Yellow =revisions after first draft Blue =revisions for final draft

Mentor Text Writing Lesson Plan Assignment

A. TITLE OF LESSON (Writing Focus): Using topic sentences to convey your main idea

B. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING (standards from 2010)

Writing 2.13-The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
a) Recognize and use complete sentences
b) Use and punctuate declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

UNDERSTAND – The students will understand how using topic sentences and complete
sentences will help them as writers.

KNOW – The students will know how the author of the mentor text began each paragraph with a
topic sentence to show what the rest of the paragraph was going to be about.

DO – The students will use topic sentences and complete sentences to write facts about either the
Powhatan, Lakota, or Pueblo Native American tribes using the revising/editing process.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING
I will be assessing my students learning through their completed graphic organizer. This graphic organizer
contains a specific place for students to write their topic sentence. During the mini-lesson, I also will be
assessing student’s learning through observing how the students incorporate their topic sentence into the
rest of the writing. When I am assessing their learning, I will be looking for complete sentences with proper
punctuation, a topic sentence that clearly states which Native American tribe the student will be writing
about, and correct facts written about the chosen Native American tribe. I will be using a rubric that will help
me keep to a standard for their writing and may even need two for differentiation of ability throughout the
class. The rubric will focus mainly on capitalization/spelling and punctuation within each component of the
organizer. I will take pictures of five different writing samples, across all ability to comply with this
assignment’s requirements (I have only attached two of the five to this document).

A. CONTEXT OF LESSON
For this lesson, I will be teaching how to use topic sentences when writing explanations of facts to convey a
main idea. So far in the classroom, the main writing focus has been writing in complete sentences, using
correct punctuation and capitalization. Because of this, the focus for this writing lesson is on the grammar
(capitalization/spelling and punctuation) of the piece. Students have become familiar with the domain
specific vocabulary for this topic, and thus are expected to spell those words correctly. Students will still be
graded on their topic sentence, but with a grammatical lens. This writing mini lesson comes at the end of
their month long Native American unit and the graphic organizer that is used is typically for assessing if
they got the facts of the Native Americans correct. To help accommodate both aspects of this lesson (social
studies facts and writing components), I will be spreading this lesson out over a period of four days and will
be doing it during our language arts center times in small groups.
B. MATERIALS NEEDED
 Gift Horse: A Lakota Story by S.D. Nelson (I will bring this)
 Native American Graphic Organizer (My CT will print out copies)
 Observation chart (I will have this)
 Topic sentence rubric (I will have this)

C. PROCEDURE
Discuss how you will address the topics below. Provide specifics about what you plan to say, questions
you may ask, and strategies you will use to make the lesson a success.

My CT has asked me to spread this activity out over the whole of immersion week. The outline of this plan
is as follows:
1. Monday-I read the mentor text for the first time. Red (low) group will focus on just writing their topic
sentence. Other groups will be writing their topic sentence and begin writing/filling out the facts.
2. Tuesday- Red group will begin working on their three facts. Other groups will work on finishing their
facts and closing sentence.
3. Wednesday-Red group will finish their facts and closing sentence. Other groups will revise and edit
(check for mistakes-capitalization and punctuation) by swapping with a friend. I will look over edits
and make a few of my own.
4. Thursday-Red group will draw a picture about the Native American group they chose while I will be
conferencing one-on-one with the students to help them make revisions. Other groups will write up
their final draft on another piece of paper. (I should have some time after this day to take pictures
of writing samples and grade them according to the rubric-provided by my CT).

CONNECT
Students learn why today’s
instruction is important to them
as writers and how the lesson
relates to their prior work (if
applicable). The teaching point is
stated.
Before
 Before reading the mentor text I will be giving a review lesson on
the Lakota tribe. With the questions from the Kahoot game,
students will be in the mindset of thinking about the Lakota tribe.
 To transition from the Kahoot to the book I will say “Ok class,
from the kind of questions that I asked in the Kahoot, what
Native American group do you think we will be reading about
today in this very special book I have here with me?”
 The last thing I will do is read the title of the book, read the
blurb/summary on the back, and show students the cover art.
 After I will start this conversation: “While I read this story to you, I
will be looking for students tracking the reader, to answer any
questions I ask. Many of the questions I will ask will have
something to do with the illustrations on the page, so make sure
to listen closely while I read”
 The last thing I will say before reading is the purpose of them
hearing this story: “This book will help you to remember a few of
the main facts about the Lakota tribe before you move on to a
writing task during your language arts center, so please
participate fully in this reading”

