Prince George’s County Public Schools
Smaller Learning Communities
Jumpstart to Graduation – English Curriculum
Lessons One & Two
 Introduction to Advocacy
 Introduction to Persuasion
 The Persuasive Methods
Lesson Three
 Persuasive Writing Strategies
 “School Uniforms Encourage Student Success”
Lesson Four
 Persuasive Essay (Brainstorming, Outlining, Drafting)
Lesson Five
 Poem Analysis
Lesson Six
 “Earth Song” Analysis and Discussion
Lesson Seven
 Plastic Bag Video
 Creative Writing Assignment (Brainstorming, Drafting)
Lesson Eight
 Creative Writing Assignment
 (Final Draft, Whole Class Sharing)
Lesson Nine
Jumble Story
Lesson Ten
Haiku, Cinquains, and Free Verse
Lessons Eleven and Twelve
Introduction to Public Speaking
Jumpstart Lesson Plan Summer 2012 for English
Topic: Advocacy: What Does it Mean?
Introduction to Persuasion
Lesson One
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
1. Students will learn the role of an advocate.
2. Students will brainstorm various ways that they can be advocates.
3. Students will learn the importance of persuasion in advocacy.
Rationale:
Students will become advocates for a cause connected to the theme of the summer program. Students will
also be able to effectively use the methods of persuasion, which will assist them in the persuasive
component of their projects.
Assessment Objective(s):
1. Students will brainstorm a list of advocates, their roles, and ways they can be advocates.
2. Students will be able to identify the methods of persuasion in a teacher-written model of a
persuasive text.
3. Students will also be able to use the methods correctly in order to compose a persuasive text.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand what it means to be an advocate.
2. Students will understand the methods of persuasion.
3. Students will understand how to identify the methods of persuasion.
4. Students will understand how the methods look when implemented in a persuasive essay.
Essential Question(s):
1. Who or what is an advocate?
2. What does an advocate do?
3. Why is the art of persuasion important for advocates?
4. What are the nine methods of persuasion?
5. How are they correctly used?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 Teacher observation during brainstorming
 Students discussing and understanding the different roles of an advocate
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
 Warm-Up: What are the benefits of helping people you don’t know?
 The class will develop a working definition of the word “advocate.”
 The students should be asked to generate a list of people who serve as advocates. (i.e., lawyers,
politicians). Next to each response, students should list how each person serves as an advocate.
(i.e., lawyers speak on behalf of their clients, etc.).
 Finally, the students should come up with a list of actions they can tale that would make them
advocates (i.e., start a petition, organize a rally, etc.)
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 chart paper/ marker
 teacher model “School Uniforms Encourage Student Success”
Jumpstart Lesson Plan Summer 2012 for English
Topic: Persuasive Writing Strategies
Lesson Two
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
1. Students will learn the strategies of effective persuasive writing.
Rationale:
Learning these strategies will be helpful with the persuasive component of the students’ projects. Students
will develop a working knowledge of the persuasive strategies, which will be helpful in many different areas.
Assessment Objective:
1. The exit ticket at the end of class will show whether or not the students retained the information.
Students will demonstrate the ability to use the persuasive strategies in order to improve their own
writing.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand how to implement persuasive strategies.
Essential Question(s):
1. What are the persuasive strategies and how are they used?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 student questions
 completion of exit ticket
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
 Warm-Up: Write about a time someone you know persuaded you to do something.
 Teacher will distribute the “School Uniforms Encourage Student Success” essay. Be careful to
distribute the copy that is NOT annotated.
 Students will read silently as the teacher reads the essay aloud. Upon completion of the essay, ask
the students the following questions:
o What is the issue being discussed?
o What is the main argument of the essay?
o How is the author being persuasive?
Now distribute the list of the 13 persuasive methods. Briefly discuss each of the methods to the
students. Instruct them to take notes of the methods with which they are unfamiliar.
Break the students into small groups (2 to 3 students) and have them look through the School
Uniforms essay. Ask them to identify at least five of the methods of persuasion within the essay.
