Effective and Unified Paragraph

Effective and Unified Paragraph

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Students` Learning Outcomes

  • Analyze and use the following organizing principles of paragraph writing to write an effective and unified paragraph.

             –A simple paragraph comprises a group of sentences that develop a single main idea.

            – The main idea of a paragraph is given in the topic sentence.

            – Other sentences in the paragraph support the topic sentences.

Information for Teachers

  • A paragraph is a collection of sentences expressing ideas about one main idea.
  • A paragraph with unity has ideas that are related to each other and are presented in a logical order.
  • An ideal paragraph includes: as;

Effective and Unified Paragraph

–   A topic sentence – This is the main idea or subject of the writing.

– Detail Sentence – These are the sentences that describe and give more detail about the main idea.

– Logical Order – The sentences have to be put together in a way that makes sense.

  • Introduce the use of five senses for writing this paragraph on description.

Material/Resources

Writing board, chalk/marker, duster, textbook, attached worksheet

Introduction

  • Recap paragraph writing by asking the students the following question: as;

      –What is a paragraph?

     – How do we decide to start and end a paragraph?

     – What should be the length of the paragraph?

  • Give your input to reinforce the concept.

Development

Activity 1

  • Write the following paragraph on the writing board.
  • Ask the students to read and analyses the paragraph in pairs or small groups.
  • Topic: My Best Friend
  • Now let me tell about my best friend Asia. She lives next door to me. We always have fun together. We play with dolls. She has very beautiful dolls. Best of all, she is on my badminton team too. I want to be her friend even when we grow up.
  • Ask the following question: as;
  • What information tells us? Expected response would be as; Asia is the best friend of the   writer.
  • Introduce/recap the concept of topic sentence.
  • Show from the paragraph how supporting evidence is built.

Activity 2

  • Ask the students:

            1. What do they buy from the canteen when they have money?

           2. Do they like sweets/candies?

  • Brainstorm for ideas about ‘My favorite candy’ by assigning groups to come up with ideas according to 5 senses: e.g.
  1. Sight(color, shape, size, and wrapper)
  2. Hearing(crunchy)
  3. Taste(sweet, tasty, fruit flavored, yummy etc.)
  4. Touch(smooth, soft)
  5. Smell (minty, fruity, and sweet)
  • After some brainstorming ask the students to write a paragraph keeping in mind the organizing principles of an ideal paragraph on a ‘candy’.
  • Tell them that they have to use their five senses e.g. sense of sight, sense of smell, sense of hearing, sense of touch, and sense of taste to describe a candy.
  • Use the sample worksheet which is attached with the lesson plan.
  • Ask them to write a proper topic. They also need to write a closing sentence as well.
  • Monitor and help the students while they are writing activity.
  • Once they are finished, ask them to proofread their work by using attached checklist.

Sum up/Conclusion

  • Conclude the lesson by asking the following questions from the class:

         – What is a topic sentence and what should be written in it?

       –  What we write after the topic sentence?

      –  What we write in the closing sentence?

      – How many senses do they have?

     – Name the five senses.

Assessment

  • Ask the students to exchange and check each other`s work by using attached checklist and give feedback for improvement.
  • Tell the students to write a second draft in the light of the feedback given by their peers.
  • Involve the students in solving problems given in exercise at the end of unit/chapter.

Follow up

  • Ask the students to write a paragraph on ‘summer season’ using their five senses. (For taste they can write about the foods they eat specially in summer, such as mangoes or ice-cream.

 

Friend Check

Writing Checklist

 

Are basic words spelled correctly?

 

Is there a punctuation mark after each sentence?

 

Does everything make sense?

 

Is there a good topic sentence?

 

Is there a good closing sentence?

 

How many sentences were written?

 

Is the handwriting neat’s?

 

Capitalization

 

Correct use of pronouns

 

Grammar-subject verb agreement

 

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