Bend 1 Session1 (Argument Character) Three Little Pigs

Session 1: Essay Boot Camp

Connection:

Our new unit is on writing about reading, but you'll still do this writing in your writer's notebook, so get them out, and fold a page over to make a divider, setting off this new unit.

This unit is going to make you more skilled at expressing your ideas through literary essays. 

 Here is the thing about essay writing: if you can write essays well, that skill will take you places.  You will use this skill to ace any high school writing or to get into colleges.  And people write essays all the time in life, even though adults might not call them that.  People embed essays into emails trying to persuade their bosses to do something, into reviews of great video or computer games or shows.  

Teaching Point:

Today I want to teach you that when writing an essay, it can help to start with a clear sense of the structure in which you will be writing, and then you almost pour your content into that structure, changing the structure around if the content requires you to do so.

Teaching & Active Engagement:

1. Today we're going to write a flash-draft essay about a fairy tale.  This writing will get you warmed up for writing a real literary essay.  I've been thinking of a classic story that everyone knows: "The Three Little Pigs". 

I know this is a silly fairy tale for kids, but the simplicity of this story and the characters will make it easy for you to write your essay today.  To get the story into the front of your mind, quickly retell it to each other.  Think especially about the 3rd little pig because I think he is going to be our focus.  

(review story together when they finish- refer to p.5-6)

2.  To write an essay you need an idea that is important to you.  Today, I will suggest the claim or thesis for you to use...

"In the fairy tale "The Three Little Pigs" the third little pig is an admirable character because he is _______, _______, and ________."   

You will now think about the structure/outline you will use.  One of the simplest ways to organize an essay is to write about your reasons.  

Work with your partner to come up with reasons to support this claim. Think about whether you are going to be able to find support from the story to defend your point.  If you don't have any example, your claim won't stand. 

• The third little pig is an admirable character because A, because B, and most of all because C.
• (write this statement on chart paper -see p.6)

3.  Let's share what our reasons are.  
(Create thesis statement together- see p.7)

4.  Rehearse your 1st body paragraph

• Now that we have our structure, imagine what you would write if you had time to do so by rehearsing your 1st body paragraph.  This means you will say the exact words that you would write to your partner, don't talk about what you'd write. 
• Think of scenes or details from "The Three Little Pigs" that you can use to support, to illustrate, or to give an example of the fact that the third little pig works hard.  Start with the topic sentence for your 1st body paragraph...One reason why the third little pig is admirable is that he is ________.  For example...

• Bring class back together and share the first bit of the essay from p.8

• Tip: After citing an example, you need to "unpack" it, or analyze how it fits with your point.  Warning----HARDEST PART!!!!!
• So you need to add something like 
• "This shows..." or
•  "This illustrates..." 
• and then explain how the example fits the claim about the third pig.  
• And then repeat your claim.  
• Then, write a transition that gets you started on the next body paragraph, using terms like "Another reason..." or "Although one reason is...another reason is..."
• Reread the first bit of essay on p.8 and show students how it aligns with this structure

Link

Now flash-draft your entire essay in your writer's notebooks on the admirable character, the Third Little Pig.

Share

For share you will spend some time reviewing your essay and critiquing what you did with your partner.  Read each other's essays and make annotations in the margins as if you were the teacher.  Be sure to look for all the parts of the essay.

Homework

Finish annotating your partners essay, noting in the margins what you think.  If that is done then take your partners notes and rewrite your essay. Yes, rewrite :)