Daniela Pinto

LAE4863 Linguistic Lesson Series

July 25, 2014
Dr. Shelbie Witte
Florida State University









Improving an Essay
Purpose/Rationale: These mini-lessons are designed for an 11
th
grade English class. The
students wrote a paper and after reviewing them, many grammar mistakes have been found and
need to be addressed. The purpose of these lessons is to target students writing in different ways
while revolving around one essay. The students in the end might think they are only improving
an essay. However, they are in fact, improving their writing all together. Errors that were
prominent throughout the essays were incorrect comma usage, vocabulary practice and
misspellings, as well as improper transitions between paragraphs and ideas. In the end students
will be rewriting their papers to put their new found knowledge to good use.
Common Core Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are
defined in standards 1-3 above.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.5
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a
new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and
audience
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.1
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.2
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.2.B
Spell correctly.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.3
Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to
make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or
listening.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.4.A
Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text; a word's position or
function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.11-12.4.B
Identify and correctly use patterns of word changes that indicate different meanings or parts of
speech (e.g., conceive, conception, conceivable).

Objectives: Students will be able to
SWBAT practice using commas by editing social media posts.
SWBAT break down words in suffixes and prefixes in order to understand context clues when
writing.
SWBAT mirror transitions that they highlight in sample essays in order to understand the proper
usage of them.
SWBAT write a new essay that incorporates the improvements and the lessons learned
throughout the grammar unit.

Materials:
Unit Accommodations: Students with disabilities will be accommodated per their IEP. This can
include, having prioritized seating for students with visual or auditory disabilities, extra help on
lessons, repetition or extra clarification, larger print handouts if needed, easy access to the
classroom door and class dictionaries for English Language Learners. Most of these lessons are
group work which is beneficial for the ELL students and the low performing students whom are
paired with high performing students.
Day 1: Commas
Anticipatory Set: Students will be informed that there were many comma issues with their
papers that need to be resolved. Students are already sitting in their assigned four groups of five
and there are papers faced down in the middle of the desks that show a social media post with
poor comma usage. However, first students will be taught a little bit about commas that they do
not already know. By doing so, a Prezi will be shown to review the usage of commas and why
we use them.
Tick/Tock: 15 Minutes
Time Students Will Teacher Will
Anticipatory Set
(5 Minutes)
See above See above

Social Comma Crisis!
(9 Minutes)
Flip over the social media
posts in the middle of their
desks and read it to figure out
where a comma needs to go,
and why it needs to go there.
Answer any questions that
may arise during the activity
and keep the Prezi on the
board in case students need to
reference it.
Closure
(1 Minute)
See below See below

Closure: To close, the class will have a discussion on their findings and what they learned
throughout the lesson.
Homework/Follow-up: N/A
Day 1 Specific Accommodations: ELL students will benefit from this activity because they are
able to learn or review the rules of comma usage. They will also be provided with dictionaries to
help them understand what is asked of them. ELL students are also paired in groups, which will
help them learn from their peers. The discussion is also volunteer based. Therefore, ELL students
do not have to participate if they do not feel comfortable in doing so. ADHD students have a
fidget object to keep them from getting distracted from the clip or the activity. The visually
impaired student will sit in his usual seat near the board. The physically disabled student will sit
in his usual seat that has easier access to the door and more room to move around. The below
average readers will benefit from this activity because they can use the review to help improve
their writing skills. It is also not too overwhelming by having the students in their group split up
the work. The gifted students will also be challenged because they are applying their knowledge
to a social media post.
Day 2: Vocabulary
Anticipatory Set: Students will be sitting at their assigned seats. The instructor must inform the
students that their essays had many spelling errors and this is always a very difficult problem to
tackle. A way to improve spelling is by looking for context which includes: prefixes, suffixes
and root words. Ask the students if they know what those are.
Tick/Tock: 15 Minutes
Time Students Will Teacher Will
Anticipatory Set See anticipatory set See anticipatory set
(1 Minute)
The Lesson
(5 Minutes)
Watch the YouTube video. Show the video of prefix and
suffix to the students so they
are familiar with those terms.
Practice
(7 Minutes)
Work on the prefix/suffix
worksheets. This should be
fairly easy and should refresh
their memories.
Hand out the worksheets and
have them work on the suffix
and prefix worksheets
Closure
(2 Minutes)
See below See below

Closure: To close, the instructor will assign a mini-project that is searching their medicine
cabinets for a long name that they dont recognize. For homework, students must bring it in so
they can use it for the next class.
Homework/Follow-up: Find a product in your medicine cabinet of a word youre unfamiliar
with and bring the name of the product to class.
Day 2 Specific Accommodations: The work for today is below level. However it is essential for
the students to start with the basics at the most simplest forms. ELL students and low level
readers will be able to keep up with the lesson and ask any questions if they need it. I am able to
give extra time for those who need it to complete the worksheets, and discussion is on a
voluntary basis.
Day 3: Vocabulary cont.
Anticipatory Set: Students will be asked to take their words they brought in for homework and
those who do not have one can borrow someone elses word. However they cannot work together
on todays assignment.
Tick/Tock: 15 Minutes
Time Students Will Teacher Will
Anticipatory Set
(1 Minute)
See above See above

