Modified Lesson Plan for a Five-Paragraph Essay Introduction Paragraph

Modified Lesson Plan for a Five-Paragraph Essay Introduction Paragraph
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Opening the Lesson

A five-paragraph essay introduction paragraph lesson plan will teach students how to craft this paragraph which must introduce the

entire essay, catch the reader’s attention, and make him want to keep reading. When teaching how to write an introduction paragraph, teachers will show examples of their own work or previous students’ on an overhead projector or Smartboard. They explain why the student chose each of the sentences in his paragraph. This is how the lesson on five-paragraph essay introduction paragraphs usually begins.

Using teacher strategies in special education is important when you are teaching struggling writers to write this paragraph. The best way to modify this lesson plan for special education students is to teach this over several days. Struggling writers will need to see many different examples of five-paragraph essay introduction paragraphs. They will also need a list of ways to start a five-paragraph essay that they can keep in a writing folder and refer to often. They will need to see an example of each of these such as an essay that starts with a question or with a statistic.

The keys to these teacher strategies in special education for struggling writers are that you need many examples, you should break down the whole five-paragraph essay introduction paragraph lesson into several days or weeks, and you would move slowly, assessing students’ understanding as you go along.

Writing the Introduction Paragraph

What usually happens next in the five-paragraph essay introduction paragraph lesson is that students work on their introduction paragraphs while the classroom teacher walks around the room and observes their work. She checks in with students who think they have completed a paragraph and points out the highlights and what they need to work on.

When using teacher strategies in special education to teach this lesson, you’ll need to write these paragraphs with a teacher-directed lesson. The special education teacher will have chart paper and write a paragraph along with her students. This modified lesson plan for a five-paragraph essay introduction paragraph would look something like this:

  • The teacher says, “We will write our beginning sentences now for our introduction paragraphs. Think about your topic you want to write about. Now, think of a question that someone might have about that topic. For example, I am writing about tricks you can teach your dog in my five-paragraph essay, so my first sentence is going to be: “What are some tricks you can teach a dog?”

  • The teacher will walk around the room and watch students write their first sentences of their five-paragraph essay introduction paragraphs. This teacher strategy in special education requires patience and a lot of trial and error with students while they attempt to write this paragraph with teacher direction.

  • Next, the teacher says: “Now we will write our first statement in our introduction paragraphs. It will be about the first body paragraph we will write. Look at your graphic organizers. What is your first paragraph going to be about? Mine is about teaching a dog to sit, so my next sentence is: One easy trick you can teach your dog is to sit.”

  • Then the teacher will walk around the room and help students write a sentence about their first body paragraphs.

The modified lesson on a five-paragraph essay introduction paragraph will continue in this way.

This post is part of the series: Modified Lesson Plans for Five Paragraph Essays

This series will provide several articles on ways to teach struggling writers how to write five-paragraph essays. There are modified lesson plans for intro and conclusion paragraphs, three-paragraph essays, and resources for sample essays.

  1. Teacher Strategies in Special Education: Five-Paragraph Essay Introduction Paragraph
  2. Resources for Special Education Teachers: Where to Find Sample Five-Paragraph Essays
  3. Special Education Teacher Challenges: Helping Students Write Five-Paragraph Essay Conclusions