Identity 2, Writing Workshop 1: Choose your words carefully!

Title: Choose your words carefully! (Intro to descriptive language)

Author: M. Hill

Subject: ELA

Grade: 6

Week: 1, Lesson 2

Unit/Lesson Plan #: Identity 2

Unit theme:

Identity

Textbook references:

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Learning objectives:

- Choosing descriptive words (modifiers!) helps to create more vivid and colorful writing.

- Understand that language is a medium through which one can express specific feelings or experiences. This medium can be used in many different ways to express many different "voices"

Key Questions, Concepts, or Themes:

Line of Inquiry:

How does exploring others' voices and identities help us to define our own voices and understand the role of individual voice and identity as critical elements of ourselves as writers/thinkers?

Essential Question:

How does descriptive language allow us to express ourselves in creative ways?

Stage 1:

JOURNAL: How does word choice influence writing?

Stage 2:

A. Write a 4-5 sentence account of what you did this morning.

B. Share story with table group or neighbor.

C. Read passages of Esperanza Rising, first with descriptive words omitted/replaced, then with descriptive language.

Ask students:

- What do you notice?

- What was different between the two passages? Describe it.

(Discuss descriptive language, and types of descriptive language)

Stage 3:

Students revisit their original stories. Change them using descriptive language to describe in more detail. May be extended to describe in different ways - make the story more mysterious, more formal, more exciting, etc. Have fun with description!

EXTENSION: Ask students to recall a family ritual of some sort (a holiday celebration, a family gathering, etc.). Have students create a picture in their mind of exactly what this is like. Then, describe it so that someone who has never been to that ritual might be able to accurately picture it in their minds.

Homework: Finish journal

Assessments: (attach/link copies)

__ Group assessment

_x_ Observation of process/student work

_x_ Self-assessment by student

_x_ Teacher generated assignment

__ Written project

__ Test/Quiz

__ Other: ___________Journal_________________________