Lesson 13 - Dialogue

🕐 Lesson Overview

Bellringer - Journal Writing
Notes: Dialogue
Why do writers use dialogue?
Terry Bisson
Begin Reading: "They're Made Out of Meat"

⭐ Objectives

I can analyze dialogue in a literary text.
I can identify the tone of a literary text.
I can identify a central idea in a literary text.

📏 Standards

🗽 NYSNGSS

8R1:
Cite textual evidence to strongly support an analysis of what the text says explicitly/implicitly and make logical inferences.
8R2:
Determine one or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; summarize a text.
8R3 - RL:
In literary texts, analyze how particular lines of dialogue or events propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.
8R4:
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings. Analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning, tone, and mood, including words with multiple meanings.
8R6 - RL:
In literary texts, analyze how the differences between the point of view, perspectives of the characters, the audience, or reader create effects such as mood and tone.
8L3:
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
8L4a:
Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
8L6:
Acquire and accurately use general academic and content-specific words and phrases; apply vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression.

🗒️ Lesson Plan

Anticipatory Set

Students will respond to the following bellringer prompt in their journals.

Writers often include dialogue in their stories. For example… "I don't want to go home," said Julia. She began to cry and then wailed, "I didn't even get to see the elephants!" Why do writers use dialogue? How does it move the story forward? What can it tell us about characters?

The teacher will take attendance as students write. Once sufficient time has elapsed, the teacher will invite students to share their responses. The class will then review the agenda and objectives.

Developmental Activity

Stuednts will takes notes on the two main types of dialogue in a story, copying the following definitions and examples into their journals:

Internal Dialogue: a character's inner thoughts and feelings

Ex. The man was very disheartened and he thought, "It would be better to share the last bit with the children."

External Dialogue: conversations, words spoken out loud

Ex. "Be quiet, Gretel," said Hansel, "and don't worry. I know what to do."

The teacher will caution students to copy the examples carefully, as writing and punctuating dialogue can be complicated. The teacher will talk through the examples and how they are punctuated.

Additionally, students will record the following notes in their journals on why writers use dialogue:

to move the events of the story forward

to highlight a character’s thoughts, feelings, and motivations (their point of view)

to add drama or detail

The teacher will show more examples of dialogue from a story and note the dialogue tags and how we begin new paragraphs when there is a new speaker.

The teacher will then introduce Terry Bisson, and the class will begin reading "They're Made Out of Meat." The Equity Sticks strategy may be utilized for whole-class participation, the teacher may select two student volunteers to be the two speakers in the story, or students may work in pairs and each read for one speaker. The latter two approaches may help reinforce the setup of the story; paired reading should be chosen only in a class full of confident readers as this foregoes teacher instruction and pauses for comprehension.

Closure

With five to ten minutes left in the period, the teacher will stop the reading and have students begin the "They're Made Out of Meat" Reading Check assignment. The expectation is that the class will finish reading the story in the following lesson.