Write a Personal Essay

Objectives

Students will begin writing a personal essay. Students will:

use literary elements in a personal essay.
compare style, organization, and tone of a personal essay.
analyze how literary elements enhance a personal essay. [IS.6 - Level 1]

Essential Questions

How does interaction with text provoke thinking and response?

Vocabulary

[IS.1 - Preparation ]

[IS.2 - ELP Standards]

Teachers should identify specific vocabulary words from the selected work for explicit instruction. [IS.3 - Struggling Learners]

Inference: A judgment based on reasoning rather than on direct or explicit statement. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances; understandings gained by “reading between the lines.” [IS.4 - All Students]
Tone: The attitude of the author toward the audience and characters (e.g., serious or humorous).
Voice: The fluency, rhythm, and liveliness in writing that make it unique to the writer. [IS.5 - Language Function]

Duration

60–120 minutes/1–2 class periods [IS.7 - Struggling Learners and ELL Students]

Prerequisite Skills

Prerequisite Skills haven't been entered into the lesson plan.

Materials

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. Ballantine Books, 2009. This text was chosen because it is a memoir with strong elements of fiction. [IS.8 - ELL Students] [IS.9 - Struggling Learners]
Alternatives should have easily identifiable elements of fiction. [IS.10 - ELL Students] Examples include the following: [IS.11 - ELL Students]

o The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Anchor, 1996.

o Night by Elie Wiesel. Hill and Wang, 2006.

o Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg. Shambhala, 2010.

writing folder

Related Unit and Lesson Plans

Related Materials & Resources

The possible inclusion of commercial websites below is not an implied endorsement of their products, which are not free, and are not required for this lesson plan.

Related materials and resources haven't been entered into the lesson plan.

Formative Assessment

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Focus the lesson on using the elements of fiction in a personal essay. Use the following checklist to assess students’ mastery of the elements of fiction: [IS.26 - All Students]
- Student’s personal essay meets the criteria established in the prompt
- Student’s writing effectively uses the elements of fiction
Provide individual feedback and additional instruction/practice when needed.

Suggested Instructional Supports

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Scaffolding, Active Engagement, Explicit Instruction

W:	Connect the elements of fiction to nonfiction, particularly the personal essay, by having students complete a creative writing exercise.
H:	Have students recall a memorable moment in their lives and write about it.
E:	Guide students to discover that the organization of narration is a natural form of writing that involves introducing character, setting, and events (plot) in a clear order.
R:	Help students extend their understanding of literary elements by writing a personal essay.
E:	Encourage students to keep their writing exercises in a writing folder to review and evaluate.
T:	Provide opportunities for students to work together in a large group, small group, and with a partner.
O:	The learning activities in this lesson provide for large-group instruction and discussion, partner interaction, and individual application of the concepts.

IS.1 - Preparation

Preparation: List ELL(s) and their ELP level (s)

IS.2 - ELP Standards

Include ELP standards to be addressed.

IS.3 - Struggling Learners

For struggling learners consider using instructional routine cards:

NRTAC Instructional Routine Cards) Be certain all students are able to define, review and apply the vocabulary terms. (DonnaIrene’s link: http://www.fcoe.net/ela/pdf/Vocabulary/Anita%20Archer031.pdf

http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/presentations/digitaltext.cfm

IS.4 - All Students

For Inference, tone and voice (literary and conceptual elements) : Teacher selects a picture or photo and passage based on a theme from text and models through use of a “Think Aloud” the following:

What do I infer from this photo?
What do I “see” in this photo?
What do I think is happening in this photo?

Then the teacher answers these questions aloud for students. Teacher then chooses a short passage from the selected texts and asks students the following:

What do you infer (read between the lines) about text from this passage?

For Tone refer to this list of tone/attitude words:

http://www.mshogue.com/AP/tone.htm

For Voice: Teachers should model by selecting several different passages that vary in “voice”.

IS.5 - Language Function

Include a language function to be developed orally. (e.g., transition words)

IS.6 - Level 1

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Entering	Beginning	Developing	Expanding	Bridging
Orally answer WH-questions using target vocabulary about topic of essay	Restate facts from graphic organizer using target vocabulary describing own essay to a partner	Sequence the events of essay in a small group	Summarize essay within a small group	Critique essays of other members in a small group

IS.7 - Struggling Learners and ELL Students

For struggling learners/readers consider pre-teaching, re-teaching, and/or sending materials home for additional practice. Increase flexibility and responsiveness by planning lesson adjustments such as increasing or decreasing the pace.

For English Language Learners consider consulting with the ESL teacher to develop and deepen lesson objectives.

IS.8 - ELL Students

Select a short representative protion of the passage for ELLs to read

IS.9 - Struggling Learners

primary text and alternatives:

For struggling readers/learners, consider the following:

Partner or choral reading
Teacher-led CLOZE reading, see:

http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/implementaliteracyprogram/HowToPrepareTextsForAClozeProc.htm

Teacher read aloud (portions)
Consider an audio version of the text

IS.10 - ELL Students

Vary the alternative materials to reflect the student group(s) of the class and culturally relevant to their background experiences.

IS.11 - ELL Students

How can ELLs connect to this passage? Use your answer to activate prior knowledge.

