Lesson 7: Creative Writing

Planning Ahead  |  Practices  |  Relevant Frameworks  |  Key Vocabulary Terms   |   Download PDF

(1 to 1½ hours over one to several days)

Learning Objective

Students will be able to: Craft an argument that includes a claim and related evidence to justify their energy efficient model home is highly effective at conserving energy.

Language Objectives

Students will be able to:

  1. Describe characteristics of a piece of writing using adjectives and discipline specific vocabulary.
  2. State a claim and justify it with simple, compound and complex sentences.

Slides for All Activities

Duration:
15 minutes

Activity 1: Study a mentor text.

  • Read aloud the sample real estate listing.
  • Students identify the characteristics of a convincing real estate listing using these guiding questions:
    • What details about the home did the author include?
    • How did the author try to convince you that this is a good home to buy?
    • What energy saving qualities did the author describe?
  • Students underline the characteristics of a convincing real estate listing in the mentor text and/or the teacher creates a shared list of the characteristics on chart paper.
Materials & Prep

Duration:
30 - 60 minutes

Activity 2:

Students write their own real estate listing or work together to write one real estate listing per team.

  • Students write a real estate listing for their home that is focused on energy efficiency.
  • Students revise and edit real estate listings after receiving teacher feedback.
  • Students may write with paper and pencil or type on personal devices.
Materials & Prep
  • Real Estate Listing Checklist (per team or per student, depending on how the listing was assigned) (recommend photocopying on back of mentor text)
  • Student Devices - or
  • Paper & Pencil
  • Model Home Project Rubric (per team or per student)

Duration:
15 min

Activity 3:

Teams practice presenting in preparation for a live audience.

  • Students assign roles for their presentation such as:
    • Read the real estate listing
    • Point to items in the model home
    • Answer questions from visitors
  • The student assigned the role of reading the real estate listing can practice reading it aloud to their teammate(s).
  • Students generate ideas about which questions audience members might ask them and come up with possible answers.
Materials & Prep