The following mini-lessons were created by middle grades preservice teachers in RE 3150 (Language Arts in the Middle Grades). The mini-lessons on this particular page are conventions mini-lessons. A convention is an agreement made over time between writers and readers about how something will be done in texts (In the Middle, Atwell 1998).
| Comma Usage | a lesson to help students explore the proper usage of commas, as well as many of the common mistakes that writers make when using commas | Jason Koon | Word doc. |
| To Be or Not to Bee | a lesson on homonyms | Jessica Epley | Word doc. |
| Learning to Capitalize is Fun | a lesson that allows young adolescent learners to enhance their understanding of why and when we capitalize |
Charity Bailey | Word doc. |
| Enhancing Word Banks | a lesson that allows students to enhance their vocabulary of problematic words | Johnny Morris | Word doc. |
| Vocabulary/Spelling Within a Literary Context | a lesson to help students develop strategies for learning vocabulary and spelling within the context of literary review and relevance | Patty Blair | Word doc. |
| "Their, There, or They're" | a lesson to help students understand the correct usage of there, their, and they're | Emily Hyatt | Word doc. |
| Comma Usage | a lesson to help students correct comma splices and fused sentences | Caroline Bond | Word doc. |
| Editing Symbols | a lesson to teach students editing symbols they can use in their own writing process and while editing other people's writing | Carrie Goodnight | Word doc. |
| Twiddle-since and Twiddle-sense | a lesson to teach students the spellings and meanings of "since" and "sense" |
Tiffiny Hovatter | Word doc. |
| Commas Between Independent Clauses | a lesson to teach students about independent clauses and the use of a comma to punctuate them |
Amanda Holley | Word doc. |
| Run-on Sentences | a lesson to help students recognize and edit run-on sentences | Amber Robinson | Word doc. |
| Complete Song Title? | a lesson on complete sentences and sentence fragments | Amy Carol Wilkins | Word doc. |
| Using "is" and "are" | a lesson for middle grades students on using "is" and "are" correctly | Amanda Huffman | Word doc. |
| Using Synonyms to Recreate our Favorite Children's Stories | a lesson to help beginning writers and experienced readers begin to use synonyms and how to use a thesaurus | Allyson Purser | Word doc. |
| Avoiding Sentence Fragments | a lesson on the basic elements needed to write complete sentences and how to identify and avoid writing sentence fragments |
Cheri Maynard | Word doc. |
| Redundancy | a lesson on how to identify and avoid redundancy | Jeanie Boyette | Word doc. |
| Structured Poetry | a lesson that teaches students the formats of haiku and Cinquain poems | Casey Robinson | Word doc. |
| Introducing Parallel Sentence Construction | a lesson designed to help students learn about non-parallel nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (and how to fix them) | Joyce Jarrard | Word doc. |
| Semicolons | a lesson to help students understand what semicolons are, whey authors use them, and how/why to use them in their own writing | Suzanne Ingram | Word doc. |
| Santa's Helper | a lesson to teach students to use more descriptive words in their writing |
Nichole Calhoun | Word doc. |
| Using Proofreading Marks | a lesson to teach students how to use universal proofreading marks |
Marshia Shutt | Word doc. |
| Possessive Apostrophes | a lesson to help students learn how to use apostrophes correctly in order to make certain words plural | Aaron Bridges | Word doc. |
| Creating Friendly Letters | a lesson to teach students the proper format for a friendly letter with handout | Adam Pyles | Word doc. with handout |
| Unclear Pronouns | a lesson to help students make their writing more clear by using the correct pronoun and its pronoun reference, and to avoid overuse of pronouns | Rachel Wood | Word doc. |
| Business Letter Format | a lesson to teach students the correct format of a business letter, applying the correct grammar and language usage | Joseph Mark Warner | Word doc. |
| Active vs. Passive Verb Forms | a lesson to help students identify the differences between passive and active verb forms | Amy Steelman | Word doc. |
| Work Those Verbs!: Word Choice | a lesson to motivate students to use stronger, more effective verbs in their writing | Kate Pascoe | Word doc. |
