Enhancing Understanding

This lesson focuses on the concept of absolute phrases, which are phrases that provide information about a sentence as a whole. An absolute phrase contains a noun or noun phrase and a modifier that follows and describes that noun or noun phrase. The lesson spans two class periods. On day 1, students will learn what absolute phrases are, explore examples of them, examine how writers use them, and consider the impact they have on writing. On day 2, students will review key ideas about absolute phrases, use them in writing, and reflect on the impact of this concept on the passages they write. At the end of the lesson sequence, students will answer an exit question about the importance of absolute phrases for strong writing. The lesson's objectives are: students will understand the concept of absolute phrases, students will understand the importance of absolute phrases for strong writing, and students will be able to use absolute phrases in their writing and reflect on the importance of doing so.