1.

Purpose and Audience:

The purpose of this writing unit is for students to learn how to and effectively be able to write informative and
explanatory pieces of writing to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

2. Genre and Mentor Texts:

The genre that I will be teaching is informational text. By teaching students how to write an expository text, they
will be meeting the standard and purpose for learning this genre. Throughout this lesson, I will be using a
variety of mentor texts. Some of these include: Firefighters by Katie Daynes, Strength in Numbers by Frances
Bacon, and Deadliest Animals by Melissa Steward.

Goals

Students will write an informational text

about a topic that they know well.

They will brainstorm and draft potential

topic ideas. They will also share these
potential topic ideas with their peers
and teachers and receive feedback.

They will work on developing a topic

that they have a strong understanding
on by brainstorming a list of possible
topics, subtopics, and include details
for their chapter breakdowns.

4. Rationale:
Selecting a topic is a vital part of writing informational text. Students need to be sure that they have a strong
prior knowledge regarding their topic, and that they know enough about their topic to present an authentic and
concert informational writing piece.

5. Common Core State Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.A
Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding
comprehension.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.3.2.B
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

6. Differentiated Instruction:
There are specific students in my combined class of 52 students that will need scaffolding. To assist these
students, the two mentor teachers will work with these students in a small group setting to provide additional
supports for them. During this portion of the lesson, I do not anticipate that students will be completed with their
final writing piece, but if they are, I will use a number of strategies to redirect them back to improving their
writing piece. I will have them go back and reread their writing several times to proofread. After they have done
this, I will also provide them with a checklist for them to go back and visually make sure that they have all of
the essential components of informational writing. After they have done this, I will ask them to share their
Google Document with a partner in the class and then that partner will make suggestions on their writing.
 7. Teaching Outline Chart:
Day 1
Date:
18 October, 2017
Daily Objective:
Students will be given a prompt, and then
instructed to write for at least thirty minutes.
This piece of writing will function as an on-
demand informational writing sample that I can
use to assess where students are at with this
genre.
Mini-Lesson Focus:
Students will be briefly introduced to
informational writing and what that genre looks book
like.
Mentor Text:
Firefighters by Katie Daynes
Instruction:
Read examples from Firefighters
I do: Model writing a story about a topic I know
well, e.g. figure skating.
We do: Work with your shoulder partner for a
few minutes to decide on your topic you wish
to write.
You do: Have students write independently for
30 minutes.
Share: Summarize your topic and subtopics to
your shoulder partners.
Day 2
Date:
23 October, 2017
Daily Objective:
Students will begin the immersion phase of
this unit. The purpose of this is to help
students gain a substantial understanding of
the genre of text that they will be writing, and
in this case, it is informational.
Mini-Lesson Focus:
Characteristics of an effective informational
Mentor Text:
Sample of third grade writing from last year. My personal list of topics.
Instruction:
Share that informational texts are writing
pieces that the author is an expert on. In
their writing, they use facts, details, ideas,
observations, and questions to compose a
writing piece that is made up of an
introduction, body, and conclusion.
I do: Plan a sample informational text out
loud to give them an example of a possible
topic and subtopics.
We do: Together as a class we will
construct an anchor chart of the
characteristics of an effective information
book.
You do: Have students write independently
for 30 minutes. After talking to my mentor,
we decided to incorporate a different activity,
so we did not have time for independent
writing time.
Share: Point out examples of students’ that
contain elements from our anchor chart.
Being that we did not have time for
independent writing time, our share for the
lesson was also changed.
You do: Instead of independent writing time,
we had students explore nonfiction mentor
texts as a continuation of the immersion
phase.
I gave each student a scavenger hunt
worksheet, and they had to look through a
vast variety of mentor texts and try to find
elements of nonfiction text in these books.
Day 3
Date:
24 October, 2017
Daily Objective:
Students will explore potential topic ideas by
referencing what they know. By the end of
this lesson, students will have a list of
potential topic ideas.
Mini-Lesson Focus:
How to make lists of potential topics for
informational writing and what those look
like.
Mentor Text:
Instruction:
I will begin by explaining that writers write
about topics that they know really well. They
also need to write about topics that they can
elaborate on and write for a long period of
time on.
I do: Model writing long on a topic I know a
lot about, and model writing short on a topic
I do not know much about.
We do: Work with your shoulder partner to
brainstorm topic ideas and make sure you
know enough about the topic you choose.
You do: Have students select a topic and
write independently for 30 minutes.
Share: Students share their selected topic
and what details that they have so far.
 Some examples of things that they were
looking for were: headings, subheadings,
captions, sidebars, timelines, etc.