 Upon leaving, students should complete the following exit-ticket questions: How will the
strategies you learned today make your writing more persuasive? Identify and explain two
of the strategies discussed today that you did not know before.
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 “Persuasive Writing Strategies” handout
Handout: School Uniforms Encourage Student Success
At the end of my 10th grade year in high school, my parents made the decision to enroll me in a small
private school that was closer to where we lived. Although I understood why they made their decision, I was upset
at the idea of having to get used to a new school full of people, people who had known each other since
elementary school. I was nervous and apprehensive, but I began to feel a little better once my mother told me that
I would be wearing a uniform. Wearing a uniform to school on the first day of my junior year alleviated so much
pressure from me. Instead of worrying about what I was wearing, I had an opportunity to make an impression
based on who I was and not what I wore. I think all students should be required to wear school uniforms.
There are many reasons why students should be required to wear uniforms in school. Some say that a
child in a school uniform is more likely to take school seriously. Putting on the school uniform signals he or she is
going to school just like dad dresses up to go to work. Schools report that when students dress in "work clothes"
rather than "play clothes" they take a more serious approach to their studies. Many think that school uniforms help
maintain school discipline, decreasing the amount of discipline problems. The argument is that children today are
lacking in self-discipline because parents refuse to discipline them. This makes it more difficult on the teacher who
has to deal with classes of 25-30 students at a time.
Schools report that school uniforms decrease fighting and violence that arise out of arguments over
clothes. Children invariably tease those who do not have trendy clothes. Those who can't afford name brand
clothes are often sensitive about their clothing. “It’s easier to fit in when clothes don’t define you,” says Reggie
Watts, a junior. “Nobody is laughing at you because everybody is wearing the same thing.” School officials in
districts with gang issues around the country report that school uniforms worn in schools struggling with gang
problems help ease tensions.
School uniforms also help decrease the number of distractions in school. Many parents believe that
students wearing school uniforms look nicer and that a school uniform policy ensures that children will come to
school in appropriate clothing, avoiding distractions such as fads considered to be outlandish or overly revealing.
Some students have turned school into an unending fashion show. This distracts from learning, as some kids
spend more time focused on their clothes than on homework. In a recent poll of a class of twenty-nine 9th graders,
fifteen students agreed that it was easier to come to school and learn when they and their peers are not focused
on fashion or clothes.
School uniforms are a bargain. They are becoming far less expensive than many other clothes. Schools
argue that school uniforms are economical, especially compared to designer clothing, and parents agree given
school uniform durability. They say school uniforms last longer because they are made for repeated wash and
wear. Many schools capitalize on this by starting used school uniform stores or swap meets. Parents can get used
school uniforms at discount prices, or just use them as hand-me-downs between siblings. Studies show that
uniforms take a lot of stress off of lower income families- especially during this recession- because they don’t have
to worry about buying hundreds’ of dollars worth of school clothes.
School uniforms also increase school spirit, especially in high school students. Some feel wearing a
school uniform helps build school spirit. It instills a feeling of belonging. As the Beach Boys said, "Be true to your
school." Schools report an increase in school pride.
At one high school in Minnesota, teachers were constantly reporting that students were having clothing
items such as jackets, hats, and shoes stolen from their lockers. Students were even being robbed in stairwells for
the clothes off their backs. School officials there decided to try uniforms to see if any of the issues were alleviated.
The next school year, the problem decreased dramatically. Students were no longer afraid to come to school.
School uniforms made all the difference in this particular situation. “The results were so overwhelming,” said the
school’s superintendent, “that I decided to enforce the uniform policy in every high school in the district.”
There are many arguments against wearing school uniforms. One such argument is individuality.
Suppressing individuality is the most commonly cited objection to school uniforms. Educators argue that an
academic program encouraging students to pursue individual thought is much more important than what they
wear. They inhibit creativity and self-expression, forcing students to conform. However, students are forced to
assert their individuality in other ways other than by how they look. They focus on the person and not on what the
person is wearing. School uniforms stress that individuality and self-expression are not determined by designer
clothing or the latest fashion fad.
