Daughters Come of Age in Women’s Fiction
Dianne Marlowe
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Overview for Lesson Plans II and III: Teaching The Writing Process
Rationale
These lesson plans use a sequential writing process to write a five-paragraph essay discussing the elements of conflict, character development, and universal theme of the story “Everyday Use,” by Alice Walker. As part of the language arts requirement for the State CAPT examination, students are asked to write a definition of good literature and then discuss how the piece they read meets or does not meet their definition. I have found providing a basic definition which states three elements that the story should haveconflict, character development, and a universal theme or lessonprovides students with a structured model with which they can frame their response. This model and classroom practice makes my students more confident in their ability to respond to the CAPT.
The writing process includes pre-writing and organizing the information they will use in the essay, using graphic organizers. The second stage is the revision process, during which I schedule writing conferences with each student. After the conferences, students are ready to produce the final draft of the essay. Students must hand in all graphic organizers and the rough draft, along with the final essay, to receive full credit for the assignment. This process provides a structured model that students are comfortable using to write the essay.