In this lesson plan, the traditional autobiography writing project is given a twist as students write alphabiographies—recording an event, person, object, or feeling associated with each letter of the alphabet. Students are introduced to the idea of the alphabiography through a presentation giving the instructions of how to create guidelines for writing their own alphabiographies. Students create an entry for each letter of the alphabet, writing about an important event from their lives. After the entry for each letter, students sum up the stories by writing the life lessons they learned from the events. Since this type of autobiography breaks out of chronological order, students can choose what has been important in their lives. And since the writing pieces are short, even reluctant writers are eager to write!

In this lesson, students learn why it is important to have personal values. Students will identify a list of core values and discuss how to bring these values into their everyday life and communities.

In this lesson students will read and analyze “The Flowers” by Alice Walker. Lesson 2 from the Author’s Craft unit focuses on diction.  Students will examine how Walker’s word choice creates tonal shifts in the story that support the theme. The lesson requires student to collect evidence, discuss, and complete a writing assignment in which they continue the story while using diction to maintain the tone. Image source:  "Rose" by Kapa65 on Pixabay.com.

This lesson is to foster an understanding of how screenplay ideas are written, developed and supported with events, characters, dialogue, and other elements.

Note: Original .01 Ideas Lesson Plan created by Albion Movie, Inc.; this version modified for Adult Learners with their permission.

This lesson is designed to apply Common Core State Standards and facilitate a comparison of informational texts and primary source material from the Scottsboro Boys trials of the 1931 and 1933, and the fictional trial in Harper Lee's novel, To Kill A Mockingbird (1960).

This is an image with strong contrasts of light and dark employed for the purposes of a writing prompt for a high school Engish 1 course. 

