Meredith Mothershead

Mentor Text Writing Lesson Plan Assignment

PART ONE: THE LESSON

The intent of this part of the lesson is to prepare you for what you will need to do and think about before
teaching your lesson.

A. TITLE OF LESSON (Writing Focus): Compound Sentences and Making Predictions

B. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

4.6 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of fictional texts, literary nonfiction texts, and
poetry.
h) Draw conclusions/make inferences about text using the text as support.
4.7 The student will write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive, opinion, and expository.
k) Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

UNDERSTAND -
1. The students will understand that they can use clues from the text in order to make educated
guesses on what may happen during the story.
2. The students will understand the meaning of a compound sentence and its uses in writing.

KNOW -
1. The students will see examples of predicting words and foreshadowing.
2. The students will recognize compound sentences in a text.

DO -
1. The students will be able to provide predictions of what will happen in the book Room on the
Broom.
2. The students will pick out examples of compound sentences in the text.
3. The students will be able to write 2-3 compound sentences about a topic that can be used to
provide a prediction of what will happen next.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING

To assess the know objectives of this lesson, I will ask for volunteers to give examples of their
predictions. I will also ask these students for specific details from the text that they used in order to come
up with their ideas. For the compound sentences, I will ask students to read examples from the text of
compound sentences, and then explain why they labeled them as a compound sentence. I can do both of
these by having the students think-pair-share and by listening in to the conversations to see if both students
are grasping the concept. Then I can ask for my volunteers to share out.
To assess the do objectives of this lesson, I will have the students write on a piece of paper 2-3
sentences that is the beginning of a story. I will require that at least one of the sentences that they write be
a compound sentence to assess their knowledge of the use and creation of a compound sentence. I will
also require that they share with a partner, and the partner write on the bottom of their partners paper a
prediction that could be made about that story. I will collect these writing samples and predictions in order
to assess if they grasped and were able to apply the two concepts.

PART TWO: LESSON PLAN PROCEDURE

For this part of the lesson you will be asked to explain what you plan to do in this lesson and discuss how it
fits into the Three-Phase Lesson Format using the Before-During-After model. You should think about how
you plan to make sure you are doing all the procedures. Provide examples of the questions you plan to
ask, and details about everything you plan to do. This is the most important part of the lesson and what
you should be thinking about when you become a practicing teacher.

A. CONTEXT OF LESSON

I am going to be teaching compound sentences and practice making predictions. This fits into the
curriculum because the students have been working on these two concepts in their own writing and
reading. This lesson will be a good extension activity to make sure that the students know the material and
can apply it. Leading up to this lesson, the students have discussed the idea of using commas to make
compound sentences and have also practiced making predictions. This is why I am confident that they are
ready to combine these two topics, because they have been introduced to and had the chance to practice
them. I would like the end result of this lesson to be that the students feel confident in recognizing and
writing compound sentences. I would like them to also feel comfortable with making predictions and
explaining, using details from the text, how they came up with their ideas.
I got the idea for the topics from this lesson from my cooperating teacher. I asked her what the
students needed to work on in their writing, and she expressed that the students needed to make longer
and more complex sentences with more variety. She gave the suggestion that I focus on compound
sentences. Then, she also wanted them to practice making predictions with the book because they have
been doing this regularly as they read books. I got the idea to read Room on the Broom because I am
completing this lesson around Halloween, and my cooperating teacher suggested a book that has a
Halloween theme to engage the students.

B. MATERIALS NEEDED
Mentor Text: Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Notebook paper
Pens/Pencils

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.

CONNECT I will discuss that compound sentences are important

Students learn why todays because they allow for more variety in writing, therefore
Before instruction is important to them making a text more exciting to read. I will also discuss
as writers and how the lesson that using compound sentences will help them to get
relates to their prior work (if their ideas across in a more concise and meaningful
 applicable). The teaching point is way. Regarding making predictions, I will explain that
stated. making predictions allows us to engage with the text
and to use clues from the text to shape our thinking.
TEACH I will read two pages of the book to the students. While
The teacher shows the students reading the first page, I will focus on making predictions.
how writers accomplish the I will read the first page and stop when I get to the end. I
teaching point in the mentor text will then ask the students to take a minute and make a
prediction on what will happen next USING specific
quotes or details from the text. I will then give them 2-3
minutes to talk with a partner about their predictions and
proof. After the partners are done talking, I will ask for
volunteers to share their predictions and explain how
they came to their ideas using quotes.
Then I will read the second page, which gives the
solution to their predictions. I will then ask them if they
were right, and if not, what clues they had
During misinterpreted or skipped that may have helped them
make a more accurate prediction. I will then read the
rest of that page and ask the students to think quietly
about the sentences on the page and to give examples
of compound sentences and why those are labeled as
such.
ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT I will then explain that the students will go back to their
After we teach something, desks and write on a piece of notebook paper. They will
students are given a chance to write 2-3 sentences that are the beginning to a story. I
practice what has just been will ask that one of their sentences is a compound
taught with new writing or sentence. Then, I will have the students trade stories
revising a prior piece. (May with a partner and write their names and a prediction at
assess during this time) the bottom of the paper. I will also have them explain
what in the text helped them make this prediction.
After LINK At the end of the lesson, I will take volunteers to share
The teacher reiterates what has their story introductions that they wrote, and then have
just been taught and gives their partner share the prediction that they made. I will
students an opportunity to share then have the class talk about what in the story helped
(May assess during this time) the partner make the prediction.