Share: After this activity, I then had students

share out what elements they could find,
where they found them, and what they
thought their purpose for having those in the
text were.

Planning for Conferring: Planning for Conferring: Planning for Conferring:

Meet with Sydney, Tilden, Jada, and Meet with Alana, Lucius, and Chase Meet with Vincent, Casey, Delaney, and
Jacqueline Clare

Assessment: Assessment: Assessment:

Collect students’ writing and score them using
the 3rd grade informational writing rubric. Code
for proficient, needs some support, needs
lesson retaught.
Collect students’ notebooks and take Collect students’ notebooks and take
anecdotal notes on understanding of anecdotal notes on the development of their
informational text. Code for proficient, needs topics. Code for proficient, needs some
some support, needs lesson retaught. support, needs lesson retaught.
This assessment also changed. I instead
collected their scavenger hunt worksheets
and looked over their notes and comments
about their findings.

Teaching Notes: Teaching Notes: Teaching Notes:

Will need: Will need: Will need:
Firefighters Firefighters Topics
Timer Conf. notebook Conf. notebook
Lined paper for students Chart paper
Conf. notebook Markers
Timer
Over 30 different nonfiction texts
Scavenger hunt worksheet

Resources: https://oaklandk12-
public.rubiconatlas.org/Atlas/Develop/UnitMap/View/Default?BackLink=1058344&UnitID=17253&YearID=2018&CurriculumMapID=
885

Reflection: Reflection: Reflection:

