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last.updated 3.13.06

Abstracts: Group 3

Erica

Erin

Grade: 11 (general or honors)

Introduction: The focus of my unit is on Nathaniel HawthorneÕs novel, The Scarlet Letter. The class will study the novel, building up to a character analysis essay about one of the three main characters: Hester Prynne, Aurthur Dimmesdale, or Roger Chillingsworth.

Lesson: My presentation to the class will be a lesson on avoiding ÒDick and JaneÓ sentences by utilizing appositive phrases. We will first learn what I define as a "Dick and Jane" sentence. We will then define appositive phrases, and learn how to write and identify them. To reinforce the lesson there will be a short practice worksheet.

Unit Goals:

• Examine the themes, symbols and characters in Nathaniel HawthorneÕs The Scarlet Letter.
• Discover how literature can be a reflection of a time period.
• Use free writes to record personal observations and thoughts about the novel.
• Successfully write a character analysis paper.
  • Cohesion throughout the paper, from introduction to conclusion.
  • Strong thesis statement.
  • Relevant major details with supporting minor details.
  • Textual evidence to support the major and minor details.
  • Correct grammar and spelling.

Reasoning: The mini-lesson is relevant to the unit goals because it will teach the students how to write sophisticated, complex sentences for their character analysis paper. The students will learn that sentence variety can improve the quality of a paper. This mini-lesson will help them become better writers.

Mary

Peter

Grade Level– 9th Grade

My Goals – My lesson will deal with proper citation of research materials.Ê I plan to teach the students about various types of internal citation as well as bibliographic citation.Ê I hope to teach this subject matter in a way that will not seem complicated or excessively boring because, in my opinion, effective instruction of this topic is pivotal for high school students in order for them to begin to be comfortable writing within the many various discourse communities with which they will be required to interact.Ê I hope to devote the first two thirds of my presentation time to instruction and use the last five minutes to give the students a chance to try some of their new skills.Ê My overarching goal is to present the lesson in a clear, easy to understand manner so that the information in the lesson will empower the students rather than frighten or confuse them. Ê

The Lesson Within the Unit – My Unit, 'Classics for Freshmen," requires my students to read a classic novel, (in this case TwainÕs Huckleberry Finn), and compose a small research paper in which they make an argument regarding the novel, the author or another pertinent issue and use their argument to interact with several different external resources.Ê Because this will, likely, be my studentsÕ first exposure to this type of research, thorough instruction regarding all elements of the research paper will be necessary.Ê One such element is the ever-dreaded source citation.Ê This particular lesson will be situated near the beginning of my Unit, near the time the students will be composing their first drafts.