Mentor Text Writing Lesson Plan Assignment

The lesson plan will be a three-part assignment. You will be asked to complete the READ 436 ELED
lesson plan (on Canvas), an in-depth description of your procedure, and a reflection.

The intent of this assignment is to help you dig a little bit deeper into what goes into planning and thinking
about a using mentor texts to teach writing. Through this assignment, you should think more about how you
can make a lesson unique and effective and how the concepts and ideas we discuss in class can help you
create a lesson that helps the students enjoy and appreciate writing in a way you may not have as a
student.

PART ONE: THE LESSON

The intent of this part of the lesson is to prepare you for what you will need to do and think about before
teaching your lesson.

A. TITLE OF LESSON (Writing Focus): Using Quotation Marks Correctly

B. RELATED VIRGINIA STANDARDS OF LEARNING

2.13 The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
b) Use and punctuate declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences.

C. LEARNING OBJECTIVES

UNDERSTAND - The students will understand that quotation marks are an important and
necessary part of being able to write dialogue.

KNOW - The students will know how to use quotations marks including proper use of commas and
other punctuation needed to complete the sentences.

DO - The students will place quotation marks in the proper place in sentences given to them from
the mentor text.

The students will conduct an interview with their partner and then write about what their partner
said using quotation marks.

D. ASSESSING LEARNING

After reading the mentor text, the students will be given a copy of a few sentences from the book with the
quotation marks taken out. The students will use elbow macaroni as quotation marks. The students will
place the macaroni in the places where they think the quotation marks should be. The students will be
assessed informally during this time. This worksheet is included at the end of the document.

Next, the students will be placed in pairs and asked to conduct an interview with their partner. The students
will take turns asking each other the four questions that will be provided. The students will be told to answer
the questions in complete sentences. Each student will write down exactly what their partner says using
proper quotation mark usage as well as other punctuation. The papers will be collected to assess the
students’ understanding of quotation mark usage. Observations will be made and a rubric will be followed
to assess the students’ work. These items are included at the end of this document.

PART TWO: LESSON PLAN PROCEDURE

For this part of the lesson you will be asked to explain what you plan to do in this lesson and discuss how it
fits into the Three-Phase Lesson Format using the Before-During-After model. You should think about how
you plan to make sure you are doing all the procedures. Provide examples of the questions you plan to
ask, and details about everything you plan to do. This is the most important part of the lesson and what
you should be thinking about when you become a practicing teacher.

A. CONTEXT OF LESSON

The students have been working on paragraph writing since the beginning of the semester. Most students
understand by now how to properly punctuate their sentences, capitalize, and indent. My cooperating
teacher asked me to do this writing lesson on quotation marks, since they do not know how to use
quotation marks yet. Upon looking at the SOLs, I found out that quotation marks are not specifically
mentioned until fifth grade. My practicum classroom is a second-grade classroom; therefore, I chose the
standard that best fit for this lesson. Since this is an introductory lesson, I do not expect students to
understand everything about proper punctuation within and outside of quotation marks. I do expect
students to know where the quotation marks go, however. Sentences from the mentor text and interview
questions will be provided at the end of this document.

The ideas for this lesson came from a discussion between myself, my CT, Sarah Breneman, and her CT.
Sarah and I are both in second-grade classes at the same school in which the teachers all do the same
activities and lessons. My CT brought up the idea of using macaroni pasta to use for quotation marks.
Sarah and I thought of the idea of having the students conduct interviews to create dialogue that they could
write about. Sarah and I will be doing the same activities, but we are doing our lesson plans separately.

I am going to be using the popular book, The Rainbow Fish, as the mentor text. Most students have
probably read this book before; however, I will read this book during a read-aloud the day before I do this
lesson during immersion week. This book has many quotation marks that are used when the other fish are
talking as well as when the rainbow fish is talking. I will point out how quotation marks are used in this book
during my lesson.

B. MATERIALS NEEDED
List ALL the materials that will be needed to conduct this lesson including the Mentor Text/Author/Illustrator

The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

Worksheet with sentences from the text without quotation marks
Elbow macaroni (1 box)
Worksheet with interview questions

C. PROCEDURE
Discuss how you will address the topics below. Provide specifics about what you plan to say, questions
you may ask, and strategies you will use to make the lesson a success.

