In one class I observed, I noticed the teacher trying to work on essays with his grade 7 students. He had an activity where the students first learned to pick apart an existing essay. They had to come to class with four coloured highlighters and were then given an essay to work with. The students had to go through the essay and using their different highlighters pick out the thesis of the essay and the three main arguments - each with a different colour. This enabled the students to visualize the structure of the essay and easily identify the main arguments.
Following this, the students had to go into each of the main paragraphs and further select the central argument, and using the same colour, highlight the supporting evidence. In this way, the students could learn to identify the important information and distinguish it from the "filler" of the essay. They were then given a handout (see below) on which they had to fill out the information they had discovered.
Over the next few lessons, students were working on writing their own essays and beginning to develop the skills around developing and supporting an argument. The students were working with standard five-paragraph essays and they went through building each paragraph one-at-a-time. First they would fill out the same handout with the points they wanted to make. After this, they would construct the introduction and submit it for revision. In the next class they would work on Paragraph 1, and again submit it for revision. They would also have received their introduction back and would have to make the necessary corrections before resubmitting it. In this way, students were able to work on their essays piece by piece and to see how to effectively construct an argumentative essay.
This type of essay instruction would most likely not work in a high school setting because the students will have already been working with essays for some time, but it did seem to be a rather effective way to introduce essay writing to a younger class who had not had much experience with essay writing.
Over the next few lessons, students were working on writing their own essays and beginning to develop the skills around developing and supporting an argument. The students were working with standard five-paragraph essays and they went through building each paragraph one-at-a-time. First they would fill out the same handout with the points they wanted to make. After this, they would construct the introduction and submit it for revision. In the next class they would work on Paragraph 1, and again submit it for revision. They would also have received their introduction back and would have to make the necessary corrections before resubmitting it. In this way, students were able to work on their essays piece by piece and to see how to effectively construct an argumentative essay.
This type of essay instruction would most likely not work in a high school setting because the students will have already been working with essays for some time, but it did seem to be a rather effective way to introduce essay writing to a younger class who had not had much experience with essay writing.
Essay Writing Handout
Main argument (thesis): (blue) ______________________________________________________
Argument 1: (yellow) _____________________________________________________________
Main argument (thesis): (blue) ______________________________________________________
Argument 1: (yellow) _____________________________________________________________
Argument 2: (pink) _______________________________________________________________
Argument 3: (orange) _____________________________________________________________
Paragraph 1
Argument 1: (yellow) _____________________________________________________________
Supporting Evidence: (yellow) ______________________________________________________
Supporting Evidence: (yellow) ______________________________________________________
Supporting Evidence: (yellow) ______________________________________________________
Paragraph 2
Argument 2: (pink) _______________________________________________________________
Supporting Evidence: (pink) ________________________________________________________
Supporting Evidence: (pink) ________________________________________________________
Supporting Evidence: (pink) ________________________________________________________
Paragraph 3
Argument 3: (orange) _____________________________________________________________
Supporting Evidence: (orange) ______________________________________________________
Supporting Evidence: (orange) ______________________________________________________
Supporting Evidence: (orange) ______________________________________________________
Conclusion
Main argument (thesis): (blue) ______________________________________________________
Argument 1: (yellow) _____________________________________________________________
Argument 2: (pink) _______________________________________________________________
Argument 3: (orange) _____________________________________________________________
Conclusion
Conclusion
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