Another counterargument is the disciplinary issues that may arise as a result of school uniforms. Some
students reject any rules. Forcing them to wear school uniforms only aggravates their rebellious spirit. They alter
their school uniform by tightening, widening, shortening, or lengthening them, and teachers are given the
impossible task of policing the students on a daily basis. There are consequences for altering the uniform that
teach students how to be appropriate outside of school, in the work force and in higher education. Teaching them
to follow the rules of proper decorum and dress now will be helpful for them in any professional or career arena
they choose.
I was very successful at my new school. Not necessarily because of the dress code, but I can say that it
was much easier to make a good first impression when I didn’t have to worry about what I had on or how I would
fit in fashion-wise. I do believe other students would have the same experience if school uniforms were mandatory
in all high schools across the country. High school is already difficult enough; why not eliminate one of the most
major sources of stress?
(adapted from http://www.articlesbase.com/advice-articles/pros-and-cons-of-school-uniforms-182.html )
Methods of Persuasion
1. Appeal to Emotions
2. Rebutting Counterarguments and Addressing Biases
3. Reference to Well-Known Events
4. Appealing to Logic through Reasoning
5. Support Using Personal Anecdotes
6. Appealing to a National Trend/ Use of Quotations
7. Support Using Expert Opinions
8. Loaded Words
9. Rhetorical Questions
10. Repetition of Key Phrases
11. Appeal to Ethics
12. Case Studies
13. Facts
14. Statistics
**This copy of the teacher model is annotated with the various methods of persuasion. This copy is NOT
for the students!!
School Uniforms Encourage Student Success
At the end of my 10th grade year in high school, my parents made the decision to enroll me in a small private
school that was closer to where we lived. Although I understood why they made their decision, I was upset at the
idea of having to get used to a new school full of people, people who had known each other since elementary
school. I was nervous and apprehensive, but I began to feel a little better once my mother told me that I would be
wearing a uniform. Wearing a uniform to school on the first day of my junior year alleviated so much pressure from
me. Instead of worrying about what I was wearing, I had an opportunity to make an impression based on who I
was and not what I wore. I think all students should be required to wear school uniforms. (support using
personal anecdote)
There are many reasons why students should be required to wear uniforms in school. Some say that a
child in a school uniform is more likely to take school seriously. Putting on the school uniform signals he or she is
going to school just like dad dresses up to go to work. Schools report that when students dress in "work clothes"
rather than "play clothes" they take a more serious approach to their studies. (appeal to ethics) Many think that
school uniforms help maintain school discipline, decreasing the amount of discipline problems. The argument is
that children today are lacking in self-discipline because parents refuse to discipline them. This makes it more
difficult on the teacher who has to deal with classes of 25-30 students at a time. (appealing to logic through
reasoning)
Schools report that school uniforms decrease fighting and violence that arise out of arguments over
clothes. Children invariably tease those who do not have trendy clothes. Those who can't afford name brand
clothes are often sensitive about their clothing. “It’s easier to fit in when clothes don’t define you,” says Reggie
Watts, a junior. “Nobody is laughing at you because everybody is wearing the same thing.” (quotation) School
officials in districts with gang issues around the country report that school uniforms worn in schools struggling with
gang problems help ease tensions. (appealing to national trend)
School uniforms also help decrease the number of distractions in school. Many parents believe that
students wearing school uniforms look nicer and that a school uniform policy ensures that children will come to
school in appropriate clothing, avoiding distractions such as fads considered to be outlandish or overly revealing.
Some students have turned school into an unending fashion show. This distracts from learning, as some kids
spend more time focused on their clothes than on homework. (fact) In a recent poll of a class of twenty-nine 9th
graders, fifteen students agreed that it was easier to come to school and learn when they and their peers are not
focused on fashion or clothes. (statistics)
School uniforms are a bargain. They are becoming far less expensive than many other clothes. Schools
argue that school uniforms are economical, especially compared to designer clothing, and parents agree given
school uniform durability. They say school uniforms last longer because they are made for repeated wash and
wear. Many schools capitalize on this by starting used school uniform stores or swap meets. Parents can get used
school uniforms at discount prices, or just use them as hand-me-downs between siblings. Studies show that
uniforms take a lot of stress off of lower income families- especially during this recession- (reference to wellknown events) because they don’t have to worry about buying hundreds’ of dollars worth of school clothes.
