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AFTER READING
OBJECTIVES
Genre Describing a Goal
Writer's Craft Supporting
Details
Writing Trait Voice
  • Identify the characteristics of describing a goal.
  • Describe a goal using effective supporting details.
  • Focus on voice.
  • Use a rubric.
ELL
Voice Encourage English learners to use a bilingual dictionary if available, to find powerful nouns to express goals. For example, purpose or persistence could express determination. See more writing support in the ELL and Transition Handbook.
Writing Trait
FOCUS/IDEAS The description
focuses on a personal goal and how it was reached.
ORGANIZATION/PARAGRAPHS
The experience is described in chronological order.
VOICE The writer's voice
communicates engagement
with the topic.
WORD CHOICE The writer uses
specific words to create relevant supporting details.
SENTENCES A variety of
sentence lengths and kinds are used for details.
CONVENTIONS Grammar and
mechanics are excellent, including use of contractions.
DAY 1
Model the Trait
DAY 2
Improve Writing
DAY 3
Prewrite and Draft
DAY 4
Draft and Revise
DAY 5
Connect to Unit Writing
READING-WRITING CONNECTION
  • America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle is a biography.
  • The goals described in America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle are expressed through the writer's clear, strong voice.
  • Students will describe a goal and use supporting details to tell how the writer prepared to reach her goals.
MODEL VOICE Discuss Writing Transparency 19A. Then discuss the model and the writing trait of voice.
Think Aloud The writer has told a personal story describing an important goal in his life. The author provided vivid details of how he planned to meet his goal and what it meant to him when he achieved it.
Writing Transparency 19A
with | without Answers
WRITER'S CRAFT
Supporting Details
Display Writing Transparency 19B. Read the directions and have students determine ways to add supporting details to a story.
Think Aloud USE SUPPORTING DETAILS Tomorrow we will write a description of a personal goal. I know that I must include details that support the main idea. They should help accomplish my purpose. The details should give the reader more facts about me or my goal, or they should be vivid descriptions of how things look and feel.
GUIDED WRITING Some students may need more help recognizing supporting details. Point out two or three paragraphs with a clearly stated main idea. Have students identify the supporting details that tell more about the main idea.
Writing Transparency
Writing Transparency 19B
with | without Answers
READ THE WRITING PROMPT
on page 107 in the Student Edition.
America's Champion Swimmer: Gertrude Ederle describes how Gertrude Ederle reached her goal of swimming across the English Channel.
Think about a goal you have reached or you want to reach.
Now write a description of that goal.
Writing Test Tips
  • Write opening sentences that state the goal and explain important background information.
  • List the details of achieving the goal in chronological order.
  • Write details that tell more about the main idea in a vivid way.
GETTING STARTED Students can do any of the following:
  • Create a concept map with Goals I Have Reached in the center.
  • Work with a group setting to name specific goals in categories such as sports, school, and friends.
  • Discuss goals that have been accomplished by other people, real or fictional.
EDITING/REVISING
CHECKLIST
  • Does the description focus
    on a goal and how it
    was achieved?
  • Does the description
    have relevant and
    effective supporting details?
  • Are contractions used correctly?
  • Are words with the suffixes
    -er, -or, -ess, and -ist spelled
    correctly?
See The Grammar and Writing Book, pp. 162–167.
Revising Tips
Voice
  • Support voice by choosing details that show what you did to prepare to reach your goal.
  • Choose details about the person that touch your feelings.
  • Show your feelings about the person.
PUBLISHING Students can illustrate their stories and publish them in a class magazine about goals. Some students may wish to revise their work later.
ASSESSMENT Use the scoring rubric to evaluate students' work.
Week 1
Poem 35g–35h
Week 2
Describe a Setting
59g–59h
Week 3
Memoir 85g–85h
Week 4
Describe a Goal
111g–111h
Week 5
Write About Plot
137g–137h
Story
PREVIEW THE UNIT PROMPT
Tell a story about a character who
is one of a kind. Focus on
an event that shows how this
person is unique. Your story may
be real or imagined, humorous
or serious.
APPLY
  • A story has a beginning,
    middle, and end and focuses
    on one incident or event.
  • A story often describes a
    character's goal and how the
    character reaches that goal.
Writing Workshop   Describe a Goal
Trait of the Week
Voice
 
   
Close  
Writing Trait Rubric  
4 3 2 1
Voice
Excellent sense of writer's attitude toward topic; strongly engages audience and speaks directly to them
Clear sense of how writer feels and thinks; engages audience
Some sense of how writer feels and thinks; weak attempt to engage audience
No sense of how writer feels and thinks about topic; no attempt to engage audience
Uses well-chosen words in description to clearly show feelings toward topic
Uses words in description that show some feelings about topic
Needs to use more words in description that show feelings about topic
Uses no words in description that
show feelings about topic