GED 2002 Teachers' Handbook of Lesson Plans

Activity Title - "Banana-Nut" Bread Descriptive Writing

Area/Skill – LA Reading and Writing

Cognitive Skill Level – Analysis and Application

Activity Title - "Banana-Nut" Bread Descriptive Writing

Goal/Objective

Students write a well-organized descriptive essay on a given topic, utilizing the rules of EAE.

Lesson Outline

Discuss "description writing" and review the four steps in the writing process.

Introduction

Discuss specifics of "description writing" process.

Activity

Students are given a snack of "banana-nut" bread. "Idea map" is completed as a group on board, with emphasis on the five senses. Students organize their ideas and write 200-word essay, using an introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion.

Debriefing/Evaluation Activity

Background of "family tradition" recipe will be discussed, and students will be asked to bring their own "family tradition" recipe for the next class period.

Materials, Texts, Realia, Handouts

Prepared "banana-nut" bread, sliced
Napkins
Copies of original recipe
Notebook paper and pen

Extension Activity

Students will use the recipe they have bought from their own family as a basis to write their own well-organized, 200-word description essay.

Ask for volunteers to prepare and bringtheir own "family tradition" recipes for class sampling.

ESE Accommodations

Have students prepare a set of vocabulary cards, using any unfamiliar terms in the recipe with the meanings on the reverse side.

Real-Life Connection

Preserving "family tradition" through the passing down of recipes.

Area/Skill – LA Reading and Writing

Cognitive Skill Level – Analysis and Application

Activity Title - "Banana-Nut Bread" Descriptive Writing

Introduction

Say: Descriptive writing tells readers what a person, place, or thing is like. A good description gives the reader vivid, detailed mental imagery, using specific details, colorful adjectives and adverbs, comparisons, and draws on the five senses. It begins with a topic sentence, contains supporting sentences, and ends with a good conclusion.

Main Activity

Review the four steps of the writing process: 1] gathering ideas, 2] organizing ideas, 3] writing the essay, 4] revising/editing. Pass out slices of banana-nut bread without comment. Students eat their treat while the teacher solicits responses for an "idea map" to describe the banana-nut bread, using the five senses as a focus. Gathered responses are noted on the board. Students decide an appropriate sequence and then number the ideas for use in individual descriptive essays. Draw on the newly organized "idea map" for composition. Allow 35 minutes for this activity.

Closure/Conclusion

The recipe for "banana-nut" bread will be distributed, and instructor will give students a family-history background of the recipe's origin. Ask students to bring one of their own family's traditional recipes for the next class.

Follow-up Lessons/Activities

Instructor reviews the last two steps in the writing process (revising/editing). Students are paired and essays from the previous day are distributed for peer-assisted editing and revising, using checklists provided by instructor.

Jane Farley's "Family Tradition" Banana-Nut Bread

Ingredients

1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup of stick margarine
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
4 tablespoons buttermilk (or sour milk)*
2 cups cake flour
½ tsp. salt
3 mashed bananas
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup of chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Directions

In large bowl cream sugar and margarine. Then, add eggs and beat hard. In a small bowl mix salt and cake flour. In measuring cup dissolve baking soda in buttermilk (or sour milk). On low mixer speed alternate adding flour and milk mixtures to the ingredients in the original bowl. Mash bananas and add slowly. Add vanilla and mix thoroughly. Stir in the chopped pecans (or walnuts).

Grease or spray a Bundt pan, tube pan, or 2 regular-size loaf pans. Pour the mixture into prepared pan(s). Bake at 325 degrees from 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hrs. or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10 - 15 min. before removing from pan(s). Finish cooling on cake rack.

Banana-nut bread freezes very well in zip-lock plastic bags. If desired, it can be topped with a powdered sugar-mashed banana glaze or sprinkled with sifted powdered sugar only.

Note

* If you do not have buttermilk, you can make sour milk by adding a heaping ½ tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar to whole milk.

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