BYU English Teaching Program

Lesson Plan Template (2024 version—ENGL 426)

PLANNING
Date: Monday March 11th Class/Grade Level: ENGL 11

Title of Lesson: Dashes in Dear Martin Lesson Length: 55 minutes

Standard(s): Learning Objective(s): Assessment(s):

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY. L.11-
12.1
Demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English
grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
I can recognize the significance of
Dashes in Dear Martin.
I can write an effective sentence using
a dash.
Formative: Students will submit their
thoughts on padlet.
Summative: when students submit the
exit slip to me with the dashes they
noticed in Dear Martin, this is helping
them to prepare for their end of unit
test to help them to identity different
grammar structure and their effects.

Rationale: Studying dashes in this section will be important so that students can see the interactions between
characterizes and what Stone chooses to emphasize in the character's speech. This will give students more tools to use in
their writing. Students will determine the effect the dashes have in the speech of the characters.

Concept(s) to Be Taught: Dashes within context.
Materials Needed:
-Writers notebook (digital or electronic)
- something to write with.
-List of sentences with dashes from this section.
Prerequisite Knowledge: This is our second class period
that we started Reading Dear Martin together. Students
are familiar with finding grammatical structures in the
texts that we read.
Technology Use: I will have students use padlet to
facilitate a class discussion because answers are
immediate and I can see everybody’s responses. This
allows me to make sure that all students are participating
and no one is getting left behind.

Instructional Strategies: reflective writing, class discussion, small group discussion, looking at Dear Martin, and
sentence imitation.

Differentiation and Accommodations: We will be using padlet, which will help students with anxiety because their
name is not attached to their responses.

PERFORMING
Time A) Preparing for Learning
10 minutes -Follow up on what they thought about chapters 1-4. Ask about what they thought about each of
the main characters. Ask about what they noticed about the language in the book. (Beginning
with language in general because there has not been a specific lesson on a craft yet because it is
only day 2). = Okay class what did you think about chapters 1-4 so far? I want you to turn and
talk with the person next to you about the thoughts that you had in the book, specifically your
favorite character. After you are finished discussing your favorite characters. Spend a couple
of minutes discussing what you noticed in terms of language within the book.
 *I will begin by putting several examples from Dear Martin on the board. Okay class, thanks so much
7 minutes for engaging and discussing with your table partner. Now I put these sentences up here on the board
from the book and I am curious to see what you guys think about them. I want you all to see what you
notice about these sentences and then write your response into Padlet. Here is the QR code to our
padlet. Just type in your response.
○ She starts shifting her stuff around on the ground– lipstick, kleenex, one of those circular thingies with
the makeup in one half and a mirror in the other, a flask” (pg 5).
○ but , officer, I– (pg 9)
○ “Justyce isn’t real fond of Jared– or any of Manny’s other friends for that matter– but he knows
they’ve all been tight since kindergarten, so he tries to keep a lid on it” (pg 20).
○ “It’s just– you’re completely oblivious to the struggles of anyone outside your little social group”
(24).
● I will give the students 3 minutes to look over these sentences and to write down what they notice that
the sentences are doing. I will then have students share padlet. Hopefully the students notice that they
are emphasizing and showing interruption of dialogue or thoughts. I will also explain in more depth how
15 Minutes the sentences are working and showing emphasis and interruption and why those things are important.

B) Directing the Learning

Okay classroom now we are going to insert our own dashes into some sentences from the book. We will
also be using a padlet to share our answers to create a classroom discussion. So put a dash into each
one of these sentences and submit on a padlet. We can go through them together as a class.
○ “What I’m saying is Manny’s parents are an exception” (pg 25).
○ “She doesn’t make a tenth of what your dad makes” (pg 25).
○ “I’m serious, Jus. I can’t even look at you right now” (pg 17).
10 minutes ● I will remind them that they can use dashes to stop in the middle of a thought and to create emphasis
on a particular part.
Okay so who put their dash *here*? I will then have students share where they chose to put their dashes.
We will discuss what works and what doesn’t work.

Now I want you to imitate these sentences that I have gathered from our reading over the last couple of
days. Please create two sentence imitations from this sentence.
Sentence imitation
○ “Justyce asks himself the same question as he watches her try–and fail– to shift to her knees”
(Stone pg 3).
○ ** after students have two examples of an imitated sentence (students are familiar with this because it
is nearing the end of the year) I will say: okay class now that you have two imitated sentences choose
your favorite one. Who would be willing to share one of their sentences?
○ Okay class, what was the impact of the dashes in the sentences above and your sentences?
***Hopefully they will be able to point out that the dashes create emphasis and set pieces apart.

C) Reinforcing the Learning

● Okay class, now that you have had some practice with dashes I want to do one more little practice
10 with you before you leave. I want you to turn to your seatmate and I want the two of you to write down 1
sentence in Dear Martin that you found that contains dashes. Then explain why it is effective. Hand the
slip of paper to me when you are finished. This will help prepare you for our end of unit assessment.

Activity to Avoid Wasted Time: Students will begin reading the next chapters of Dear Martin.

FOCUS STUDENT: SKIP FOR NOW

Description of Focus Student Differentiation/Accommodation Plan

REFLECTING:
Reflection on the Lesson (write within 24 hours of teaching)