I did not actually get to do much teaching for
this lesson. I basically gave them the prompt,
and then gave them 30 minutes to write. My
mentor advised me that this would work best
because she really wants me to analyze the
most authentic piece of informational writing
possible, without giving them any instruction
beforehand.
This lesson did not necessarily go as
planned. I had assumed that the students
had a lot of experience working with
nonfiction text. However, when I went to
create the anchor chart with the students,
they struggled to come up with points that I
anticipated would be very easy for them.
That being said, later in the day, my mentor
and I decided that they need more exposure
to this text in general, which is why we
decided to incorporate the nonfiction
scavenger hunt. The scavenger hunt went
very well! It was a very fun, interactive, and
physical activity where students got to move
around the room, and get their hands on
actual nonfiction books. I would definitely
teach this lesson again using the scavenger
hunt in the future.
This lesson went really well,
I thought. The students were very engaged
and participating the whole time. I think the
mini-lesson went very smoothly and the
students were excited to be exploring topics
that they know well. I learned that most of
the students really have a strong
understanding on one or two topics. For
example, one of my students loves to fish,
and she was able to list at least 15 different
subtopics regarding this topic. This was very
similar to the majority of the students in the
class. That being said, my lesson tomorrow
on selecting smaller topics and focusing in
on a particular angle is going to be very
beneficial to their drafting process.
 Day 4
Date:
25 October, 2017
Daily Objective:
Students will focus on selecting a topic by
considering their own areas of expertise.
Mini-Lesson Focus:
Good writers choose smaller topics or one
particular angle of a topic when writing an
informational text.
Mentor Text:
Previous 3rd grader’s informational writing
piece
Instruction:
Explain to students that good writers narrow
their topics down by thinking about what their
readers need to know. They select smaller
topics or angles that they have about a bigger
topic, and then they inform their reader all
about the smaller topic.
I do: Model writing a story about a topic I know
well, e.g. figure skating, and narrow my topic
down to something more specific, such as
figure skating competitions.
We do: Work with your eyeball partner for five
minutes to generate a list of smaller potential
topics based off your list of big topics from
yesterday.
You do: Have students write independently for
30 minutes.
Share: Tell your eyeball partner what your
original topic was, and how you narrowed that
down into a smaller topic.
Planning for Conferring:
Meet with Allison, Lila, Miles, and Brendan.
Assessment:
Formative assessments of students that I
worked with during conferences. I will make
sure that they understand how to narrow down
their main topic.
Teaching Notes:
Will need:
Timer
Conf. notebook
Day 5
Date:
27 October, 2017
Daily Objective:
Students will continue to work on selecting a Students will continue to work on selecting a
topic by analyzing their own areas of interest. topic by rehearsing their writing.
Mini-Lesson Focus:
Good writers use planning tools to develop
subtopics.
Mentor Text:
Firefighters by Katie Daynes
Instruction:
I will explain to students that today we are
going to work with our most important topics
and organize our information into sub topics
or categories.
I do: I will model how to use a graphic
organizer such as a web organizer and a
table of contents paper to outline my story
into different sub categories.
We do: Students will think for a few minutes
about possible subtopics and how they will
organize them into a constructive piece of
writing that flows well. They will then share
their thinking with their partner.
You do: Have students write independently
for 30 minutes.
Share: Have students volunteer and share
their organizational strategies to the whole
class.
Planning for Conferring:
Meet with Amelia, Thomas, Ellie, and
Joseph.
Assessment:
Collect students’ organizational graphics
such as their web organizer and table of
contents draft and take notes on them.
Teaching Notes:
Will need:
Firefighters
Conf. notebook
Web organizer
Blank table of contents organizer
Day 6
Date:
30 October, 2017
Daily Objective:
Mini-Lesson Focus:
Giving mini-lectures to rehearse their writing.
Mentor Text:
Strength in Numbers by Frances Bacon
Instruction:
Today, we are going to explore the
relationship between teaching about a topic
and writing about a topic. Hopefully, you will
see that they are very intertwined. I will then
go into a mini-lesson actually teaching the
class about my topic, figure skating.
We do: The class will be split up into eight
groups. There will be 6 students in each
group, and a few groups with 7 students.
Then, within the groups, students will each
take turns teaching their group about their
topic.
You do: Students will then work individually
and use the feedback from their groups to
edit and revise their writing so far.
Share: Students will take 3 minutes to turn
and talk to their partner and share with them
what they did after they received feedback
from their group members.
Planning for Conferring:
Meet with Bryson, Mia, Kate, and Ethan.
Assessment:
I will observe each group that is sharing and
take notes on the students’ abilities to teach
their topic.
Teaching Notes:
Will need:
Timer
Conf. notebook
Student’s notebooks
Web organizer
 Timer Table of contents

Resources: https://oaklandk12-
public.rubiconatlas.org/Atlas/Develop/UnitMap/View/Default?BackLink=1058344&UnitID=17253&YearID=2018&CurriculumMapID=88
5

Reflection: Reflection: Reflection:

This lesson went fairly well, but I think it was
slightly too structured. My mentor teacher and I
agreed that it would have been more beneficial
for students to explore topics with less
instruction. This lesson was very lecture based,
and I think it would have been better if I
modeled how to narrow down some topics with
the whole group and have it have been more
interactive.
From the student conferences and
assessments, it was made aware to me that
the students are really enjoying this lesson.
Even the students that are very hesitant to
write are excited and have started drafting
potential topics.
This lesson also went fairly well. I provided
the students with a web organizer that had
one bubble in the center, and four bubbles
connecting to it. They used this as a guide to
plan out their main topic and then pick the
four most important subtopics. I learned that
they have lost of great ideas that they are
eager to get started on. One thing that I
would maybe do differently next time
teaching this lesson is model how to make a
graphic organizer with the class, and then
have them make their own. My reason for
doing this would be because many of them
showed frustration trying to condense their
subtopics into just four main points. Many of
them had a great deal of information to say,
and they asked me if they could add more
subtopic bubbles to their organizer. When I
was going over their organizers as an
assessment, I am slightly concerned that
they may not have enough information to
form a full informational chapter on their
subtopic bubbles, so this is definitely
something that I am going to need to address
in future lessons.
This lesson was a nice change of pace for
the students. They got to share in depth their
writing with their peers and ask for feedback.
I noticed when I was floating around the
room that they consider feedback from their
peers differently than they might do when I
provide them feedback. Some students were
much more reluctant to incorporate feedback
from other students than they would be if
other teachers in the room or myself would
have given them feedback. This is
something that I want to address with the
class when we return from our Big Science
Unit at Impression 5.
I want to explain to the students that of
course they are not required to incorporate
feedback into their writing pieces, but that
really listening to their teachers and their
peers and taking what they have to say into
consideration is highly recommended and
would prove to be beneficial to their writing.

