The following lesson is a 3rd grade writing lesson that focuses on main ideas. In this lesson, students learned the components of a strong main idea. They also learned that a strong main idea is focused, clear-cut, and exact; it should be able to easily be picked out by the reader.I think that seeing samples of strong main ideas, as well as writing that included strong, focused main ideas helped them to see what a strong main idea looks like when used in writing. It was also helpful for them to see a sample writing that was not focused, had many topics or ideas, and lacked supporting details, because this allowed them to explain how the writer could improve their writing. It is often difficult for them to critique their own writing and explain how they could improve, so looking at sample writings was a good way for them to notice what was missing from the writing and what they could add to the writing for it to receive a higher score. I think that I repeated several times the components of a strong main idea, so I feel like I drilled that idea into their minds. However, they seemed a little bored throughout the lesson and had a hard time staying focused. My CT suggested that I walk around the classroom throughout my lesson to monitor the students a little closer. She also challenged me to think of a way to grab some of the student’s attention that were not focused. Next time I teach this lesson I believe that I should walk around the class and not just stand in the front and lecture. I think I was worried about getting through the lesson because I was a little nervous since it was my first time teaching a whole group lesson. I also think I in the future I would try to find a writing sample from a grade appropriate book and read it to them. The samples that were given in the packet were not very entertaining, so if I found a book that they enjoyed, they may pay attention more and stay more focused throughout the lesson.
Outline for a Daily Lesson Plan Date: 10/26/09 - Day One Goals/Objectives for today’s lesson: Students will understand and recognize a focused main idea through exposure to sample writings. Students will be given sample writings that range from having strong, focused main ideas to not having main ideas, or too many ideas. They will demonstrate their understanding by participating in activities on main ideas on the first main idea worksheet. Students will try to score writing samples as a class, and use the grading rubric to explain their reasoning. Materials & supplies needed: MEAP scoring samples, one and a four Scoring rubrics Daily 6 Trait writing packet week 1, day 1 worksheet
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event Introduction to the lesson ( 8 minutes) Students will remain in their seats as we start the lesson. Last week we were working on some writing pieces that you have had a conference with your teachers and have been editing and revising. Can anyone tell me what the main idea of your piece was? This is something that all good writers include, a good main idea. Similar to how we had you develop main ideas with our Halloween stories. Today we are going to be looking at pieces with good focused main ideas and some writings that may seem to stray from good focused main ideas. First we are going to go through a worksheet. Our rule for today is: Choose a strong main idea. Make your idea specific. We are now going to look at a few main ideas on our worksheet. Lesson: 20-25 minutes ·A strong main idea is specific. This means that it is clear-cut and exact. Now let’s look at some samples of main ideas and choose which one is more specific. (Teacher will go through examples of main ideas and as a class we will choose which one is a stronger, more specific main idea and discuss what made the main idea more specific.) The next thing we are going to do is look at the three ideas listed on the worksheet. We are going to choose one of the ideas and make it more specific.(Teacher will ask class how we can make the idea more specific. For example: baking cookies could be more specific by telling about making oatmeal cookies with your grandma. ·Now we are going to look at some sample writings and decide if they have a focused, clear, strong main idea. ·A sample rubric is handed out to the students and one on the Elmo. Teacher will go through and explain the rubric. Let’s look at the rubric and go through the different point values. If a paper is scored as a 4, it should have a clear, well-focused main idea and interesting, carefully chosen details that support and expand on the main idea. As you read through the samples, look at the components and ask yourself if the writer included the information in their writing. For example if a paper received a score of 4, the writer should have a main idea that can be easily identified and understandable to the reader. The paper is clearly focused, and the details help support the writer’s main idea. If the writer is missing a piece of this information, then take the score down to a 3, if their missing a lot of the information listed as a score of 4, drop it down to a 2. If the writer has too many ideas and not a clear focused topic that is not narrowed down and specific, they are not knowledgeable about the topic, and the details do not support the idea, then it would receive a score of 1. (Teacher and students read through samples and decide, based on the rubric, what type of score they would give the paper as well as discuss the writer’s strengths or weaknesses and how they could improve their writing. Discuss what they are missing, whether it is a focused main idea or details that help to support their main idea.)
