Lesson 42: Becoming the Apprentice, Revising and Finalizing

Think-Pair-Share

Display the Performance Task Handout. Explain to students that you will use this handout and rubric to grade their final explanatory essays and process documents. They will also use this rubric to help guide the revision process during class today.

Say these Directions: Take time to review the Performance Task Handout. Then, use the Think-Pair-Share routine to discuss the following prompt:

• Ask: Using this rubric, reflect on the drafts of your explanatory essay and process document. Which parts of your essay and process document do you feel good about? Which parts do you feel you need support with?

  • I feel good about having a strong thesis statement and all four paragraphs of my essay. I also feel good about the use of temporal connectors and images in my process document. I feel like I need support with my grammar and punctuation in both my essay and my process document.

Invite 2–3 students to share their responses with the class.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: Today, you’ll work on revising your explanatory essays and process documents. As you work through the peer review, keep in mind what you discussed during the Think-Pair-Share to provide your partner with meaningful feedback about how to revise their work into a final draft.

Display the Speaking & Listening Checklist. Explain to students that they will present their explanatory essays and process documents to a small group of their classmates during a Gallery of Learning activity.

Speaking & Listening Checklist

Successful speakers. . .

• Face the audience

• Make eye contact when possible

• Speak loudly and clearly

• Use an appropriate rate—not too fast, not too slow

Active listeners. . .

• Face the speaker

• Sit still and avoid distractions

• Wait until the speaker is done speaking to comment or ask questions

• Use thoughtful, respectful language to ask questions and make comments

Say these Directions: Review the sample process document used in Lesson 34. Use the Speaking and Listening Checklist above to listen to give feedback on the presentation and the process according to the checklist.

How to Make Pottery

• Prepare the Clay: First, the clay is gathered and purified by mixing it with water then draining it through sieves one or more times.

• Shape the Clay: Second, the clay is sculpted using simple tools or a pottery wheel. The minerals in the clay allow it to hold its shape.

• Dry and Fire the Clay: Next, the clay is left out to dry before being fired in the kiln to drive off any remaining moisture.

• Glaze the Pottery: Lastly, the fired pottery is covered with different glazes with metal oxides that create different colors once it is fired again in an electric, soda, or raku kiln.

• Say: I’m going to model two different presentations to show the importance of speaking and presenting skills. Listen to the two presentations and observe the differences. Be ready to provide feedback using the Speaking & Listening Checklist. Deliver a presentation of the process document that intentionally ignores the guidelines for successful speakers. For example, turn away from the audience, mumble or speak too quickly, and avoid making eye contact.

• Ask: Using the Speaking & Listening Checklist, how could I improve my presentation? Remember to use thoughtful and respectful language to deliver your feedback.

  • Try to speak more clearly instead of mumbling so you are easier to hear and understand. Try to turn your body toward the audience to help you seem more confident.

Next, deliver a presentation of the process document using feedback provided by the class. This presentation should be an exemplar for how students will present their explanatory essays and process documents during the next lesson.

• Ask: What did you notice about the second presentation? How was it different from the first presentation?

  • During the second presentation, you faced the audience and used eye contact. You spoke clearly. You used a rate of speaking that was easy to understand.

Connection to Today’s Learning

• Say: During the next lesson, you will use the Speaking & Listening Checklist to share your final explanatory essays and process documents in small groups. You can use the Speaking & Listening Checklist to practice delivering your presentation after you’ve finished finalizing your writing today.

Part A: Peer Review (W.6.5, W.6.6) (15 minutes)

Tell students that they are going to engage in a peer review to provide feedback on a partner’s explanatory essay and process document. Let students know that they have 15 minutes for this activity.

Say these Directions: Today, you will participate in a peer review to provide feedback on your partner’s explanatory essay and process document using the Performance Task Handout. During the peer review, you will:

• Trade work with the partner

• Read each other’s work

• Correct any capitalization, spelling, grammar, and punctuation mistakes you see

• Give advice on how to improve based on the Performance Task Handout

Model how to provide feedback using the rubric.

• Say: After reading my partner’s explanatory essay, I’ll look at the Performance Task Handout. Some feedback I might give could be: “Your essay includes a clear thesis statement and has an introduction paragraph, two body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. These criteria are all in the first row, 3 – Proficient. I noticed that you only include evidence from the novel A Single Shard, which is the second row, 2 – Developing. What evidence did you gather from a second source about craftsmanship, learning, or mentorship?”

Show students an example of what was mentioned in the “Say” section of modeling the peer review.

Part B: Revise and Finalize (W.6.5, W.6.6) (15 minutes)

Say these Directions: Implement the feedback from the peer review to revise and finalize your explanatory essay and process document. Your final explanatory essay or process document should either be neatly handwritten or typed and printed. Review the Performance Task Handout again and make sure your revisions adhere to the project expectations.

Turn and Talk

Say these Directions: Use the Turn and Talk routine to discuss the revision process with your peer review partner. Respond to the following prompts:

• Ask: What advice did you find most helpful?

  • I found the advice about how to use transitions to better connect my ideas most helpful.

• Ask: How did you use feedback from your partner to revise or improve your work?

  • I used the feedback to improve my work by including more evidence to support the thesis statement.

• Ask: Did you find any parts of the peer review difficult or challenging? If so, why?

  • Sometimes it was difficult to hear feedback about what areas of my work needed improvement.

Invite partners to share their responses with the class.

Have students finish revising and finalizing their explanatory essays and process documents for homework. Instruct students to use the Speaking & Listening Checklist to practice for their presentations during the next class.

• After you finalize your explanatory essay and process document, use the Speaking & Listening Checklist to practice presenting your work. In your Reflection Journal, respond to the following prompt:

  • Evaluate your practice presentation. How well did you follow the characteristics of a successful speaker? How can you improve upon your presentation?