Lizzie Prible

Indiana Wesleyan University

Elementary Education Writing Lesson Plan
CAEP 2018 K-6 Elementary Teacher Preparation Standards

Investigating to Find Voice

UNIT BIG IDEA

Detectives in the Making

LESSON RATIONALE
This lesson of practicing voice is important because it assists students in developing unique writing that
expresses themselves. The introduction of the skit and mystery read-aloud gets students thinking about
what mystery writing looks like; they then can take what they experienced and incorporate it with their
own interests to develop a mysterious writing from the perspective of a detective.

READINESS
I. Goal/Objective/Standard
A. Goal: The students will use voice in a short story.
B. Objective: The students will write a short story in the form of a mystery. They will include one or more
examples of voice in their writing.
C. Standard: Develop topics for friendly letters, stories, poems, and other narrative purposes that
provide details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings.
II. Management Plan
o Time
o Mini-lesson: 10 minutes
o Writing: 15 minutes
o Sharing/Closure: 5 minutes
o Space
o Mini-lesson: Front carpet
o Writing: Scattered around the room with no one sitting next to each other/space to think and
write
o Conferences: At my desk
o Sharing/Closure: Students will come back to their seats
o Materials
o Markers for graphic organizer web, online read-aloud of That is Not a Good Idea, clipboards
x17, blank paper x17, lined paper x17
o Procedures/Transitions
o As students transition from whole-group to scattering around the room, I will be re-
establishing my expectations (do not sit to close to another student, this is silent time to
brainstorm ideas and create your own mystery using voice, if you are stuck, raise your hand
during my free minute after conferencing). I will hand clipboards out to two students at a
time to ensure students do not argue over who gets a certain spot and to avoid multiple
students trying to figure out where to sit.
o Managing learners during conferences
o I built in one-minute breaks in between each conference. This time will allow me to observe
students and redirect them if they are off task.

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PLAN FOR INSTRUCTION

III. Adaptation to Individual Differences and Diverse Learners
o Sentence Starters and Given Topics: There are a couple students who feel as if they never know
what to write about. Rather than forcing these students to try and come up with something, I can
provide them with sentence starters and topics to get them inspired. For example: (sentence
starter) “One day I was ______, then all of a sudden _________!”, (topics) You see a large
opening in a tree, you decide to see what is inside or you return from school one day to find a
mysterious package in your room.
o Speech-to-text: There are three particular students who struggle during writing time. One student
shuts down when he is required to write. He responds by laying on the floor or running around
the room. He does, however, like to share stories. There are also two students who struggle
writing simple words. They are not yet able to sound out words and translate them into letters.
Rather than putting these students in these positons, I could allow them to use a speech-to-text
app to put their words into text-form to create a story. This will allow them to still accomplish the
objective.

IV. Lesson Presentation (Input/Output)

Minilesson (Whole Group)
o Anticipatory Set: I will act out a short skit (with a fellow teacher or staff member) featuring a mystery.
The skit will be expressive, active, and detailed (props, costumes, etc.) – the goal is to get students
thinking about what voice looks like. I will act as a detective while the other individual comes to me
with a mystery to solve. The skit will involve investigating but will not arrive to a solution to the case.
o Purpose: “Today you are going to write a mystery using voice, because it is important to show who
you are in your writing.”
o Trait: Voice (the goal is for students to write with voice, but the mini-lesson might inspire strong word
choice)
Example
o “We are going to watch a short read-aloud with the book That is Not a Good Idea by Mo
Willems.”
o Have students watch on the smart board the short read-aloud.
Provide Information/Model
o “Earlier I said we were going to practice writing with voice. Voice is simply allowing your
personality to come through in your writing. In the skit by me and ____ you heard our
personality, our voice, come through.” I will then verbally list the ways I used voice in the skit
through my actions and feelings.
o “Now I want to show you an example from the read-aloud where the author used voice.”
“Throughout the story we heard the chicks say multiple times, “That is not a good idea!” This
showed us the chicks personality of being worried and thinking about their friend!”
Supervise Practice
o I will create a quick web graphic organizer with the word voice in the center. I will then
branch off bubbles to list how voice was written in the read-aloud. (also demonstrates how
students can brainstorm/pre-write)
o “Now, can anyone remember another example of how voice was used in the story?” (call on a
few students to share) (since students may not remember without flipping through the story,
I can pause on certain pages and then write down the examples of voice onto the web)
o This will give the students the opportunity to see how voice is written in a story.
Check for Understanding
o I will listen for students’ responses to see if they are understanding what voice is and how to
locate it. At the end of the mini-lesson, I will conduct a thumbs-up, thumbs-down assessment
to determine if any students are struggling with the content.