Academic, Social and Linguistic Support during each event I will walk around and ask students why they gave the writing samples the scores they did. Especially those students who struggled with the pre-writing assessment. Jenny, Mia and Jessica all had trouble staying focused and supporting their main ideas. This tells me that they are not quite sure what quality writing entails. If they are unable to identify samples of strong, focused ideas, it is likely that they will not be able to write their own stories that have strong, main ideas. I called on two of the girls throughout the lesson to see if they were paying attention. I also wanted to know if they understood the factors of a strong main idea. Mia was not paying attention when I called on her and I was frustrated because she was constantly turning around during the lesson and talking to her neighbor. She was asked to changer her behavior card because she was not engaging in the lesson.
OUTLINE of key eventsduring the lesson( 25 minutes) ·As a class review day 1 worksheet and discuss components of a strong main idea. ·Complete activities on worksheet and review samples of strong main ideas. ·Have all examples of writing organized and ready to be placed on the ELMO. Show the rubric that we will be using to assess the writing samples. Give each student a copy to use on their own as a reference while writing a piece of their own. Will we will go over each grading level, 4,3,2,1. Four being the best example and one being the worse example. Four - There is one clear, well-focused topic. Main idea stands out and is supported by detailed information. Three - Main idea is clear but the supporting information is general. Two - Main idea is somewhat clear but there is a need for more supporting information. One - The main idea is not clear. There is a seemingly random collection of information. Present first writing example. Tell the kids that the piece in front of them is a one and use the rubric as a guide to explain why this piece received a one. One - The main idea is not clear. There is a seemingly random collection of information. The piece will be discussed as a class and students will share why they think the piece received a one. Present second writing example. Tell the kids that the piece in front of them is a four and use the rubric as a guide to explain why this piece received a four. Four - There is one clear, well-focused topic. Main idea stands out and is supported by detailed information. The piece will be discussed as a class and students will share why they think the piece received a four. Closing summary for the lesson ( 5 minutes) Review what we learned today.Who can tell me what we learned today about main ideas? Ask students to recall information from the lesson to see what they have absorbed/learned from the lesson. Now that we have an idea of what it takes to have a focused main idea, we are prepared for tomorrow where you will be expected to look at pieces on your own and score them yourselves. we will first score another sample writing and then you will try it on your own, using the same rubric we used today to score the samples.
Academic, Social, and Linguistic Support during assessment I will make sure students who are struggling have their own copy of the grading rubric in front of them. I may also read the rubric through and explain the components of each score. This should help them to be able to score the writing samples more accurately.
·Tomorrow we will also start brainstorming about some good main ideas you can use in your own writing pieces. Keep in mind that a good main idea is a clear well-focused topic that stands out and is supported by detailed information. Transition to next learning activity Please put your main idea packets and your rubrics in your VIP folders. We will continue with main ideas again tomorrow, but for now we need to get into our reading groups. Please take out your reading packets and continue on the next chapter in your book. Assessment: We will be informally assessing them by observing their attention and focus; as well as comments and questions throughout the discussion to gauge their understanding. Based on observations we will be able to decide if students will need more time to practice scoring sample pieces. We will continue this lesson on the next day and score a sample piece in the beginning of the lesson as a class. Then we will allow students to work independently or if more assistance is necessary than we will allow students to work in small groups for support.
(Which students struggled with the material?How will I reteach these students) The students that struggled during this lesson were mostly my 2nd graders. I am teaching this to my whole class and I actually had just worked with my 3rd graders a few days earlier on main ideas and topic sentences during literacy. However I now teach writing to the whole class. For the students who did not understand the lesson, I would reteach the lesson using books that have writing that includes strong main ideas. The students that were struggling were having trouble with the idea of strong main ideas being specific. I talked with another teacher and she gave me a book on roller coasters and fireflies. She said that the books were great examples of writing that had specific, main ideas that were easy for the reader to pick out. I think I would add a day where we would just read books that contain strong, well focused main ideas. Students would pick out the main idea and tell me what details the author included that helped support their main idea while also staying on topic.
