Teacher: Meg Strauss Date: February 14th, 2016

School: Holyoke Junior High School Grade Level: 8th

Content Area: English
Title: Ensuring Theme and Voice Lesson #:_12_ of _16_

Colorado State Standards Addressed:

Standard 3.1.a.viii.: Express voice and tone and influence readers perceptions by
varying vocabulary, sentence structure, and descriptive details
Standard 3.1.a.v: Establish and maintain a controlling idea appropriate to audience
and purpose
Understandings:
Students will look at each others work and determine the theme of the text, as well
as the authenticity of their peers voice.
Inquiry Questions:
How is theme and voice portrayed in your peers work?
Evidence Outcomes: (Learning Targets)
I can: look for themes and voice in my peers work
This means: I can also get feedback from my peers on my draft.

List of Assessments:
- Students will be given a completion grade. Students must have half of their
first draft completed.

Planned Lesson Activities

Name and Purpose of Name: Ensuring Theme and Voice
Lesson
Purpose: Students will look at each others work and determine the
theme of the text, as well as the authenticity of their peers voice.
Approx. Time and
Materials Duration of Unit: 50 minutes

Materials: Writers Notebook Prompt

Anticipatory Set Writers Notebook:
- Students will be asked to write a prompt that ends in the
sentence, I only know this because I am a student. T
Procedures Teacher Actions Student Actions
1. 5 minutes- 1. 5 minutes-
Announcements Actively listen to announcements.
Question Answer attendance question
attendance:
What is your
favorite animal?
2. 15 minutes-
2. 15 minutes- Writers Notebook:
Writers Get out your writers notebook
Notebook: For ten minutes, write using the
Have students prompt as guidance.
pull out their For the next five minutes, either share
writers your story or listen to your peers share
notebooks their story.
Tell students to
write a story that
ends in the
phrase, I only
know this
because I am a
student. Tell
students this will
help them
practice
organization for
their personal
memoir.
After ten minutes
of writing, have
students
volunteer to read 3. 20 minutes
their story for the Work on your personal memoir.
remaining five Ensure that you have half of your
minutes. memoir completed (at least one to two
pages)

3. 20 minutes-
Tell students to
work on their
personal memoir.
Walk around the
classroom to 4. 10 minutes
ensure students Get with your assigned partner
have half of their Share your personal memoir with me
personal memoir and your partner
competed. (1 to 2 Read your partners memoir
pages) Answer the questions on the doc
camera via google docs
 4. 10 minutes Pack up your things and get ready to
Partner edit- go to your next class
Partner students
up in accordance
to their
proficiency
Tell students to
share their essay
with me and their
partner on google
docs.
On doc cam, put
questions that
students must
answer when
reading their
partners work

Closure Students will turn in their partner evaluations via google docs.

Assessment - Students will be given a completion grade on whether or not they

have half of their memoir completed.
- Students will be given a completion grade on their partner
evaluations.
Notes to Self - Perhaps providing questions on the doc cam wont work--- maybe
I give each student their own partner evaluation sheet.

Questions on doc cam:

By now you should have half of your
personal memoir completed. Get with the
partner assigned to you. Share your
personal memoir through Google Docs
with me and your partner.
Once you have received your partners
writing, read over their memoir and
answer these questions:
1. What is the theme of this memoir?
2. Why is telling this memoir
important?
3. Does the voice in this memoir
sound like your partner? Is the voice
authentic or robotic?
4. So far, is your partners writing
organized in a way that makes sense?
5. What is your favorite thing about
your partners writing?
6. What is one thing they need to
improve on?