Lesson Plan

Quarter Response Writing

Main Subject Area: Language Arts

Additional Subjects: Art, Science, Social Studies

Duration of Lesson:  30 minutes

Keywords:

• Coins
• Critical Response
• Plot Summary
• Quarter
• Summarization
• Writing

Brief Description:

Students will participate in a coin-centered writing activity where they will learn the difference between summarization and critical response.

National Standard(s):

• Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process
• Demonstrate competence in the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing
• Use grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions
• Gather and use information for research purposes
• Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of literary texts
• Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the reading process
• Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts
• Demonstrate competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning

Additional Subject Area Standard(s):

• Individual Development and Identity
• Science in personal and social perspectives

Objectives:

Student will use quarters to explore and explain how they personally feel about specific issues. They will respond rather than summarize what was written about the quarter.

Materials (online):

Materials (offline):

One roll of new United States quarters (any state will do)

A chalkboard/dry erase marker board

Chalk/dry erase marker

Pencils/pens and paper

Coins Used in Lesson:

Quarters that are part of the 50 State Quarters® Program -- the more varied the state designs, the better.

Grade Level(s):   3-5     6-8  

Procedures (online):

Procedures (offline):

1. The teacher should explain to the students that they are beginning the stages of "Response Writing." This is something that they will often be asked to do after reading a written work. The teacher should explain that, for this activity, rather than first reading a written work first, the class will first be looking at how to engage in responding.

2. The teacher will explain that this is a money-based activity, and while the students are going to be handling coins, all coins should be returned at the end of the project.

3. The teacher should take out an unopened roll of quarters and break it open.

4. The teacher should then explain to the students that they are each to be given one quarter to examine. The students will choose partners, and will also examine their partner's quarter.

5. The teacher should then explain that as soon as each student gets a quarter, he/she should write a short five-sentence paragraph which explains "what just happened"--meaning that they should explain the process of watching the teacher come around the room, taking a quarter, examining their quarter, selecting a partner, looking at the partner's quarter, and writing about what just happened. The students will spend at least three to five minutes writing their short paragraphs.

6. Next, the teacher should ask student to share their paragraph with their partner. Have them read their paragraphs aloud to each other and compare paragraphs, noting that they will likely be very similar.

7. When the students have finished sharing (after about two minutes), the teacher should write the words "Plot Summary" and "Summarization" on the board.

8. The teacher should then call the students to attention, and explain that what they have just done is called summarizing. They retold the story as it happened. Often students will write this type of response to something they have just read. While it is good to good to know what happened in a story, this doesn’t explain how the reader felt when they explored the piece of literature or other published work. Also, as the students observed in their quarter paragraphs, summary writing often results in lack of originality and can make one student's paper seem just like another.

9. Now the teacher should explain to the students that there is a different way that they should approach writing responses to a reading selection.

10. The teacher should write the words "Critical Response" on the board and explain to the students that it's more important that they express how they feel about a subject, rather than to simply explain what the subject is. They can do this by asking themselves and answering the questions, "How does this make me feel?” and “Why does it make me feel this way?" This causes them to connect emotively and intellectually with the piece. This kind of demonstrative writing is called "Response."

11. The teacher should ask the students to try and write a short paragraph which demonstrates how they feel about the quarter they have, and why they feel that way.

12. The students should then share their paragraphs with their partners by reading them aloud to each other. The students should discuss how the second set of paragraphs are different from the first paragraphs that they wrote. The students should also identify any specific "feeling" words that are in the second "Response" paragraph.

13. Finally, the whole class should share experiences and impressions of the activity to ensure that all students understand the difference between the two writing methods.

Assessment / Evaluation:

Collect the paragraphs and read them to ensure that the students have demonstrated the different writing styles.

Differentiated Learning Options:

N/a