Mini Lesson 3 and Reflective

Amanda Stockett
Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 9/10th grade
Subject: Language Arts
Topic: Argumentative Writing
Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.1.B
Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing
out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience's
knowledge level and concerns.
Objective: To teach students how to effectively write to an intended audience, and have
them demonstrate those skills in their argumentative writing essays.
Materials:
Pen
Paper
A computer/tablet/iPad
Google Document
Handout on audience awareness
Audience assignment slips
Procedures:
1. Introduce the lesson by saying As we continue our unit on argumentative
writing, we are going to focus on writing to specific audiences before you write
your essays.
2. Handout iPads to the students.
3. Instruct students to log on to the class Wiki page.
4. Open the link for the Google Document.
5. As a class, brainstorm reasons why or why not students should be allowed to have
cell phones in the classroom.
6. Have the students type reasons into each column on the Google doc.
7. After the students have come up with at least three reasons in each column, end
this portion of the lesson.
8. Give students the handout on audience awareness.
9. Read the handout with the students.
10. Instruct the students to get into pairs.
11. Assign each pair an audience.
12. Have the students write an argumentative paragraph to their audience based on the
discussion had in class.
13. Ask students to share their paragraphs to the class and discuss what makes the
arguments different.
14. Instruct the students to use audience awareness when writing the first draft of
their argumentative essay.
Rationale
For this lesson, I decided to teach on the importance of audience in argumentative

writing. After reading Grant Wiggins article, "Real-World Writing: Making Purpose And
Audience Matter" I came to the conclusion that in order for students to use the skill of
argumentative writing in real world situations they must be able to write to different
audiences. Wiggins says, there are many different audiences in our audience, and we
need to figure out what they think, feel, expect, and need if we hope to reach one or more
of them. (33) I included a handout that asks the writer to consider these things about
their intended audience, so that students can be more effective in their writing.
By having the students work as a class and in pairs, they are establishing the class
community, which Ted Kesler attributes to helping students cultivate their voice. He
says: Working within a zone of proximal development in which students grow into and
acquire the concepts, habits, and dispositions of writers in interaction with others. In
dialogue, students learn "not only talk about writing, but also ways of being with others
and ways of being a writer among other writers" The students will interact with each
other by creating a paragraph together to convince their audience and then share it with
the class.
The formative assessment for this lesson will be found in the writing that the
students do in pairs. After the students have written their argumentative paragraphs, they
will share them with the class. In their paragraphs, I will be able to assess their
comprehension and mastery of the writing towards an intended audience. The summative
assessment will be seen in the students final argumentative essays. I will be able to
assess their understanding of audience if they effectively wrote to their audience in their
essay.
Annotated Bibliography
Fisher, Douglas, and Nancy Frey. "A Range Of Writing Across The Content Areas."
Reading Teacher 67.2 (2013): 96-101. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov.
2014.
The authors of this source are both professors at San Diego University. This source
discussed the importance of writing to a variety of subject in various disciplines. The
authors suggest teaching students to write to various audiences and in different styles. In
order for students to be successful, the authors suggest teachers have students write often
and in a diverse manner.
Kesler, Ted. "Writing With Voice." Reading Teacher 66.1 (2012): 25-29. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.
This is a teaching tips article on developing students voices. There are several writing
examples included. He provides five principals for establishing a writing voice in his
students. One of his main points is the importance of establishing community in his
classroom through writing workshops and talking to students about their writing.
Wiggins, Grant. "Real-World Writing: Making Purpose And Audience Matter." English
Journal 98.5 (2009): 29-37. Academic Search Complete. Web.
The article discusses the importance of assessment in writing and how to make writing in
the classroom effective in the real world. The author discusses the importance of
identifying what the intended audience thinks, feels, expects, and needs. He writes about
making connections to real world purposes and audiences.
Reflection on Mini Lesson 3

Overall, I was pleased with this mini lesson. I think that the plan I had for my
lesson was better than my presentation of it. I wish I had been clearer about my
directions. I was nervous at the beginning of the lesson, and did not explain the argument
as well as I should have.
I received very helpful feedback from my peers. One person suggested that I use
audiences that are more creative. This is definitely a suggestion I would take into
consideration if I taught this lesson again. Instead of using generic audiences, like a
friend or grandparent, I could have used celebrities, movie characters or superheroes and
this might have made the lesson more interesting. Another suggestions was to cut out the
part of the lesson on the coming up with the points of the argument, and focus more on
the paragraphs that the students wrote, and discussing them. Another suggestion was to
make my directions clearer. This is definitely something I need to work on. I should have
written down exactly what I wanted to say, rather than just come up with something on
the spot.
I enjoyed using the Google Doc in the lesson. It was nice to have the whole class
collaborate on one document and work together, but yet still be independent. Also,
having the students write their group work on the document means that it a teacher could
look at all the students work, not just the ones that present to the class. In addition,
Google Docs are easy to access and can be sent through email and saved on the Google
Drive. The more I use technology, the more comfortable I am with it. I understand how
useful it can be in the classroom, and how necessary it is in the curriculum.
If I were to teach this lesson again, I would have done several things differently.
Unless it was a full lesson, I would not have the students come up with the points for the
argument. Instead, I could have chosen an argument that was already fleshed out, maybe
from the Pro/Con website. I would have used an example of effective audience awareness
and discussed it. I also would have given the students more time to write their paragraphs
and more time to discuss them afterwards. One thing I would keep the same would be
having the students write about the same topic. By having the same topic, students can
better demonstrate and understand the different audiences.
I have really enjoyed teaching these mini lessons this semester. By having to
teach more than one, I was able to learn from each lesson. Teaching the mini lessons
makes me feel more prepared to teach writing in my future classroom.

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Amanda Stockett

For this lesson, I decided to teach on the importance of audience in argumentative

Reflection on Mini Lesson 3

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