  Lesson TitleWriting your FIRST ScreenPlay for a Commercial TV Ad. !  AbstractThis lesson focuses on writing activity where the learner will explore and perform research activity and involve with other co-participants in brainstorming sessions.  Observing and analyzing the characters, objects and the way the flow of story will be experienced. The learners will be involved either individually or in a group activity while performing the tasks.  The final product will be creating a storyboard on screen through goanimate.com by the learner to visualize the screenplay on computers and edit.  Learner Audience / Primary UsersThis lesson has been developed for adult learners who want to improve their ability to read, write, listen and speak  English text.  As a demonstration activity in class, the learners will be watching a series of eight short video clips and extract the elements in bullet points to be performed. Learners will be observing very carefully as a self-study activity. Learners will note the relevant information in a paper or type in a word processor or in google drive for collaborative online discussion. The final product would be to write screenplay with characters, dialogues, scenes, music, objects required and create an electronic portfolio in Goanimate.com for visualizing and further improvement purpose in the screenplay.] Educational UseCurriculum / Instruction Language[English.] Material Type[Demonstration short video clips (8) Short Video Clips ] KeywordsDesigners for LearningAdult EducationStory outlineScene by Scene plottingCharacter bibleLinkedInRecruitersJobseekersDialoguesVoice to text toolSubjectResumePost Interview TechniquesActionStandardized format of screenplayGoanimate.com Time Required for Lesson4  classes ( 60 minutes each class). Targeted SkillsKey skills covered in this lesson include:Language Writing, Reading, Speaking, Listening, Interpersonal skills, Analytical Skills, Creativity Skills, Communication Skills, Critical thinking skills, Collaborative Skills. Visualizing skills Learning ObjectivesBy the end of this lesson, the learner should be able to:Read closely, write clearly, edit and understand written english textIdentify and list various types of commercial advertisement through researching in youtube.Analyze objects, characters, dialogues, scenes, sounds, costumes, setup in all the ads.Use a wordprocessor or google drive word doc and type/edit sequential events with characters and corresponding dialoguesCompose and edit the screenplay after brainstorming session.Develop an electronic portfolio of the screenplay in Goanimate.com for visualizing for further improvement. College & Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) AlignmentLevel: Adult EducationGrade Level: CCRS Grade Level E ( 9 - 12-grade reading level )Subject: English Language Arts / Literacy Domain or Strand: CCRS Writing Strand Domain: English Language ArtsStrand: English Language Arts:Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening Sub-strand: Reading of Informational Text, Literature,  History/Social Studies Text, or Scientific and Technical text, or Writing of History/Social Studies, or Scientific and Technical subjects)Standard Description: [CCR Anchor 3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences for a TV commercial advertisement] Prior Knowledge Very basic conversational EnglishWord processing software MS WordTyping SkillsInternet searching skills through googleBasic Google Word DocsBasic Reading skillsBasic Drawing SkillsBasic Animation] Required ResourcesSkilled teacher with experience teaching learners of ESLComputer,InternetPrinterPencil Scale / RulerBlank A3 SizeSketch PenHeadsets with microphone for listening to Youtube commercial advertisementsPrintout: Standardized format sample copyPrintout: Assignments  Lesson Author & License Lesson Author: [Salim Pinjar]License: [ Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license ] Part 2: LessonInstructional Strategies and ActivitiesWarm-UpTime: 20 minutesThe Instructor introduces with learners and asks students to introduce themselves, background and what they want to be after two years. The instructor will explain the activity in brief on how to  research on any five commercial advertisements in youtube,  The learners will create a list in bullet format targeted audience, product, duration in seconds, characters, Dialogues,Objects.Background Sound / MusicWrite the story outline on any one of the five commercial observed and liked the most.Assignment 1: Create an activity to focus on the topic to be taughtAs a writing practice, write every single day that just doesn't apply to a screenplay, any kind of writing. Repeat the writing activity of story outline for the remaining commercial advertisements that were observed.Assignment 2: The learners will use feature of google tool voice to text tool feature for writing screenplay without typing in google docs.  IntroductionTime: 30 minutesThe instructor will explain about following viewing tasks to the learners in brief for the given link. The learners need to summarize in writing for all 8 short clips.   ·         Describe the purpose by stating and writing the objectiveo   Story outlining :  The instructor will describe the purpose of the storyline and how this will explore the learner's analytical skills.  The learners after watching, whatever had been observed, heard and imagined need to be specified in writing.o   Scene by Scene plotting:  This will benefit the learner the writing skills by presenting it specifically in context for each scene. The minute details, expression, dress, the camera angles, the number of scenes and its duration.o   Character Bible: This activity will help to know the character or person's characteristics, personality, behavior that needs to be known while building a character. The main focus will be on the subject of the video that was observed, what kind of information is being delivered, who are targeted audience. Assignment 3: o   Story outline:  Describe in broad strokes what happens in the short clips titled "Make Recruiters come to you" Assignment 4:o   Scene – by – scene plotting : Create a series of notes (8) and write down that happens in the short video clips provided  ("Make Recruiters come to you")on each note. Assignment 5o   Character bible: Write up a list of characters with few paragraphs who they are, where they have been and what motivates them in the videos observed. ·         Describe the content and benefits by relating the objective to learner's livesThe Instructor will tell the learners to watch carefully the content of below-mentioned titles by clicking the URL given above. This activity will help the learners in knowing the current trend of job search about how to make the recruiters attract towards you.  The learners will observe, read and write points from the available transcript in each title given below.1.       Welcome (Duration: 1m 10s)2.       The state of job search today (Duration: 1m 37s)3.       A Recruiter's typical day (Duration: 3m, 14s)4.       How a recruiter searches for you on 'LinkedIn' (Duration: 1m 49s)5.       Optimize your LinkedIn profile for recruiters (Duration: 1m 49s)6.       Delight a recruiter with your resume (Duration: 3m 29s)7.       How to hook a recruiter with your cover letter and follow-up with a recruiter (Duration: 2m 18s)8.       How to connect with a recruiter (Duration: 2m 18s)9.       Post-interview techniques that impress recruiters  (Duration:v3m 9s)Assess learners' prior knowledge of the new material by asking oral questions on following topics The Instructor will ask the learners the definition and main uses and advantage of Screenplay  o   Story outlineo   Scene by Scene plottingo   Character Bible] Presentation / Modeling / DemonstrationTime: 30 minutes[Create an activity to introduce new vocabularyAssignment 6o   Select the video clip no. 1 to 5 and click the transcript tab to write the dialogues displayed on the screen.Assignment 7o   Describe in broad strokes what happens in the video as a job seeker which should include the journey ahead by setting up circumstances, challenges faced in short, sweet, and simple.The learners will Introduce new information (jobseeker) with a variety of strategies using visuals, description, explanation, written text.Assignment 8Create illustrations by hand five scenes for the circumstances, challenges faced  as a recruiter  (Note: Each scene is one-minute duration in actual video clip.)·         Check for level of learner understanding by asking questions, using polls, etc (comprehension check)Assignment 9o   Mention the total number of characters, background scenes, objects, costumes, accessories and references of information delivered given in video clips 1-5. Assignment 10o   Write the dialogues for clips 1-8 in bulleted format in a paper or can use a word processor/google drive ms-word] Guided PracticeTime: 30 minutes[·         Model the activity or skill that learners are to practice the activity or skillAssignment 11o   The instructor will ask the learners ‘What kind of revised setup would be suitable for the viewers to be more attractive in the clips 1-5?’ Assignment 12o   Learning log will be maintained in for voice recording with learner's voice over in goanimate.com.·         Instructor will monitor learner practice by moving around the room·         Provide an immediate feedback of the activity to learnersAssignment 13The instructor will ask the learners to find a sample copy of standardized format of screenplay writing from google search and print a copy.The instructor will provide a printout copy of standardized format for observation purpose and tell the learners to create the same template in MS Word or Google Drive MS docs..] EvaluationTime: 30 minutes[Create an activity to assess each learner's attainment of the objective Assignment 14o   Compare the first write-up with the copy of standardized format and identify the differences and submit to the instructor.· Assess using oral, written or applied performance assessmentsThe Instructor will ask verbally in the class to the learners about the standardized format of writing screenplay for eg.  the setup of page format, font, line spacing, paragraph spacing.o   MCQ quiz on keywordsAssignment 15o   Assignment to be given for writing the dialogues from the transcript tab from clips 6-8 ·         Create an activity that helps learners reflect on their learning and/or the strategies used to teach the lesson Assignment 16The instructor will ask the learners to have a group discussion among the learners  as follows ‘What kind of revised setup would be suitable for the viewers to be more attractive and informative in the clips 1-5?’As a job-seeker what additional information should be provided] ApplicationTime: 30 minutes[·         Provide an activity that requires learners to apply the learning beyond the lesson and connect their own lives Project 1 o   As a job-seeker create or illustrate 5 scenes of challenges faced by an adult learner in job searching.·         Provide an activity to transfer the skills: Writing activity for a given subject.Project 2o   A newly opened fast-food joint in the neighborhood,  write a screenplay that will help the owner in attracting people from different cultures and regions to come in and eat their delicious food inside the restaurant or place an order by phone from office, home for home delivery.Project 3o   Create one subject of your own by thinking of action and character and create an electronic portfolio in goanimate.com..] Key Terms and Concepts[o   Screenplayo   Story outlineo   Scene by Scene plottingo   Character Bibleo   Subject] Part 3: Supplementary Resources & ReferencesSupplementary Resources[Download below mentioned Reference book The Foundations of Screenwriting : A step by step guide from concept to finished script here.] References[LinkedIn Learning 8 videos "Make Recruiters Come To You".Textbook: - The Foundations of Screenwriting: A step by step guide from concept to finished script, by Syd Field, Revised Edition, 2005. Attribution Statements[LinkedIn Learning videos "Make Recruiters come to you".The Screenplay: A Guide to Getting it Done by Miguel Cima) ]