Summary
In this lesson, students will read “They’re Made Out of Meat” by Terry Bisson and analyze its dialogue structure. They will focus on the significance of punctuation marks such as quotation marks, commas, and ellipses in conveying tone and meaning within a conversation. Through guided analysis and group discussions, students will explore how these punctuation marks shape the reader’s understanding of the characters and plot through dialogue. They will then practice writing their own dialogues using the techniques discussed. The lesson concludes with a reflection on how understanding punctuation can enhance writing and interpretation skills.
Essential Question(s)
How does dialogue impact the plot of a narrative?
Snapshot
Engage - Students participate in a Commit and Toss activity to engage with their favorite fictional character quotes.
Explore - Students identify parts of dialogue with a Sentence Scramble card sort.
Explain - Students read the short story “They’re Made Out of Meat” by Terry Bisson and begin to analyze examples of dialogue.
Extend - Students practice creating their own dialogue with a partner through a Google Doc digital conversation.
Evaluate - Students craft their own short story where dialogue drives the plot and use a 3-2-1 to reflect on the lesson.
Materials
Lesson Slides (attached)
Scrambled Quotes cards (attached; one set per pair)
Meat of the Conversation handout (attached; one per student)
They’re Made out of Meat handout (attached; one per student)
Paper
Pen/Pencil
Electronic device
Dry Erase sentence strips (optional; one strip per student)
Dry Erase markers (optional; one per student)
Engage
15 Minute(s)
Use the attached Lesson Slides to facilitate the following lesson. Begin the lesson by showing slides 2-4, which introduce the title of the lesson, the essential questions, and the learning objectives. Emphasize that the essential questions will be addressed throughout the lesson.
Display slide 5 and introduce students to the Commit and Toss instructional strategy. Distribute small strips of paper and ask them to jot down their favorite quote from a fictional character. Once they are done writing, ask students to crumple up their responses and toss them across the room or into an empty box.
Continue to slide 7. Have students choose one crumpled up piece of paper and read it aloud. As responses are read aloud, ask students what makes these quotes memorable. Write some of their responses on the board or a poster to refer back to. Have students attach their quote to the board next to the student responses you wrote down from the earlier class discussion. Organize these thoughts in a way that makes sense for you and your class to create an inspiration board.
Explore
25 Minute(s)
Display slide 8 and introduce students to the instructional strategy Sentence Scramble. Explain that students will receive a set of cards that have either phrases or punctuation marks on them and it’s their task to arrange them to make a grammatically correct sentence. Pass out one set per group of the attached Scrambled Quotes Cards cards. Arrange students in pairs or groups of three, then ask students to arrange the cards in what they believe to be the correct order. Allow five minutes for this activity. Once completed, ask a few students to share-out their sentences and encourage feedback from other students. They should notice that if they put the dialogue tag after questions, there is a leftover comma in their set of cards. Give students the opportunity to change their sorted sentence cards at this time. Ask students to explain what they changed and why. Transition through slides 9 and 10 to review the answers in as much detail as you feel necessary.
Explain
40 Minute(s)
Move to slide 11 and pass out the attached They’re Made Out of Meat handout to every student. Explain that this short story by Terry Bisson is made completely out of dialogue from two characters. Read the story as a class.
After the class has read the story, move to slide 12 and ask students what they noticed about the structure of the short story.
Ask students what they think would have been lost or gained if the author included narrative writing as well as the dialogue. Consider the following discussion questions: Would we have been distracted from the conversation? Would it have taken away from the mystery?
Pass out the attached Meat of the Conversation handout, then transition to slide 13 and display the list of definitions related to dialogue. As you use the slide to explain the different features of dialogue, tell students to write a reflection on what they’ve observed about each aspect of dialogue and how it is represented in the story.
Continue to slide 14 which displays examples of correctly punctuated dialogue. Ask students what they notice about the structure of these examples. Discuss how the punctuation changes based on the location of the dialogue tag and whether the sentence would normally end in a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point.
Extend
40 Minute(s)
Display slide 15 and group students into pairs. Have one student open up a Google Doc and share the doc with their partner, ensuring their partner has editing access. Once each pair has access to one Google Doc each, explain the digital conversation activity. Transition to slide 16 and ask students to have a digital conversation in their Google Doc about one or more of the questions on the slide: If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?, What did you do this summer?, What’s the most interesting place you’ve ever visited or want to visit?, What’s a book, movie, or show that you think everyone should experience?, What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received or given? (or feel free to choose your own prompt). Show the example on slide 17 and explain that students should go back and forth writing about what they did and asking questions all on the shared document versus saying anything aloud. Then move to slide 18 and explain that this digital conversation should take up about one single spaced page. Start the timer on the slide and give students about 10 minutes to complete the activity. You may consider toggling between slides 16-18 depending on the needs of your class. After the time has passed, ask students to add correct punctuation and dialogue tags to their Google Doc and discuss with their partner why they made the changes/additions they did. Use slide 19 as a guide if needed.
Once students have completed their chain conversation, continue to slide 20. Ask students “How does dialogue impact the plot of a narrative?” Ask students to compare their answers to their previous observations about their favorite quotes during the Engage portion of the lesson.
Evaluate
60 Minute(s)
Display slide 21. Pass out the attached Short Story Rubric handout. Instruct students to compose a 500-word short story that heavily relies on dialogue to propel the plot using the rubric as a guide. Explain that their short stories can be based on true events or entirely imagined. Inform students that short stories will be evaluated based on the rubric and they should use it to shape their short story.
Once all students have completed their short stories, move to slide 22 and have them complete a 3-2-1 reflection over the assignment. Ask students to respond to the following prompts regarding the essential question: What are 3 things you learned, 2 ways your writing was impacted, and 1 lingering question you have about dialogue? These reflections can either be written at the bottom of their short story or on a sticky note.
Resources
Bisson, T. (1990). They’re Made out of Meat. CommonLit. https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/they-re-made-out-of-meat
K20 Center. (n.d.). 3-2-1. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/117
K20 Center. (n.d.). Commit and toss. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/119
K20 Center. (n.d.). CommonLit. Tech Tool. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/2170
K20 Center. (n.d.). Gallery walk/carousel. Strategies. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/118
K20 Center. (n.d.). Google Docs. Tech Tools. https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/tech-tool/2327
K20 Center. (n.d.). Sentence Scramble. Strategies.https://learn.k20center.ou.edu/strategy/4073
OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT (GPT-4) [Large language model]. Used for title inspiration. https://chat.openai.com/