Grade 3
Day 1
The following lesson is a 3rd grade writing lesson that focuses on main ideas. In this lesson, students learned the components of a strong main idea. They also learned that a strong main idea is focused, clear-cut, and exact; it should be able to easily be picked out by the reader. I think that seeing samples of strong main ideas, as well as writing that included strong, focused main ideas helped them to see what a strong main idea looks like when used in writing. It was also helpful for them to see a sample writing that was not focused, had many topics or ideas, and lacked supporting details, because this allowed them to explain how the writer could improve their writing. It is often difficult for them to critique their own writing and explain how they could improve, so looking at sample writings was a good way for them to notice what was missing from the writing and what they could add to the writing for it to receive a higher score.
I think that I repeated several times the components of a strong main idea, so I feel like I drilled that idea into their minds. However, they seemed a little bored throughout the lesson and had a hard time staying focused. My CT suggested that I walk around the classroom throughout my lesson to monitor the students a little closer. She also challenged me to think of a way to grab some of the student’s attention that were not focused. Next time I teach this lesson I believe that I should walk around the class and not just stand in the front and lecture. I think I was worried about getting through the lesson because I was a little nervous since it was my first time teaching a whole group lesson. I also think I in the future I would try to find a writing sample from a grade appropriate book and read it to them. The samples that were given in the packet were not very entertaining, so if I found a book that they enjoyed, they may pay attention more and stay more focused throughout the lesson.
Outline for a Daily Lesson Plan
Date: 10/26/09 - Day One
Goals/Objectives for today’s lesson:
Students will understand and recognize a focused main idea through exposure to sample writings.
Students will be given sample writings that range from having strong, focused main ideas to not having main ideas, or too many ideas. They will demonstrate their understanding by participating in activities on main ideas on the first main idea worksheet.
Students will try to score writing samples as a class, and use the grading rubric to explain their reasoning.
Materials & supplies needed:
MEAP scoring samples, one and a four
Scoring rubrics
Daily 6 Trait writing packet week 1, day 1 worksheet
Procedures and approximate time allocated for each event
Introduction to the lesson ( 8 minutes)
Students will remain in their seats as we start the lesson.
Last week we were working on some writing pieces that you have had a conference with your teachers and have been editing and revising. Can anyone tell me what the main idea of your piece was?
This is something that all good writers include, a good main idea. Similar to how we had you develop main ideas with our Halloween stories. Today we are going to be looking at pieces with good focused main ideas and some writings that may seem to stray from good focused main ideas. First we are going to go through a worksheet. Our rule for today is: Choose a strong main idea. Make your idea specific. We are now going to look at a few main ideas on our worksheet.
Lesson: 20-25 minutes
· A strong main idea is specific. This means that it is clear-cut and exact. Now let’s look at some samples of main ideas and choose which one is more specific. (Teacher will go through examples of main ideas and as a class we will choose which one is a stronger, more specific main idea and discuss what made the main idea more specific.) The next thing we are going to do is look at the three ideas listed on the worksheet. We are going to choose one of the ideas and make it more specific.(Teacher will ask class how we can make the idea more specific. For example: baking cookies could be more specific by telling about making oatmeal cookies with your grandma.
· Now we are going to look at some sample writings and decide if they have a focused, clear, strong main idea.
· A sample rubric is handed out to the students and one on the Elmo. Teacher will go through and explain the rubric. Let’s look at the rubric and go through the different point values. If a paper is scored as a 4, it should have a clear, well-focused main idea and interesting, carefully chosen details that support and expand on the main idea. As you read through the samples, look at the components and ask yourself if the writer included the information in their writing. For example if a paper received a score of 4, the writer should have a main idea that can be easily identified and understandable to the reader. The paper is clearly focused, and the details help support the writer’s main idea. If the writer is missing a piece of this information, then take the score down to a 3, if their missing a lot of the information listed as a score of 4, drop it down to a 2. If the writer has too many ideas and not a clear focused topic that is not narrowed down and specific, they are not knowledgeable about the topic, and the details do not support the idea, then it would receive a score of 1. (Teacher and students read through samples and decide, based on the rubric, what type of score they would give the paper as well as discuss the writer’s strengths or weaknesses and how they could improve their writing. Discuss what they are missing, whether it is a focused main idea or details that help to support their main idea.)
