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Introduction: this is my lesson plan and rationale for my first mini-lesson. Its a bit rough and
vague but thats simply because it was my first attempt at writing a lesson plan. The lack of
specificity and clarity in the assessment is an aspect of this mini-lesson that I tried to improve on
in my second mini-lesson. I made several revisions to this lesson plan and rationale after getting
feedback on it. I rewrote some parts of the rationale, in an attempt to make it more explicit what
my goals were for the lesson and how I would achieve these goals. I also fixed the grammatical
mistakes that slipped through the editing process.

How to Write Strong Conclusions

Name: Caleb Crotts & August Chien

Date: February 12, 2016

Subject: English

Grade: 9th

Common Core Standard:

Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or
resolved over the course of the narrative. (CCSS.ELA.LITERACY.W.9-10.3.E)

Focus: Students will learn to implement an effective ending that will strongly conclude their
fictional narrative

Objectives: The students will be able to:

Identify the types of effective conclusions
Implement specific conclusions to achieve desired results

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Materials:
Projector
Short clip Monsters Inc. that shows the ending
Day books
Handout of conclusion templates (can be found in last page of this plan)

Activities:
Show clip of the Monsters Inc. ending and discuss the elements of a strong conclusion (slide
3).
Present the central purpose of a conclusion (slide 4).
Introduce to the students the types of effective endings that they can use (slide 5 *pass out
handouts) Have the students get into groups of three of four a take a couple minutes to discuss
these conclusions and how they would rewrite Monsters Inc.
Have students take time to rewrite the ending of Monsters Inc. It should be one paragraph that
concludes the movie in a new way, incorporating one of the endings we discussed (slide 6).
Ask students to share the ending they wrote. (take notes on what you notice: emotions and
structure)

Evaluation & Assessment: Through the explanation and discussion of elements of a strong
ending, the students will attempt to utilize these new techniques in their own writing. We will

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evaluate their ability to write an effective conclusion once they read their ending of Monsters
Inc. aloud and later when they turn in the second draft of their fictional narrative.

Mini-Lesson Rationale
As the class has been working on fictional short stories, we have noticed their endings are
weak. The students had struggled to conclude their previous stories effectively with no structure,
so we are providing structure that will help them in this process. While their overall stories were
great, the conclusions were not fitting. By teaching them about various types of endings, we are
equipping the students with the knowledge and tools necessary to form a conclusion specific to
their desired response. This lesson includes examples of conclusions, discussion of what makes
a great conclusion, and a creative assignment challenging students to write a new ending for a
classic kids movie. These task will build the students understanding of the purpose of
conclusions and teach them how to implement different endings depending on the response they
wish to elicit. Conclusions are daunting, but the fun assignment will hopefully interest the
students and allow us to get a good sense of their understanding and the way they view
conclusions. This mini-lesson is a step in creating overall great writers.

Formative Assessment:
We will ask for a few students to share their reimagined ending of Monsters Inc. aloud
and will observe how they implemented the new conclusions we talked about. We will be
specifically listening for the emotions they are conveying and if this form follows the flow of the

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rest of the movie. We want to see they understand how effective conclusions are written and used
to tie up the loose plot ends and emotions of a story.

Summative Assessment:
The summative assessment will be made once the students turn in the second draft of their
fictional narrative. We will compare their conclusions written in their first draft with those of
their second and measure their growth and improvement. We will be looking if their new
conclusion follows a structure provided on the handout and if it elicits a correct emotional
response based on their story. If their conclusions remain weak and ineffective, then additional
workshops on conclusions and one-on-one meetings will be done before the students turn in their
final drafts.

Citations:
Monsters Inc. 2001 by Pixar Studios (Youtube clip used had a standard Youtube License)
Six Common Types of Endings by Sheryl Tuttle (published novelist, used through Fair Use)

Prezi Link:
http://prezi.com/tbbn5bgzssot/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

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Conclusion Handout

Explicit ending This is the ending that wraps everything up and answers all the questions. This
ending will frequently tell what happens to each of the major characters, and is usually very
satisfying in its completeness. Particularly well suited for novels (over short stories), when using
this ending, it is especially important to watch for plot holes and missing clues.

Implicit ending If you like an ending that is strongly based on interpretation, then you like
implicit endings. These endings are more common in short fiction.

Twist ending As the name implies, this ending is unexpected or twisted. As a writer, everything
youve led your reader to believe gets thrown out at the end, and is replaced by a new revelation
when well done. If done poorly, your reader will feel cheated. Tie-back ending This ending ties
the end of the story back to clues planted in the beginning. An example would be where the story
opens with what the main characters conflict is and ends with why.

Unresolved ending In unresolved endings, the main conflicts are left unanswered. The reader is
left to ponder the outcome. Cliffhanger endings would also fall under this category.

Long view ending These endings tell what happens to the characters a significant timeframe
into the future.