During TEACH  While I’m reading this book, I will take time to stop every so often
The teacher shows the students to give students the opportunity to turn and talk to each other
how writers accomplish the about the information on the page that I just read and what the
teaching point in the mentor text main idea is. After I ask each question, I will point out to the
students the topic sentence of each paragraph so they can
visually see where a topic sentence is in writing.
 Some examples are:
 pg 2-“From reading this topic sentence, what could we predict
that this story is about?” (the boys gift horse) “What are some
things we can tell about the Lakota’s from this picture?” (they live
in tipis, they have horses, they eat meat, they live in a grassy
area)
 pg 4- “What do you think the role of the horses were for the
Lakotas?” (help them move/mode of transportation)
 pg 5- “Could someone tell me what the topic sentence of this
paragraph was? (I named my horse Storm) “Yes, because the
rest of the page talks about and describes Storm”
 pg 6- “What region did the Lakotas live in? Can you use this
picture to help you understand the area of where they live? What
can you notice of their environment from this picture?”-I forgot to
ask this question, but it was talked about with the students on
the first page
 pg 7- “What do you think was the role of the Lakota warrior?”
(they protected the village and hunted the buffalo)
 pg 14- “What was the main idea of this page?” (the boy
becoming a warrior) “Yes because the topic sentence talks about
him preparing to become a warrior”
 pg 18- “What was the main thing Lakotas ate?” (buffalo/bison),
“What else did they do with the buffalo?” (make their tipis out of
their skin, make coats, tools/weapons)
 At the end of the story, I will ask comprehension questions like:
who gave the boy his horse and why was it important for a young
Lakota boy to have one? (his father and to be able to become a
warrior and hunt), What were some things the boy did with his
horse? (ride him across the plains, hunt buffalo, defend the
village from horse thieves), imagine living in the same village as
this young Lakota boy, what kinds of things would you see and
do? (tipis, buffalo, warriors, hunt, paint, make clothes)
 After the comprehension questions, I will hold up a blank
organizer to show the students what they will be doing later in
the day. I will model my own topic sentence focusing on the
Lakota: “Alright, so if I was going to start my writing the first
thing, I need to do is pick a tribe I want to write about. I am going
to pick the Lakota tribe because we just finished reading a story
about them. How would I fill this topic sentence out? The Lakota
lived in the plains.This topic sentence will help tell other people
that the rest of my writing will be about the Lakota tribe”

ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT  When students come to my center during language arts, I will
After we teach something, have the Gift Horse book with me and start the writing activity off
students are given a chance to with showing the students the book again and showing them a
practice what has just been few examples of topic sentences that are in the book to help
 taught with new writing or
revising a prior piece. (May
assess during this time)
Unfortunately for me, this comes
a few hours after I read the
mentor text. This is just how our
schedule is (we have about a
two-hour gap between social
studies time and language arts
because of lunch and recesses).
This activity will also be spread
out over four days.
After LINK
The teacher reiterates what has
just been taught and gives
students an opportunity to share
(May assess during this time)
them brainstorm. pg2-“From reading this topic sentence, what
could we predict that this story is about?” (the boys gift horse).
pg 5- “Could someone tell me what the topic sentence of this
paragraph was? (I named my horse Storm) “Yes, because the
rest of the page talks about and describes Storm” pg 14- “What
was the main idea of this page?” (the boy becoming a warrior)
“Yes because the topic sentence talks about him preparing to
become a warrior”
 Students will be completing a graphic organizer that is set up to
have students write a topic sentence before writing out the rest
of the information that is being asked. Since they haven’t had
any prior exposure to topic sentences before, this will be a brand
new piece of writing so I will be helping/guiding them while they
complete it over a few days.
 While I will be sitting with the small groups, I will be jotting down
a few observations of the students.
 Near the end of each time with the small group centers, I
will remind the students to try and think back to the Lakota
story and the topic sentences used in it (very similar to I
how will introduce the graphic organizer with the small
groups)
 I will go over again the purpose of a topic sentence when
writing longer pieces (“The topic sentence is the main idea
of each paragraph. It contains the focus of the paragraph
and tells readers what the paragraph is going to be about.”)
 For some of the higher groups, I will also allow a few
minutes for students to read out their own topic sentence (I
could also ask some follow up questions like “How did
writing your topic sentence first help you with the rest of the
questions?”) to assess student learning. I will also be
referring back to the students own topic sentence that they
wrote on the first day over the next few days to show them
how their topic sentence helps focus the rest of their
writing.

D. DIFFERENTIATION
The part of this lesson that includes the most differentiation come during the graphic organizer writing. This
part of the lesson needs the most differentiation because we have such a wide range of ability when it
comes to retrieval of information, attention, and writing. For students who need support with their writing,
they will be given a condensed version of the organizer to fill out and will be able to use their notes to help
them recall information (includes topic sentence, three facts, and a closing sentence). This would also be a
suitable support for the students who struggle a lot with attention. For students who can quickly finish this
assignment, they will be asked to re-read their writing and see if there are any places where they can add
more detail and to check their spelling. If they also finish that task, they will be asked to write one more fact
for each topic.
E. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?

