SSK Unit 4.2 Planning Guide

Instructional ConsiderationsWritingHISD PLANNING GUIDEEnglish Language Arts Grade 8SUMMER SCHOOLPrerequisitesStudents should understand the writing process and how to use it to develop a piece of writing.Background Knowledge for TeacherReview the expectations for the Expository Essay. The rubric can be used to develop mini-lessons and serves as aformative assessment. See Formative Assessment- Expository Essay rubric in Assessment Connections. Continue toreview the rubric as students progress through their writing. Have students link the characteristics of the texts read tothe required attributes in this writing project in writing groups.Remind students that the revision process is the best place to improve sentence fluency in a writing piece. Explain thatstrong sentence fluency involves varied sentence structures, including complex sentences using subordinateconjunctions. Review the parts of a sentence and complex and compound sentences. Also, focus on the use ofappositive phrases to improve sentence fluency. See Instructional Strategies for a Sentence Structure Basics strategy.(ELA.8.14C, ELA.8.19A.ii)Have students do peer reviews through which they learn to review and revise their own work. See InstructionalStrategies for a Peer Review activity.Encourage students to revise transitions if necessary. Conduct revisions of transitions in the same pairs as the PeerReview. Instruct students to switch essays/articles and underline or highlight transition words. Next, ask students toclassify these words and place them on a graphic organizer to return to their partner. Partners then use the chart toverify the number of transitions used throughout the essay/article and suggest areas to improve organization by addingspecific transitions. See Resources for a Transition Chart and WriteSmart DVD-ROM in Resources.Instructional Accommodations for Diverse Learners ELLs and struggling writers may require more basic paragraph revision. Use the Paragraph Overhaulstrategy in Instructional Strategies as a guide for students.Review capitalization. Remind students that all proper nouns, initials, abbreviations, and acronyms must be capitalized.(ELA.8.14D)Instructional Accommodations for Diverse Learners ELLs need to use correct verb tense, use possessive and contractions correctly, and use negativesappropriately. Provide mini-lessons on these topics as needed. Also, provide sentence stems whendiscussing these topics such as:• A subject of a sentence is…• A verb is…• An apostrophe is…• Apostrophes are used to show...• The word (no/not/none) is used when…• An example of a sentence with (no/not/none) is…See Navigating the ELPS in the English Language Arts and Reading Classroom in Resources.(ELPS C.5e)Remind students that during the editing process, all capitalization, punctuation, usage and spelling (CUPS) are to bereviewed. Review the aspects of conventions with students, emphasizing the correct usage of commas with phrases,compound, and compound-complex sentences.Instructional Accommodations for Diverse Learners For ELLs, create a visual reminder of the elements of a well-organized paper. See Wall Charts inInstructional Strategies. - English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) - Literacy Leads the Way Best Practices - Aligned to Upcoming State Readiness Standard- State Process Standard R - State Readiness Standard S - State Supporting Standard© Houston ISD Curriculum2013 – 2014Page 6 of 11