Writers’ Workshop – Lesson 1                                                  Writing

– The Outline                                          Communication / Social Skills

 

At a Glance

Students will:

ü brainstorm characters, events, morals, lessons

 

ü examine and follow an overview of basic essay structure

 

ü work in groups to develop an essay outline

 

    Purpose:  to learn basic essay structure through text analysis.

 

    Materials:  2 hand-outs:  1) An Introduction to Writing an                          Essay;   2) Outline Questionnaire

   

    Preparation:  10 minutes (to copy hand-outs)

 

    Time:         60 – 90 minutes (or more, depending on sentence                                                                                                                                                    writing                      skills)

 

Teacher’s Notes

Procedure

1.   Choose a short story that your class has finished reading, and about which they will have strong opinions.

2.   In a brainstorming session, ask students the following questions (you may want to have the students work on these questions in small groups and then review their answers as a class):

Who are the main characters of the story?

    • What are the main events of the story?
    • What roles do the main characters play in the main events of the story?
    • Is there a moral to the story? If yes, what do you think it is?
    • What did you learn from the story?

3.   Record on the board or large chart, a list of the most commonly held opinions and answers relating to the story.

4.   Give students the handout – An Introduction to Writing An Essay. Have them read through the outline and answer any questions they may have.

5.   Ask students to break up into small groups and hand out the Outline Questionnaire.  Using the information from the brainstorming session, fill in the outline questionnaire.

 Circulate around the class helping the groups come up with appropriate answers to the outline.  Check sentence construction.

Make sure that each student has a copy of the work they produce, as this outline will be used as the base of an essay in a future lesson.

6.   Review individual answers with the whole class to give direction to those who are struggling.  Provide opportunity for students to ask questions and elicit possible answers from the class.

Writing                                                     Writers’ Workshop – Lesson1

Communication / Social Skills                                           – The Outline

 

Teacher’s Notes

Lesson Extension

1.   a short story  - George Orwell’s Animal Farm works well with this lesson.  See attached teacher’s page with references to Animal Farm.

      finished reading – see The Multiple Choice Challenge  for ensuring students read assigned material. (At a glance: Students will read assigned material; create and answer multiple choice comprehension questions; work as a team and compete for points)

 

 

2.   brainstorming session – see Graphic Organizers: Brainstorming Web.

 

5.   sentence construction. – See Other Resources:  Common ESL Errors and CLBA Guide to Assessing Writing.

 

 

 

Follow-up / Transfer Activities:

 

1.   Continue with Topic Sentences and Content Points  and/or Writers’ Workshop – Lesson 2 – Developing a Character Analysis

2.   Instruct students on using www.paragraphpunch.com - a program on the Internet designed to guide users through the steps of writing a paragraph.

 

 

Additional Resources