Language Arts Lesson Plans

Objective Observation

Student Handout #1 | Student Handout #2

Objective: Language Arts: Students will…

• Develop a clear, focused main idea (Grade 10 Writing Competency #1)
• Demonstrate completeness (Grade 10 Writing Competency #2)
• Make connections among ideas, paragraphs and sentences (Grade 10 Writing Competency #5)
• Exhibit standard conventions (mechanics, usage, grammar, and spelling) (Grade 10 Writing Competency #8)

Procedure:

Explain to the students the difference between objective observations and subjective observations. Objective observations give the facts of the picture. They tell exactly what is in the picture. Subjective observation describes your personal feelings about the subject matter in the picture.

Show the students one of the pictures below or any picture that you would like to use. Try to select a picture that will have one objective observation (statements of facts about the picture) but could have several subjective observations — depending upon the view of the observer.

Have students write two paragraphs. The first paragraph will give an objective observation of the photo. It should tell about the form and structure of the picture. It should allow someone who has not seen the picture to see it in their minds through the description they have written.

The second paragraph should give a subjective observation of the picture. In this paragraph they should tell what type of visceral reaction they have to the picture. They should make statements like “This picture makes me think that…” or “I feel…..when I look at this picture.”

After the paragraphs are written, have some students read their descriptions of the pictures and compare the two observations.

Have a class discussion about the sameness of the objective observation and the variety of responses to the subjective observation.

Material: Picture that can have multiple subjective reactions.

Evaluation: Sample Writing Rubric