IS.12 - All Students

Consider using the term “reporter” since we access news from various medias.

IS.13 - Struggling Learners

For struggling readers/learners, utilize “Think-Pair-Share. Students will think of answers to the questions, pair with another student, and share responses while the teacher records group responses.

IS.14 -All Students

Note: the “reading” mentioned here is a separate event, independent but connected to the assignment. r, share with partner, and then develop a draft using the writing process. ponses while the tecx

IS.15 - Struggling Learners

For struggling learners/readers, consider the following:

Use a graphic organizer with the question already provided
Use the “5 W chart” for students to complete story starter 1.

IS.16 - ELL Students

For ELLs the first “draft” should be oral: “Tell about your . . .” in partners

IS.17 - Struggling Learners

For struggling learners/readers, consider the following:

Using elements generated from the graphic organizer, have students write complete sentences.

IS.18 - Struggling Learners

For struggling learners/readers, consider having students work in pairs FIRST before sharing with the group.

IS.19 - All Students

Have students try to identify the specific aspects of Inference, tone, and voice as discussed earlier.

IS.20 - Struggling Learners

For struggling learners/readers, consider the following:

Use a 2 column or “T” Chart graphic organizer to

IS.21 - Struggling Learners

For struggling learners/readers, consider the following:

Use a graphic organizer with the question already provided
Use the “5 W chart” for students to complete story starter 2.

IS.22 - ELL Students

For ELLs the second “draft” should be an oral activity: Tell a partner. . .” Depending on ELP level, could include completing a graphic organizer.

IS.23 - Struggling Learners

For struggling learners/readers, consider the following:

Use a graphic organizer with the question already provided
Use the “5 W chart” for students to complete story starter 3

Or make this optional for struggling learners/readers.

IS.24 - ELL Students

For ELLs have students build from graphic organizer (or oral essay) to draft a personal essay in writing.

IS.25 - Struggling Learners

For struggling learners/readers, consider the following:

Have students’ complete 1 story starter, share with partner, and then develop a draft using the writing process.

IS.26 - All Students

Provide high-quality feedback related to clear performance expectations and shared rubrics. Consider using the Keystone Expository Scoring Guidelines. https://static.pdesas.org/Content/Documents/English_Comp-Expository_Scoring_Guidelines_2011-08-16.pdf

Instructional Procedures

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Focus Question: How do literary elements enhance a personal essay?

Say, “Imagine you are a newspaper reporter. [IS.12 - All Students] Think of a memorable event that actually happened in your life. This could be a recent event or something from the past. Now think of some general questions that someone might ask you about this event. Which questions would they be?”

Elicit the following questions, and write them on the board/interactive whiteboard: [IS.13 - Struggling Learners]
- To whom did this event happen (main character)?
- When did the event happen?
- Where did the event happen?
- What exactly happened?
- How did the event happen?
- Why is this event memorable?
- Who is narrating the event?
Part 1

Read a text mentioned in Materials as a model of a memoir that uses elements of fiction. [IS.14 - All Students]

Have students write a few “story starters.” Write the following sentence on the board: What is your most memorable moment?

Say, “Think about this question because you will soon write about your most memorable moment. [IS.15 - Struggling Learners] [IS.16 - ELL Students] When I say ‘write,’ you will have exactly three minutes to write about your memorable moment. Don’t worry about mistakes. Just write.” (You may wish to participate in the freewriting and then read aloud what you wrote.)

Say, “Write.” [IS.17 - Struggling Learners] After three minutes of writing, say, “In the next few seconds, finish your last sentence. Then take two minutes to read over what you wrote. Make any changes you need to make.

Ask volunteers to share what they wrote. Then have students work in pairs to read aloud their responses. [IS.18 - Struggling Learners] Most students’ stories will be organized in a way that quickly reveals the main character, setting, point of view (usually first person), and plot (introduction, one or two turning points, and maybe a critical turning point). Students will hear a variety of styles (from story to memoir to description) and tones (from serious to humorous). Discovering this variety is a major point of this lesson. [IS.19 - All Students]

Ask, “As you listened to your classmates, did you notice any similarities in the writing?” [IS.20 - Struggling Learners] Most students’ stories will include many of the elements of fiction. The point of this exercise is for students to discover that all storytelling involves the elements of fiction.

Say, “This story starter was meant to help you get started on your personal essay. Let’s try another story starter.” [IS.21 - Struggling Learners]

Suggest a new prompt from the following list:
- Write about an event that changed your life.
- Who is the most important person in your life and why?
- Write about the most interesting place you’ve been.
- Explain one thing few people know about you.
Part 2

Have students write another story starter to a third prompt of their choice. [IS.22 - ELL Students] [IS.23 - Struggling Learners] Tell them to save these exercises in a writing folder. A variation of this writing exercise and additional writing exercises can be found in Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg.

Extension:
- Have students choose their favorite writing prompt and continue writing the first draft of a personal essay. [IS.24 - ELL Students] [IS.25 - Struggling Learners] Through peer review, have students revise their writing. Ask students to submit a final draft for you to use to assess their writing ability.
- The personal essay is an important aspect of many college applications. Bring a variety of college applications to class and discuss how parts of students’ personal essays might be used when students apply to colleges.

Write a Personal Essay

Lesson Plan