ALEX Lesson Plan

Understanding You: Using Understood You in Fiction Writing

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  This lesson provided by:  
Author:Susanne Harrison
System: Elmore County
School: Stanhope Elmore High School
The event this resource created for:CCRS
  General Lesson Information  
Lesson Plan ID: 33170

Title:

 Understanding You: Using Understood You in Fiction Writing

Overview/Annotation:

In this lesson, students will compose their own nonfiction essay using understood you as the narrative technique.

This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

 Associated Standards and Objectives 
Content Standard(s):
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 11
R2. Read and comprehend a variety of literary texts to develop a literal and figurative understanding as appropriate to the type of text, purpose, and situation.

Examples: short and long prose texts, poetry, dramas
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 11
R3. Utilize active listening skills in formal and informal conversations, following predetermined norms.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 11
R5. Utilize a writing process which includes planning, revising, editing/peer-editing, and rewriting to create a focused, organized, and coherent piece of writing for a specific purpose and audience.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 11
4. Analyze how an author uses characterization, figurative language, literary elements, and point of view to create and convey meaning.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 11
6. Analyze a text's explicit and implicit meanings to make inferences about its theme and determine the author's purpose.
English Language Arts
ELA2021 (2021)
Grade: 11
11. Compose and edit both short and extended products in which the development and organization are relevant and suitable to task, purpose, and audience, using an appropriate command of language.

Examples: paragraphs, constructed responses, essays

a. Incorporate narrative techniques in other modes of writing as appropriate.

Examples: flashback, anecdote, foreshadowing, story-telling, sensory details, character development

b. Write explanations and expositions that examine and convey complex ideas or processes effectively, develop the topic utilizing and citing credible sources of information or data when relevant, use intentional transitions, choose precise vocabulary, and maintain an organized structure.

c. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning supported by relevant and sufficient evidence, making rhetorical choices that convey a specific tone or style, including intentional transitions, and providing a logical conclusion that captures the larger implications of the topic or text.

Local/National Standards:

  

Primary Learning Objective(s):

Students will be able to:

Explain the purpose of understood you.

Identify the use of understood you.

Evaluate how the use of understood you impacts the tone and impact of essay writing.

Identify the use of understood you in complex nonfiction text.

Locate and correct pronoun usage errors involving the use of understood you.

Create an original narrative essay utilizing understood you.

Additional Learning Objective(s):

  
 Preparation Information 

Total Duration:

31 to 60 Minutes

Materials and Resources:

Copy of Margaret Atwood's "Bread"

Pronoun Grammar Warm-up (focusing on understood you and pronoun shifts)

yellow highlighter

Notebook paper 

Pencil 

Pen

 

Technology Resources Needed:

Interactive Whiteboard

 

Background/Preparation:

Student should review common errors in pronoun usage.

Students should also review narrative techniques in writing.

 

  Procedures/Activities: 

1.  Students should read "Bread" by Margaret Atwood.

2.  As the students read “Bread,” they should highlight each “you” they see in the selection.

3.  Review the concepts of understood you and imperative statements.

4.  Students will “turn and talk” discussing the rhetorical impact of addressing the reader and interacting with the reader.

5.  Students should share their thoughts/evaluation of Margaret Atwood’s use of you throughout her passage.

6.  Using Atwood’s “Bread” as a model, students should select an object and compose an essay exploring the significance of the object.

The student essay must adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Must use 2nd person narration (you and understood you)
  • Each paragraph must introduce a new scene                    
  • The same item/object must be discussed in each paragraph.                               
  • At least one literary work must be discussed in connection with the object in one paragraph of the essay.

  Assessment  

Assessment Strategies

Students will complete grammar warm-up.

Students will compose their own narrative essay using "you and understood you" as the narrative techique.

Students will revise and edit their own narrative essays elminating all pronoun shifts.

 

Acceleration:

As an extension of this activity, students can create and publish an online creative writing journal featuring their "Understood You" essays.

Intervention:

Students in need of extra support while completing this lesson can be paired up with stronger students.

Students can work in groups to create/compose group essays.

The teacher may spend additional time reviewing pronoun agreement (person) and unnecessary pronoun shifts in writing.

 


View the Special Education resources for instructional guidance in providing modifications and adaptations for students with significant cognitive disabilities who qualify for the Alabama Alternate Assessment.