IB English B TEXT TYPES SKILLS SUPPORT: Sentence Variety SWIRL Lesson

TEXT TYPES SKILLS SUPPORT SWIRL LESSON: Sentence Variety
(60 minutes – May take longer)

This lesson supports the writing of all text types.

Resources:

1. No-prep, ready-made SLIDESHOW
2. Handout resources

Lesson Outcome:
By the end of this lesson, your students will have used a jigsaw activity to teach each other 18 different ways to vary their sentences, incorporating sentence starters, sentence expanders, sentence punctuation and sentence types. Students will have used what they have learned to improve weak paragraphs. Depending on the size of your class, these activities may take more than one lesson to complete.

Activities:

1. INTERACTIVE STARTER: to identify and discuss the flaws in poorly written paragraphs. (5 minutes)
2. Activity 1 SWIRL TASK: To use home-expert groups, peer teaching, group writing, and jigsaw learning to practise applying 18 sentence-variety tips to improve a weak paragraph. (50 minutes)
   PLENARY: to identify ways that other groups have improved their paragraphs. (5 minutes)
   HOMEWORK: To text each other using the sentence variety tips learned in the lesson.

Apart from the need to print handouts and a few bits of admin, this lesson is NO-PREP, INSTANTLY-USABLE.
(You just need to run through the slideshow to familiarise yourself with the lesson elements.)