Five Paragraph Essay

                                                Denise Mumm
Language Arts/8th

Links to Files Associated with This Lesson 

1. Computer Room Assignments

2. Teacher Lesson Notes For Smart Board

3. Listening Rubric

4. Writing Rubric

5. Technology Rubric

Content Area Objectives Addressed:

Students Will:

1.  Write to inform

2.  Write an expository essay

3.  Use the steps of the writing process

a.  Prewrite

b.  Draft

c.  Revise/Edit

d.  Final Draft

Technology Objectives Addressed:

Students will

1.  Use Corel Word Perfect to draft an essay

2.  Use specific tools of Corel Word Perfect to draft and revise/edit a document

a.  Line spacing

b.  Font size and style

c.  Indent

d.  Save a document to a file

e.  Print a document

f.  Cut and paste

g.  Spell check

h.  Thesaurus

Activity Description

            What was the process that your students went through to complete this lesson?

In the weeks leading up to this project, students were instructed in various lessons on paragraphing: topic sentence, supporting details, concluding sentence, descriptive language, figurative language, active verbs, using exact word choices, and transitions.  Students had much practice in writing paragraphs.  As we progressed, we moved into thesis statements and what was involved in putting together the expository essay (what 8^th grade students are expected to complete with proficiency as a state benchmark).  We spent time on prewriting and brainstorming in an organized, intentional manner, all leading up to this lesson: putting the essay together.  In the class period before filming this lesson, students did a prewrite on the topic: If I could be an animal for a day, what animal would I be and why?  That prewrite consisted of listing ideas, completing a sensory detail chart, writing a simile, metaphor, and expression of personification.  In addition to this, students webbed out their main ideas.  With this complete, they used an essay worksheet to help guide them to create their thesis statement and shape the body paragraphs of their essay.  This worksheet was homework.  They brought it to class on filming day.  I briefly checked their organization and ideas.  I gave a lesson on Corel Word Perfect, showing how to open a blank document, manipulate the font and line spacing, and how to access the spell check and thesaurus.  I reviewed how to print the document and how to save it to a file on the student’s Network drive.  Students took notes during this presentation on the Smart Board.  At the conclusion, students went to an assigned computer, logged on and began drafting their essay, using their pre write and essay worksheet to guide them.  When completed, they saved their work and printed a copy.  In the following class periods, they peer edited, and then went back to the computers to prepare a final draft. After all material was handed in, students read their essays aloud to the class, concentrating on speaking and listening skills.

How did you monitor student progress?  Student progress was monitored each step of the way by recording student’s completion of each step in the grade book.  Teacher observation was used all during this project.

Was there a template or an example that students were expected to follow?  Examples of what an essay should have in it were given to students during a note taking session. The essay format was studied in a preceding lesson.  In addition, a completed essay copy was given to students to view as they completed their own on the word processor.

How much time did you dedicate to this project? The immediate lesson took 4, 90 minute class periods.  Instructing students to put the elements into their writing to successfully pass the Direct Writing Assessment has taken 2 months of continuous instruction on various aspects of writing.

Total: 360 minutes

Daily (approximate) 90 minutes 

How was the final product presented?    Students read their final essays to the class.

Who was the audience for the final product?  A class full of their peers

Learning Issues

What prior knowledge was required on the part of the students in order for them to be successful in this project? (include curriculum and technology knowledge)    Students needed to be familiar with the writing process, writing an introduction, conclusion and body paragraphs. They needed to know what elements of writing to include in their essay.  Technologically, students needed to be able to log onto a computer,  keyboard, access their Network drive, pull up a word processing program and utilize some of the tools in Corel Word Perfect.

Resource Management

            What was the student to computer ratio? 1 to 1

How did you schedule your students’ computer time?  By using other rooms in the building with computers and spreading out the students, time was not an issue.  We have block scheduling, so 90 minutes in a class period is plenty of time to draft a 5 paragraph essay.  By creative assignment of students to rooms, behavior problems can be managed effectively.

What was the location of the computers and other technology equipment used by students?    In order to have access to the Smart Board to demonstrate the Corel Word Perfect program, I had to use a 7^th grade classroom with the teacher on prep.  The computers the students used were in the 7^th grade classrooms (teachers had prep) and some of the 8^th grade classrooms and the library.

How would you suggest beginning teachers obtain computer resources for their students? (Knowing some of your strategies would be valuable for our pre-service teachers.)  Communicate with other teachers in the building that have computers!  See if there are old computers in the district that are not being used that you can use, at least for word processing.  Be involved in grant writing and special training for technology. 

Rate the level of access for students to use computers/other technologies as they needed  --high, medium, low: medium

Rate the level of supervision required for students during the project, specifically for computer and other technology use –high, medium, low: medium

Materials

What hardware was required for your project? Smart Board, In focus Projector, Student Computers and Printers

What software was required for your project?  Corel Word Perfect

Anything else?

Assessment

            What kind of assessment did you use for this project? (Include a copy if you can.)

I use a writing rubric that the state uses to evaluate the 8^th grade Direct Writing Assessment.  In addition, I used a Writing Traits Rubric to give students feedback.  I also did an evaluation using a rubric of students’ ability to use Corel Word Perfect and complete a technical document to certain specifications

What categories did you assess? (I.e.:  content, screen design, depth/breadth, etc.) 

  I assessed their ability to write, and their ability to produce a word processed document with certain specifications

Other

How does the product that you submitted compare with other students’ products for this same project?  The samples of student work that I submitted are an indication of what other student work looks like.  There is a range of students from differing ability levels.

What did you like best about this project?  I really liked the way this project met many of the state and district Language Arts Standards.  It culminated writing instruction over a few months in a meaningful way (the essay).  This will be a good tool(the completed essay) for me to gage what students still need to work on to be ready for the Writing Assessment in January.