May
5
Lesson 5- Dialogue/Writing Conferences/Writing Time
Instructional Goals: Students will be able to understand what dialogue is and how they can use it in their stories. Students will also continue to work on developing one of their writing pieces.
| Activity | Description and Purpose |
| What is dialogue? | For this activity, the teacher will begin by asking the students to think about the story (or one of the stories) that they are working on. The teacher will ask the students to think: in your story, were people talking? Most students will likely agree that most stories involve some sort of talking. The teacher will then say that that is why it is so important to understand how to write with dialogue, or written speech. |
| Dialogue example | The teacher will write an example of dialogue on the board, such as: “Hey! There’s a rainbow behind you,” said George. “Look out!” Stella cried. Mom looked up and said, “It looks like it might rain.” The teacher will point out the quotation marks, as well as the part of the sentence that indicates who is speaking. The teacher will ask the students to try to notice what the sentences have in common. |
| Group work: Dialogue Mission | Students will be put in groups and will rotate to different stations. At each station, there will be some task related to writing dialogue, whether it be adding dialogue punctuation to sentences or being prompted to create your own dialogue. This should help students to see how they could use dialogue in their story. |
| Writing Expectations Check | The teacher will tell the students that we will be sharing our stories (and additional drawings) with one another very soon! The teacher will review the expectations and will add any new ones that the students come up with. The teacher will remind the students that the writing conferences will continue. If students think that they are done with their story, they can go to the “revision station” which has suggestions for revision strategies, such as “Read Your Draft Aloud, and Listen” (Serravallo, 340), in which students use a whisper telephone that allows them to hear their voice as they whisper. The students could also choose to start a new story. |
| Free Write/Share | Students will have time to continue to work on their stories. After this time, students will be able to share some of their work (as little as a sentence). |
Assessment/Checkpoint: The teacher can check to see how the students are doing with their stories, and can assist if they are in need of additional support.
Differentiation/Student Choice: At this stage, the students may be in different places with their stories. The teacher can provide individualized support to students during the writing conferences and during free writing time (when not conferencing).