 Lack of participation
o If while reading the story nobody volunteers to answer my questions, I will rephrase the
question until the students understand and have the confidence to answer. Or I will
implement more turn and talk or think-pair-share opportunities.
 Attention problems during the read aloud/kids are moving around a lot
o Verbally address the behavior by pausing and saying “I love how well ---- and ---- are
sitting quietly, on their bottoms and looking at me while I read this book. If the behavior
continues, I will have the student(s) move closer to me so that the proximity to me will help
them stay still.
 Students refuse to do graphic organizer/don’t want to write
o I will conference with these students one-on-one and have them verbally tell me the facts,
so that I can still assess what they have learned

Observation Chart (typed up based on messy hand written notes)

Student’s Observations of and understanding of topic sentences and complete sentences

Names

Student A  Demonstrated an understanding that his topic sentence introduced the rest
of his writing (topic sentence tribe matched up with the facts he wrote about).
 Never needed to be reminded on “what goes at the end of your sentence”
 When writing, referred to topic sentence to remember which tribe he was
writing about

Student B  Demonstrated an understanding that his topic sentence introduced the rest
of his writing (topic sentence tribe matched up with the facts he wrote about).
 Needed occasional reminders about using punctuation
 Expanded upon his topic sentence in his following facts
Examples of Native American Graphic Organizer and Rubric

Student A:

Student:__A_________________________

Capitalization/Spelling Punctuation

Topic 10 10
sentence

Fact 1 10 10

Fact 2 10 10

Fact 3 9 (reversed d and b in 8 (missing

“tobacco”) a comma)

Closing 10 10
sentence

Total:__97__/100
Student B:
Student:__B_________________________
Capitalization/Spelling Punctuation
Topic sentence 6 (Lakota, lived, great, plains) 10
Fact 1 8 (Lakota, part) 10
Fact 2 9 (teepees) 10
Fact 3 9 (They) 9 (missing a comma)
Closing sentence 10 10
Total: 91/100

PART THREE: REFLECTION

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts
below to guide the writing of your 6- paragraph reflection (1 paragraph for each letter). Be thorough in your
reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

A. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and
explain why you made them.
a. When I taught this lesson, a few things needed to change. The first big curveball was the
internet crashing right before I was to start the Kahoot. I had to quickly adapt and make the
Kahoot questions a think-pair-share activity with the students since they could not do the
actual quiz. This made it difficult to get a good idea of the amount of information that they
student retained from their Native American studies. This activity quickly got out of hand as
the students just started talking to one another as there was no structure (Kahoot
organization), this part of the lesson ended up going a lot quicker than I had planned and
made it a little tricky to transition into reading the book since the students were a little
rowdy. I also had to tweak a few of the questions that I would ask during the story due to
time limits and if the students had already talked about what I wanted to ask during a
different question. For example, on the first few pages I wanted to discuss what kind of
homes the Lakota lived in and then would later ask what region they lived in, but one
student already talked about that earlier on. So, when I got to the page I wanted to ask
about the region/environment, I just skipped that question.
B. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a better or
more thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.
a. I thought that this lesson had many great areas of differentiation due to it being completed
over a few days, which gave me the flexibility to tweak expectations for certain students or
to help them. I think I could have had an extension activity to give to students who
completed their graphic organizer and final draft quickly. I also think that with the Kahoot, I
could have paired up students instead of letting them choose so that there could be an
element of peer teaching/reviewing for the content. I think since I was able to oversee the
students throughout the activity, I was able to step in and intervene when I saw students
struggling. If I had to do this lesson on a larger scale where I couldn’t directly monitor, I
would provide the students with word banks with the content specific vocabulary and allow
more students to refer to their notes to help them think of facts.
C. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student
learning? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are valid?
Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the
classroom teacher?
a. I think that the best thing about this lesson’s assessment was that it came at the end of a
long period of editing and revising. Having this assessment at the end allowed students to
go back and check for errors and even helping their peers look over their own work. This
lesson taught students the reason for editing one’s own work for errors, a method they had
not really used before. I was able to tell that the student’s learned to correct errors
because when looking at the rough draft of the graphic organizer and the final draft there
were lots of changes. If I was the classroom teacher, I would teach a lesson on listing and
the correct way to list two or more things. I think this will help students become better
writers because I saw many students using “and” to link a lot of objects together instead of
commas.
D. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
children as learners?
a. From teaching this lesson, I have learned that children love to share their knowledge of
topic. I saw this happen a lot during this lesson because it took the place of a review
lesson, so it asked students to retrieve that information. I had always known that children
as learners needed repetition to achieve mastery, and this lesson reinforced that. Having
students repeat/retell information that they knew was really special because it gave them
confidence and solidified what they were learning.
E. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
teaching?
a. If anything, this lesson has reinforced that teaching is all about adaptability and flexibility. I
had no idea that I would be forced to change the introduction of my lesson and had to think
of a new activity for them to do quickly. While the new activity lacked the same effect as
the original, it still accomplished the same base knowledge that I wanted the students to
think of. This lesson has taught me that as a teacher, I need to understand that technology
may not always work, so I need to have some good “old fashioned” back-ups needed.
F. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
yourself?
a. From teaching this lesson, I have learned that I love teaching to small groups. This was
something I never really considered before this practicum placement to structure my
lessons. I like this format of teaching because it provides just the right amount of time for
students to focus on an activity before they lose interest. I also enjoyed that this lesson
was spread out over a few days because it seemed more realistic for students to carry out
the revision process. I also noticed that the students really liked having the opportunity to
go back day after day to their work. Personally, I would like to enforce small group centers
in my own classroom.