Day 7 Day 8 Day 9

Date: Date: Date:

7 November, 2017 8 November, 2017 9 November, 2017

Daily Objective: Daily Objective: Daily Objective:

Students will begin working on organizing their Students will continue to work on managing Students will continue to work organizing
work so far into chapters. the information that they have so far and and formatting their information to form
forming them into constructive chapters. chapters.

Mini-Lesson Focus: Mini-Lesson Focus: Mini-Lesson Focus:

Good writers make a plan for what to write Good writers form paragraphs with the big Writers use an informational writing checklist
within each chapter. ideas first and then use the smaller details for to set goals for their writing.
support.

Mentor Text: Mentor Text: Mentor Text:

Deadliest Animals Firefighters by Katie Daynes Strength in Numbers by Frances Bacon
Instruction:
I will begin this lesson by explaining to students
that planning to write out chapters is like
planning the overall organization of our books.
One way that writers plan their chapters is by
making a mini table of contents for each
chapter.
I do: I will model breaking down my planned
chapters and making a mini table of contents
for each designated chapter.
We do: The class will try doing this by using a
mentor text. They will work with their partners
to try to organize a chapter of a mentor text into
a chapter that makes logical sense and flows
well.
You do: The students will work on organizing
their own chapters independently for 20
minutes.
Planning for Conferring: Planning for Conferring:
Meet with William, Sawyer, Connor H., and Ava Meet with Peyton, Levi, Chase, and Julia.
Assessment:
I will collect their writer’s notebooks and look at
the progress that they have so far on
organizing their chapters. I will take anecdotal
notes regarding their thinking and progress.
Teaching Notes:
Will need:
Timer
Conf. notebook
Web organizer
Mentor text
Resources: https://oaklandk12-
public.rubiconatlas.org/Atlas/Develop/UnitMap/View/Default?BackLink=1058344&UnitID=17253&YearID=2018&CurriculumMapID=88
5
Reflection:
This lesson was one that I might try to do
differently in the future. It was very concrete
and structured, and I felt as if I was basically
beginning to write their nonfiction pieces for the
students. There was some confusions when
they were using the tool of the table of
contents. Many of the students were asking me
questions and I tried to give them suggestions.
That being said, I learned that how important it
is to use very explicit instruction when
explaining simple things. However, some
students were not very invested in this lesson
Instruction:
Today I will work on teaching students
productive paragraph writing for informational
writing. I will emphasize that their paragraphs
should be structured with a topic sentence
and supporting details.
I do: I will model how to do follow this format
using the document camera and putting my
own writing about figure skating into this
format.
We do: Together as a class, I will have
students come up with a solid topic sentence
and three supporting details.
You do: Have students write independently
for 30 minutes and work on organizing their
paragraphs in this format.
Share: Have students volunteer and share
their organizational strategies to the whole
class.
Assessment:
Collect students’ notebooks and taking notes
on their understanding of putting big ideas
first and using the smaller ideas as
supporting details.
Teaching Notes:
Will need:
Firefighters
Conf. notebook
Timer
Reflection:
This lesson proved to be very beneficial for
the students. Previously, many of them
struggled to break up their writing into
paragraphs. I saw many many students that
would write one big paragraph or none at all,
and they struggled with how to break them
up into smaller sections. I found that asking
the students to use their draft of their table of
contents proved to work very well for this. We
looked at mentor texts and with these tools,
students were able to grasp the concept of
breaking their writing into smaller
Instruction:
Today I will teach the students how to use a
checklist to edit and revise their writing. I will
go through each point on the checklist and
explain how to set goals using this tool.
I do: I will read a part of my draft to the
class, and then I will use the checklist to go
back and make sure that I have all of the
necessary components. I will then use that
checklist to make sure that I make goals on
areas that I need to work on.
We do: I will have the students pair up with
their writing partners and use the checklist to
peer edit their partner’s writing sample.
You do: Students will then work individually
and use the feedback from their partner to
edit their writing themselves and set goals
using the checklist.
Share: After this, I will have four students
share their goals that they set for
themselves based off of the writing checklist.
Planning for Conferring:
Meet with George, Jack, Jackson, and
Joshua.
Assessment:
I will collect students’ writing checklists to
analyze where they are at in the writing
process, and what more instruction they will
need to meet their personal writing goals.
Teaching Notes:
Will need:
Timer
Conf. notebook
Teacher draft
Student checklist
Reflection:
Today’s lesson was my favorite one to
teach so far. I loved watching the students
work together to give constructive criticism
on their writing pieces thus far. It was very
nice to see the students working so hard and
being so invested. I learned that most
students are farther along in the writing
process than I thought. One important
aspect that I think i would do differently next
time I teach this lesson would be to have the
students look over their writing first and
make any changes before handing it off to a
so if I were to do this lesson again, I would try
to make it more interactive and try to get the
students’ interest and attention focused on the
lesson.
paragraphs. This lesson was my favorite one
to teach thus far, and it was definitely one
that I would teach again in the future. If I
were to teach this lesson again, I might try to
teach this lesson sooner in a writing
sequence, so they can understand clearly
from the beginning how to organize their
ideas.
peer. They had not had the chance to review
their writing before giving it to a peer, and
many of them mentioned to me that they
wished they had time to review it themselves
before receiving criticism from another
student. However, overall, I thought this
lesson went very well, and I think it was
beneficial for the students to read someone
else’s writing and give them feedback.

