Writing unit: Overview 5-7 weeks should be the goal Goal: Create several pieces of writing on the same

subject to subject students to different ways of thinking on the same subject matter. In addition students will incorporate several different planning methods to plan out their writing.

Types of writing to be created: Choosing a topic Research paper 2 poems Cinquain, Hiku Personal narrative

-2 poems. Cinquain, and Hiku: These together should be a break between larger papers. Both short and not based on just facts. This portion is to expose students to poetry that doesnt have to rhyme. -Reaserch Paper: Students will research a subject matter using school provided time and resources, in addition to what they are able to complete at home. Most of the facts for the rest of the types of writing will be reused from this portion of the unit. -Personal narrative: Students will pick a personal story from their own life experience and put it onto paper. For example, music: I would write about my first choir concert where I pushed a kid out of the way for hogging the mic during jingle bells, I was 4 years old. The end product will be 4 published pieced in a packet, folder, or bound that can be presented to the class parent or school. It will be put together like a book with a table of contents, an introduction page and a reflection paragraph at the very end.

-Choosing a topic: Students will use lists and a graphic organizer to think of topics and to choose their final topic This will be the only portion that will be timed so that students will be made to think quickly and move on. This will help students with getting their thoughts to paper Step 1: Introduce students to what a list is. Model a list by having students make a list as a class as you, the teacher write. Step 2: In their writers notebook have students list as many interests and likes as they possibly can in 5-7 minutes. (Each student should have a pretty large list) Step 3: Have students review their long list. Ask the students to think about if they can write a research paper, a personal story, and a persuasive essay. Explain what each of these are if needed/ have model pieces ready. Give students 5-10 min to narrow their long list into their 10 favorite Step 4: Using the graphic organizer provided in the appendix Have students narrow their list of 10 into 3 subject areas and to fill out the rest of the chart appropriately. Model how to use the chart. When finished check the students organizers to see that they have completed them correctly. Have students circle or highlight which subject they most want to write about from the final 3 subjects.

-Research paper: (About 2 weeks) This will be the longest portion of the unit. Students will research a subject matter using school provided time and resources, in addition to what they are able to complete at home. Most of the facts for the rest of the types of writing will be reused from this portion of the unit. Step 1: From the graphical Organizer have students pick one subject Step 2: Use Prezi / powerpoint to walk them through the connection process of writing the paper. Step 3: Introduce and model how the organizational chart should be used given a subject area. (see appendix) Use the organizational chart to show the flow of each portion of the paper before putting it into the paper format

Subject

What I want to research about it?

What can I argue?

Whats a personal Story?

Paper format Introduction (Use this section to introduce your main topic to your reader. Let the reader know what you are researching and what main points you will talk about in your paper.)

Main point 1. (This section will be about your first main point and the facts you have found to support this claim) ) Fact ) Fact ) Fact Main point 2. (This section will be about your second main point and the facts you have found to support this claim) ) Fact ) Fact ) Fact Main point 3. (This section will be about your third main point and the facts you have found to support this claim) ) Fact ) Fact ) Fact Conclusion (Recap or summarize your paper)

Main Topic

Main point1

Main point 2

Main point 3

Fact

Fact

Fact

Fact

Fact

Fact

Fact

Fact

Fact