| You Can't Always Count On I Before E Except After C | a lesson to help students increase their familiarity with the "i before e except after c" rule and to be aware of the many exceptions to this rule | Nancy Knox | Word doc. |
| Confused Verbs | a lesson to help students differentiate between verbs that are often confused, such as "sit" and "set" with worksheet | Meredith Hendery | Word doc with worksheet |
| Spelling is Always Counted | a lesson to inform students the importance of knowing how to spell words correctly | Brittania Brown | Word doc |
| How to Write a Business Letter: A Lesson in Letter Writing Format | a lesson to teach students how to properly write a business letter | Lauren Johnson | Word doc |
| To Capitalize or Not to Capitalize | a lesson to inform students of the importance of capitalization rules that apply not only to their schoolwork, but also to their every day lives | Lisa Clontz | Word doc |
| Using Quotation Marks | a lesson to teach middle grades students to apply standard conventional writing practices to their writing | Donna Miller | Word doc |
| Elaborating:
Specific Adjectives |
a lesson to help students improve their descriptive writing skills and be able to identify adjectives | Shawn Reavis-Long | Word doc |
| Avoiding
the Dead Words |
a lesson in which students will learn to identify words that are overused in the English language, making them ineffective in text | Jane Crouse | Word doc |
| End Marks-Periods | a lesson to highlight to the student the usage of periods | Robert Burkhart | Word doc |
| Thesaurus |
a lesson to introduce and reinforce to the learner the use of a thesaurus | Robert Burkhart | Word doc |
| Proofreading Practice | a lesson to reintroduce proofreading marks and to demonstrate the way they can be used in the editing process | Amber Strack | Word doc |
| Using Commas to Set Off Introductory Phrases | a lesson to to define what an introductory phrase is and to explain when a comma is used to separate it from the main part of a sentence | Celine Ellison | Word doc |
| They're, Their, or There | a lesson to assist in determining the correct usage of these three words as students write, conference and edit | Debbie Epps | Word doc |
| The
Correct use of the Articles A and An |
A lesson to help students understand the correct usage of the articles a and an | Elizabeth Rudicill | Word doc |
| a lesson to show students alternative methods of understanding literature using a particular strategy known as mapping
|
Felicia Burgess | ||
| When
Should I Use A or An? |
a lesson to help students to distinguish when they should use the articles a or an | Melinda Kennedy | Word doc |
| Alliteration |
a lesson to introduce students to the poetry device called alliteration, or repetition of consonant sounds | Susie Overwyk | Word doc |
| a lesson providing students with a grammar review exercise about pronoun-antecedent agreement in writing (and speaking) |
Tina Annas | ||
| Let's Write a Letter | a lesson on how to write a business letter |
Melissa Cook | Word doc |
| Vocabulary | a lesson to teach students new vocabulary words | Chandra Patton | Word doc |
| Punctuation of Short and Long Works | a lesson to help students distinguish between the punctuation required for short and long works | AnnaMarie Head | Word doc |
| a lesson to show students how to create effective and grammatically correct paragraphs | Matthew Leggat | Word doc | |
| Having a Writing Conference with Yourself | a lesson for students to learn how to look for convention mistakes in their own writing | Cynthia Barnett | Word doc |
| Semicolon Usage in Writing | a lesson to help students use semicolons correctly in their writing | Charlee Nall | Word doc |
| The Simile Experience | a lesson to teach students the meaning of similes and to show students how to effectively use them in their writing | Anna Spence | Word doc |
| Parts of Speech - Verbs | a lesson to help students identify parts of speech | Adrienne Early | Word doc |
| Comma Usage in Writing | a lesson on rules of comma usage in writing drafts | Ashley Howell | Word doc |
| Keeping a Consistent Verb Tense in Writing | a lesson to make students aware that the verb tense they choose to use in their writing affects the way the reader understands the piece of writing | Ryan Thomas | Word doc |
| Listen to the Details | a lesson on how students can find good adjectives to use in their writing drafts | Victoria Anderson | Word doc |
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