Composing Paragraphs and Dialogue

Lesson Plan based on Constance Weaver’s Teaching Philosophies

Rationale: After reading Constance Weaver's book, Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing, I've
noticed that teaching grammar in the classroom doesn’t have to be that daunting. While grammar is still
something I hesitate to touch, I feel a little more prepared to talk about it in a classroom of my own.

In my lesson plan, (which I would eventually want to develop into a unit,) my primary goal is to create
more mini-lessons in my wider curriculum based on where the students need the most help: comma
splicing, subject/verb agreement, wherever I see students struggle most.

For this particular lesson plan, I’m hypothetically incorporating a mini-lesson in one of the novel readings
we’re doing in class. Hypothetically speaking, my students are struggling with paragraphing dialogue, so I
want to choose passages in the novel that help students both identify the problem in The Giver and create
their own examples to solidify their understanding. Furthermore, I will help students find alternatives for
the word said to make their dialogues more engaging.

Subject: English Language Arts

Grade Level: 7th grade
Title: Paragraphing and dialogue
Duration: 50 minutes

Standards:
Standard - CC.1.4.7.F
- Demonstrate a grade-appropriate command of the conventions of standard English grammar,
usage, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
Standard - CC.1.3.7.F
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in grade-level reading and content,
including interpretation of figurative, connotative meanings.
Standard - CC.1.2.7.F
- Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in grade-level reading and content,
including interpretation of figurative, connotative, and technical meanings.

Objectives:
- Students will be able to successfully demonstrate an understanding of paragraphing conventions
for dialogue.
- Students will be able to examine their own writing closely during the editing activity.
- Students will be able to evaluate the work of their own and the work of their peers.
- Students will be able to correct their own writing.

Vocabulary: Paragraphing, dialogue, character, dialogue tags

Materials: Notebook, writing utensil, computer, highlighters, projector, Elmo projector
- Slides Presentation (< click on the link)
- Google Forms Free-Write (< click on the link)
- Handout (< click on the link)

Instructional Practices and Strategies:

