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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Adding Support and Detail Without Getting Arrested!

This lesson plan is designed to teach students the concept of using facts to support ideas and to interpret (elaborate on) those facts in order to create a synthesized paragraph.

A lesson plan for grades 9–11 English Language Arts

By Bonnie Mcmurray and Julie Joslin

About the authors

Julie Joslin is a literacy specialist with Rowan-Salisbury Schools.

Bonnie McMurray is a curriculum coordinator with Union County Public Schools.

Learn more

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • identify important supporting information.
  • elaborate on information in order to draw connections for readers.
  • compose well-supported paragraphs.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1-2 Hours

Materials/resources

Technology resources

Overhead projector (or board)

Pre-activities

Minilesson on plagarism and how to avoid it. Give students the handout 2×4 card. Discuss with students.

Activities

Modeling

  1. Explain to students that they will be learning to distinguish between facts with documented sources, which are found outside themselves, and the author’s interpretation of the facts, which comes from within the author. Explain that good informational writers don’t just provide facts, they also interpret those facts for their readers. Tell students that this method is an effective way to compose any essay or report because it helps the writer distinguish between details (facts) and elaboration (interpretations, generalizations, conclusions, etc.). It also prevents students from listing facts without adequate interpretation.
  2. On the overhead (or board) make three columns. Label the first column “Fact,” the second column “Source,” and the third column, “Interpretation.” In the first column, “Fact,” write the statement, “It is 60 degrees F.” Tell students that this is a fact that can be verified. In the second column, “Source,” write down the source of the fact, “according to the National Weather Service thermometer at the Raleigh-Durham International airport.” Then, in the third column, write down your interpretation of the fact, “;It is warm outside.” Tell students that another person may interpret this fact to mean, “It is cold outside.”
  3. Pass out a nonfiction article of your choosing to students. A good source of informational articles are government websites. This article on “Cigarettes and Other Nicotine Products” is available at the National Institute on Drug Abuse website.
  4. Read the passage aloud as a class. Ask students to come up with three relevant facts from the article.
  5. On the overhead (or board) make three columns. The teacher writes down the three pieces of information into the first column. For example, “In 1998, 60 million Americans were current cigarette smokers (28 percent of all Americans aged 12 and older).”
  6. Next, go through each of the three facts and have students find the source that the author cites for each fact and write the source in the second column, “Source.” In this case, the author does not cite the source of this fact, so put a question mark in the second column.
  7. Write the author’s interpretation of the fact in the third column. (If you would like, draw an arrow from the fact in the first column to the corresponding interpretation in the third column.) For the first fact, the author’s interpretation is that “Nicotine is one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States.”
  8. Repeat the above process for the remaining two facts, finding the source cited by the author and the author’s interpretation of the fact. Ask students which information needs to be documented (is a direct idea from the article)- the facts, and which information is generated by the writer-interpretation.

Guided Practice

  1. Using another informational article, have students find three facts about one of the drugs on the NIDA website and then complete the three column chart, this time providing their own interpretation of the facts they found (in column 3). Demonstrate for students how to combine the facts with their own interpretations to form a synthesized paragraph about the drug.
  2. Have students generate possible paragraphs based on the information.
  3. Share.

Independent Practice

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  1. Give students a nonfiction article.
  2. Pass out a Synthesis note sheet (which gives directions for the students) and a Blank note sheet to each student.
  3. Have students read their article and take down notes independently. (Be sure to remind students to stay on one topic.)
  4. Then, students form their own conclusions from their notes and create their own paragraph.

Closure

  1. Students can volunteer to read their paragraphs aloud and have the class discuss which information should be documented.
  2. Remind students that this method is an effective way to compose any essay or report because it helps the writer distinguish between facts and interpretatations (generalizations, conclusions, etc.). It also prevents students from listing facts without adequate interpretation.

Assessment

Read student paragraphs to determine if they included the following:

  • facts pertaining to one topic.
  • comments/elaboration to explain details.
  • appropriate documentation when necessary.

Supplemental information

Teachers must have copies of nonfiction articles for each student.

Attachments:

Related websites

NIDA InfoFacts: Cigarettes and Other Nicotine Products

NIDA InfoFacts: Science-Based Facts on Drug Abuse and Addiction

Comments

After students become familiar with this format, it can be used for longer essays/papers.

You could also use the worksheet to write literary analyses by using the first column for examples supporting a topic and the second column as interpretation of the examples.

This lesson was created as part of the NCDPI Writing Lessons for Writing Features Workshop. (Support and Elaboration)

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Grade 9 — English I

  • Goal 3: The learner will examine argumentation and develop informed opinions.
    • Objective 3.03: Support that informed opinion by:
      • providing relevant and convincing reasons.
      • using various types of evidence, such as experience or facts.
      • using appropriate and effective language, reasons, and organizational structure for the audience and purpose.
      • demonstrating awareness of the possible questions, concerns, or counterarguments of the audience.

Grade 10 — English II

  • Goal 3: The learner will defend argumentative positions on literary or nonliterary issues.
    • Objective 3.03: Respond to issues in literature in such a way that:
      • requires gathering of information to prove a particular point.
      • effectively uses reason and evidence to prove a given point.
      • emphasizes culturally significant events.
  • Goal 4: The learner will critically interpret and evaluate experiences, literature, language, and ideas.
    • Objective 4.01: Interpret a real-world event in a way that:
      • makes generalizations about the event supported by specific references.
      • reflects on observation and shows how the event affected the current viewpoint.
      • distinguishes fact from fiction and recognizes personal bias.

Grade 11 — English III

  • Goal 2: The learner will inform an audience by using a variety of media to research and explain insights into language and culture.
    • Objective 2.01: Research ideas, events, and/or movements related to United States culture by:
      - locating facts and details for purposeful elaboration.
      - organizing information to create a structure for purpose, audience, and context.
      - excluding extraneous information.
      -providing accurate documentation.
  • Goal 3: The learner will demonstrate increasing sophistication in defining issues and using argument effectively.
    • Objective 3.03: Use argumentation for:
      - interpreting researched information effectively.
      - establishing and defending a point of view.
      - addressing concerns of the opposition.
      - using logical strategies (e.g., deductive and inductive reasoning, syllogisms, analogies) and sophisticated techniques (e.g., rhetorical devices, parallelism, irony, concrete images).
      -developing a sense of completion.