Rebecca Frazier

Topic: Descriptive Writing

Class Information: 9th Grade English, 24 students, no IEPs
Date of Lesson: May 5, 2016 Time of Lesson: 8:00am

A. Standards:
INTASC Standards:
o The teacher works with others to create environments that support
individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social
interactions, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
o The teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and
structure of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning
experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and
meaningful for learners to assure mastery of the content.
CCSD Core Standards:
o Grade Level: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.9-10.3.D
Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to
convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or
characters.
o Grade Level: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.5
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships,
and nuances in word meanings.

Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
Form descriptive sentences using the five senses and/or literary devices
Recognize the difference between Objective and Impressionistic description
Identify the reasons for descriptive writing

B. Materials/Equipment:
Classroom projector
Descriptive Writing document
Be Specific handout
White board and marker
Students will need: lined paper, notebook, and pencil

C. Procedures:
1. The teacher will begin by instructing the students to get out their English notebooks
and a pencil. The teacher will display the Be Specific document on the projector,
only making the For Your Journal section visible to the students. The teacher will
read this section out loud.
2. After reading the For Your Journal paragraph to the students, the teacher will tell
 Rebecca Frazier

the students to answer the questions asked in the paragraph in their notebooks. The
students will be given ten minutes to write.
3. When ten minutes have passed, the teacher will ask for volunteers to share their
answers.
4. The students will raise their hands to read to the class what they wrote.
5. The teacher will instruct the students to close their notebooks and put them to the
side.
6. Next, the teacher will display the Be Specific excerpt on the projector. The
students can read along while the teacher reads the excerpt to the students.
7. When done reading, the teacher will ask the students what the main idea of the piece
was.
8. The students will raise their hands to share their ideas
9. Next the teacher will remove the Be Specific document and display the lesson
presentation document on the projector, titled Descriptive Writing
10. The teacher will give the students a preview of the lesson by reading to them what
they will be able to do at the end of the lesson
11. The teacher will then tell the students to open their notebooks again and tell them to
take notes on the lecture.
12. The teacher will display the second page of the presentation and read the definition
of descriptive writing to the class.
13. The students will follow along by taking notes
14. The teacher will emphasis that descriptive writing is showing, not telling, and will
explain what that means.
15. The teacher will read and explain the two types of description.
16. The teacher will ask the students how they think that a person can be descriptive in
the way they talk or write.
17. The students will raise their hands and offer answers
18. The teacher will display the third page on the projector and explain the use of the
five senses and adjectives. The teacher will explain what an adjective is.
19. The teacher will ask the students to create two examples of sentences that use
adjectives in their notebooks.
20. The teacher will then display the forth page of the lesson presentation. The teacher
will read the definition for each literary device.
21. The teacher will write each term on the board and tell the students that, as a class,
they are going to come up with examples for each term.
22. The students will offer ideas for sentences by raising their hand. The teacher will
create example sentences with the students and writes them down underneath each
term.
23. The teacher will display the fifth page of the projector, showing only one descriptive
sentence at a time.
24. The teacher will ask the students why each sentence is descriptive. The teacher will
ask the students what the indicators are.
25. The students will answer by raising their hands.
26. When done, the students will close their notebooks.
27. The teacher will display the Be Specific document on the projector again.
28. The teacher will pass out a copy of this document to each student.
 Rebecca Frazier

29. The teacher will instruct the students to take out a piece of lined paper and a pencil.
30. The teacher will tell the class that they must read the excerpt once more, silently to
themselves, and answer the questions under the section Questions for Study and
Discussion on the handout.
31. The students will answer the question on their paper independently.
32. The teacher will give the students 15-20 minutes to answer the question.
33. When the students are done, the teacher will tell the students to form in groups of 3
and go over their answers together.
34. The teacher will walk around the room and observe the groups.
35. After 10-15 minutes, the teacher will ask the students to return to their assigned
seats.
36. The teacher will ask the students to pass both the Be Specific handout and the
paper with their answers forward.

D. Closure:
1. The teacher will instruct the students to put all of their belongings away and to take
out another sheet of paper.
2. Exit Activity: The teacher will write two plain sentences on the board that have
no descriptive words. The teacher will write three questions on the board: What is
one way to make your writing more descriptive? What is objective and
impressionistic description? Why is it so important to be descriptive?
3. The teacher will tell the students to fix the two sentences by adding descriptive
words. The teacher will tell the students to answer the three questions.
4. The students will write the fixed sentences and the answers to the questions on their
sheet of paper.
5. The students will work independently on this task
6. The teacher will tell the students to put their paper into the turn in tray before they
leave.

E. Assessment:

Exit Activity: 15 points

Students revised two undescriptive sentences by creatively 5 pts

incorporating one or more of the five senses and/or literary
devices
_____________________________________________________________

Students demonstrated their knowledge of objective and 5 pts

impressionistic description by independently producing
accurate definitions of the terms
______________________________________________________________

Students provided meaningful responses that properly 5 pts

 Rebecca Frazier

identified at least one of the reasons for descriptive writing

References

Adjective. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionar

y/adjective

Be Specific. (n.d.). Eng101fall09.wikispaces. Retrieved from

https://eng101fall09 .wikispaces

.com/file/view/Goldberg_Be+Specific.pdf

CCSSO. (n.d.). ccso. Retrieved from

http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2011/InTASC %2020 11

%20Standards %20At%20A%20Glance.pdf

Common Core State Standards. (2016). Core standards. Retrieved from

http://www.corestandard

s.org/ELA-Literacy/W/9-10/

Description. (n.d.). About. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/d/g/description2ter.htm

Descriptive Writing. (n.d.). Reading Rockets. Retrieved from http://www.readingrockets.org stra

tegies/descriptive_writing

Literary Devices and Terms. (n.d.). Literary Devices. Retrieved from http://literarydevices.net/#

gti_S
Rebecca Frazier