The Lesson
( 10 Minutes)
Research what the word
means: the root word, the
prefix and the suffix using the
class laptops.
Ask students to research what
the word means: the root
word, the prefix and the
suffix with the class laptops
Closure
(4 Minutes)
See below See below

Closure: Students may share their findings on voluntary basis.
Homework/Follow-up: N/A
Day 2 Specific Accommodations: Students with disabilities will be accommodated per their
IEP. This can include, having prioritized seating for students with visual or auditory disabilities,
extra help on lessons, repetition or extra clarification, larger print handouts if needed, easy
access to the classroom door and class dictionaries for English Language Learners. Students who
also need help using the technology in the classroom will be given this. However, most students
have training in utilizing the technology within the classroom.
Day 4: Transitions
Anticipatory Set: Split students up into groups of four or five. Hand out sample essays and
highlighters to each group. Inform the students that transitions are very important in order to
make an essay flow and their seemed to be some flow-issues in the essays they turned in.
Therefore, the mini-lesson today will hopefully address those issues and resolve them.

Tick/Tock: 15 Minutes
Time Students Will Teacher Will
Anticipatory Set
(3 Minutes)
See above See above

Overview of video
(5 Minutes)
Read the sample essays and
highlight the transitions found
between each idea and
paragraph.
Help students who need
assistance.
Practice Worksheet
(6 Minutes)
Write a story that begins with
Once upon a time there lived
a little elf in a castle of
chocolate Students must
mirror the transitions they
highlighted in the essay in the
story to ensure it flows
correctly.
Write the phrase Once upon a
time there lived a little elf in a
castle of chocolate and ask
students to mirror the
transitions found in the essay,
in their stories. This is done in
groups.
Closure
(1 Minutes)
See below See below

Closure: On a voluntary basis, students from their groups can read their stories and list some of
the transitions they used to ensure that it flowed correctly.
Homework/Follow-up: N/A
Day 4 Specific Accommodations: Students with disabilities will be accommodated per their
IEP. This can include, having prioritized seating for students with visual or auditory disabilities,
extra help on lessons, repetition or extra clarification, larger print handouts if needed, easy
access to the classroom door and class dictionaries for English Language Learners. Most of these
lesson is group work which is beneficial for the ELL students and the low performing students
whom are paired with high performing students.
Day 5: Revisions
Anticipatory Set: Pass out the students papers without names on them as they sit at their desks.

Tick/Tock 15 Minutes
Time Students Will Teacher Will
Anticipatory Set
(2 Minutes)
See anticipatory set See anticipatory set
Practice with lesson
(11 Minutes)
Students must take a peers
essay and revise it according
to the lessons they learned
throughout the week. Students
will sign the bottom of the
papers
Help students make
corrections and collect the
papers when time has run out.
Closure
(2 Minutes)
See below See below

Closure: Pass out the papers to their correct owners with the attached edited versions. Inform
students that they must continue correcting their essays for homework. As I pass out the essays
students should be looking over the corrections that their peers made.
Homework/Follow-up: Continue to revise the essays from the knowledge gained from the mini-
lessons this week.
Informal Assessment: Participation and maturity will be observed throughout the lessons.
Formal Assessment: Their worksheets will be graded out of 10 points, their attendance will
awarded 5 points each day, and the completion of their homework will be given a completion
grade of 15 points.
Day 5 Specific Accommodation: Students with disabilities will be accommodated per their IEP.
This can include, having prioritized seating for students with visual or auditory disabilities, extra
help on lessons, repetition or extra clarification, larger print handouts if needed, easy access to
the classroom door and class dictionaries for English Language Learners.
Citations:
Capital Community College Foundation. (n.d.). Rules for Comma Usage. Retrieved from The
Guide to Grammar and Writing: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm
Dencker, A., Palmer, S., Melia, D., & Mullin, T. (2006). Sample Essays. Retrieved from
SparkNotes: http://www.sparknotes.com/college/admissions/page21.html
Favilla, E. (2013, February 27). 25 Biggest Comma Fails. Retrieved from BuzzFeed:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/emmyf/25-biggest-comma-fails
Teachnology Inc. (2012). List of Main Prefixes. Retrieved from Teachnology: http://www.teach-
nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/prefix/prefixlist.html
Teachnology Inc. (2012). Suffix Change Up. Retrieved from Teachnology: http://www.teach-
nology.com/worksheets/language_arts/prefix/suffix1.html
TheBazillions. (2014, April 10). "Prefix or Suffix?" by The Bazillions.