Stacy Mittag
Al Barnicle
11/03/04
Teaching Native American Students
Mary Hermes
Lesson Plan for FDL
Show, don’t tell.
Overview: This lesson uses a process attainment model o teach the students how to ‘show’ in
their writing.
Time: This lesson should take a 50 minute period.
Desired Outcomes:
 Students will write in prose and use descriptive detail.
 Students will develop the concept of ‘showing’.
 Students will practice showing and using senses in writing.
MN Standards Met:
8 – II – B – 2 – Create narratives that develop settings, people/characters, dialogue, and
conflicts using descriptive, concrete language to engage audiences.
9-12 – II – A – 1 – Plan, organize and compose narrative, expository, descriptive,
persuasive, critical and research writing to address a specific audience and purpose
Target: This could be used for writing groups ages 12 and up.
Attention Getter:
Who of you has ever had a hard time expressing what you wanted to say? I know I have.
Hopefully this lesson will help us to allow our readers to experience what we want them
to.
Materials:
 Prepared sheets with examples and non examples of ‘Show’ and ‘Tell’
 Students should have paper and a writing tool
Methods:
Have prepared sheets with examples and non examples printed on them, on one side of
the blackboard write “Example”, and on the other side of the blackboard write “Non
Example”. Go through two or three examples / non examples with the students and ask
the students to sort out the rest on their own.
Ask the students to define what Showing is and how it differs from telling.
 Uses Senses
o
o
o
o
o
Sight
Smell
Touch
Hearing
Taste?
Confirm or refine their answers.
Ask the students to write individually for 15 minutes on a prompt. The prompt can be
something like “how I got to school today”, it doesn’t have to be real. Ask the students to
include at least three instances where they show the reader what is going on. Ask the
students to include as many senses as possible.
During this time the teacher should conference with the students individually to give
nudges and feedback.
After the 15 minutes ask the class to turn to a partner, groups of no more than three, and
share their stories for five minutes.
For the remainder of class ask if the class would like to share anything that they have
written. Share something that you (the teacher) wrote first to start them off.
Collect the writings.
Assessment:
Students will turn in their writings at the end of the period.
Some students will make writings that have more than one instances of ‘showing’ and use
more than one sense.
Many students will make writings that have am instance of ‘showing’ and use a sense.
All students will make writings that have either ‘showing’ or a sense.
Teacher Resources:
Attached are the sheets used in our exercise. Also attached are some examples of student
work.
Collaboration:
Stacy and Al met on two occasions to discuss what we would do. They both had been in a
class where concept attainment was showcased and wanted to try it out. Stacy found
some resources that we could use for examples while Al put together parts of the lesson
plan. They met again to put together what they had and work out the details. In delivering
the lesson they made sure to both have parts. Both Stacy and Al worked together well
and collaborated throughout the development and implementation of the lesson.
Works Cited
Atwell, Nancie . In the Middle. Portsmouth: Boynton/Cook, Inc., 1998.
This is a book including directions and reflections on the use of mini lessons.
Concept Attainment. 23 Dec. 2003. University of Saskatchewan. 1 Nov. 2004
<http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/mcvittiej/methods/conatt.html>.
This is a website containing information on how to use a ‘concept attainment’ process to
teach a concept.
Noden, Harry R. Image Grammar: Using grammatical structures to teach writing. Ed. Lisa
Luedeke. Portsmouth: Heinemann, 1999. 1-10.
This is a book describing how different sentence structures can ‘show’ the reader what is
going on.
The Language of Literature: Writing Mini Lessons. Evenston: McDougal Littell , 1997.
This resource contains the examples used in the lesson.