D. DIFFERENTIATION
In order to accommodate students that may not be able to write a story, I could pair them with a stronger
student that I know can help them out. Then when doing the predictions, that student could talk them
through it as well. I could also pair stronger students and weaker students together during the read aloud
for the think-pair-share portion of the lesson. I can also walk around and help students write their stories
and write compound sentences if they need it. If there are students who are struggling with the definition of
a compound sentence, I could talk about this very briefly in the beginning of the lesson, or have a student
volunteer explain it and give a few examples. If students finish writing and making their predictions early,
they can switch papers with another partner and make predictions on more stories. Or they could write
some more of their stories using more compound sentences.
E. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT?

- One thing that may go wrong during this lesson is that students may not behave while I am reading the
book. To combat this, I can establish expectations before reading the book.
- Another thing that may go wrong is that students may not stay on task while talking to their partner. In
order to avoid this, I will not give them a huge amount of time, and if I can hear that students are getting off
task I can move along.
- If students cannot identify compound sentences in the book or write them, I will give them an example of a
compound sentence that they could model after.

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.
Due to the way that my practicum placement is set up, I was able to teach my lesson
multiple times. In my plans, I was doing my lesson as a whole class lesson, however my teacher
requested the morning of that I do the lesson as a small group. This threw a bit of a wrench in my
plans, as I only had 20 minutes with each group to have them complete their task. So, in order to
give the students enough time in order to be able to get their writing done without having to rush, I
read less of the book to the student, and I had them write less than originally intended. This
allowed for more time of the 20-minute group allowed time for the students to have to devote to
their writing.
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.
During my lesson, I could have made it more developmentally appropriate by having them
write more sentences if the time allowed. I could also have had them brainstorm before writing,
what they may have wanted to write about. The students seemed excited about being able to write
a story about whatever they wanted, however I could tell that they did not have that opportunity
very often, and that they struggled with coming up with something. Having them brainstorm may
have made this task easier, and I should have built time into my lesson for them to think and
brainstorm.
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?
I can conclude from the assessment that the students did, that they understood the
directions because they all wrote the introduction to a story. Some of them based their stories off of
existing storylines such as Star Wars or Minecraft, and some of them invented their own characters
and plot. Where some of the students struggled was the predictions part of the assignment. Some
of the students write the main idea of what their peers story was about, and did not make a
prediction about what would happen next in the story, which is what was asked of them in the
 directions. If I was the classroom teacher, I would have them do more practice on making
predictions and talking about/writing down what specific details from the story helped them to
predict what would happen next.
D. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
children as learners?
I have learned that children need a lot more explanation than I thought. What I thought was clear in
my lesson plan, and in the first time teaching my lesson, I had to be much more thorough in my
explanations in order to get what I wanted from the students.

E. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
teaching?
F. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
yourself?

Rubric to Grade the Students writing samples

1 2 3 4

Introduction to a -Writing was off -The student wrote -The student wrote -The students
story topic and was not a a story that was not a story that was writing was a
narrative story cohesive mostly on topic cohesive beginning
to a story
-The students -The students
story was less than story was 3 or 4 -The story was 3-4
3 sentences sentences sentences in length
(or more)

Inclusion of a -There was no -The students -The students -The students

compound compound compound story included a story includes a
sentence sentence included sentence included compound correct compound
in the story a comma, but no sentence with sentence with a
conjunctions, and simple sentences simple sentence,
 no simple and a comma but comma,
sentences no conjunctions conjunction, and
then another
simple sentence

Prediction -The student did -The student made -The prediction that -The student used
not make a a prediction, but it the student made context clues to
prediction on did not make sense related to the story, make a prediction
another students with the story that but used no that is plausible
story the peer wrote context clues