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Lesson plan sample
These are instructions for a teacher who needs to explain grammatical coordination and subordination to eighth graders. This lesson plan is part of Indiana's Curriculum Frameworks resource. Teachers use these plans and handouts to cover the state academic standards.
Title: Coordination and Subordination
Purpose: Students will use coordination and subordination to indicate clearly the relationship between ideas.
Materials:
For the teacher: young children's classic that uses simple sentences, chalk, chalkboard
For the students: the black line master (BLM) Gravity Day, pen or pencil
- Pre-Activity Discussion
- Read or recite a short selection from a young children's classic, such as Green Eggs and Ham. Use a selection that relies on simple sentences.
- Ask the students what kind of sentences the writer used (simple).
- Ask the students if they would want to sound like that writer when they write essays for school.
- Ask the students to identify what's different about the sentences they use in school papers (they're more complex).
- Explain that today the class will focus on two ways to combine ideas in sentences: coordination and subordination.
- Explain Coordination
- Ask the students what "to coordinate" means (to make people or things work together).
- Explain that we can use coordination to make two sentences work together as one.
- On the board, write two simple sentences next to each other (e.g., "My cat has fleas. My dog has ticks.").
- Ask the students how to combine the two sentences into one (use "and" or "but").
- Make the change on the board. Explain that this is an example of coordination. The two ideas don't affect each other, but they're connected with "and" or "but."
- Explain that the most common coordinators are "and," "but," and "or."
- Have the students give you examples of sentences using each word. Write a few of the sentences on the board, putting both clauses on the same level. Emphasize that the two ideas don't affect each other.
- Explain Subordination
- Ask the students what "to subordinate" means (to put something in a lower position).
- Explain that we can use subordination in a sentence to show how one idea depends on another.
- On the board, write a subordinate sentence. Put the subordinate clause next to but lower than the main idea. (E.g., write "Although my cat has fleas, I let her sit on my head." Put the first phrase lower than the second.)
- Identify the main idea in the sentence ("I let her sit on my head").
- Explain that the other phrase is subordinate because it can't stand alone. Its meaning depends on the main idea.
- Explain that common subordinators include the following:
- contrast: even though, although
- cause: because, since
- result: so that
- condition: if, unless
- time: as soon as, before, while, until
- Help the students come up with a sentence for each category above. Write the sentence on the board, putting the subordinate clause lower than the main idea.
- Edit the Story
- Distribute the BLM Gravity Day.
- Point out that the story uses simple sentences.
- Explain that the students will combine sentences to make the ideas clearer. Tell the students that they'll use both coordination and subordination.
- Emphasize that there's no one right way to revise the story.
- Have the students work alone or in pairs to edit the story.
- Close the Activity
- Go through the story as a class and have the students explain the changes they made.
- Focus on several changes, asking the students whether the new sentence uses coordination or subordination.
- Ask the students how the revisions improve the flow or clarity of the story.
Classroom Assessment
Ask students the following questions:
- What is an example of coordination?
- What's a word you can use to show that one phrase depends on another?
- How did you revise the first sentence of the story?
- In the entire story, did you use mostly coordination or subordination?
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