Planning for Instruction
How-To Lesson Plan
Class Description:
14 white 6th grade students (4 girls and 10 boys), unfamiliar with prewriting activities. All students are from Ogden, Illinois, a small rural town outside of Champaign.
>Goals:
- Students will understand the need for prewriting to organize their thoughts.
- Be able to organize their own thoughts through using a prewriting strategy.
- Students will be able to deliver a how-to presentation in front of their peers on the topic of their choice.
- Achieve effective cooperation with their peer group.
- Recognize the relationship between the small details and the final outcome.
Materials Needed:
- 2 plastic knives
- 4 pieces of bread
- Peanut butter
- Jelly
- 2 paper plates
- Lots of napkins
- Flow chart and possible topic handouts
- Note cards
Activities:
Opening
- First we will ask for a student volunteer to join us at the front of the room.
- (5 min.) We will show them the materials we have (listed above) the volunteer will turn away from us (we will face the classroom) and we will ask the student to describe, in detail, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
- We will follow the student's directions exactly as they are spoken (the class cannot give verbal help).
- (5 min.) We will return to the larger group and ask the students why our sandwiches didn't turn out right.
- Prompt students to think about the necessity of details and sequencing.
Middle
- (7 min.) Individually, the students will write out their own flowchart about how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
- (3 min.) Break the students into groups of four according to where they are sitting and pass out the note cards.
- (7 min.) In their groups, they will compare their peanut butter and jelly flowcharts and decide what makes a complete flowchart.
- (3 min.) Give the groups time to decide on a how-to topic they will present to the class.
- (20 min.) Once their topic is chosen and approved, they will have time to fill out the note cards in their groups.
- Make sure the students know they can move their note cards around (emphasizing sequence and organization) and make sure that they include details on each step.
- (5 min.) The students will designate parts for the presentation (including at least one person to act out the activity).
Closing
- (3 min.) We will explain how to do their presentation (talk about our presentation as a model).
- (4 min. per group) Each group will present their how-to flowchart on note cards to the class.
- The students' note cards will be stuck to a chalkboard flowchart frame.
- We will summarize what they learned (ask students for their input).
Formative Analysis:
- Assess students' understanding of the need for organizational prewriting by having them comment on the problematic results of our initial peanut butter and jelly sandwich model.
- Assess the students' ability to organize their own thoughts using the flowchart model to show how they would describe the process of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
- Assess the completeness of their how-to presentation by commenting on their performance.
- Assess effective cooperation by observing and mediating their group interactions when necessary.
- Assess their grasp of the relationship between the small details and the final outcome through the final class discussion.