we learned about in our previous science lesson and write about them in a fun way
(I know, writing about science in a fun way is impossible Miss Lewis, you may say…we will see about that!). The other day we
learned about the different layers that make up the earth and you will be using the knowledge from that to incorporate in
your writing. BUT, the catch is, you will have to choose a character to explain your reasoning from. For example, you heard
my example about the changes in the Earth. I chose to write about this from the perspective of a teenage girl.

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We made a list at the beginning of class, you can choose from these, if there is one that is not on the list then ask me and I will
let you know if you can do it. This is a time to express yourself and be creative and still portray the information we learned!
Make sure the language you use represents the character you chose.”
- Have the students grab a piece of paper, clipboard, pencil and go to their designated writing area. *View
google doc slide*.
List of *possible* Characters:
- NBA Player
- Teenage girl
- Grandma/grandpa
- Fashion designer
- Scuba diver
- Baby
- Firefighter
- Fitness instructor
- Fortnite player
- Veterinarian
o Sharing (Whole Group) 5-10 minutes (depending on how much time we have left)
 Describe your plans for sharing
I will gather the students back at their seats using a timer/ awarding Dojo points to who is sitting quietly at their seats.
Then, I will chose students at random on class Dojo to stand up in front and share their story. Depending on what
character they chose, I will pull up a background picture for them to stand in front of. For example, if I were to share my
story (which I modeled for the students) I would pull up a retail store picture and stand in front of it and read my piece.

We will share as many as we can during this time and throughout the rest of the week whenever the students need a brain
break we will randomly pull this writing activity out and share them.

V. Check for understanding. How do you know students have learned? What strategies will you implement if all
students have not met lesson outcomes? Employ one or more strategies to determine student learning.
 Reteach: whole group, small group, individuals
 If student understanding has gone well, students are ready to complete a task with less teacher support.
 The planned tasks or assignment must relate directly to learning outcomes.

Ask students to figure out what each other’s ‘voices’ are when they go up and present. “What did they use in their writing
that gave away they were __________”. Continue going over different examples if they are having trouble expressing
themselves in their writing.
VIII. Review learning outcomes / Closure

“What is ‘voice’ when you write? How can you tell it is your voice? What are some examples of different voices in writing?”

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

Develop a plan for assessing the degree to which your students have mastered the learning outcomes from this lesson.
Your plan should include formal and informal assessment strategies to evaluate and strengthen instruction that will
promote continuous intellectual, social, emotional, and physical development of each student. (CAEP K-6 3.a)

Formative: walking around the classroom, questions, student discussion

Summative: their final writing piece

REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS (CAEP K-6 3.b)

1. How many students achieved the lesson objective(s)? For those who did not, why not?
2. How should I alter this lesson?
3. Were all students actively participating? If not, why not?
4. Did the students understand the writing instruction? Why or why not?
5. Did I allow students the opportunity to express themselves through writing?

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Seating for writing exploration

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