Welcome

Why

    This lesson was based off of student questions.  After the first day of revisions, students filled out an exit ticket on what revisons they were still struggling with. Many students commented that they were unsure of how to make a strong hook. This lesson plan is based off the gap that students noticed in their own understanding.   

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How

Introduction:

1. "I want each group to pick 3 random books from our classroom bookshelves.  Then I want you to read aloud the first page of each book." Give groups a chance to read.

2. "Now that you have read them.  I want you to discuss with your group which book would you chose to read? Why? What about that book caught your attention?  List the attributes on the chart paper at your tables." Give students a chance to work. When done have students share what they found and then post their chart paper. 

 

Lesson:

1. "The first few lines of a story or selection are sometimes called the “hook” because they are meant to hook the reader into reading the rest of the text. Writers can do this a variety of ways.  They can start a story with dialogue, action, something unexpected, a contrast, a description of a character, description of a setting, a question or exclamation, or humor."  Put up chart paper labeled with one of these attributes on it. "I want you to reread the hook of the story you picked and decide which attribute it has.  Then I want you to write the hook on the list." Give students time to complete the activity. 

 

2. "Now I am going to give each of you some more examples of hooks, and I want you to determine which paper it goes on." Hand out one hook to each student. A few examples you can use are:

• "The bus and its passengers were never found. It was the first of the Time Tornadoes."

• "I come from a family with a lot of dead people"

• "We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck." 

 

Activity:

1. "Now I want us to practice our own.  You are going to work with your group to write an example of a question hook for your hunting journal." Have students practice writing.  Walk around the room and help as needed. Have groups share out.

 

2. Have the students repeat the process for each of the attributes.

 

3. "Now that you have practiced, I want your group to pick your favorite one and add it to your journal entry.  Then I want you to go through your other journal entries and add strong hooks." 

 

Closure:

1. Exit ticket: What was your favorite hook that you wrote today?

 

 

 

 

 

Results and Reflection

    I found that the students really engaged in this lesson, because it was created from their own desire to do better.  I was impressed with some of the hooks that they came up with.  The students really tried hard to create strong hooks that they thought other students would like to read.  There were a lot of great discussions, and laughter as they tried to come up with great hooks.  Below are some of the hooks the students came up with. 

 

• "Oh my god! Go and find cotton! Hurry! Hurry! Ouch! I have a cut!" screamed Keisha. 

• "We're going to freeze to death!" 

• The hunter wanted to kill us we when we were at Bethel. Who was the government working with? 

• Teddy, Hannah, Stephanie, and I  were freezing like a freezer full of icicles.