Paragraph Writing Practice- Putting it together

After practicing Chunk Writing with direct quotes and commentary from our reading in class, I have students complete practice paragraphs. I use the below model:

Make sure to provide a prompt that can easily lend to a topic sentence.

Below is a mini-lesson from Ayn Rand's "Anthem" after reading Chapter 1-2 as an example when using the hand-out above. 

1. Provide the following prompt on the board
   
2. Write the following sentence starter on the board: "Equality does/does not accept the moral teachings of his society because (reason 1).
3. Discuss how this sentence starter is a topic sentence and was pulled from the prompt itself.
4. Below is a student sample I re-typed to demonstrate.
5. 
    Next, instruct students to pull a direct quote or paraphrase an example from the book for their Concrete Detail. Make sure they include the correct in-text citation.
   
   
   
   
6. Instruct students to explain their concrete detail. 
   
7. Instruct students to tell why this is important.
   
8. Instruct students to write their closing sentence. Make sure to stress not closing with a quote. This sentence must tie up and conclude.
   
9. Once students have completed the above steps. Instruct them to re-write the above in paragraph form. If time allows, instruct students to highlight and identify the different parts of the paragraph. 

Paragraph Practice-Chunks

Writing takes practice, a lot of practice and modeling. I believe in connecting writing to reading assignments. This not only allows for writing practice, it pulls in higher level thinking.

 One of the ways that I incorporate writing is by using writing templates for interactive notebooks. After reading a section or chapter I do the following: 

Review the term"direct quote"

Instruct students to select one significant direct quote from the chapter they read.
Instruct students to copy the quote and the page number on their handout.
Instruct students to explain "why" this quote is significant.
Explain that the "why" is their commentary

Instruct students to cut out and glue into notebook.

Here is an example of what one of my students wrote using Ayn Rand's "Anthem".

Once the students have completed the above, instruct the students to re-write the direct quote and explanation in "chunk form".
Provide an example on the board of what the final piece should look like using a quote and explanation from a student.
Explain how to take the page number and create a correct "in-text citation".

Below is an example of what the students finished "chunk" should look like. I had the students underline their lead-ins.

When reading a novel, students usually complete at least two of the above per chapter. 

When reading short stories students usually complete at least one of the above.

Freebie- Fall Quotes

I love everything fall, from the weather, food, boots, and pumpkin spice everything. In celebration of one of the most delightful times of year I've created these cute freebies to print and frame for decor in your classroom or your house. 

Right click to save and print on card stock. If you want to, you can save on a flash drive and print as a picture at Walgreens, CVS, etc. 

Voice Level Freebies

I had several e-mails asking for a chalkboard theme using the Voice Level Charts from an earlier post. Consider it an early, very early Christmas present!