Lesson 1- What makes up a story?

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Activities:

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Brainstorm – ask students to brainstorm popular stories from their home country. If possible, have students work in language or country groups. Use of L1 is encouraged. Ask students to consider what common features exist in their chosen stories. Use the Inspiration program (loaded on all Burnaby Schools computers) and project on to the board to record answers and visualize the connections.

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Read – Group students into partner pairs (aim for students who do not share an L1) and have students read “Charles” by Shirley Jackson and note the story structure using the plot diagram handout.

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Discuss – discuss answers as a class and track on the board.

 

Technology: Use of Inspiration computer program and projector

SIOP: Interaction - Purposeful grouping of students and activation of background knowledge

Genre: Exploring narrative story structure

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Lesson 2 – What makes up a GOOD story?

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Activities:

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Jigsaw – Group students and give each group a different sample student text to read. These texts were written by former students with permission to share them as exemplars. Have students identify what the relevant language and organizational features they notice in the stories on the handout. Then rotate, have students move throughout the room reading other stories and repeating a similar process. After a few rotations, ask students to compile their findings.

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Inside/outside circle – with their compiled findings, have students create two circles to do an inside/outside circle discussion.

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Discuss – engage the whole class together to share findings. Use the organizer key to help if needed for the teacher. Have a student or the teacher type the answers into an Office 365 group account and demonstrate how to use it and add comments. Please note that all teachers and students have access and accounts to Office 365 provided by Burnaby Schools. If further support is required, use the sample text from the appendices of the language adapted course document. 

 

Technology: Use Office 365 to compile results and show how to use comment feature

SIOP: Interaction - create meaningful opportunities for interaction and dialogue

Genre: generate a list of language and organizational features of narrative genre

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Lesson 3 – How do we assess story writing? How do I generate ideas?

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Activities:

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Discuss – project a copy of the provincial marking guide on the board. Read aloud as a class and break it down by category and by any challenging vocabulary words.

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Partner work – pair students, where possible, with a partner who speaks the same L1 and ask them to review the sample student work from last day. Use of L1 is encouraged when discussing the texts. Then determine where each essay falls on the marking criteria by paying particular attention to the language and organizational features.

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Discuss – when students have made their determinations, conduct a whiparound class discussion to hear from each group. Facilitate the conversation and address any big discrepancies that may occur.

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Individual work – for students to create good stories, they must start from good ideas. Have students complete the individual personal history document to start brainstorming ideas for their writing

 

Technology: Use of projector

SIOP: Comprehensible input – ensure that directions are clear and laid out by delivering them both orally and in written form

Genre: Reviewing language and content goals of narrative writing

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Lesson 4 – How do I write my introduction?

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Activities:

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Brainstorm – pair students with someone of roughly the same writing ability. Introduce your narrative prompt and have students discuss and plan their writing. Use the organizer provided to help students clarify their thoughts and ideas.

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Partner work –Create and share a document of three different introductions from the sample student texts with the class. Have students, working at shared computers in the lab, read the introductions and break down the sentence order needed for an introduction.

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Writing – then ask students to create their own introduction paragraphs with their partner.

 

Technology: Use of Office 365

SIOP: Strategy – directly show students what is expected in their introduction and have them work on developing their own

Genre: Practice writing in the narrative genre

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Lesson 5- How do we start writing? Body Paragraphs

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Activities:

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Discussion – introduce the concept of dialogue by way the dialogue handouts. As a class, practice using different forms of punctuation as needed for effective dialogue.

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Partner work –Create and share a document of three different body paragraphs from the sample student texts with the class. Have students, working at shared computers in the lab with the same partner as before, read the body paragraphs and break down the sentence order needed for a strong body paragraph.

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Writing – then ask students to create their own body paragraphs with their partner.

 

Technology: Use of Office 365

SIOP: Strategy – directly show students what is expected in their body paragraphs and have them work on developing their own

Genre: Practice writing in the narrative genre

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Lesson 6 – How do we start writing? Conclusion

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Activities:

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Partner work – students should continue with the same partner as before. Create and share a document of three different conclusions from the sample student texts with the class. Have students, working at shared computers in the lab, read the conclusions and break down the sentence order needed for an conclusion.

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Writing – then ask students to create their own conclusion paragraphs with their partner.

 

Technology: Use of Office 365

SIOP: Strategy – directly show students what is expected in their conclusion and have them work on developing their own

Genre: Practice writing in the narrative genre

 

 

Lesson 7 – Peer Editing  

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Activities:

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Discuss – by this point, all partner pairs should have completed their co-created narrative essays. Introduce students to the peer editing form. Highlight the key features and use strategies such as paraphrasing/repeating instructions as well as red/green cards to ensure students understand directions.

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Peer Edit – have partner pairs conduct a peer edit of another group by using the comments feature on Word in Office 365.

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Discussion – have partner pairs share their feedback orally with the team of whose text they edited.

 

Technology: Use of Office 365

SIOP: Comprehensible input – ensuring directions are clear and checking for understanding

Genre: Review of the language and organizational features of narrative text

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Lesson 8 – Revisions and Rewrites

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Activities:

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Writing - Using the comments provided by their peer’s last class, have students revise and rewrite their narratives before handing in to the teacher for feedback.

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Conferences – conduct mini conferences with partner pairs to share feedback on their writing process so far. Wherever possible, have the teacher participate in conferencing to extend the discussion if needed.

 

Technology: Office 365

SIOP: Practice – provide opportunities for students to reflect upon their work and make necessary changes.

Genre: Review of the narrative genre

 

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Lesson 9 – Individual Write

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Activities:

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Writing – students use class time to respond to a new narrative writing prompt provided by the teacher. Students are encouraged to use class notes and to ask peers and the teacher for support. Teacher should circulate and conduct conferences as needed.

 

Technology: Use of Office 365

SIOP: Practice – providing ample time and support for students to develop their skills

Genre: Application of the narrative genre

 

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Lesson 10 – Peer Editing

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Activities:

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Peer Edit – using the same peer editing form, have students conduct a peer edit of another student’s narrative text using the Office 365 comments feature.

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Conferences – have students conduct face to face conferences with each other to explain their peer edits and any other helpful or pertinent information.

 

Technology: Use of Office 365

SIOP: Assessment – use of formative feedback from teacher and peers

Genre: Application of the narrative genre

 

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Lesson 11 – Revisions and Rewrites

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Activities:

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Writing - Using the comments provided by their peer’s last class, have students revise and rewrite their narratives before handing in to the teacher for feedback.

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Conferences – conduct mini conferences with students to share feedback on their writing process so far. Wherever possible, have the teacher participate in conferencing to extend the discussion if needed.

 

Technology: Use of Office 365

SIOP: Assessment - use of provincial rubric after ample time and opportunity for students to build skill

Genre: Application of the narrative genre

 

 

 

Please customize this as needed to fit the needs of your learners and your style as a teacher. It is possible that some classes may need more reinforcement of ideas and concepts. For example, for some classes it may be prudent to read multiple short stories and complete plot diagrams for each to build familiarity. Likewise, some classes or students may need more writing time than what is allotted for. This sample unit is a guide to prompt ideas and is by no means prescriptive.

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Another suggestion is embedding the language and content goals at the start of each lesson. This is a SIOP technique that helps make it clear to learners what the goals of the class are. It also can act as a helpful “exit slip” to assess where students are at towards the end of a lesson.