The Mini Lesson

Ten Minutes: The Hook, The Strategy, The Practice

When I started this process, presenting mini lessons were a challenge. I knew what a mini lesson was, but I was unsure how to proceed in the writer’s workshop mini lesson. On what should I focus -- grammar, sentence structure, word choice -- there were so many components of good writing I wasn’t sure where to begin.

Again, the students gave me the answer. We had spent the first half of the year on grammar. As we pretended to do writer’s workshop, my mini lessons focused on conventions of writing. We had lessons on sentences, sentence structure, parts of speech, punctuation. These lessons culminated with a worksheet or an activity to practice the grammar skill. Finally, students were tested on the new skill to determine whether or not they had mastered the skill. The lessons were not bad, but they were not meaningful from a writing standpoint and I wasn’t seeing these skills and strategies incorporated into the student’s writing. In fact, I wasn’t seeing any measurable improvement in student writing. What was a teacher to do?

It’s funny how answers often present themselves in teaching. Before leaving for winter break, I gave students an overview of what to expect upon their return. The second half of the year we would focus on writing -- something I had always done even before the push for writer’s workshop. I started with a lesson on the writing rubric. We reviewed the rubric (with which they should have already been familiar) point by point. Some time during the lesson, a student suggested spending more time on each component of the rubric so students really understood what was expected and how to earn the points for each section. Then it clicked -- the rubric would be a good starting point for my mini lessons.

Over break, I got to work developing mini lessons (that had to be kept to 10 minutes) based on the rubric. I started with the first domain -- Focus. It was work, but in the end worthwhile. First, the domain had to be dissected. What was expected of students to earn full points and how did a piece of writing exhibit focus? I decided to keep it simple and relate the focus of a piece of writing to the introductory paragraph. If you had a strong introduction, focus would automatically follow, I reasoned. Next, I determined what made a strong introductory paragraph for middle school? Of course, you need a thesis statement. Then you need the main points to support your thesis. Finally, a hook or opening style makes for more interesting reading. (see the appendix for mini lessons on focus).

One challenge was sticking to the timeframe so that there would be time to complete the entire workshop without sacrificing my reading block. I wanted my reading block to be 40-45 minutes and my writing block to be the same time. That meant that my mini lesson could not exceed 10 minutes and that included some student practice. I realized the practice could be incorporated into the writing time and proceeded with my five to 10 minute mini lessons.

The writer’s workshop was taking shape and the first week of mini lessons were successful. At the end of the week, most students had a number of opening paragraphs using the strategies from the mini lessons. They really enjoyed playing with the opening styles to write an attention grabber than would make a reader want to continue reading their paper. The first day the hook was introduced, we stuck to three opening styles: ask a question, the anecdote, and a startling fact. The second session on opening style, I presented a list of 10 opening styles and asked students to choose two or three and write an opening line for a paper based on a prompt.

I had five prompts pre-selected and made it clear students were not writing an entire essay, but focusing on the opening paragraph. If they finished the assignment, students were instructed to do journal writing. We decided that some students would have much to write and others would stare at a blank page if they didn’t have some direction. I searched daily journal prompts and found many websites with good ideas. A little cut and paste, and each day of journal writing, I had directions to write about a topic of your choice and five or six ideas to write about. The ideas were as simple as Write about something you saw on your way to school this morning to more complex ideas such as Does freedom of speech mean we can say anything we want?

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What exactly is a mini lesson? According to Peha, “ A mini-lesson is a short, teacher-led discussion of a single writing concept.” He goes on to explain that the mini lesson has three components: brevity; focus; authenticity. First, the mini lesson should be brief. The recommended time is five to 15 minutes. It should have a tight focus. Peha gives the example of the comma. The mini lesson should focus on one use of the comma, for instance, using the comma in a series. Other uses for the comma will be introduced in other lessons. Finally, the lesson should be authentic. That is, the student writer should be able to use the skill immediately.

Armed with this information, I tweaked my mini lessons to fit the criteria Peha suggested. I also used this information to reflect on my grammar lessons in the first half of the year and how I would restructure them for the following year. Conventions is a domain on the rubric and these skills cannot be neglected, although I realized the grammar lessons needed to be more focused and deliberate. Another realization is there did not have to be a particular order to the conventions lesson. In other words, a lesson on using the comma in compound and complex sentences could be a mini lesson while discussing sentence structure while using commas in a series could be included in a lessons about a writer’s use of sets of three. The other ah-ha moment was that the lessons needed to be narrow to the point of focusing on one piece of a skill. For example, rather than a lesson on types of sentences, the mini lesson focuses on the complex sentence.

The focus lessons were completed and I felt good about the lessons and how I would present the lessons. And thus we started the writer’s workshop. The first week, the mini lessons on focus went very well. I didn’t spend too much time on the thesis statement as the social studies teacher on my team presented an entire unit on writing a thesis statement and continued reinforcing the skill in her classroom. She also had students write numerous essays related to the topics they were discussing in the social studies classroom, so I felt they had good prior knowledge of writing a thesis statement. My focus was using a prompt to write a thesis statement. I presented my five pre-selected prompts and used the I do-We do-You do model. Students chose a prompt that was not part of the direct instruction or shared lesson and wrote their own thesis statement. The next lesson was developing three main points to support the thesis. Finally, two lessons on getting your audience’s attention. I was feeling good and the students seemed to be enjoying the lessons and the journal time. But, it was only week one.

The next week I moved to the next domain on the writing rubric: content. The lessons were horrible. In retrospect, this area of the rubric could have been many more lessons. I did not break down the skills required to meet the requirements for this rubric domain and tried to simplify content into three areas: evidence, examples, and explanations. While I still believe these are the three components required to elaborate on a supporting point, each “E” should have been at least four or five mini lessons, rather than one lesson for each area. For example, evidence could include lessons on finding evidence from a short story, from research, from an expert. There could be lessons on how to introduce evidence and how to cite evidence. Conferences could include advanced lessons on citing evidence by integrating quotes from the text and your own words to remediation lessons to identify relevant evidence from the text.

Creating mini lessons that are interesting, engaging, and authentic is challenging. The focus lessons went very well (although they did not exhaust every skill required for an effective and narrow focus), but that turned out to be dumb luck.

The mini lesson is formatted like every lesson. It has a hook, direct instruction, practice, and wrap up. The only difference is the time.