CONNECT
Students learn why today’s
instruction is important to them
as writers and how the lesson
relates to their prior work (if
applicable). The teaching point is
stated.
Before
TEACH
The teacher shows the students
how writers accomplish the
teaching point in the mentor text
During
Call students by table to the carpet. “Today we are
going to be taking a closer look at The Rainbow Fish
book that we read yesterday. This book uses a lot of
quotation marks, so we are going to use it as a mentor
text to become better writers. We can look at any book
as a mentor text to use the author’s strategies in our
own writing.”
Raise your hand and tell me what you know about
quotation marks.” Allow a few students to answer.
“Quotation marks are an important part of writing
because it is how we write about what people say.
Using quotation marks allows us to put someone else’s
voice into our writing as well.”
“I am going to read some parts of The Rainbow Fish on
the document camera while you follow along. I want you
to look for the quotation marks and how and when they
are used throughout the book.”
Read pages 2-5 of The Rainbow Fish under the
document camera. On each page, point out exactly
where the quotation marks are as well as the
punctuation that is used around the quotation marks,
such as commas that are used in between “said” and
the quotation marks.
On page 3-4, stop reading and tell the students to count
how many quotation marks they see on that page. “Talk
with the person beside you to see if you got the same
answer.” Ask the students to say their answer all
together.
On the anchor chart at the carpet, I will have a few key
ideas written about using quotation marks. We will talk
about putting a comma after words, such as said and
asked; beginning the first word inside the quotation
marks with a capital letter; and putting the end mark
inside the quotation mark. I will have an example
sentence written that shows all of these ideas in a
different color. “Are there any questions about these key
ideas?” Answer any questions.
“Once we go back to our seats, you all are going to use
dried macaroni to put quotation marks in the correct
places for some sentences that we read. All of the
quotation marks were taken out, so you have to figure
out where they go. Keep the macaroni on your paper
until Ms. Shuey or I check it. I will talk about our next
activity once everybody has been checked. Head on

ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT
After we teach something,
students are given a chance to
practice what has just been
taught with new writing or
revising a prior piece. (May
assess during this time)
After LINK
The teacher reiterates what has
just been taught and gives
students an opportunity to share
(May assess during this time)
D. DIFFERENTIATION

There are no English language learners in this classroom; however, I could still provide a sentence frame
for students that may be struggling with understanding quotation marks. For example, ________ said, “My
family is my ________________.” One student in the class has a visual impairment. I will make sure that
back to your seats and begin! Raise your hand if you
have any questions.”
My CT and I will walk around while the students use the
macaroni to place the quotation marks. If students are
having trouble, we will help them (ways discussed in
“Differentiation”). Once every student has been
checked, I will call students back to the carpet to explain
the interview activity.
“Now, you are going to be placed in pairs to ask each
other questions and write about your partner’s
responses. The interview questions are going to be
given to you on this sheet of paper. You are going to
take turns asking each other the questions and writing
the responses on your paper. Make sure to answer the
questions in complete sentences for your partner and
partners need to write exactly what you say with
quotation marks and commas.” Ms. Shuey and I will
model interviewing each other and writing our response
on the anchor chart. “Any questions?” Answer any
questions. Give the students their pre-planned partners
and have them spread out in the classroom.
I will collect all of the papers after the “after” part, to
assess each student’s understanding of quotation mark
usage.
Call the students back to carpet with their papers. “How
do we feel about using quotation marks in our writing?
Thumbs up, thumbs down, or in the middle.” Take
mental notes about how many students feel good about
quotation marks. “How do we feel about other
punctuation around quotation marks, like commas?
Thumbs up, thumbs down, or in the middle.” Take
mental notes.
“Does anyone want to share an example of one of their
sentences on the document camera?” Call on a few
students to share and correct any mistakes that may
have been made.
“Thank you all for working hard on your writing. You can
hand me your papers and have a seat back at your
desk.”
the font is big enough for everyone, but especially him to be able to read. I will also check in with this
student to make sure that he can read the worksheets. Another student has trouble focusing whenever he
has to write something. It can take him a long time to even get a sentence down on his paper. Since this
lesson is assessing proper usage of quotation marks, my CT has volunteered to transcribe for this student
while he tells her where to put the quotation marks and commas.

If students finish early during the macaroni activity, I will tell them to check with the people at their table to
see if they need help or to compare answers if other students are done too. If students finish early during
the interview activity, I will tell them that they can come up with more questions to ask their partner to write
about. If students are struggling with either activity, I will ask them, “What were some of the key ideas that
we talked about?” I will remind them that quotation marks only go around what is actually said by the
person. Hopefully, these questions and comments will put them on the right track to understanding.

E. WHAT COULD GO WRONG WITH THIS LESSON AND WHAT WILL YOU DO ABOUT IT? Think
about this! It may help you avoid an embarrassing situation. 


The students may have the urge to play with the macaroni on the table. I will tell the students that if they
are not using the macaroni in the way that they are supposed to on their paper, then they will not be
allowed to use it anymore and will have to write in the quotation marks with their pencil. If students are off
task or misbehaving during the interview activity, I will participate with them to make sure they are
answering the questions or I will change up the partners with another pair if that is the issue. Since these
are engaging activities, I do not think these students will be inclined to be off-task, but this is what I would
do if they were.

