Grade: 10        Unit: Six Traits            How Long: 90 mins
Class: English        Lesson: #1                Date: N/A

I.    Essential Question: Hoes does fluency affect/improve one’s writing?

II.    State Core: Organization and sentence varied

III.    Technology: 

IV.    Rationale: Students will be writing for me throughout the year and for others throughout their lives. This lesson goes over one of the Six Traits in writing to help students understand what I expect in class and how to improve their writing in general. 

V.    Objective: Students will use their understanding of fluency to re-write a recipe without the use of first, second, third, etc. 

VI.    Pre-Requisite Learning: This lesson will be based on the assumption that students have written papers previously. 

VII.    Preparation:
a.    Teacher: Have assigned personal narrative paper to be due. Have questions and examples ready for students. 

VIII.    Materials: Cause and Effect Model Overhead, Transition handout copies

IX.    Instructional Process
    a.    Cue Set: Self-Start Journal to respond to, “What are elements of ‘good’ writing?” After the writing, have students tell what they wrote to the class as well as giving examples of “good” writing in print or other media.
    b.    Instructional Process
        i.    Ask if learning to be a “good” writer is important. When is writing used? Will anyone never use writing after high school? (Stress the importance of learning how to write well because written communication is used everywhere: getting a job, in the workplace, arguments/disputes, etc.)
        ii.    Explain that in this class, we are going to judge “good” writing according to six specific traits. List the traits on the board. Tell them today we are focusing on fluency.
        iii.    Explain to the students, that to have good writing, it needs to flow.
            1.    Ask student to think of a song, dance, or athletic play they know that really flows: one thing moves to the other fluidly.
                a.    Did you have to question why something was placed where it was?
                b.    Did you have to figure out the logic or theory behind it?
            2.    Writing works the same way…if your writing has fluency your reader doesn’t have to ask any “whys” pertaining to your logic or placement of a sentence or paragraph.
            3.    Ask them what they think makes writing “fluency”? (develop the conversation toward the idea of sentences working together without the reader having to question or struggle to figure out why and where things are written. Review the concept of paragraphs if needed)
            4.    Ask students how we can develop our writing from one paragraph to the next
                a.    Pull out the cause and effect model overhead
                    i.    Write “Juan doesn’t use transitions in his writing” as the central problem.
                    ii.    Have students write the cause, effect, prior cause and subsequent effects of the Juan’s situation. Make sure the student responses come in full sentences. Try to write sentences on the board that use transition words (ie: Since Juan, after, etc) (examples: Juan wouldn’t listen in class so he never learned to use transitions. Now, Juan does not use transitions. Since he fails to use transitions, his paragraphs do not flow and his readers struggle to connect the ideas in his writing)
                b.    Use the cause and effect model to show the students the importance of transitions as well as showing them how they used transition words during their conversation about Juan.
                c.    Hand out the Transition Handout
                d.    Tell students to establish the relationship between two paragraphs and use words that describe that relationship. (Ask yourself why you are changing paragraphs. Does the time differ? Are you comparing, etc? Then look at the Transition handout and find a word/phrase that suits you.)

            5.    Tell the students that fluency also has to do with the way writing sounds.
                a.    Ask student to think about a quote they heard or something they wrote that just sounded right. What elements did it include? (Try to encourage students to think about the rhythm of the writing)
                    i.    Divide students into groups of five
                    ii.    Assign groups to school related writing topics (tardies, absences, uniforms, late work, test make-ups, etc). Have some groups only use single syllable words while others write only multiple syllable words.
                    iii.    Have them write short group essays and read them to the class when they are done.
                    iv.    Ask the students how the short choppy essays sounded and how the multi-syllable ones sounded. List elements on board. Ask if and when they were appropriate.
                    v.    Tell students that it is important to have your writing include both sounds. Short and choppy sentences can be powerful, but can begin to sound childish sometimes. Longer or multi-syllable words can sound rich, but can get confusing or overbearing if used too much. Find a medium and read your writing out loud to hear if the sentences sound clear and rhythmic together.
                c.    Closure: Ask the students what they learned about fluency today. Explain to the students that we are going to continue to look the other five of the Six Traits and the importance of learning to write well to prepare for the future. Inform students that I will be watching for fluency in their writing from now on.
                d.    Independent Practice: Ask students to retype the instructions to their favorite recipes in a paragraph form. They cannot use words like first, second, third, etc. Tell them that I am looking for fluency (how each sentence/paragraph flows together and how they sound)  

X.    Evaluation: The recipe assignment will both a check off assignment with feedback. This activity is for practice and not necessarily perfection at this level. 

XI.    Enrichment: I want students to see the importance of fluency in their writing. They will be graded on fluency in the future and so I want to make sure they understand it.  

XII.    Diversity: This lesson includes group work to accommodate students who are less likely to participate in the full classroom discussion, it includes a contrasting diagram and cause and effect model for visual learners.