Bend 1 Session 2B (Argument) Mentor Essay

You know what a claim is and how to write one.

You know a STRUCTURE of an argument essay or literary essay.

You have annotated the text for examples and tried to analyze the text.


Now let's look at a MENTOR text of an argument essay for "Raymond's Run"


Cut or  highlight/color code the sections of the structure in Yuko's Mentor text. 

Homework: Write your argument essay for your claim about Squeaky.  

Bend 1 Session 2 (Argument) Raymond's Run

Listen to and/or follow along to 

"Raymond's Run"


After reading the text talk about which character would be the best one to choose to write a literary essay about and why.

Squeaky would be the best character to choose to write a claim about due to the fact that there is a large about of material to use to back up our claim and this is the character that we get to know the most.


Ticket out the door:  Write a claim about Squeaky

Homework: Annotate "Raymond's Run"
Look for examples to help support your claim and TRY and analyze or give an explanation as to WHY Squeaky did, said, acted like she did in the margins of the text.  

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 :)

Pre-Teach Day 2 (Argument Character) Structure

Review Definition of Claim

Teach: Essay Structure Outline

Pre-Teach Day 1 (Argument Character) Claim

Making  a Claim

What is a claim?

Examples from the story Everything Will Be OK

* Pass out a list of Character Traits or create a list
*Discuss how some character traits are "universal" and then others are help describe the "universal" trait.

                                                              Leader (universal)
                             Hardworking, Determined, and Well Spoken (helper traits)

**Remember your claim MUST include:

• Title of Text 
• Author
• Claim

Practice: With a partner from your literature group, create a claim for a prior story you have read.  Your ticket out the door is your claim on an index card.

Argument Essay PreAssessment

Remember the story "Everything Will be Okay" that we used as our mentor text in our Personal Narrative Unit.

We spent many classes discussing characters (personalities), themes (ideas), plot (actions) and we formed opinions about many aspects of this story.

You will have 45 minutes to write an essay in which you will write your opinion or claim about the story "Everything Will Be Okay" and argue why it is right, telling reasons why you feel that way.  When you do this, draw on everything you know about essays. 

Please keep in mind that you will need to plan, draft, revise, and edit in one sitting.

In your writing, make sure you:

• write an introduction
• State your claim
• Give reasons & evidence
• Organize your writing
• Acknowledge counterclaims
• Use transition words
• Write a conclusion

End of Unit Personal Narrative Writing on Demand

Let's See What You have learned!!!!

I am extremely eager to see what you have learned as writers in the past 6 weeks.  Today you will be able to show me.  Please write the best personal narrative, the best true story, that you can write.  Make this be the story of one time in your life.  You might focus on just a scene or two.  You will have only 45 minutes to write this true story, so you will need to plan, draft, revise, and edit in one sitting.  Write in a way that allows you to show off all you know about narrative writing.  In your writing, make sure you...

• Write a lead for your story
• Use transition words to tell what happened in order
• Elaborate to help readers picture your story
• Show don't tell what your story is "really" about
• Write an ending for you story

Good luck.  I know you will write a wonderful Personal Narrative!

Start Timer

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/timer/45minute/