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ELA Lesson: Active and Passive Voice
Grade Level: 8
Lesson Summary: To pre-assess students, the teacher will project a series of sentences that use active
voice, emphasizing subject-verb-object. The teacher will then point out the different construction using
passive voice. Students will use guided practice to revise sentences from passive to active voice.
Advanced Learners will develop a narrative in passive voice and ask a partner to revise for active voice.
The teacher will break down active and passive construction with Struggling Learners and provide practice
revising sentences.
Lesson Objectives:
The students will know…
 construction that uses active voice.
 construction that uses passive voice.
The students will be able to…
 recognize active and passive voice.
 revise sentences from passive to active construction.
Learning Styles Targeted:
x
Visual
x
Auditory
Kinesthetic/Tactile
Pre-Assessment:
1) Project or write the following sentences on the board:
Jade sat on the couch and sighed. She opened the book and scanned the table of contents.
“Hmmm,” Jade said to herself. “I expected worse.”
2) Ask a gifted reader to read the sentences.
3) Ask students to circle all of the verbs in the sentences. Students should circle sat, sighed, opened,
scanned, said, and expected. Ask students to underline all of the subjects in the sentences.
Students should underline Jade, She, Jade, and I.
4) Ask students to imagine what Jade would do next. Challenge them to write a sentence that
contains a subject and a verb.
Whole-Class Instruction
Materials Needed: Notebooks; pens and pencils
Procedure:
1) Explain to students that the sentences used active verbs, that is, verbs that show an action
performed by a subject. Explain that some verbs are passive, that is, they show an action that is
performed or done to the subject.
2) Project the following sentence:
Suddenly, Jade was startled by a screech and a crash.
3) Ask a student to read the sentence. Point out to students that, in this sentence, while Jade is still
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the subject, she is no longer the one who performs the action.
4) Project the following:
To use the passive voice, the verb must


use a from of the verb “to be,”
use a preposition.
5) Project the following sentences:
Jade called the police.
The police were called by Jade.
The drivers were questioned by a police officer.
A police officer questioned the drivers.
The damaged cars were towed by a tow truck.
A tow truck towed the damaged cars.
6) Point out that, while passive voice isn’t wrong, it is usually not the best way to write a sentence
because it uses more words! It is best used when a writer wants to emphasize an action, rather
than the doer of the action, as in “The vote was taken.”
7) For guided practice, ask students to revise the following sentences by changing passive voice to
active voice. Remind students to make the object the subject, remove the preposition, and remove
the “to be” verb.
Jade was disturbed by the accident.
Mr. Odeon’s car was damaged by a van.
Mr. Odeon was taken to the hospital by an ambulance.
The van was moved away from traffic by my friend.
The neighborhood was shaken by these events.
8) For independent practice, challenge students to write a short paragraph that describes something
that happened that day. Challenge students to use one passive construction to emphasize an
action.
9) Ask students to give an example of an active and a passive verb.
Advanced Learner
Materials Needed: Notebook; pens or pencils
Procedure:
1) Break students into pairs. Ask each student to write five sentences in a passive voice that develop
a narrative.
2) Have students swap and revise each other’s sentences with active voice. Have students comment
on how the revision made the narrative more effective.
Struggling Learner
Materials Needed: Notebook; pens or pencils
Procedure:
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1) Review active construction with students: The dog chased a car. Joe painted the house. Sue played
the guitar. Ask students to identify the subject, verb, and object in each sentence.
2) Review with students that, in passive voice, the object becomes the subject: The car was chased
by the dog. See if students can identify the other changes in the sentence: a form of “to be”—
“was” —combined with a preposition—“by.”
3) Challenge students to revise the other two sentences: The house was painted by Joe. The guitar
was played by Sue.
4) Discuss these revisions with students. Point out what passive voice does to the action of the
sentence by making the object the subject. Pass out the worksheet for struggling learners. Ask
students to revise the following sentences from passive voice to active voice:
The call was made by Molly.
The boat was rowed by Chris.
Lunch was prepared by Mom.
The solo was sung by a trained musician.
The winning run was made by Rodriguez.
The lost letter was found by Alice.
Maria was succeeded as class president by Alma.
The largest contribution to the fund drive was made by my Uncle Max.
The lost kitten was rescued by Hector.
My version of “Yesterday” was drowned out by everybody else’s singing.
*see supplemental resources
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