Courtney Wenstrom

Emergent Literacy ELD 307

Dr. Sharon McKool
March 17, 2011

Subject: Language Arts Writing Workshop

Topic: Speaker Tags
Activity: Lesson
School: Wicoff Elementary School- Second Grade
Time: 40 minutes

Standards: Writing Standards K-5 for Language Arts

PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF WRITING FOR GRADE
2
5. With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a
topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing
6. With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital
tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration
with peers

Objective: The students will identify speaker tags within the text, and
be able to recognize and substitute better speaker tags.

Materials: Anansi Goes Fishing by Eric A. Kimmel, overhead projector,

copy of page of the book with examples of speaker tags, copy of a
different page for the students to work on with speaker tags

Anticipatory Set: Boys and girls, I want you to try and think back and
remember when we looked at the Kevin Henkes’ book, Julius: the Baby
of the World on the day when Miss Refsin wasn’t here. Does anyone
remember what we focused on when we were reading that book that
could help us with our realistic fiction novels? [Student Responds-
Teacher Validates Response] I love how the author was able to use
many different speaker tags in order to make the book more
interesting for the reader. Didn’t you?
The Objective: Today what you are going to do is learn how to find
speaker tags in not only books, but also in your own writing, and be
able to use better words. This is to make sure you are not using the
same speaker tags in every sentence.
Instructional Input/Teaching: Now what we are going to do is read
the book Anansi Goes Fishing by Eric A. Kimmel. [Hold book up to show
students] This story is a little different than Julius: the Baby of the
World, because it is an African folktale. Although the stories are
different types, you will see that this one also has a lot of speaker tags
in it. With what we know about speaker tags, as I am reading, I want
you to try and remember some of those important words to share with
us at the end of the story. [Begin reading]

Okay boys and girls, we have now read two different books that are
similar and different in many ways. What did you notice in Anansi
Goes Fishing with the speaker tags? [Student Responds- Teacher
Validates Response] Good. Let’s look at some of these examples on
the overhead projector. [Turn on overhead with copy of page 12 on it]
[Read page]

Looking at this page, I notice something about it boys and girls. It

contains a lot of important speaker tags in it, to let the reader know
who is speaking, and how they are saying it. Who can tell me one
speaker tag on this page? [Call on one student & repeat this three
other times to get all four speaker tags named] [Point at speaker tags
as they are named] The speaker tags you named are said, replied,
said, and said. What do you notice about this? [Student Responds-
Teacher Validates Response] What can Eric Kimmel do to make his
story more interesting? [Student Responds- Teacher Validates
Response] Okay, put your hands down. On this page, Eric Kimmel
chooses to use the speaker tag “said” three times. Do you feel he
could have used a different word? What could a different word have
been? I will take four hands to answer. [Student Responds- Teacher
Validates Response]

After looking at how Eric Kimmel shows his speaker tags, and coming
up with a lot of different words, now it is your turn to come up with
your own tags. Go back to your seats, when I call your table. [Call
students to seats by table color]

Guided Practice/Check for Understanding: Can I have the

classroom helpers please pass out a worksheet to every student in
their row? [Hand copies of page 22 to the helpers, and chart paper]
You will be working in partners for this activity. [Assign partners, most
likely students sitting next to each other]
Now let’s look at this paper, boys and girls. First, I should see your
name on the top of both papers, like second graders do, and we can
begin. [Look around room quickly] Let’s look at what is given to you.
One paper is another page out of the book that we just read about
Anansi. Just like the page we saw on the overhead, you can see it has
lots of speaker tags that make the reading exciting and easier to
understand. With your partner, it is your job to circle all the speaker
tags you see on the page.

Independent Practice: Then, once you and your partner think that
you have all the speaker tags, move onto the other paper that you
have. In the first column, you see the title Speaker Tag, and in the
second you see the title Substitute. I want you to write all your circled
words in the first column. Then, where it says Substitute, I want you to
come up, without your partner, a more interesting word that you think
would fit in the story in place of the speaker tag you found. For
example, if you and your partner found the word “said” on the page, I
want you to think of a better word for said would make the story more
exciting for the reader. You can use the thesaurus if this will help you,
but you are working on the chart by yourself. [Walk around room for
help, and to just observe progress within the students]

Assessment: Informal assessment- How did they do with the chart

given to them?

Closure: Boys and girls, today we learned a lot about speaker tags,
and how to use them through our African folktale. What is one thing
you can tell me about using speaker tags in writing? [Student
Responds- Teacher Validates Response] Good. Now when you are
writing, whether it be your realistic fiction stories or anything else, you
can use tools such as a thesaurus to use more interesting words to
explain to the reading who is speaking at that point in time, making
your story overall more exciting. Very good today!
Name:
_______________________________________________________________________
_

Speaker Substitute
Tag