School uniforms also increase school spirit, especially in high school students. Some feel wearing a
school uniform helps build school spirit. It instills a feeling of belonging. As the Beach Boys said, "Be true to your
school." Schools report an increase in school pride.
At one high school in Minnesota, teachers were constantly reporting that students were having clothing
items such as jackets, hats, and shoes stolen from their lockers. Students were even being robbed in stairwells for
the clothes off their backs. School officials there decided to try uniforms to see if any of the issues were alleviated.
The next school year, the problem decreased dramatically. Students were no longer afraid to come to school.
School uniforms made all the difference in this particular situation. (case study) “The results were so
overwhelming,” said the school’s superintendent, “that I decided to enforce the uniform policy in every high school
in the district.” (expert opinion)
There are many arguments against wearing school uniforms. One such argument is individuality.
Suppressing individuality is the most commonly cited objection to school uniforms. Educators argue that an
academic program encouraging students to pursue individual thought is much more important than what they
wear. They inhibit creativity and self-expression, forcing students to conform. However, students are forced to
assert their individuality in other ways other than by how they look. They focus on the person and not on what the
person is wearing. School uniforms stress that individuality and self-expression are not determined by designer
clothing or the latest fashion fad.
Another counterargument is the disciplinary issues that may arise as a result of school uniforms. Some
students reject any rules. Forcing them to wear school uniforms only aggravates their rebellious spirit. They alter
their school uniform by tightening, widening, shortening, or lengthening them, and teachers are given the
impossible task of policing the students on a daily basis. There are consequences for altering the uniform that
teach students how to be appropriate outside of school, in the work force and in higher education. Teaching them
to follow the rules of proper decorum and dress now will be helpful for them in any professional or career arena
they choose. (rebutting counterarguments and biases)
I was very successful at my new school. Not necessarily because of the dress code, but I can say that it
was much easier to make a good first impression when I didn’t have to worry about what I had on or how I would
fit in fashion-wise. I do believe other students would have the same experience if school uniforms were mandatory
in all high schools across the country. High school is already difficult enough; why not eliminate one of the most
major sources of stress? (rhetorical question)
Jumpstart Lesson Plan Summer 2012 for English
Topic: Persuasive Essay (Brainstorming, Pre-Writing and Drafting)
Lesson Three
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
1. Students will brainstorm a list of issues for advocacy.
2. Students will use the methods and strategies discussed in previous classes in order to construct a
persuasive essay.
Rationale:
Students will implement the methods of persuasion and the persuasive strategies to write their own persuasive
essays, which will assist them in the persuasive component of their projects.
Assessment Objective:
1. Student will compose an effective, five-paragraph persuasive essay and a scoring rubric.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand what issues for advocacy are.
2. Students will understand the importance of prewriting in the drafting process.
3. Students will understand how to write logically organized persuasive essays.
Essential Question(s):
1. What is an issue worthy of advocacy?
2. How should the essays be structured?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 Brainstormed list
 Completion of graphic organizer
 Draft
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
 Warm-Up: If you could change one thing about your school, your community, or the country you live in,
what would it be and why would you want to change it?
 On a piece of chart paper, the teacher should record student responses to the following question: What
are some possible issues for advocacy?
 After a list is generated, students should be instructed to choose one of the issues and write a
persuasive essay on it, convincing their audience to make a change in regards to the issue.
 The teacher should explain how important it is to plan their essays before they write them. Inform
students that before they can begin drafting their essays, they should organize their thoughts by
completing a graphic organizer. The teacher should model how the graphic organizer should be filled in
before having students fill in their own graphic organizer with their thoughts.
 After their outlines are finished, have students begin drafting their essays.
 For homework, tell students to finish working on the rough draft of their essays.
