Lesson+Plan+2

12th grade English/ 28 students. Middle class, small school. 50 minute class Collaborative Story Unit __ Content Expectations __ : - CE 1.1.1 Demonstrate flexibility in using independent and collaborative strategies for planning, drafting, revising, and editing complex texts. - CE 1.1.2 Know and use a variety of prewriting strategies to generate, focus, and organize ideas. - CE 1.2.3 Write, speak, and create artistic representations to express personal experience and perspective. __ Main Goals __ : 1) Students will be put into groups of four, and within the groups they will decide how their characters (four total) will fit into the story they will compose. They will also decide what famous person they would like to have in their story, and how they will fit them in. Story details will be mapped out on construction paper with markers. 2) Students will have 20 minutes at the beginning of class to read a book or magazine of their choice for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). 3) Students will be given a very brief **//grammar mini-lesson//** covering the use of commas. //**Detailed instructions included after lesson plan**.// __ Materials __ : Silent reading books, pencils/pens, paper, construction paper, markers. __ Space Arrangement __ : Students will be in rows of five rows of three on each side of the room. The rows will be angled toward the middle of the classroom, so they form a sort of “V”.   __ **Grammar Mini-Lesson** __    ** The Comma Is Your Friend (It Helps You Convey Your Meaning) **   Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction that joins (a) independent clauses or (b) three or more grammatical items in a series.
 * Friday, Week 1 – Group Collaboration (#2) **
 * // Basic Information //**
 * // Lesson Plan //**
 * ** Time ** || ** Activity ** ||
 * 20 minutes || SSR ||
 * 10 minutes || Grammar Mini Lesson ||
 * 20 minutes || Story Collaboration ||
 * Commas and Coordinating Conjunctions (//and//, //but//, //or//, //nor//, //for//, //yet//, //so//) **

EXAMPLE: I worked hard for seven years, and I have the promotion to prove it.

Use a comma after an adverbial clause that precedes an independent clause; use no comma before an adverbial clause that follows an independent clause.
 * Commas and Adverbial Clauses (//because//, //although//, //if//, //whereas//)**

EXAMPLES: Because he talked more quickly than anyone else, Adam was selected as the auctioneer. Adam was selected as the auctioneer because he talked more quickly than anyone else.

OK, OK—first definitions: A //nonrestrictive modifier// is one that merely describes whatever it refers to; consider it as something that merely comments on the noun; it is also occasionally referred to as a "free" modifier, a phrase meaning that it can often be moved to wherever it sounds best in the sentence. A //restrictive modifier//, on the other hand, is one that defines whatever it refers to; it is also occasionally referred to as a "bound" modifier, a phrase meaning that it must occur in only one position for the meaning to remain constant, the same.
 * Commas and Modifiers**

EXAMPLES: People **who need people** are the luckiest people in the world. My sister **Mary** carries a whisk in her purse.

The bolded expressions are restrictive modifiers; they define the words they refer to. Without them, the sentences would be either silly or unclear (in this case, I have more than one sister).

EXAMPLES: My father, **Francois Maurice Berne**, came to the United States from Haiti. Karen Fox, **a business professor**, asked me for guidelines for the use of commas.

The underlined expressions are nonrestrictive modifiers; they give further information about the words they refer to, but the sentences would be sufficiently clear without them (the meanings of the independent clauses would not change).

Notice the punctuation patterns that the example sentences provide: Use commas to set off nonrestrictive modifiers but none to set off restrictive modifiers. When the nonrestrictive modifier occurs in midsentence, use the same punctuation mark on both sides. To give less emphasis, you could use parentheses in those locations; to give greater emphasis, you could use dashes. Billings, Simone and White, Fred. __The Well Crafted Argument__, First Edition. 13 April, 2009. < http://college.cengage.com/english/white/argument/1e/students/grammar/comma.html> 