TENSE BUSTER

Lesson Plan

Created by Lee Seidman

Introduction

Overview of Plan:

The following Language Arts grammatical lesson uses the "Intermediate" selection of the Tense Buster software. The lesson will focus on helping students recognize the use of passive voice in their writing. The average middle and high school student should be able to understand the content of the lesson and, with proper practice and encouraging feedback, master the skills it is demonstrating.

The teacher will use the software on a computer and LCD projector before the class and will direct student interaction. Students will not use the program on their own for this lesson; this is supposed to be an introduction to the rules of passive voice and having an instructor use the product to guide student learning would be best in this situation.

Overview of Software:

The Tense Buster software directly addresses enhancing students’ grammar skills in a variety of areas including predicate tenses and vocabulary using a variety of drills. The product presents the lessons in a straight-forward manner and offers plenty of online explanations and assistance to help the teacher.

Learning Objectives

The students will be able to:

Instructional Materials:

Lesson Sequence:

Initiation: (5-7 minutes)

  1. Inform students of today’s academic objectives and that by the end of the class, they will be able to recognize and modify passive voice sentences.

  2. Tell students that they will have two handouts – one that focuses on the rules of passive voice and one that introduces sixteen (16) new vocabulary words of which they will master five (5) by the period’s end.
  3. Ask if there are any questions before we start.

Body: (15-25 minutes)
  1. Invite students to take notes and remind them that there will be a quiz on the covered material in the forthcoming future. Also, it helps to inform students that the information will be necessary for other coursework and CAPT and CMT exams.
  2. Turn down the lights for glare and put the Tense Buster CD-ROM into the computer connected to the LCD projector.
  3. Click on START à PROGRAMS à CLARITY à TENSE BUSTER INTERMEDIATE to open the software package.
  4. Type in your name to get started.
  5. Hand out the rules of passive voice worksheet.
  6. Proceed to the introduction of the PASSIVE VOICE section of the software.
  7. Read aloud the selection and click on the highlighted words for explanations.

  8. Ask if there are any questions before trying out the first exercise.

  9. Click on NEXT to try out the first exercise. Call on students randomly by name to have them answer the questions.

  10. Move onto the next online assignment as dictated by the software.
  11. Use your judgment to determine how many exercises you wish to go through before the class seems to understand the passive voice. Some are better than others.
  12. When the software asks if you would like to work on some vocabulary, STOP!
  13. Hand out new vocabulary words.
  14. Have students write down five sentences using the new vocabulary words in the passive voice. Ask students to skip a couple of lines between sentences. Ask students to write their names at the top left-hand corner of the paper. Give students about five (5) minutes to do this.
  15. Have students exchange papers and ask them to re-write below the sentences their own versions of the same statements, but NOT in passive form. Have students write their names in the top right-hand corner of the paper this time. Give students another five (5) minutes to do this.
  16. If there is time remaining, have some students volunteer to read aloud the passive sentences they modified and how they changed them. If there is no time left, ask students to hand their work in.

Closure: (5-7 minutes)

  1. Explain that we have just learned about the passive voice and review some of the elements of it. Announce that the software will be available for them to sign out and use at their leisure.

  2. Assign the following homework: review the passive voice worksheet and write a sentence in the passive voice using each of the vocabulary words on the vocabulary sheet. Remind them that spelling and proper usage counts and that the homework will be collected first thing tomorrow.
  3. Wish students a good day and invite any confused students to stop by for extra help after school.

Evaluation or Assessment:


The teacher will assess student learning based on class participation, student questions, and by examining their written work over the next couple of days.

 

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