PLANNING

Date: March 10, 2010Class and Grade: English 11/12

Title: Difference Between Colons and Dashes

Objectives: Students will be able to recognize the difference between colons and dashes and be able to identify the appropriate time to use eitherand use these concepts in their own writing.

State Core Curriculum Standards:

2.3a. Edit and Revise for: Concise sentence structure to enhance sentence fluency.

2.3a Edit and Revise for: Correct use of colons.

(I couldn’t find one for dashes)

Concepts to be Taught:

  • Correct use of colons and dashes
  • Different rhetorical purposes of colons and dashes

Materials Needed:

  • 1st overhead  table of colon uses and dash uses
  • 2nd overhead  examples of sentence with colons and dashes
  • 3rd overhead  fill in the blank examples for students to answer

Strategies to be Used:

  • Modeling, guided practice, independent practice, sentence imitation, sentence combining

PERFORMING

Announcements:(none)

Continuation from Previous Lesson:They have been reading Hunger Games and are now writing a 4 page personal essay about their most difficult/challenging experience they have had. They have already turned in a rough draft and this lesson will focus on a few things I have noticed they need help with.

Lesson Presentation:

A)Getting Started: [anticipatory set]

  1. Have on board a T-chart for colons and dashes. Have a volunteer write what students say they already know about the uses of colons and dashes. Show them overhead number 1. Compare the list to the list they made on the board, see how close they got.

B)Directing the Learning: [learning activities]

  1. [modeling] Use overhead 2 to go through each of the different rules with examples. Have students read them out loud, and have students help point out how the example fits with the rule.
  2. [guided practice/sentence imitation] Ask if they are following and doing ok. Then, put up 3rd overhead and tell them to answer them independently. Give them a little while, afterwards, go through each sentence and have students answer whether they would put a colon or a dash and why. Use this for a check for understanding.
  3. [guided practice/sentence imitation] Have students work in pairs and using the examples on the overhead #2, you chose one rule for each pair to imitate for colons and one to imitate for dashes and have them create their own sentences. Ask for a few volunteers and write them on the board. Have the rest of the students guess which rule it is following and have the volunteers answer if it is the correct rule or not.

C)Bringing the Class to a Conclusion

  • [independent practice/accountability/sentence combining] Pull ideas back together—go back to first overhead w/ Table. Ask if there are any questions; explain that both the colon and dash are more of a stylistic punctuation mark. Give my experience of practice piece: how I used dashes everywhere, then after we learned about colons, I switched a lot of them to dashes. Final assignment, make sure at least one sentence in your paper uses a colon and one uses a dash.

Assignment:If not enough time, pretend the conclusion assignment is the homework assignment.

Evaluation:

I definitely would have prepared better. I was so sure I could look at the lesson plan once or twice and do well, but I found myself stuttering and stumbling to find the right words. Next time, I’ll actually practice giving the lesson before I give the lesson. I want to spend less time on showing examples and more time on having the students practice and asking other students which rule for a colon or dash they used. An idea could be to have the 2ndoverhead as a homework assignment the night before for them to read, as an introduction to the lesson. Then, we could quickly review the rules using the chart on overhead #1 and then go to the students crafting their own sentences and explaining which rule they used and why. However, I do think I did a good job on selecting different styles of activities for the students to do and I do like the beginning activity of having them list out what they already know about dashes and colons.