Argument Essay Mentor Text Text

Jonathan Friesen - Writing Coach

Read about the ideas behind intro body conclusion edited on dec 8, 2007 wanna help with this section? the writing guideline project argumentative texts: brainstorming it is particularly useful for argumentative texts to think in terms of categories of knowledge political, religious, personal, physical, social, historical, geographical, economic, artistic, sexual, moral, creative, psychological. Info taken from page 2 of how to write an essay/composition brainstorming exercise. Ideas for a reasoned opinion discursive text and for a for/against essay argumentative text. argumentative texts: aproaches 149 the obvious way to organize your material is under pros and cons, points for and against the argument.

A contrast between two different stands can help you write about the subject, make things easier. You will have to be clear about the point s you want to make and make those points. Try to say things which are relevant content and not vague comments and opinions. Is this the best order for the various points? decide which side of the argument you favour yourself, how best to counter the points put forward on the other side. 149 what kind of conclusion will you arrive at? you will usually end with your own view, the one you have been leading up to in your presentation of the argument. argumentative texts: structure 1 important: in textual analysis 2 you can find the classical structure structural outline with some useful expressions, and then other structural possibilities, like the pro con structure, the one sided argumentation or the eclectic approach. argumentative texts: structure 2 tips from your teacher whether you are doing a reading comprehension exercise with an argumentative text or you need to write an argumentative text, consider this: 149 fundamental info in title, topic sentences at the beginning of every paragraph.

149 intro what kind? a beginning? an overview? 149 body: one position the opposite position / one position another another. When it comes to writing assignments, we teachers will give students directions to write a convincing essay or draft a descriptive narrative followed by telling them how to earn a good grade on it. Many of us also hand out a rubric or criteria chart that tells all the expectations for the essay.

But, with all that there is to cover and the time crunch, we may sacrifice showing them mentor texts, examples of good writing. Let's take a moment to think of ourselves when we learn: do we understand something and apply it better when we are shown a finished product while also being told about it? i'm going to guess that most of us will say yes. Doesn't it help to scrutinize that already assembled bookshelf display at ikea before going home to those often confusing instructions? clearly, i speak from experience on this one. So if we want students to write a convincing persuasive essay that includes evidence, let's show them examples. If we want them to craft a descriptive story, filled with dialogue and details, we need to show them what this looks like and talk about. Now, i know what some of you are thinking: when i show them a student model it often gets copied or parroted back! and, yes this is a concern as we want all our students to work hard and create their own original and unique essay, story, or speech. Additionally, and i speak from experience as both a teacher and a writer on this one, nothing causes writer's block more than being handed an amazing model and then told, okay, now you write! so how do we keep students from mimicking or from freezing up? we have to give students time to talk about the mentor text, time to practice, and time to share their own efforts with peers for feedback.

Once you have found some good mentor texts student written or published pieces plan backwards from there. Put your lesson designer cap on and ask yourself, what are all the features that make this a solid piece of writing: the organization? the title? the sentence variety? the use of metaphor and other imagery? the evidence that supports claims? the introduction? after you have listed these features, create mini lessons for each one you want your students to emulate. The mini lesson should include time after the teaching for students to practice and share in small, safe groups and when ready, with the whole class. Also, i used to create a handout with several really great introductions from books, essays, short stories, and speeches.

Together, the students i would analyze these opening sentences and discuss what made them so powerful. The importance of what happens next should not be underestimated: give your students time to practice writing what they just learned. And not just time but make it low stakes no grading, no evaluation, no rubric simply time to explode on a page, take chances, be whimisical, be daring: firewrite! let them then share what they wrote with near neighbors or read it aloud to the whole class.

Ielts Writing Task 2 Band 8 Essays

If you are a new teacher and don't yet have a collection of student essays and writing samples, then turn to your colleagues who might have some to share. Write source offers a large collection of student writing for all grade levels and genres. What is great about this selection is that numerous teachers from all over have submitted these models so there's quite a bit of variety. Because i support teachers who work at urban public schools in los angeles, a relevant resource i found to share with teachers is the publication, la youth. archived on the site are countless narratives, persuasive essays, letters, and poems written by teenagers living in metropolitan areas of la. The more students can relate to the voice and content found in a mentor text, the more it will inspire their own writing.

