Grade: 10        Unit: Six Traits            How Long: 90 mins
Class: English        Lesson: #3                Date: N/A

I.    Essential Question: How can using conventions improve writing?

II.    State Core: 2.3b: Editing for commas, fragments, run-ons and semicolons

III.    Technology: Slideshow presentation, including video (the slideshow will follow the lesson and give examples)

IV.    Rationale: Students will be graded on conventions for the remainder of the semester. This lesson gives students an opportunity to learn and review them before being graded.  

V.    Objective: Students will show their understanding of conventions by revising their 5-paragraph essays and accurately approaching semicolons and without fragments or run-ons.  

VI.    Pre-Requisite Learning: Students will need to understand the basic structure to a sentence and have had previous grammar lessons to understand the jargon. 

VII.    Preparation:
    a.    Teacher: Have slideshow Ready and setup
    b.    Students: Have a rough draft copy of the Girls vs Boys 5-paragraph essay 

VIII.    Materials: Computer, projector, slideshow presentation 

IX.    Instructional Process
    a.    Cue Set: Ask students to share with their neighbor three reasons grammar is important.
        i.    Ask students to share their partners and their own ideas
            1.    Why do we care if grammar exists?
            2.    Why are there “so many” rules?
        ii.    Tell the students that today we will be discussing the conventions portion of the six traits. Have students take notes.
        iii.    Begin with review: Ask what is a sentence (A complete thought that includes a subject [who or what] and a predicate [the doing or state of being of the who or what])
        iv.    Ask the students what makes a fragment sentence? (it is an incomplete thought, a phrase or idea that does not stand alone, ie: missing subject or predicate). Give examples and ask why the sentence is a fragment
            1.    “Because I like it”
            2.    “Since it is the summer time”
            3.    “After the end of the semester”
        v.    Make sure that every sentence you have can stand alone. Don’t put a period until it makes enough sense to read alone without any additional sentences before or after it.
        vi.    Ask if a sentence is a complete thought, can it ever be more than one complete thought? (Yes, if it contains the right words or punctuation)
            1.    How can we put two complete thoughts, or ideas that can stand alone, in one sentence? (Add a conjunction or a semi-colon)
            2.    A semi-colon is equal to a period in strength, but sometimes two ideas are so tightly connected we don’t want to actually make two separate sentences, so we use a semicolon instead.
            3.    Ask students to come up with two sentences that could go together.
                a.    ie: Sally is going to the store. She goes to the store every Wednesday.
                b.    Ask the students to add a semicolon (Sally is going to the store; she goes there every Wednesday)
                c.    Come up with several examples until they seem to really grasp the concept.
            4.    Ask students what is wrong with only adding a comma in those situations. (A comma is not strong enough: comma splice)
        vii.    When are times that we use commas?
        viii.    Tell the students that commas are one of the biggest hang-ups students have with punctuation, but I am only going to old you accountable for a couple of comma rules: Pull Outs, inversion, series and compound sentences. We will go over three of the four today: Pullouts, inversion, and series
                1.    PULLOUTS
                    a.    Pullouts are times where the information in a sentence can be eliminated, the pull out must have a comma before AND after it (give the example of a tape…2 cuts=2 commas)
                    b.    Show several sentences with pullouts in them (see PowerPoint). Ask students to identify where the commas should be
                2.    INVERSION
                    a.    Inverted sentences are times where there is information presented before the subject+verb portion of the sentence. Follow the additional information with a comma before the subject+verb
                    b.    Show examples on slideshow, have students tell where the comma goes
                3.    SERIES
                    a.    Where does a comma go in a series?
                    b.    Is there a comma before “and”?
                    c.    Where should the comma go in these sentences? Go back to slideshow Examples
        ix.    Have students look at their 5-Paragraph essays. Have them correct instances where there are run-ons, fragments, or comma issues. Also have the students suggest on instance where a semicolon could be used and show where it would be placed
            b.    Closure: Ask how the students feel about the lesson. I know that grammar is where most students get hung up on writing. Do you feel like anything has been simplified today that you found difficult? On the back of your 5-paragraph essay write a 3-2-1 Blast Off that includes three things that you find most difficult in grammar or conventions, two questions you still  have about grammar, and one thing you feel like you really understand about grammar
            c.    Independent Practice: Students will be graded on conventions for their upcoming papers and projects 

X.    Evaluation: I will look at the student corrected 5-paragraph essay. Check the students’ organization and look at the grammar corrections and questions. Check off the assignment, but give feedback.  

XI.    Diversity: This lesson uses sound and visual imagery to help audio and visual learners, it also works with pairs to help students who do not want to work in large groups or as the whole class