CEClang.76


TITLE:  Using Prominent Personalities With
    Identifiable Social Causes to Stimulate Writing

AUTHOR:  Pat Hall, L.E. Rader Center;
         Sand Springs, OK

GRADE LEVELS:  All male special education students,
ages l4 to 19 years old taught in an English Lab
setting.

OVERVIEW:  Due to varied family situations, many of
these special education students have gaps in their
educational backgrounds.  Each student is treated as an
individual and is taught at his level of functioning.
An effort is made to provide background experiences
using a multi-media approach such as stories, plays,
computers, videos and cameras prior to asking for
written feedback.

PURPOSE:  The purpose of this lesson is to teach the
students to write a friendly letter.  It is important
that students be given background information
meaningful or of interest to them.  Grammar skills
including sentence and paragraph structure are
addressed when their writing assignments are given.

OBJECTIVE(s):  The students will be able to
(l)  Recall previously learned material
(2)  Practice writing complete sentences
(3)  Demonstrate the ability to write five sentence
     paragraphs
(4)  Demonstrate using proper letter format
(5)  Show an ability to use proper punctuation

RESOURCES:
Action Magazine, Adventures for Readers, Book II,
Champions of Change, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,"
video, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings"

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
(1)  Review vocabulary words
(2)  Read a short story entitled, "The
     Dentist,"Action Magazine
(3)  Read "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,"
     Adventures for Readers
(4)  Read "Maya Angelou," Champions of Change
(5)  Watch video "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings"

TYING IT TOGETHER:
Students will write a proper letter to Maya Angelou.
This assignment became even more meaningful when
     Maya Angelou wrote a response to the class.