Research Question

How do reading journals reflect students' progress as critical thinkers? What conclusion can I draw from analyzing the progression of responses over the school year?

Lesson Plan for Editing

Name: Shawna Fischer

Length of Time: 90 minutes

Grade: 5

HCPS Standards:

Topic         Sentence Structure and Grammar

Benchmark LA.5.4.2    Form and use the following grammatical constructions correctly when editing writing:

• complex sentences

• introductory phrases and subordinate clauses

• noun-pronoun agreement with intervening words or phrases

• appositives

• relative clauses

Topic         Punctuation, Capitalization, and Spelling

Benchmark LA.5.4.5    Edit writing to correct use of following punctuation:

• parentheses

• commas with relative clauses

• commas with appositives, if needed

Rubric

Advanced

Write and edit for grade-appropriate sentence structure and grammar, with accuracy

Proficient

Write and edit for grade-appropriate sentence structure and grammar, with no significant errors

Developing Proficiency   

Write and edit for grade-appropriate sentence structure and grammar, with a few significant errors and/or many minor errors        

Well Below

Write and edit for grade-appropriate sentence structure and grammar, with many significant errors

Content Concepts:

Students will be able to create a routine where they become their own first editors of their writing.

GLO’S: Self-directed Learner, Effective Communicator

Ojectives: Student will be able to edit their narrative draft.

Assessment(s) and or Evaluation:

Resources:

Eats, Shoots, & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! by Lynne Truss and Bonnie Timmons

Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts! by Lynne Truss and Bonnie Timmons

The Girl’s Like Spaghetti: Why, You Can’t Manage without Apostrophes! by Lynne Truss and Bonnie Timmons

Beginning Procedures (Lesson Introduction/Anticipatory Set/Connection to Prior Knowledge)

Class will make a T-chart that lists the differences between revision and editing. Students will share when they use one of the other during their own writing.

Middle Procedures (Learning Activities)

In groups students will read the books on punctuation rules. Books handed out include Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference, Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts, The Girl’s like Spaghetti: Why, You Can’t Manage without Apostrophes. Groups will then make a list of punctuation rules that they should look for in their own writing.

Groups will then share out what they learned with the class. They will then create an editing checklist of 3-5 skills they believe are important to check for in their own writing. Each item will be color-coded and students will be encouraged to refer to the list the groups made. For example, one item on the editing checklist might be use of apostrophes. Students will check their writing for this skill and will circle the needed corrections in the corresponding color.

Closing Procedures:

Students will then have a peer editor check their work for agreed upon skills. Peer editors will not mark their classmate’s paper. Instead the peer editor will write suggestions and notes on a sticky note. Author will apply changes as agreed upon. Class will close with a discussion of what was learned that day.

Modifications for Diverse Learners:

Students may not be at grade level. The teacher will monitor these students through conferencing and will encourage those students to set appropriate goals.

Teacher’s Reflection on Lesson: 
Today I taught, rather reluctantly, I lesson on editing. I personally do not like editing nor do I always know how to get my third grade students to like it. But I read Ralph Fletcher's take on it and borrowed some children's books, and made gave it my best shot.


I was unprepared to find that some for commas for American English were wrong. The authors of the books I used are British, so there was some differences in the rules we use. I think it was helpful to use an approach that was student-centered, since the subject is such a dry one for most people. I would probably use a modified version of this lesson in my own classroom. I would probably photocopy the page of the book with the particular lesson in mind. I would then provide extra examples of the same rule for conventions and then have groups generalize the rule.

May 18

         He rested the chainsaw on his dirt caked jeans, startled by the growing darkness. Framed between the boughs of the Ponderosa Pines, he could no longer see the horizon even though the sun had just risen a few hours before. His sweaty forearm felt the prick of….rain? No, these specks falling from the sky did not dissolve into relief but instead smudged into the grime already there.

         His buddy had stopped too, soon after he felled the last tree. They both were alert now as the sky was turning into consuming blackness.

         They got into the old pickup truck, hastily tossing chainsaws into the bed, cranking the knob on the old radio. The crackling on the radio cleared and they could hear that which they already knew: that mountain had awoken fiercely! Yet then the announcer said that which alter my family forever: a cropduster plane was missing!

         Knowing the pilot was either his father-in-law or brother-in-law, my dad changed courses and barreled the truck towards my grandma’s house. And there he found his wife, long red hair tangled with the baby in the sling, vinegar tears spilling over onto my downy head. He learned what the family already knew, the man they adored, the one who had skipped school at 15 to take flying lessons, the one who started a flying business in a small Washington town, the one who would later be honored by the Washington Aviation Hall of Fame, lay crumpled in twisted metal in a farmer’s field.