Today's talk about writing essays included a bunch of pictures of Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco. Here's a picture of the city from that trip (Spring Break in 2011).
Dear class,
It was great to start another week with you today! I was really pleased with the work we did in class on your rough draft essays. On to the recap:
Critical Thinking and Analysis LT 2: I can explain connections between events, issues, problems, and concepts.
Knowledge LT 20: I can explain the impacts of nationalism and revolutionary movements.
Soundtrack: "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones. Selected for today because Matt in Period 3 suggested it, and there are all sorts of lyrics about historical events in the song.
AGENDA 2/9/15
Read Letters
The Most Important Skill
Graphic Organizing
Homework: Read the blog! Keep working on your World War I essay. Next news brief: Alice
News Brief: Jillian brought in this news article (and accompanying video!) for the news brief today: NYTimes.com - Soccer Stadium Stampede Kills at Least 25 in Egypt. Awful news out of Egypt - I spent a good portion of the weekend watching soccer - I'm glad I was able to do so from the safety of my home!
We talked about the weekend and assigned Alice to do the next news brief.
Finally, we also watched VICE News today, too.
The Most Important Skill: I said this in class and I really believe it: the ability to write (especially a good essay) is the most important skill that you will need in order to be successful in high school and college. Thus, this lecture was something I hope you paid very close attention to. Please see the PowerPoint below (remember that if the text doesn't show up in Google Docs, click "File" then "Download" and it should when you have a copy on your own computer):
The basics: every essay needs to start out with a "thesis statement" in the first paragraph (the introduction). Each of the three paragraphs after that should contain one main point you are trying to make. The format (or recipe) for those "body" paragraphs are like this: topic sentence, concrete detail/fact, concrete detail/fact, commentary/opinion, and then a concluding sentence. Finally, after the three body paragraphs, you will write a conclusion that restates the thesis. This is a LOT of information to try and learn, I know. That is why I am having you practice in class before I ask you to write me a real one at the end of the World War I unit.
Graphic Organizing: Based on the essay question on the last slide of the PowerPoint, I gave three different examples of "graphic organizing" your essay. I asked you to use one of these examples to start up your essay. If you missed class, here is one of the examples that you can use to start thinking about your essay:
Along with this, I gave the class a good format for writing a thesis (and even included one on World War I to start you off, if you were having trouble):
Hopefully this made sense. It is okay if it does not right away. That is why we are practicing!
For the rest of class, I had you start up your essays using your graphic organizers - then the actual writing if you finished that. Here are the prompts that we were using (the last slide of the PowerPoint):
Question: Why did World War I start and what happened at the beginning of it?
Words to use: militarism, alliances, imperialism, nationalism, Franz Ferdinand, Sarajevo, Triple Alliance, Triple Entente, June 28th 1914, trenches, Eastern Front, Western Front.
Use your notes! Cite my presentation as (Fritz Lecture) for any concrete details directly from me. You can also use the textbook, if you like.
Again, we will continue working on this in class. The essay is not homework (unless you haven't started it, in which case, it is) - I want to help you through each step this time. Next time, it will be an actual assignment/test. You will be including your work here with that final assignment - so it is not like this work will not count.
Phew! I know that is a lot. Please let me know if you have any questions!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please enter your comment. I will review the comments before posting them to the blog, so don't worry if you don't see yours pop up right away. Remember, do your best with spelling and grammar! :-)