Learning to Write: Lesson Plan Essay

Grade Level: 1A

Subject: Understanding Text Types and Purposes

Lesson Aim/Objective: Teaching students when to differentiate between various text types and purposes. The students have to understand the goals that a text pursues and the audience for which it is intended. In addition, the learners will have to learn to state their opinion when writing.

Materials: The teacher will use two types of materials based on their purpose. The ones for laying out the rules will include a poster with key guidelines outlined in it and six slides with examples on them. The materials for students to train their skills will include exercise papers in which different types of texts will be provided, a small text the type o which they will need to decide upon, and an exercise in which learners will have to create a unique text of their own based on a series of requirements and with a specific text type in mind (e.g., an explanatory text such as a note to a friend).

Common Core Standards: The outlined lesson plan is compatible with the CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.1 common core standards (“English Language Arts Standards » Writing » Grade 1”).

Motivation: The primary motivation behind the suggested lesson plan is to encourage learners to understand the importance of discourse, in general, and guide them to being able to differentiate between different purposes of writing a text. Thus, the students will be capable of navigating their writing process easier and lay out their ideas and thoughts more accurately and coherently.

Instructions/Procedure: The lesson will start with asking learners why they think texts are created. Afterward, the theory will be provided to them in the form of slides. A summative poster will be presented afterward. As soon as the students understand the key theoretical premises, they will proceed to exercises, which will then be checked. Finally, each student will write a text-based on the task, with the following analysis and evaluation of their writing. The lesson will end with the teacher explaining the home assignment to the students.

Assessment Activity: The assessment will involve writing a short text of a set type. The students will have to create a convincing piece of writing by using a restricted number of words (50 maximum) to develop an argument. The evaluation of learners’ understanding of the topic and the very notion of text types will be evaluated based on their use of signifiers of the said type of text. In addition, the purpose of the piece under analysis will have to be assessed and determined accurately. The students will need to describe the purpose of the writing in 2-4 words. Since there may be variations in the description of the text purpose, the use of synonyms to the keywords linked to the text purpose will be allowed (e.g., in the explanatory discourse, along with the word “explain,” the options of “clarify” will be possible).

Follow Up: The students will read each other’s stories and discuss their efficacy as a text with a specific purpose.

Notes/Reflections: Creating the lesson plan has helped to realize how important it is to build a profound understanding of the types of discourse in young learners. As students learn to discern between different types of text and their goals, they will gain the ability to formulate their ideas coherently, organize them effectively, and laying them out succinctly, thus producing unique texts with strong arguments and learning to convince their target audiences. The very idea of a target audience and the importance of appealing to it with the help of a specific type of writing can be shaped at this point in young learners, allowing them to understand the purpose of writing, in general.

Work Cited

“English Language Arts Standards » Writing » Grade 1.” CoreStandards.org, n.d., Web.