Language Arts Lesson Plans

Objective Observation

Objective: Language Arts: Students will…

Develop a clear, focused main idea (Grade 10 Writing Competency #1)
Demonstrate completeness (Grade 10 Writing Competency #2)
Make connections among ideas, paragraphs and sentences (Grade 10 Writing Competency #5)
Exhibit standard conventions (mechanics, usage, grammar, and spelling) (Grade 10 Writing Competency #8)

Procedure:

Explain to the students the difference between objective observations and subjective observations. Objective observations give the facts of the picture. They tell exactly what is in the picture. Subjective observation describes your personal feelings about the subject matter in the picture.

Show the students one of the pictures below or any picture that you would like to use. Try to select a picture that will have one objective observation (statements of facts about the picture) but could have several subjective observations — depending upon the view of the observer.

Have students write two paragraphs. The first paragraph will give an objective observation of the photo. It should tell about the form and structure of the picture. It should allow someone who has not seen the picture to see it in their minds through the description they have written.

The second paragraph should give a subjective observation of the picture. In this paragraph they should tell what type of visceral reaction they have to the picture. They should make statements like “This picture makes me think that…” or “I feel…..when I look at this picture.”

After the paragraphs are written, have some students read their descriptions of the pictures and compare the two observations.

Have a class discussion about the sameness of the objective observation and the variety of responses to the subjective observation.

Material: Picture that can have multiple subjective reactions.

Evaluation: Sample Writing Rubric

	Criteria				Points

	1	2	3	4
Organization	Sequence of information is difficult to follow.	Reader has difficulty following work because student jumps around.	Student presents information in logical sequence which reader can follow.	Information in logical, interesting sequence which reader can follow.	__________
Content Knowledge	Student does not have grasp of information; student cannot answer questions about subject.	Student is uncomfortable with content and is able to demonstrate basic concepts.	Student is at ease with content, but fails to elaborate.	Student demonstrates full knowledge (more than required).	__________
Grammar and Spelling	Work has four or more spelling errors and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has three misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no more than two misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors.	__________
Neatness	Work is Illegible.	Work has three or four areas that are sloppy.	Work has one or two areas that are sloppy.	Work is neatly done.	__________
Total					__________
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