English Class Lesson Plan: Reviewing Introductions

As a teacher, you are going to have to learn how to preserve your sanity. Teaching is demanding. It helps to have a few lesson plans in your pocket that do not take a lot of preparation time on your part. All of the preparation should be on the student side of the equation. When you enter the classroom you are going to rely on your fund of knowledge, and even if you are just starting as a teacher, you know a lot more than those first year college students or high school students.

This lesson plan will work for any writing class, face-to-face or, with a few adaptations, on line.

Here is a sample plan, illustrating what I mean.

Clearly let the students know that a draft of their essay is due next week. The plan depends entirely on them having those essays, so make sure they know about it and are motivated to have them. Always have a backup plan in case the students let you down. In this case, if they do not have at least an introduction, make the sit there and write one.

On the day of the lesson, have the class push their desks into a circle. Have them take out their drafts. Start to your right or left, and have each student read their introduction out loud. Pause after each reading and ask the class to comment on each introduction. Start with things that they like about it. Gradually, allow suggestions for improvement to take over. Does it suggest a focus? Does it grab your attention? How does it do so? Is there a thesis? What is a thesis? Where in the introduction should it be? Does the introduction suggest that the paper is doing the assignment?

You will find that there are good introductions that will serve as examples of what to do, and less than great introductions that serve as models for improvement. Let nobody be hurt by sharing. Be kind and demand kind comments.

If this is a fifty minute period and you have twenty students, this should take the whole period. This will fill even longer sessions if you allow a bit more discussion of each introduction.

By the end of the period, all students will have a notion of what an introduction should do, by example, and through discussing it.

Having students read aloud has all kinds of benefits.

It bonds you to the class a bit. It shows them what you like and what you don't like, so they are learning about their audience. It illustrates for them the language used to discuss introductions, good and bad. You will find that the students use this knowledge in the next discussion, and they start to apply it to their papers. It shows that an introduction can and must be rewritten, if necessary.

So keep this lesson plan in your pocket and pull it out when you know that you will face a lot of grading or other pressures on your time.