Harrison Bergeron-Day 4 Introductions

Oh writing! What an interesting, crazy, wonderfully frustrating thing to teach. After reading Harrison Bergeron and having students participate in a class discussion we write.

Below are the steps for the first stage of the writing portion of "Harrison Bergeron" in the 8th grade on a 45 minute class schedule. This is Day 4 of the unit. Take it, adapt it, and tweak it for your needs.

• Ask the students what a thesis statement is.
  
• Ask the students if they have ever written a thesis statement before. 
• Point to the poster board from Day 1 with the question
  
• Explain that each sticky note represents a thesis statement and that during discussion each student provided a thesis for an argument. 

• Next, have students write the word "hero" in their interactive notebooks and explore what the word means to them. 
  
• While students are completing this activity hand out introduction paragraph sentence starters. 
• Place the following prompt on the board.
  
• You can modify or change this prompt. A colleague provided me with a prompt and I modified it into the above for my 8th grade class.
• Read the prompt out loud.
• Ask what the prompt is asking.
• Instruct students to look at the handout.
  
• My students use this model for writing introductions and glue it into their interactive notebooks.
  

  

  
  

  
  

• Ask a student to identify the hook and the type of hook used. 
• Ask the students to reference back to their "hero" brainstorming.
•  Have the students use it to formulate a transition. 

• Ask a student to identify the claim in the thesis statement. 
• Give students at least 5 minutes to fill in reason 1 and reason 2. 

• Instruct a student write their introduction on the board. 
• Instruct a student identify the parts of the introduction. 
• Instruct a student identify the claim and reasons in the thesis. 
• Repeat at least 2 more times. 

• Instruct student re-copy their introduction below the handout. 
• Instruct students to underline the hook. 
• Instruct students to highlight the thesis. 
  

• If time allows have more students copy and identify their introductions on the board. 
• Make sure to walk around the room. I like to give the student a stamp on their page once they have completed the above steps.