Lesson Plans for Organizational Patterns

Four Patterns of Organization

• A lesson plan for organizational patterns should include a brief introduction to the four patterns: time order, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and simple listing. Auditory learners benefit most from the teacher's oral description of the patterns. Including a handout with a description of the patterns in the lesson plan addresses the needs of the visual learners. Kinesthetic learners benefit from the hands-on activities in the rest of the lesson plan.

Time Order

• A time order pattern in writing organizes information in a chronological fashion according to the steps in a process or routine, when events took place or how something works. Including an activity in the lesson plan requiring the students to plan a classroom party teaches them about this pattern. The students generate a list of the things they will need to do before having the party.

Cause and Effect

• The cause and effect pattern explores the reasons underlying an event. A lesson plan to teach this pattern might include watching a movie about a war and asking the students to make notes about the reasons for the war.

Compare and Contrast

• The compare and contrast pattern looks at similarities and differences between things or at pros and cons of a particular course of action. A lesson plan to teach this pattern might include a board exercise or handout activity. The board activity requires the teacher to write a statement on the board such as "Facebook (blank) whereas Twitter (blank)." The teacher asks the students what words to put in the blank spaces. A handout activity requires the teacher to provide a sheet where the student is asked to comment on three characteristics of two different things. For example, students write their comments about the temperament, care and expense of dogs and then of cats.

Simple Listing

• The simple listing pattern logically divides a topic into smaller parts. A lesson plan to teach this pattern might include a working group to describe how wine is made. The process is broken down into smaller steps such as harvesting, preparing, fermenting and pressing the grapes followed by aging the wine.