Below is the lesson plan, which includes the objectives guiding the lesson, the schedule breakdown, the homework assignment, and a link to a downloadable version of the lesson plan. 

 

Objectives:

​​

• Students will practice sharing their writing and responding to student writing

• Students will start to understand and practice revising their work. Students will start knowing what to look for in their writing.

​

Schedule: 

​

1. Write: What was your writing process for the personal narrative?
    

2. Re-read the finalized version of the class contract. If everyone agrees to uphold it, hang it on the board. If there are revisions, take notes and make the necessary changes.
    
3. Introduce the concept of drafts, revision, and feedback. 
    
4. Workshop two student essays as a class.
   • I asked the first few students who came in if they would feel comfortable having their essays read and workshopped by the class. Then I made copies for everyone in the class, and had students annotate the essay while the writer read it out loud. This relies on having quick access to a photocopier. 
   • I framed it like this: We are here to help the writer make it better. This means, we are giving them our reaction as readers, describing to them the effect the piece of writing has. We are pointing out to them where the writing is strongest and why, and asking questions in places that we think may need some more clarity or specificity.
   • This requires heavy modeling at the beginning, and starting with pointing out the strengths of the narrative. I also am very dramatic in thanking the first two writers for being the sacrificial lambs of the class, and reminding the rest of the class to be kind in light of their valiant bravery. This usually get laughs, lightens the mood of the workshop, and reminds students to be thoughtful and constructive when offering feedback. After each essay is workshopped, I ask the writer to describe what it was like having their work workshopped by the group.
      
5. ​Break
    
6. Have students do paired workshops, similarly to how we did the full group workshop. After reading the work out loud and discussing, students should fill out this workshop form to give to their peer.
    
7. Come back and recap. Go over homework.
    
8. Read and discuss “This Is Just To Say” by William Carlos Williams and have students write their own versions.
   This deceptively simple  poem offers many different interpretive possibilities. It’s a good poem to examine tone, theme, audience, voice, and speaker. Students will interpret it in in different ways--push them to provide evidence from the text. Affirm that their conjectures are valid, but they need to describe why. We will return to this poem in the future.

​