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 chart paper/ markers
 “Persuasive Essay Structure Rubric” handout
Jumpstart Lesson Plan Summer 2012 for English
Topic: Poetry Analysis
Lesson Four
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
1. Students will be able to read and poem and answer analytical questions based on their
interpretation of the poetry.
Rationale:
Poetry analysis forces students to use their abstract thinking and reasoning skills, which will be helpful with
their projects.
Assessment Objective:
Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze and interpret poetry.
Students will demonstrate the ability to link the poetry to other texts.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand how to analyze and interpret poetry.
2. Students will understand how to link poetry with music with similar themes.
Essential Question(s):
1. How do you make meaning of a poem you’ve never read before?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 Poetry analysis questions
 Corresponding song
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
 Warm-Up: Have students write about any topic of their choice for seven minutes.
 The teacher will discuss poetry with the students. Briefly explain how poetry can be interpreted in
several different ways, depending on the reader. Allow the students to get into small groups of no
more than three.
 Distribute one poem to each group. without any explanation of the poetry to the students, have
them use their poem to complete the Poetry Analysis questions, which should be distributed at this
time.
 In their groups, students will analyze the poems.
 After working for about 20 minutes, the class will come together and discuss their analyses of the
poems.
 For homework, instruct students to find a song that somehow correlates to the poem they
analyzed. They should be prepared to share the song with the class and how it corresponds to the
poem they chose.
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 Poems (see the wikispace)
 “Poetry Analysis Questions” handout
Friendship by Henry David Thoreau
I think awhile of Love, and while I think,
Love is to me a world,
Sole meat and sweetest drink,
And close connecting link
Tween heaven and earth.
I only know it is, not how or why,
My greatest happiness;
However hard I try,
Not if I were to die,
Can I explain.
I fain would ask my friend how it can be,
But when the time arrives,
Then Love is more lovely
Than anything to me,
And so I'm dumb.
For if the truth were known, Love cannot speak,
But only thinks and does;
Though surely out 'twill leak
Without the help of Greek,
Or any tongue.
A man may love the truth and practise it,
Beauty he may admire,
And goodness not omit,
As much as may befit
To reverence.
But only when these three together meet,
As they always incline,
And make one soul the seat,
And favorite retreat,
Of loveliness;
When under kindred shape, like loves and hates
And a kindred nature,
Proclaim us to be mates,
Exposed to equal fates
Eternally;
And each may other help, and service do,
Drawing Love's bands more tight,
Service he ne'er shall rue
While one and one make two,
And two are one;
In such case only doth man fully prove
Fully as man can do,
What power there is in Love
His inmost soul to move
Resistlessly.
Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side,
Withstand the winter's storm,
And spite of wind and tide,
Grow up the meadow's pride,
For both are strong
Above they barely touch, but undermined
Down to their deepest source,
Admiring you shall find
Their roots are intertwined
Insep'rably.
MENDING WALL
Robert Frost
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on a stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
'Stay where you are until our backs are turned!'
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of out-door game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
There where it is we do not need the wall:
He is all pine and I am apple orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, 'Good fences make good neighbors'.
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
'Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows?
But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me~
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Prayer
Henry David Thoreau
Great God, I ask for no meaner pelf
Than that I may not disappoint myself,
That in my action I may soar as high
As I can now discern with this clear eye.
And next in value, which thy kindness lends,
That I may greatly disappoint my friends,
Howe'er they think or hope that it may be,
They may not dream how thou'st distinguished me.
That my weak hand may equal my firm faith
And my life practice what my tongue saith
That my low conduct may not show
Nor my relenting lines
That I thy purpose did not know
Or overrated thy designs.
Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
Robert Frost
Name: ________________________________
Date: ______________________________
Poetry Analysis Questions
1. The title of the poem is
2. It was written by
3. Who is the speaker?
4. Is the poem told from the first or third person point of view? How do you know?
5. What is the basic situation in the poem? (What is happening in the poem?)
6. What is the setting (the time and place in which the poem occurs)?
7. What kind of imagery (word pictures) is in the poem?
8. Does the poem rhyme?
9. What is the poem’s mood (the author’s attitude toward the subject)?
10. What is the author’s tone (the author’s attitude toward the audience)?
11. Does the title have significance? If so, what?
12. In a paragraph, briefly summarize the poem.
13. What is the author’s purpose (reason for writing the poem)?
14. What is the theme (central or main idea) of the poem?
Topic: “Earth Song”
Lesson five
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
1. Students will watch a music video in order to recognize theme, tone, and purpose.
Rationale:
This activity is designed to make students analyze media for its meaning and its persuasive value. This will
help them to analyze materials to include in their projects.
Assessment Objective:
Students will write a short reflective piece on the video, which will demonstrate their ability to analyze and
interpret it.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand how music can be used to persuade and advocate for causes.
Essential Question(s):
1. What is the difference between music and poetry?
2. How can music be analyzed?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 Students will complete a handout while watching the video and compose a short reflective writing
activity.
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
 Warm-Up: Students should share the songs they found that correlated with their poems in the
previous lesson. Inform them that, just like poetry can be analyzed for meaning, music can be
analyzed, also.
 Tell students that they are about to watch a music video. Distribute the handout., but tell student s
not to answer the questions as they watch; have them concentrate on the video.
 Display the video of Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song.” This version has subtitles so the students can
understand what is being said. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAi3VTSdTxU
 Use the attached questions to facilitate a class discussion about the video. After giving students a
chance to share their answers, ask them the following questions:
o What is Michael advocating for?
o Are any persuasive methods being used? Which ones?
o What did you feel as you were watching the video?
o Does the video make you want to do something about the issues Michael addresses?
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 “Earth Song”
“Earth Song” Discussion Questions
Discuss the images you see as the video begins.
What expressions are the people wearing on their faces?
What are the people watching?
Why do the people fall to their knees?
Why does Michael Jackson sing about a “weeping shore”?
What is happening at the end of the video?
What is the significance of the title?
Name some of the people/ things Michael mentions at the end of the song?
Why was the elephant killed?
Michael visually addresses three different things in the video. What are those things?
Jumpstart Lesson Plan Summer 2012 for English
Topic: Jumble Stories
Lesson Six
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
Students will work collaboratively in order to construct jumble stories using strong adjectives
Rationale:
The mini-lesson on adjectives will teach students to implement them into their writing in order to improve
imagery and sensory details. The stories will help them in their collaborative skills, which they will need to
use in order to complete their group projects.
Assessment Objective:
Students will share the stories with their peers at the end of the class.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand how to use adjectives to make writing more interesting and descriptive.
2. Students will understand how to build on the work of their peers in order to write a story.
Essential Question(s):
1. What is an adjective?
2. How can adjectives be used in order to create more interesting paragraphs?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 the collaborative stories
 underlined adjectives in each sentence
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
*Desks should already be arranged in a circle for this lesson.
 Warm-Up: Using prior knowledge, what is an adjective? What purpose do adjectives serve in
sentences?
 Ask students to share their warm-up answers. As a brief mini-lesson, teacher should show the
Schoolhouse Rock video (http://www.schooltube.com/video/964198d6a8d99911f4dc/) about
adjectives. After the video, ask students what adjectives are. Ask for some examples of adjectives
and how they can be used in writing to create more vivid, expressive sentences.
 Each student should take out some paper and put their belongings in the front of the classroom.
On the top of their papers, they should write their names and the following sentence: “It was a dark
and stormy night.”
 The papers remain on the desks, but each student should then get up and move to the desk on
their right and add sentences to the paper on the desk. The students should use and underline as
many adjectives as they can in the sentences. At the end of one minute, students get up and move
to the next desk until they come back to their own desk.
 Ask for student volunteers to share the stories on their papers.
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 Egg timer OR watch with a second hand
 Schoolhouse Rock Adjective Video
Jumpstart Lesson Plan Summer 2012 for English
Topic: Plastic Bag Video and Creative Writing Assignment (Drafting)
Lesson Eight
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
1. Students will write a creative piece on the life of a piece of trash.
Rationale:
This activity will help students with the creative component of their projects. It also helps them appreciate
the theme of the program to understand that every piece of trash has a story.
