Why Mini Lessons?
• According to Dr. David Sousa, author of How the Brain
Learns, new information needs to be conveyed to students
in segments of twelve to fifteen minutes.
• Students are allowed to practice the skill taught, and
practice helps transfer the information from short to long
term memory. Students should practice the skill 3 times:
once with the teacher, once with other students, and once
individually.
• Lev Vygotsky, a Russian cognitive developmentalist,
believed that “What the student can do in cooperation
today he can do alone tomorrow.”
Appositive Phrases
Sentence
Openers
One of eleven
brothers and
sisters, Harriet
was a moody,
willful child.
Subject-Verb
Splits
Poppa, a good quiet
man, spent the last
hours before our
parting moving
aimlessly about the
yard, keeping to himself
and avoiding me.
Sentence
Closers
The boy looked
at them, big
black ugly
insects.
Activity # 1
Discuss the characteristics of Appositive Phrases
a. struggled as usual
b.she
c. to maintain her calm, composed, friendly bearing
d.a sort of mask she wore all over her body
D.H. Lawrence, “The Blind Man”
Activity # 2
Identify the appositive
Unscramble the sentence parts and write out the
sentence, punctuating it correctly.
a. an old, bowlegged fellow in a pale-blue sweater
b.the judge
c. and was reading over some notes he had taken
d.had stopped examining the animals
e. on the back of a dirty envelope
Jessamyn West, “The Lesson”
Identify the appositive
Unscramble the sentence parts and write out the
sentence, punctuating it correctly.
Activity # 3
Study the model
Model: Beside the fireplace old Doctor Winter sat, bearded
and simple and benign, historian and physician to the town.
Unscramble and imitate the model
a. president and valedictorian of the senior class
b. by the podium
c. intelligent and composed and smiling
d. scholarly Henrietta stood
Imitate the same model by writing your own sentence.
Activity # 4
Study the model
Model: Mr. Cattanzara, a stocky, bald-headed man who
worked in a change booth on an IRT station, lived on the
next block after George’s, above a shoe repair store.
Combine the sentences and imitate the model
a. This is about Jan Carter.
b. She is an unabashed, suntanned flirt.
c. She had smiled at him in the cafeteria line.
d. She transferred to the department near Tom’s.
e. She transferred for a “chance” meeting.
Write your own sentence that imitates the model.
Activity # 5
At the slash mark, add an appositive phrase
My bed was an army cot, /.
He, /, had fled because of superior perceptions
and knowledge.
There was Major Hunter, /.
Activity # 6
Study the model
Elvis Presley, the famous king of 50’s rock and roll who
achieved fame overnight, made his first national appearance
on the “Ed Sullivan Show,” a live television music and
variety program during which the camera man was given
special directions for shooting the Presley performance.
Write a sentence containing two appositive phrases
that identify two different objects, persons, or places
within the same sentence. Each of the two phrases
must be at least ten words long.
Examining Sentence Construction
Count #
of words
in 1st
15
sentences
4
12
3
etc.
Purpose?
Record 1st
5 words
in 1st
15
sentences
Record
verbs
in 1st
15
sentences
In our first year of
She went into the class
She did not talk to
etc.
went
have been
was
changed
etc.
Purpose?
Purpose?