- The entire class is structured in the Slides presentation, linked above.
- Slide 1: Introduction to The Giver
- Alright, y’all. We’ve been reading The Giver by Lois Lowry for the past week. How are
we feeling about the book so far? Wait for responses. Interact with responses for a bit and
get back on track. Today we’re going to focus on how to write dialogue. We’re going to
look at quotations from the book as examples. Lois Lowry is a good writer, don’t you
think? Wait for responses or critique.
- Slide 2: Frontloading: What is dialogue?
- Dialogue, in simplest terms, is a conversation between two or more people.
- An example: When I say good morning to you all, you might respond:
- “Good morning, y’all,” Ms. Walker exclaimed. “How are you guys doing
today?”
- “Good morning,” the kids chimed in.
- “I’m doing good today,” Deandra said, “ I finally got some sleep!”
- Slide 3: What makes dialogue, well, dialogue?
- Dialogue is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people.
- Some things you have to have in dialogue:
- Two or more people
- Quotation marks “ “
- A dialogue tag (said, exclaimed, groaned, screamed, etc.)
- Slides 4-5: Transition to handout
- Give students the first handout- it’s just informational. It’s entitled “Character Clashes
and How to Avoid Them” click here
- Students will follow along to you reading the passage. Slides 4 and 5 contain the same
exact passage-
- Slide 4: The incorrect formatting
- Slide 5: The correct formatting
- “Lily, please hold still,” Mother said again.
- Lily, standing in front of her, fidgeted impatiently. “I can tie them myself,” she
complained. “I always have.”
- “I know that,” Mother replied, straightening the hair ribbons on the little girl’s
braids. “But I also know that they constantly come loose and more often than not,
they’re dangling down your back by afternoon. Today, at least, we want them to
be neatly tied and to stay tied.”
- “I don’t like hair ribbons. I’m glad I only have to wear them one more year,” Lily
said irritably. “Next year I get my bicycle, too,” she added more cheerfully.
 - “There are good things each year,” Jonas reminded her. “This year you get to
start your volunteer hours. And remember last year, when you became a Seven,
you were so happy to get your front-buttoned jacket?” (Lowry 51)
- Slide 6: Why do we do this?
- For one, dialogue can get a little confusing. Look at the first example- doesn’t it
look like alphabet soup? By formatting it so that each character gets their own
paragraph of dialogue, it both:
- Makes it easier for the audience (us) to follow along with the
conversation
- It’s a great way to organize a body of dialogue
- Slide 7: Take out three different colored highlighters or colored pencils. Looking at the
handout, flip to page two. Assign a color to each character. If you see two characters
speaking in the same paragraph, you have a character clash! Write CC in the margins
whenever you come across a character clash.
- We’re transitioning into collaborative learning. Students can either work
independently or with a partner to complete the next two exercises. As students
are working on this, you will be walking around the room, popping into groups to
observe and/or help. You cannot be stagnant at all during this exercise.
- Exercise One: Character Clashes Classwork, click here, page 2
- Quote 1: page 46 (not corrected- for answer key, click here. Page 4 of the
document)
- “Can you describe the strongest feeling in your dream, son?” Father
asked. Jonas thought about it. The details were murky and vague. But the
feelings were clear, and flooded him again now as he thought. “The
wanting, he said. “I knew that she wouldn’t. And I think I knew that she
shouldn’t. But I wanted it so terribly. I could feel the wanting all through
me.”
- “Thank you for your dream, Jonas,” Mother said after a moment. She
glanced at Father. “Lily, Father said, “it’s time to leave for school. Would
you walk beside me this morning and keep an eye on the new child’s
basket? We want to be certain he doesn’t wiggle himself loose.”
- Quote 2: page 47-48
- “Do I have to report it?” he asked his mother. She laughed. “You did, in the
dream-telling. That’s enough.”
- “But what about the treatment? The Speaker says that treatment must take place.”
Jonas felt miserable. Just when the Ceremony was about to happen, his
Ceremony of Twelve, would he have to go away someplace for treatment? Just
because of a stupid dream? But his mother laughed again in a reassuring,
affectionate way. “No, no,” she said. “It’s just the pills. You’re ready for the pills,
that’s all. That’s the treatments for Stirrings.
- After students start completing this assignment, project the correct answers with the Elmo
projector using the answer key provided. Modeling, reversed
- Slide 8: The Importance of Quotations and Commas
- The use of quotations, especially in dialogue, helps the reader to understand when a
speaker starts speaking and when they stop.
- Quotations come in pairs and pairs only
- Commas replace periods in dialogue, but only if you have a dialogue tag following it.
 - Once again, either in groups or independently, students are to complete the
handout, page 3 of the handout document. Click here
- Exercise 2: Take out a red marker, pen, or colored pencil. Now you’re looking
for proper use of commas and quotation marks in dialogues. Using your red
writing utensil, cross out any quotation marks or commas used incorrectly or
draw a comma ( , ) or quotation mark ( “ ” ) each time the passage is missing
one.
- Quote 1: page 22-23, not corrected- the answers on on the answer key
- Good changes, though,” his mother pointed out. “After my ceremony of
Twelve, I missed my childhood recreation. But when I entered my
training for Law and Justice, I found myself with people who shared my
interests. I made friends on a new level, friends of all ages.
- Did you play at all, after Twelve? Jonas asked.
- “I did” his father said, laughing. “I still do. Every day, at the Nurturing
Center. I play bounce-on-the-knee, and peek-a-boo” and hug-the-teddy.”
He reached over and stroked Jonas’s neatly trimmed hair. “Fun doesn’t
end when you become Twelve.
- Quote 2: page 20
- So I expected it, and I was pleased, but not at all surprised, when my
Assignment was announced as Nurturer,” Father explained.
- “Did everyone applaud,” even though they weren’t surprised? Jonas
asked.
- Oh, of course. They were happy for me, that my assignment was what I
wanted most. I felt very fortunate. His father smiled.
- After students start completing this assignment, project the correct answers with
the Elmo projector using the answer key provided once again. Modeling,
reversed
- Slide 9: What’s a dialogue tag?
- Tags (like name tags) identify. A dialogue tag is group of words following quoted
speech (e.g. ‘she said’), identifying who spoke and/or how they spoke. But said is
boring. It just is. Instead, find more interesting alternatives!
- Slide 10-11
- Dialogue tags- alternatives to ‘said’
- Slide 10:
- Volume (e.g. yelled, shouted, bellowed, screamed, whispered)
- Tone or pitch (e.g. shrieked, groaned, squeaked)
- Emotion (e.g. grumbled, snapped, sneered, begged)
- Slide 11: Dialogue tags based on emotion
- Slide 12: Independent work
- Navigate students to the Google Form. This will be used to gauge student comprehension
and understanding, graded on participation. Click here for Google Form
- Directions: Imagine you're in Jonas's situation and it's the night before the
Ceremony of Twelve. You're sitting around the dinner table with your parents and
your brother or sister. What do you think you would be talking about at the
dinner table? What questions would you want to ask before you life changed?
- "Remember what we talked about in class so far. No character clashes! And
remember your quotation marks," Ms. Walker explained. "Free write a dialogue
about the night before your Ceremony of Twelve."
- The last question is just for fun- What do you think your Assignment
would be during the Ceremony of Twelve?
Assignments/Assessment: Submit the independent work before class the following day. Graded
holistically. Students will also be graded on participation, three points per class period. One point
rewarded if working productively during independent work, one point if productively collaborating with
peer, and one rewarded if they were generally on task today.

Differentiation:
- Any accommodations specific to a student’s IEP and/or 504 will be followed
- Students will have the option to take notes by hands or on the computer. If preferred, Google
Forms can be printed out for students to complete.
- Students who are too nervous to participate in class discussion will simply be asked to send their
notes to me after class to know that they participated somehow during class discussions.
- ESL students will have unlimited access to their translation devices or an interpreter, if available.
- ESL students will be allowed to brainstorm in their native language, if preferred.

Self Reflection:
Self-assessment: Were the students engaged in the material?
Differentiation: Which students in need of accommodations could you change the lesson plan to
accommodate?
- Students who don’t appear to be grasping onto the content as quickly as their peers will be paired
with students who grasped the content quickly to work on the independent work. They will work
collaboratively to complete the narrative portion. Either working with a peer to complete or are
presented with these step to help them complete it for homework
- Step 1: Think about the questions you would ask before a life-changing ceremony
- Step 2: Phrase them into questions
- Step 3: Think about who would be responding to your questions. Mother? Father?
- Step 4: What do you think their responses should be?
- Step 5: Think about quotations. The quotations signify that the words in between them
are to be said aloud. What do you think should be said aloud?
- Step 6: Are there any periods within the quotation marks that are followed by dialogue
tags? If so, replace those periods with commas!
- Step Seven: Read what you have. Are there any two or more characters speaking in the
same paragraph? If so, that’s a character clash! Give each character their own paragraph
to speak!