Assessment Objective:
Students will understand how to use creativity in order to give humanlike qualities to inanimate objects.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand personification.
2. Students will understand how to express themselves creatively using a video as a model
Essential Question(s):
1. What is personification?
2. How can you assign humanlike qualities to nonliving items?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 Creative Writing Assignment
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
 Warm-Up: Write about your favorite childhood toy.
 Explain to students that they will be working with personification, giving humanlike qualities and
characteristics to inanimate objects. Explain that every piece of trash that litters the streets and
pollutes the environment has a story, and today, they will be giving these objects a voice.
 Students should watch the video. The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDBtCb61Sd4
 Display the trash items on a desk in the front of the room. Tell students to choose one item and
begin writing a creative story on the life of that item. There is no limit to what they can write.
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 Several pieces of trash (plastic bottle, soda can, candy wrapper, paper bag, cigarette butt, empty
potato chip bag, newspaper, egg carton, pizza box, etc.)
Jumpstart Lesson Plan Summer 2012 for English
Topic: Plastic Bag Video and Creative Writing Assignment (Final Drafts & Sharing)
Lesson Nine
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
1. Students will write a creative piece on the life of a piece of trash.
Rationale:
This activity will help students with the creative component of their projects. It also helps them appreciate
the theme of the program to understand that every piece of trash has a story.
Assessment Objective:
Students will understand how to use creativity in order to give humanlike qualities to inanimate objects.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand personification.
2. Students will understand how to express themselves creatively using a video as a model
Essential Question(s):
1. What is personification?
2. How can you give life to an object that is not living?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 Creative Writing Assignment
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
*Desks should be arranged in a circle prior to students coming in the classroom.
 Warm-Up: Write for five minutes about the following topic: Family Vacation
 Students will finish working on their creative pieces from the previous lesson. Allow 20 minutes for
editing and completion, and allow students an opportunity to share their work with their classmates.
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 Several pieces of trash (plastic bottle, soda can, candy wrapper, paper bag, cigarette butt, empty
potato chip bag, newspaper, egg carton, pizza box, etc.)
Jumpstart Lesson Plan Summer 2012 for English
Topic: Haiku, Cinquain, and Free-Verse Poems
Lesson Ten
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
Students will write poetry to be able to creatively express themselves.
Rationale:
Students will use their own creative ability to write poems which may be used to satisfy the creative
requirement of their projects.
Assessment Objective:
Students will demonstrate their understanding of the poetry by writing haikus, cinquains, and free verse
poems of their own.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand different forms of poetry.
2. Students will use the models provided to write their own poems.
Essential Question(s):
1. What is a haiku?
2. What is a cinquain?
3. What is free-verse poetry?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 Three poems- haiku, cinquain, free-verse
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
 Warm-Up: Create an acronym using the words in your first and middle names. (handout)
 Allow students a few minutes to complete their acronym. Ask for two or three volunteers to share
their acronyms with the class.
 Distribute the handouts on Haiku and Cinquain poems. Read over the handouts with the students.
For Haiku, it may be necessary to have students clap out the number of syllables in each line.
(Several examples of Haiku have been provided for you to share with your students in case the
examples on the handout do not suffice.)
 Allow students a few minutes to compose Haiku. You may give them a subject on which to write, or
allow them to be creative and write about the subject(s) of their choice.
 Distribute the handout for Cinquain poems. This handout (two-sided) is a little more in depth and
should not need additional examples. Allow students time to complete the handout and write one
Cinquain of their own.
 If time permits, allow students to write a free-verse poem about the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”
theme of the program. Explain that free verse is poetry that does not follow a specific pattern or
rhyme scheme. Have students share their Haiku, Cinquains, and free-verse poems at the end of
class.
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 “Acronym” handout
 “Haiku” handout and supplemental information
 “Cinquain” handout
Haiku Notes
Haiku combines form, content, and language in a meaningful yet compact form.
Most Haiku themes express nature, feelings, or experiences.