Day 10

Date:
10 November, 2017

Daily Objective:
Students begin to work on building their
informational writing with greater
independence.

Mini-Lesson Focus:
Good writers push themselves to write more
by writing partner sentences.

Mentor Text:
Teacher Draft

Instruction:
I will emphasize to students that good writers
ask themselves if there is anything more that
they can write about their sentences/story.
This is a form of elaboration, and really
showing the reader what you mean, not
simply telling them.
I do: I will model this strategy by using my
own draft, and elaborating on three or four
sentences to make my writing more
interesting and detailed.
We do: I will have students turn and talk with
their shoulder partner to share how they could
elaborate one of their sentences.
You do: Students will work independently for
20 minutes on making their sentences more
detailed.
Share: I will pull sticks and randomly ask
students to share to the whole group one of
their sentences that they changed.

Planning for Conferring:

Meet with Henry, Silas, Jace, and Greyson.

Assessment:
I will collect their writing samples and make
notes on their progress dealing with
elaboration.
Teaching Notes:
Will need:
Timer
Conf. notebook
Teacher draft

Resources: https://oaklandk12-
public.rubiconatlas.org/Atlas/Develop/UnitMap/View/Default?BackLink=1058344&UnitID=17253&YearID=2018&CurriculumMapID
=885

Reflection:
This was the last writing lesson that I taught
for my guided lead teaching. It was a solid
lesson, and I think the students spent their
independent work time really trying to work
hard and were trying to extend and elaborate
on their writing. If I were able to continue
teaching this unit, I would say that my next
steps would be to really dive deeper into the
specifics of the writing rubric such as, the
introduction, body, conclusion, grammar
mechanics, transitions, etc. Overall, I really
enjoyed teaching this unit, and hopefully I will
get to teach one similar again in the future.