Before beginning our unit on analytical and argumentative writing, student completed a journal write that asked them to argue whether Shakespeare or a random sitcom episode was more important or better at "uplifting the human spirit." This paragraph represented what students already knew about argumentative writing and served as a reference point during our discussion of the paragraph. Students compared their paragraphs to the example provided to the right to see how the use of quotes and quote sandwiches could strengthen their argument.
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Students were also given a copy of this graphic organizer to keep as a resource in their binders. It is a reference sheet for writing paragraphs.
In my on-level classes, students used blank copies of this graphic organizer to guide them through writing their first few paragraphs. I advise students to begin by filling in their topic sentence and quotes. Then, they can work backwards to craft their claims and explanations. |
Assessing the Analytical Paragraph
For our first formative assessment on the paragraph, students worked on writing a paragraph comparing two coming of age stories. The first story was "The Flowers," by Alice Walker, which we had discussed in a Socratic Seminar while learning to identify coming of age stories. For the second text, students had a choice of four personal narratives that they had examined in a literature circle style during our unit on personal narrative. This paragraph was designed to fit into the essay they would write next, so students were provided with a topic sentence rather than a prompt. The paragraph allowed me to assess their understanding of paragraph writing and identify any weaknesses.
Student samples
Click on any sample to enlarge it. To view their corresponding essays, as well as a research paper, click on the button to the right to navigate to the Five-Paragraph Essay Page and scroll to the bottom.
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