Haiku do not rhyme. They “paint” an image in the reader’s mind.
Examples:
In the cicada’s cry
No sign can fortell
How soon it must die.
A Rainbow
Curling up, then down
Meeting blue sky and green earth
Melding sun and rain
(both traditional Japanese haiku)
The dolly is mine,
And her accessories, too.
Mine mine mine mine mine.
Bowl of cereal,
Its marshmallows now eaten
May I be excused?
Get up, go to work
What does Daddy do all day?
Hamster in a wheel.
Spare and unrhymed verse
Subtle, dense and allusive
Give me Mother Goose.
(from Richard Thompson’s “Cul De Sac” comic, June 2008)
We saw the pictures
Now we’re excited because
We know it’s a boy.
(written by Alisa Hyman, April 2002)
Jumpstart Lesson Plan Summer 2012 for English
Topic: Bio-Poems, Poem Sketching and Change Poems
EXTENSION ACTIVITY
DESIRED RESULTS
Established Goal(s) / Targets(s):
Students will write poetry in order to creatively express themselves.
Rationale:
This will assist them in the creative component of their projects.
Assessment Objective:
Students will demonstrate the ability to write poetry as a means of self-expression.
Understanding(s):
1. Students will understand how to construct several different kinds of poems.
2. Students will understand how poetry is a means of creative self-expression.
Essential Question(s):
1. What is a Bio-poem?
2. What is a Change Poem?
ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
What is your evidence of learning?
 Students will construct three poems
LEARNING PLAN
Learning Activities:
 Teacher should distribute the Change Poem, Bio-poem, and Poetry Sketching handouts.
 Following the directions on the paper, students will construct bio-poems.
 Next, students should look at the Poem Sketching handout. The teacher should read the paragraph
at the top of the paper and instruct students that they will use samples provided to construct poems
of their own.
 Finally the students will read about Change Poems and then construct Change Poems of their
own.
 Students should share their poems aloud in the last few minutes of class.
MATERIALS
Materials for the activity:
 Handouts
Bio-Poem
Line 1: (Your first name)
Line 2: (List 4 words that describe you or your personality)
Line 3: "Son/Daughter of..." "Brother/Sister of..."
Line 4: "Lover of..." (List 3... things, activities, people, or places)
Line 5: "Who feels..." (List 3... different feelings and tell when or where you feel them)
Line 6: "Who has been..." (List 3... places or special events)
Line 7: "Who needs..." (List 3... things you need to do or have)
Line 8: "Who fears..." (List 3... things that scare you the most)
Line 9: "Who would someday like..." (List 3)
Line 10: "Resident of..." (City and State)
Line 11: (Your last name)
Example
Darice
Adventurous, curious, earthy, and caring
Daughter of Marge and Seth
Lover of climbing, fishing, biking
Who feels relaxed with friends, happy on holidays, and energetic when outdoors
Who gives love, patience, and encouragement
Who fears large exams, big black hairy spiders, and mice
Who would like to see Alaska, the Black Sea, and India.
Who lives in Chicago, Illinois
Ali
POETRY SKETCHING
Poetry sketching is a concept in which the person writes personal poetry through "poem
sketching", using a provided word bank and a structured process that provides the foundation on
which to build a poem.
Rules for writing a Poetry Sketch:
You must use all four (4) words in your poem.
Your poem must have at least three (3) thoughts (sentences).
You may add one additional word that is not included in the word bank. This word could be used
as a title.
Your poem may not rhyme.
Your poem must make sense…no silly/nonsense poems.
You may alter the form of the words (i.e., promise, promised, promises, etc.)
The basis of the Poetry Sketching is:
 Select a topic about the environment
 Select four words from the word bank (world, future, waste, environment); (recycle, reuse,
reduce, tomorrow); (rain, sun, people, world)
 Write 4 sentences about your topic, with 1 additional word (not chosen from the group of 4)
 Brainstorm ideas for artwork that correlates with poem theme
 Figure out what media to use
 Create original art work that epitomizes the subject or theme of the poem
 Display written poem and artwork together.
CHANGE POEM – See Attachment