PART THREE: REFLECTION

As soon as possible after teaching your lesson, think about the experience. Use the questions/prompts
below to guide the writing of your 6- paragraph reflection (1 paragraph for each letter). Be thorough in your
reflection and use specific examples to support your insights.

A. How did your actual teaching of the lesson differ from your plans? Describe the changes and
explain why you made them. 

B. Describe at least one way you could incorporate developmentally appropriate practice in a
better or more thorough way if you were to teach this lesson again.
C. Based on the assessment you created, what can you conclude about your impact on student
learning? What did they learn? What evidence can you offer that your conclusions are valid?
Based on the assessment data you collected, what would you do/teach next if you were the
classroom teacher? 
 
 

D. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
children as learners? 

E. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
teaching? 

F. As a result of planning and teaching this lesson, what have you learned or had reinforced about
yourself? 

 I did make a few changes when I was teaching my lesson. First in the during part of my lesson, I decided
that it would be smarter to go over the key ideas on the anchor chart before looking at the book so that the
students would know what to look for. I think that this change was necessary because the students would
have been lost without a little guidance beforehand. I also did not think about if the one student with a
visual impairment could see the book well enough on the smart board while planning my lesson. This
student was having trouble seeing the words through the document camera, so I had him stand up right
next to the book to be able to look at the book at a closer level. This was a necessary change as well, since
this student would not have been able to see the quotation marks in the book without doing this. Everything
else from my teaching followed closely to how I had planned it.
Since the students have been working on paragraph writing for quite a while now, I could have
incorporated this into the lesson. Instead of having four interview questions, I could have narrowed it down
to two and then have the students create more responses for these prompts that would flow more smoothly
in a paragraph. With the way I taught the lesson, the students know how to write individual sentences with
quotation marks, but I do not know if they would be able to properly include quotation marks in a paragraph.
This is something that I could change to continue building on students’ paragraph writing
After looking through all of the student’s interview responses, all of the students understand where
quotation marks go in a sentence. 13 out of all 14 students also used proper punctuation around the
quotation marks, meaning they put a comma after the word “said” and a period or end mark within the last
quotation mark. Many of the students were still struggling with where to put the quotation marks during the
macaroni activity, so I was concerned that they would have trouble with the interview activity. Myself and
my CT walked around during the macaroni activity to help students that were struggling. We made sure that
all students understood before we moved onto the interview activity. Taking the time to do this during the
macaroni activity obviously proved to be beneficial. If I were the classroom teacher, for the next lesson, I
would teach students how to use quotation marks when the words “he/she said” are in the middle of the
sentence, rather than the beginning. This would just give them even more variety for things that they can
add to their writing.
Teaching this lesson reinforced the idea that I had about children as learners in that children are
determined to learn when they are engaged. I have seen how children can become distracted and
discouraged when they are not engaged during a lesson. I did not see this at all during my lesson. Many of
the students were struggling during the macaroni activity; however, they did not get frustrated since my CT
and I were going around to help each student/ table. The students did not give up because they were
engaged with using the macaroni and trying to figure out where it goes. When I told students that they had
finally gotten all of the quotation marks correct, their faces lit up with contentment. Children want to learn as
long as they see the purpose for learning and are engaged.
This lesson reinforced many ideas that I had about teaching. Teaching is not always a “one and done”
procedure. Students usually need to hear or see something multiple times before really understanding. At
the beginning of my lesson, when we were looking at the book through the document camera, I asked the
students how many quotation marks they saw on certain pages. There were usually only about four or six
quotation marks. A couple of the students thought that there were about 11 or 12 quotation marks. I did not
understand how the students were getting these high numbers, so I asked a couple of the students to come
to the board to point to all of the quotation marks that they saw. It turned out that some of the students
thought that all of the punctuation marks that they saw were quotation marks. To clear up this
understanding, I had the students look back at the anchor chart to see what the quotation marks look like
again. This seemed to clear up most of the confusion. Through this experience, I learned how teaching
takes patience and a solid understanding of what students may be thinking.
Through teaching this lesson, I also learned more about myself as a future teacher. I am a fairly patient
person anyways, so I did not mind having to go back and reteach some concepts for students that did not
understand. I do, however, like to be in control and know exactly how the lesson is going to go. I did not
expect to have to spend as much time as I did reinforcing these concepts. I started to panic internally at the
beginning of the lesson when students seemed very lost. Since the lesson turned out even better than I
expected, I learned that I just need to stay calm and continue to reinforce or reteach the ideas until the
students understand. By spending extra time with the macaroni activity, I barely had to reinforce the ideas
during the interview activity. I have learned that my lessons are more than likely not going to go exactly as
planned, so I just need to stay calm when this does happen.