Summary
PDF file of detailed lesson plan summary, including time stamps, learning/teaching objectives, and a reflection.
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Supplemental Materials
YouTube video (from TedEd channel) to begin discussion: "The Opening Paragraph" (to be used in Section II of Lesson Plan).
Implementation
Again, I did this activity in my ENGL101 class shortly after submitting this LP for 388v; I chose to deliver my lesson plan two weeks before the Rhetorical Analysis was due. I chose to design this lesson plan because I had a few requests and emails from students asking how to craft an introduction properly and I realized that introductions and opening paragraphs are an understated artform. Ultimate, one's audience will read the introduction paragraph first: it should be up-to-par, attention grabbing, and eloquent. I decided to include a video from TedEd for the beginning of discussion just to set the standards of what an opening paragraph should include (thesis, topic sentence, details, direction of the argument). The following activity in which I show the class a variety of effective opening paragraphs from online media (Buzzfeed, NPR, The Onion, etc.) and also from our campus's ENGL101 collection Interpolations will function as an opportunity for both teacher and student to point out specific elements of the introduction that students could possibly emulate. I can tell this lesson was effective because I had not one, but a few, introductory paragraphs that resembled examples done in class when they handed in future assignments. My Professor aided in the lesson plan by posing other questions about introduction paragraphs and helping to review their independent work at the end of the class period. Overall, I felt that my students enjoyed this lesson plan because it incorporated a topic that many writing teachers overlook and assume their students are familiar with, when, in reality, it is a topic that should be explored at length. My students appreciated the creative outlet that the Opening Paragraph permits.