There are also many anthologies and books out there that offer wonderful collections of children and adolescent writing. I used this one with eleventh graders as they were writing their college personal statements, 50 successful harvard application essays. This collection of essays offered up clever, zany, and heartfelt teenage writing that sparked creativity and bravery in my own students' writing.

How has mentor text transformed writing in your classroom? what are some websites and resources you have found helpful? please share in the comments section below. Mitch albom his website is exquisite.  you may have to register in order to access the links  but its free and fast!. Penny kittle introduced me to one of the mentor texts she uses for editorials, three innocent teenagers were killed when a druken driver made a. Since then, i have used some of his other works.  in fact, one trimester, a group chose the five people you meet in heaven as their literature circle book.

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Here are some of mitchs thoughts on writing.  it is well worth the read! bill oreilly with his strong word choice and well structured articles, there are always a number of craft moves students see in his writing.  click here for his archives. Way back in 20, during my rookie year of teaching, katie wood ray introduced me to the idea of using mentor texts, and in the same day, shared this editorialist for the miami herald as one of her favorites.  he has refined the craft of writing editorials.  every time i read his work, i learn more about the craft of this genre.  check out his recent articles, as well as his archives here. Rick reilly i love his poignant articles, as well as his humor.  i am always impressed by the way he can be going along in a light hearted manner and then turn the tables and make a serious point.  its like a left hook that comes out of no where, hits you hard, and leaves a mark, forever changing the reader. Check out his articles from sports illustrated and espn.  youll have more mentor text possibilities than you can use. Andy rooney when my students had trouble writing an ending to their editorials, we turned to andy rooney.  i would also think there could be possibility for using andy rooney as a mentor to turning an editorial into a speech. Provide a good essay example, in particular of how a student stylistically approached one of our essay writing prompts give your students insights into real life essays submitted by teen writers and bloggers participating in the stageoflife.com global writing project to create the world's largest collection of multi generational stories. See what interesting teens are saying about life! please check back regularly, the new teen or college essay contests and writing prompts will be posted on stageoflife.com as great examples of teen writing and mentor texts.

On many an evening, my father, who is short and stout and enjoys tea out of teapots, jumps on a small trampoline in our living room for 30 to 45 minutes. Remember when he jumped rope a few years ago? it rsquo s almost as good as that, he says. The week i came home from college last month, we were both in the living room, watching a yankee game in our typical formation mdash i was on the couch, and he was burning calories, allegedly. Our conversation jumped around unremarkably, until one thing led to another, which led to something else, which led to my father stating that his grandfather had died while serving in world war ii, during the siege in sevastopol. While my parents go to yoga class and shop at whole foods and own an suv, they can still be very un american.

Information about the past is revealed randomly and sparingly and only when there isn rsquo t any way around it. A bacteria culture is placed under a strict controlled environment my swollen eyes glazed over the words for the seventh time, once again unable to absorb any of the meaning. My eyes were already wandering over to the clock by the time i got to the fifth word. The petit droplets from the sky begin to fall, creating a wet shine on the already glamorous month when people begin to obsess over prom. The hallway is full of excitement, students chirping gossip back and forth about who rsquo s asking who. But the excitement doesn rsquo t end here awareness about the amazing night of prom has spread to kids at younger and younger ages.

To prom, or not to prom, that is the question: whether lsquo tis nobler in the mind to suffer the tuxes and dresses of outrageous fashion or to take naps in the seas of laziness, and by opposing, end it. To dance ndash to sleep ndash all night and by a sleep to say we end the headache, and the thousand unnatural moves that feet aren rsquo t heir to. To sleep ndash perchance to dream: ay, there rsquo s the limo! the fact that people even propose the question of marriage having any value troubles me. It's the same reason i began blogging for the good woman project back in early february. The northern nevada writing project sponsors of this writingfix website hosts an annual workshop on the topic of persuasive writing. 3rd 12th grade teachers join us to discuss research based ideas that teach persuasive skills alongside voice skills. This resource webpage has been specifically designed for not only teachers taking our workshop but also for any teacher interested in improving their classroom skills and resources for teaching these two important topics.