I will walk around and ask students why they gave the writing samples the scores they did. Especially those students who struggled with the pre-writing assessment. Jenny, Mia and Jessica all had trouble staying focused and supporting their main ideas. This tells me that they are not quite sure what quality writing entails. If they are unable to identify samples of strong, focused ideas, it is likely that they will not be able to write their own stories that have strong, main ideas.
I called on two of the girls throughout the lesson to see if they were paying attention. I also wanted to know if they understood the factors of a strong main idea. Mia was not paying attention when I called on her and I was frustrated because she was constantly turning around during the lesson and talking to her neighbor. She was asked to changer her behavior card because she was not engaging in the lesson.
· As a class review day 1 worksheet and discuss components of a strong main idea.
· Complete activities on worksheet and review samples of strong main ideas.
· Have all examples of writing organized and ready to be placed on the ELMO.
Show the rubric that we will be using to assess the writing samples. Give each student a copy to use on their own as a reference while writing a piece of their own. Will we will go over each grading level, 4,3,2,1. Four being the best example and one being the worse example. Four - There is one clear, well-focused topic. Main idea stands out and is supported by detailed information. Three - Main idea is clear but the supporting information is general. Two - Main idea is somewhat clear but there is a need for more supporting information. One - The main idea is not clear. There is a seemingly random collection of information.
Present first writing example. Tell the kids that the piece in front of them is a one and use the rubric as a guide to explain why this piece received a one. One - The main idea is not clear. There is a seemingly random collection of information. The piece will be discussed as a class and students will share why they think the piece received a one.
Present second writing example. Tell the kids that the piece in front of them is a four and use the rubric as a guide to explain why this piece received a four. Four - There is one clear, well-focused topic. Main idea stands out and is supported by detailed information. The piece will be discussed as a class and students will share why they think the piece received a four.
Closing summary for the lesson ( 5 minutes)
Review what we learned today. Who can tell me what we learned today about main ideas? Ask students to recall information from the lesson to see what they have absorbed/learned from the lesson.
Now that we have an idea of what it takes to have a focused main idea, we are prepared for tomorrow where you will be expected to look at pieces on your own and score them yourselves. we will first score another sample writing and then you will try it on your own, using the same rubric we used today to score the samples.
I will make sure students who are struggling have their own copy of the grading rubric in front of them. I may also read the rubric through and explain the components of each score. This should help them to be able to score the writing samples more accurately.
Transition to next learning activity
Please put your main idea packets and your rubrics in your VIP folders. We will continue with main ideas again tomorrow, but for now we need to get into our reading groups. Please take out your reading packets and continue on the next chapter in your book.
Assessment: We will be informally assessing them by observing their attention and focus; as well as comments and questions throughout the discussion to gauge their understanding. Based on observations we will be able to decide if students will need more time to practice scoring sample pieces. We will continue this lesson on the next day and score a sample piece in the beginning of the lesson as a class. Then we will allow students to work independently or if more assistance is necessary than we will allow students to work in small groups for support.
(Which students struggled with the material? How will I reteach these students)
The students that struggled during this lesson were mostly my 2nd graders. I am teaching this to my whole class and I actually had just worked with my 3rd graders a few days earlier on main ideas and topic sentences during literacy. However I now teach writing to the whole class. For the students who did not understand the lesson, I would reteach the lesson using books that have writing that includes strong main ideas. The students that were struggling were having trouble with the idea of strong main ideas being specific. I talked with another teacher and she gave me a book on roller coasters and fireflies. She said that the books were great examples of writing that had specific, main ideas that were easy for the reader to pick out. I think I would add a day where we would just read books that contain strong, well focused main ideas. Students would pick out the main idea and tell me what details the author included that helped support their main idea while also staying on topic.