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Writing
o “Today I want you to try your best to use voice while writing a short story, but I want you to pretend
you are a detective! You will be writing a short story as a detective and create any type of mystery you
want! The skit you watched and the read-aloud are two examples of mysteries that can help you think
about what you want to write about.”
o “I am going to hand everyone a clipboard that has two pieces of paper on it. The first page is a blank
piece of paper. You can use this paper if you want to plan your story out. You can create a “web” like
we did on the board to help organize your ideas. In the middle you can write your mystery topic and
branch off ideas. The second is a lined piece of paper for you to start the first draft of your story.”
o “When I hand you a clipboard, you can scatter yourselves around the room or sit at your desks if you
would like.”
o Students will receive a clipboard (or iPad), scatter around the room, and then spend their time pre-
writing and/or drafting their mysteries.
o For students utilizing speech-to-text, I will have them sit in the corner of a room facing the wall (or
another secluded spot) to not distract other students with their voices.
Conferences
o Students will be writing for 15 minutes. During this time, I will conference with 4 students for 3-
minutes each (conference time – 12 minutes). I will initiate a conversation with each student to learn
what he or she plans to write about and other thoughts they would like to share. I will ask how they
plan to incorporate voice in their story and what their mystery is. Anecdotal notes will be completed
by me at this time to record students’ progress and ideas, along with other information for future
reference.
Sharing (Whole Group)
o For this lesson, I will ask a couple students to share their finished or nearly completed draft. I will also
give the opportunity for students who have not finished or are still in the pre-writing stage to share.
They can take a minute to share what their mystery is or how they conducted their pre-writing (can
hold up web, if they created one).

V. Check for understanding.

o I will check for understanding during the mini-lesson by listening to students’ responses. I will also
conduct a thumbs up-thumbs down assessment at the end of the mini-lesson to see which students
are/are not confident. After students are scattered around the room, I can choose to conference with
the students (if any) who put their thumbs down.
o During conferencing, I will also be able to determine if students are on track to reaching the objective.

VIII. Closure
o The closure will be conducted during the sharing portion with the whole group. After each student
shares, I will point out strengths of each student’s writing in regards to the use of voice or the way
they wrote their mystery. “You all did a great job today writing your mysteries. Using voice in your
writing can make it come to life and can help readers discover your unique personality through it.

PLAN FOR ASSESSMENT

Informal Assessment: I will listen to students’ responses during the mini-lesson to ensure they are
understanding the meaning of voice and what it looks like in writing.
Formal Assessment: Speaking one-on-one with individual students during conferences will allow me to
determine their understanding of voice. I will assess by taking anecdotal notes. Concluding the lesson, I will
also collect students’ folders with their pre-writing/drafting. I will look through and read what students have
written. This concrete evidence will allow me to determine how many students reached the objective and also
struggle areas/misconceptions students had. I will create a collection of overall notes to inform my future
instruction.

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REFLECTION AND POST-LESSON ANALYSIS

1. Were multiple students able to locate voice in the read-aloud? If not, how can I make my instruction
even more explicit for a following lesson?

2. For the students I conferenced with: did they have a plan for their mystery? Did they have specific
examples of how to include voice in their story?

3. When students shared their writing, was it evident that students were writing in the form of a
mystery? Was it evident that students had specific expression of voice?

4. Did the speech-to-text allow those particular students to meet the objective without the hassle of
physically writing?