Lesson plan draft

Please excuse the terrible writing. I was trying to write down ideas before I forgot them

Context:

This lesson should take place after students have turned in their first or second essay. I think this should provide the teacher with a sense of the students' writing. Since this is after they have turned in one or possibly two essays, it is safe to assume that students have already done quite a bit of formal writing. It is meant to be a way of strengthening their writing. Afterwards, students will further practice refining their writing by eliminating wordiness and limiting their usage of common verbs such as "to be."

Student Population/needs:

ESL Students - I think they will quickly recognize the differences because they are traditionally adept with grammatical structure but may fail to understand why it is considered "stronger" writing. They may use it simply because they were told by their teachers that it is better

Gen 1.5 - They may already

AAVE - May have difficulty understanding/distinguishing the difference. Could also be generally resistant to change

Native speakers - if they aren't already familiar with it their existing competence/idiosyncratic tendencies may take time for them to fully grasp new concepts

Objectives:

Students will be able to distinguish active and passive voice.

They will be able to determine which voice works for the given condition.

Being able to distinguish active and passive will help students improve their writing and prepare them for further skills they will eventually learn

Opener:

The lesson will start by providing an example sentences where one is active and the other is passive. Students will then be asked to decide which sentence seems "stronger." Students will also be asked to determine which part of the sentence they think is more important and why. The proper explanation of active and passive voice will then follow.

Outline:

Students will spend some time generating pairs  (one active one passive) of sentences (10 min)

With a partner or in small groups, each student will explain why his or her particular sentence of choice works better in active voice or passive voice. (15 min)

Materials:

The primary source for materials will be the students themselves when they come up with example sentences in their given exercises. The instructor may provide a sheet with some basic information regarding the cases in which passive voice is acceptable or preferred.

Follow-up:

Students will go back and look at their previous writing and identify and re-write any sentences in passive voice into active.

Concluding thoughts: