📋 Teaching Resources → ✍️ Writers Toolkit → 📖 Structuring for Clarity
Years 8-13 Reo Pākehā / English

Lesson Plan: Structuring for Clarity

Unit: The Writer's Toolkit | Time: 75 minutes

He Whakamārama (Rationale)

This lesson teaches students that a clear structure is like a skeleton for their writing—it holds everything together. By learning to identify and use common informational text structures, students can present their ideas logically, making their writing more effective and easier for the reader to understand.

Learning Intentions (WALT)

We are learning to...

  • Identify different informational text structures.
  • Understand when to use each structure.
  • Write a paragraph using a specific text structure.

Success Criteria (WILF)

What I'm looking for...

  • I can name three text structures and give an example for each.
  • I can match a topic to the best structure.
  • I can write a paragraph that clearly follows one of the structures.

Resources

Lesson Sequence (75 Minutes)

1. Starter: Unscramble the Story (10 mins)

Teacher Action: Provide students with a short paragraph (4-5 sentences) that has been cut up into individual sentences and jumbled. The paragraph should have a clear chronological order (e.g., the steps for making toast). In pairs, students must reassemble the paragraph into a logical order.

Student Action: Students work in pairs to sequence the sentences correctly. Discuss why their chosen order makes the most sense.

2. Introduction: Building a Framework (15 mins)

Teacher Action: Introduce the three main text structures from the handout: Chronological, Compare/Contrast, and Cause/Effect. For each one, draw a simple icon on the board (e.g., a timeline for chronological, a Venn diagram for compare/contrast, a flowchart for cause/effect). Briefly explain the purpose of each.

Student Action: Students take notes, perhaps sketching the icons next to the definitions on their handout.

3. "I Do" & "We Do": Structure Sorting (20 mins)

Teacher Action: Use the "Deconstruction" examples from the handout. Read the first one aloud ("Due to a lack of rainfall..."). Ask students: "Which structure is this? What are the signal words?" Confirm it's Cause/Effect. Repeat for the second example.

Teacher Action: Provide a list of writing topics on the board (e.g., "My first day of school," "Cats vs. Dogs," "The effects of social media," "How to make a pūrini"). As a class, sort the topics under the best text structure heading.

Student Action: Students participate in identifying the structures and sorting the topics.

4. "You Do": Independent Application (20 mins)

Teacher Action: Direct students to the "Application" task on their handout. Instruct them to choose one topic and write a short paragraph using the specified structure. Remind them to use the signal words.

Student Action: Students work independently to write their structured paragraph.

5. Plenary: Peer Review (10 mins)

Teacher Action: Have students share their paragraph with a partner. The partner's job is to identify the structure used and one signal word that proves it.

Student Action: Students read their partner's work and provide feedback based on the task instructions.

Differentiation & Teacher Notes

  • Support: Provide sentence frames for each structure (e.g., "The first thing that happened was... Then...", "One similarity is... however, a key difference is...", "Because of..., the main result was...").
  • Extension: Challenge students to write a paragraph that combines two structures. For example, a paragraph that compares and contrasts the causes of two different historical events.
  • Cultural Note: Briefly mention that whakapapa is a powerful and complex structure. It is chronological (listing generations in order) but also relational, showing the connections between people, places, and events, similar to cause and effect.

Curriculum alignment

  • English — Writing: Students will construct and communicate meaning using language features appropriate to purpose and audience.
  • Social Sciences: Understand how people participate individually and collectively in response to community challenges.

📋 Kaiako Planning Snapshot

Teacher planning support for this resource — learning intentions, success criteria, and inclusive practice guidance are summarised below.

Inclusion Guidance

  • ESOL / ELL learners: Pre-teach key vocabulary (informative, structures) using visual word walls or bilingual glossaries before the lesson. Reduce language load with diagrams and visual models. Partner-share and think-pair-share strategies encouraged.
  • Neurodiverse learners / ADHD: Break the lesson into clear segments with visual checkpoints. UDL principle: offer ākonga a choice in how they demonstrate understanding (verbal, written, visual/drawn). Provide anchor charts or reference cards for lesson plan concepts throughout.
  • Dyslexia: Provide audio-text alternatives for written materials. Use high-contrast fonts and generous line spacing. Allow voice recording as an alternative to written responses where possible.