Most textbooks have some form of drama in a unit of study, and one easy way to introduce the idea of quotation marks is with dialogue from a play. Take a short passage from the text and direct the students to rewrite it in paragraph form with quotation marks around the dialog. Using a short passage will reinforce the idea without overwhelming the students with too much writing.
One fun way to teach using quotation marks in dialogue involves cartoons from the Sunday paper. Cut a cartoon strip out and either cut out the speech bubble or cover it up, erasing the dialogue from the cartoon. Laminating the strips before class will make the cartoons last for the duration of the lesson. Have the students write their own conversation for the cartoon on a piece of paper in the form of a play where they give the speaker’s name, a colon and then the dialog. Then have the students rewrite the conversation in paragraph form, using quotation marks around each bit of dialog. This activity helps students to see the different speakers and how changing speakers requires adding quotation marks.
Incorporating movement into a lesson always helps special education students. Using the same idea as the cartoon activity above, let students pair up to write a short skit based on their cartoon. Give each pair some large, cut out speech bubbles to hold up every time a character in their skit has a line of dialogue. Then after all presentations are completed, direct the students to write out their skit in paragraph form, inserting quotation marks every time they held up a speech bubble. At first students feel silly holding up the bubbles in their presentations, but once they get comfortable, the lesson can generate some funny moments. And the process of holding up the speech bubble helps them to see the different speakers and when to punctuate the dialogue.
Searching the Internet will yield many lesson plan ideas for teaching quotation marks. With special education students, taking a lesson idea from a grade or two below level works best. Many websites have online games available as well, but these should be used primarily for enrichment or reinforcement rather than the initial teaching. Hands-on activities will help ensure the concepts stay with the students for the long term.