Teacher: Mr.

Storrie
Class: ENG 12
Date: 4/17/14
Grade Level: 12
Room Number: 208
Period: 2
Unit: Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe unit
Lesson Number: 1
Topic: Transitional words and phrases
Context: Last week, the class finished a research unit that required students to choose a group
that is marginalized in society. Students were required to write an informative essay that
organized their collected data in a logical order. Afterwards, students constructed a presentation
of their marginalized groups using presentation software such as Power Point and Prezi.
Recently, the teacher introduced the students to a new unit during which they will use the anchor
text Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Students have read background information about the
author that will frame their reading of excerpts from the novel. Today is the students last day of
school before their Spring Break.
Short-range Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to identify errors in a writing sample that is written in informal
language/slang.
Students will be able to identify abrupt sentences that require transition words/phrases.
Students will be able to construct and utilize a list of transitional words/phrases to incorporate
college level transitions within their revision of the writing sample.
Students will be able to utilize their knowledge of transitional words/phrases to incorporate
sophisticated transitions within their own writing.
Long-range Learning Objectives:
Students will be able to utilize their knowledge of transitional words/phrases to incorporate
sophisticated language and college level transitions within their own writing.
Rationale:

Administrators: The purpose of teaching students how to accurately identify and use transitional
words/phrases within their own writing is to improve students academic writing. Also, the
appropriate of use transitional words/phrases is a skill that transcends to all aspects of writing, as
well as speech.
Parents: The purpose of teaching students how to accurately identify and use transitional
words/phrases within their own writing is to improve students grammatical structure of speech
within their daily lives.
Students: The purpose of teaching students how to accurately identify and use transitional
words/phrases within their own writing is to improve their academic writing and speech.
Background knowledge and skills:
Students are familiar with the skill of researching and citing secondary sources within their own
writing, but struggle with transitions between supporting data and their own writing. Peer
revision is another skill that students have practiced within their experiences.
NYS Common Core Learning Standards for Language Arts and Literacy:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.1.C
Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text,
create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and
evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are
appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are
defined in standards 1-3 above.)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.11-12.5
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a
new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and
audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up
to and including grades 11-12 here.)
Summary:
Based on the pre-assessment of the students writing, I noticed a common issue students had
within their writing of supporting evidence and use of informal language. Students introduced
new material abruptly, in order to support a claim. The abrupt inclusion of supporting evidence
and sequenced events did not include any indication of a change in time, location or movement

to another idea within their writing. In order to improve structure of student writing and
organization of thought process within their writing, students will practice peer revision of a
writing sample to identify the need of transitional words/phrases within a model text, then write
their own sample text including transitional words/phrases. Having students find problems within
a model text before including transitional words/phrases into their own writing is essential to
their ability to identify the issue within their own writing.
Procedure:
1. I will begin the lesson with an introduction to the differences between formal and
informal language in order to ease into the focus of transitional words/phrases. The
purpose of beginning my lesson with formal vs. informal language is to address students
use of colloquial words/expressions within their writing. The differences between
informal and formal language will be presented through the use of a presentation I have
constructed on Prezi.
2. The first slide to my presentation shows the teaching points of todays lesson, so students
will know what we will cover within the lesson. I will explain to students that when one
writes or speaks, there are two different ways of presenting oneself. This explanation
serves as a transition to a brief Youtube clip that I found which explains the differences
between formal and informal language using caricatures of the two styles of language.
3. Anticipatory Set- During the video, I will ask students to pay close attention to the
differences between the two styles of language. Also, I will distribute a worksheet that
highlights the differences of informal and formal language and a sample of informal
writing that students will assess whether or not is acceptable to submit to a teacher and
provide examples to support their claim. The sample of writing includes familiar
discourse such as colloquial phrases I have noticed students use within the classroom and
lyrics from a popular rap artist.
4. Guided Practice- Once students are given a moment to assess the writing sample,
underlining examples of informal language and abrupt sentences, I will cold call on
several students to share what they noticed. The students answers will be recorded on the
Smart Board and I will address each of the problems they have pointed out using a
discourse that is familiar to students with references to popular culture.
5. Guided Practice- After the students have assessed the informal writing sample, I will
ask: Now that we are able to identify what an informal writing sample consists of, what
are some things one can alter within their writing to make their writing sound formal?
This will allow students to refer back to the differences between formal and informal
writing, then identify the main problems they observe within the sample (colloquial
phrases and abrupt, simple sentences).
6. Guided Practice- I will guide the students to pay close attention to the abrupt, simple
sentences within the writing sample and ask for students to offer solutions to the writings
choppy sentence structure. The answers students provide will be recorded on the Smart
Board for them to use during their next assigned activity.

7. As students help construct a list of ways to improve the informal writing sample, I will
distribute a second sample of writing that uses short, simple sentences and no use of
transitional words/phrases. The absence of transitional words/phrases makes the reading
of the writing sample awkward and choppy.
8. I will ask students to assess what is wrong with the writing sample (look for answers:
choppy, the sentences are list events, does not show a change in time).
9. Then I will introduce the concept of transitional words/phrases by providing an informal
explanation of what purpose they serve when speaking and writing (helps papers read
more smoothly from one point to the next, improve connections between thoughts,
indicate a change in time or location, used in speech for same purpose).
10. Afterwards, I will ask students what are some examples of these words/phrases and
record their answers on the Smart Board.
11. Independent Practice- After my explanation, I will provide students approximately 5
minutes, pending on remaining time, to construct a paragraph of their own which will
describe what they plan to do over Spring Break including transitional words/phrases
from the list they constructed as a class which is located on the Smart Board.
12. Closure- I will collect the students paragraphs as exit slips and wish them a safe Spring
Break on their way out of the classroom.
Special Notes To Remind Myselfi.

ii.

Rich Homie Quann is the rapper you will refer to when students notice his lyrics
within the informal writing sample. This lyric serves as an example of a colloquial
phrase that students use in conversation and I noticed this phrase within their preassessment writing sample.
Check time before Independent Practice.

Materials and Resources Needed:

i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.

Smart Board
Prezi Presentation
Ezine Articles, , dir. Formal vs Informal Writing: What's the difference and When to
use them. YouTube, 2011. Film. 13 Apr 2014. -Youtube clip attached to Prezi
Worksheet of Formal vs. Informal language
Sample of informal writing
Sample of choppy writing for transitional verb/phrase focus of lesson

Accommodations for Students with Special Needs:

I used visual accommodations, such as the Smart Board for note taking and an engaging
presentation that involved video clips to represent concepts I introduced, as well as students oral
participation.
In order to accommodate audio learners, I provided an oral explanation of the topics I discussed
and allowed other students to provide their own insight/ explanations.

Assessment of Student Learning:

Formative Assessment:
-Student participation of constructing a list of transitional words/phrases that were recorded on
the Smart Board.
- Oral participation during assessment of writing sample.
- Annotations within writing sample.
Summative Assessment:
- I will provide students approximately 5 minutes, pending on remaining time, to construct a
paragraph of their own which will describe what they plan to do over Spring Break. The
paragraph should include transitional words/phrases from the list they constructed as a class
which is located on the Smart Board.
Reflection on or Evaluation of Lesson:
- The lesson successfully engaged students with participation and humor within my
explanation and activities. Students were eager to participate and provide examples of
transitional words/phrases that could be used to revise the writing sample they assessed
within their activity. Their summative assessment confirms the success of my lesson.