Superstar Thinking - Writing
At some point in every child’s academic career, he is assigned the task of writing an essay. Depending on the age of your child, he may have already reached that point, or he may still be young enough to be engaged mostly in creative writing, descriptive paragraph writing, and journal writing – all of which provide valuable experience leading up to the writing of an essay. Regardless of the age of your child, he most likely could benefit from some help in learning how to write or from practice in writing. This lesson plan provides steps in the process of writing at every stage – from writing a paragraph to writing three paragraphs to writing an ·essay. You can either take your child through all of the stages, or you can focus on one particular stage where your child needs the most help.
Learn
The best way for your child to be successful in writing a paragraph is by using a strategy that provides a structure for writing. It’s called the About Point Writing Response. With this strategy, your child uses the process of identifying what he wants to write about (About) and determining the point (Point) he wants to make. In using this process, he is able to construct the main idea of his own writing in response to a text. (NOTE: While generally a student completes this strategy in response to something he’s read, your child can also use the strategy to write a paragraph about something that’s in his head). Before you begin, click on the link below to access the About Point Writing Response Planning Guide template. Make a copy of the template. Then, help your child complete the Planning Guide for a paragraph on a topic of his choice by following these steps. You can use the example on immigrants for each step as a kind of model response. (You should explain to your child that, since he doesn’t have a text to read, he will be using the information he already knows about his topic. If he knows nothing, or very little, you can discuss the topic with him before he writes.)
First, your child asks himself: What do I want to write about? (About). Have him write down his response on the Outline portion of the About Point Writing Response Planning Guide. Then, he asks himself: What point do I want to make? (Point) and writes down his response on the Planning Guide.
Example
About: Immigrants
Point: came to America from all over the world
He then writes down on the Planning Guide three details that support his About Point.
Next, he completes the Outline portion by writing a sentence for the closing of his summary paragraph (a paraphrase of the About Point).
Example
Details: They came in large numbers between 1900 and 1920.
Most immigrants came to America from Europe.
Immigrants brought with them their own culture and customs.
Next, he completes the Outline portion by writing a sentence for the closing of his summary paragraph (a paraphrase of the About Point).
Example
Closing: Immigrants, including my grandparents , came to America from all over the world.
Finally, he uses the Outline as a guide to write his paragraph on the Summary portion of the Guide.
Example
Immigrants came to America from all over the world. They came in large numbers between 1900 and 1920. Most of them came to America from Europe. They brought with them their own culture and customs. Immigrants, including my grandparents, came to America from all over the world.
Now, click on the second link below to see a completed Planning Guide and a one-paragraph summary on grizzly bears as another example.
Practice
When your child has learned how to write a single paragraph (which may require practice with the About Point Writing Response Planning Guide for different topics), she is ready to proceed to the next stage of writing: writing two or more paragraphs in response to a piece of text or an idea in her head. A strategy that lends itself easily to the task of writing three paragraphs is the Compare/Contrast Venn Diagram, which describes the similarities and differences of two characters, concepts or ideas. Your child will write a paragraph for each of the three sections of the Venn Diagram, using the About Point Writing Response Planning Guide.
Before you begin, click on the link below to access the Compare/Contrast Venn Diagram template. Make a copy of the template. Then, click on the second link to access a completed Compare/Contrast Venn Diagram on grizzly bears and polar bears, which you can use as a model for helping your child complete the strategy. Now you are ready to help your child complete the strategy and write three paragraphs by following these steps:
Ask your child if she can think of two characters in a story or two things that she would like to look at in terms of ways in which they are the same and different. If she can’t think of anything, you can ask her if she would like to compare and contrast grizzly bears and polar bears.
Tell your child to list characteristics of one of the characters or things being compared inside the first circle of the Venn Diagram. Then, she lists the characteristics of the other character or thing inside the second circle. Finally, she lists the properties that are common to both in the place where the circle intersectsYou can guide your child in doing this by asking questions about the elements being compared, e.g., “What do you know about grizzly bears?”
Together look at the example of the completed Venn Diagram on grizzly bears and polar bears.
Now, your child is ready to transfer the information on the Venn Diagram to the About Point Writing Response Planning Guide. Have him complete a Planning Guide for each of the sections on the Venn Diagram. For example, your child will complete the Outline and write a Summary for grizzly bears’ characteristics. That will be her first paragraph. The second paragraph will be about the characteristics of polar bears in the second circle. The third paragraph will be about how the two bears are the same. You can click on the link below to access examples of three completed About Point Writing Response Planning Guides for bears.
Your child has now written three cohesive, unified paragraphs – one for each of the three sections on the Venn Diagram, using the About Point Writing Response format.
Use
Your child is now ready to write an essay which consists of several paragraphs, including an introduction and a conclusion. In this part of the lesson plan, we present step-by-step procedures for planning the three parts of an essay: introduction, body, and conclusion. We will then show you a completed Planning Guide and an example of an essay, based on information about bears.
Before you begin, you will need to download the following documents:
Look at the Planning Guide for an Essay with your child. Say, “You’ll notice that an essay is similar to a summary. It has a beginning, which states the main idea of the reading. It has a middle, which provides key details from the reading. And it has an end, a conclusion. While you can do all this in one paragraph for summaries, for essays, we break each part into paragraphs. Now the introduction becomes its own paragraph. Each main supporting idea becomes its own paragraph. And the conclusion becomes its own paragraph. Let’s go over each part of an essay more closely.”
Steps For Writing The Introduction Of An Essay
Have your child look at the Planning Guide for an Essay: Introduction Template. Explain that the introduction to an essay has three purposes: 1) to get the attention of the reader; 2) to provide information that leads up to the thesis statement (the About Point for the whole essay); and 3) to state the thesis.
Have your child write down the About Point for his essay on the Planning Guide template by asking himself what his essay will be about and what point he wants to make. Later, he will be using the About Point to create his thesis statement. You can use the completed Planning Guide for an Essay: Introduction on bears that you downloaded as an example of a model response.
Encourage your student to think of an interesting way to begin his essay. He can ask a question, quote an expert, tell a brief story, or write an amazing fact about the topic. He should write down his attention- getter on his Planning Guide. You can show him how to do this with the Model Response.
Now have him write down on his Planning Guide a transition sentence that connects his attention- getter with his thesis statement (the About Point). This sentence should form a transition and lead up to the thesis statement. You can show him the transition sentence on the Model Response.
Finally, have your child write down his Thesis Statement on the Planning Guide. This is simply a repeat of the About Point. You can show him the thesis opening statement on the Model Response.
Your child should combine the attention-getter, the transition sentence and the thesis statement to write the introduction for his essay.
Steps For Writing The Body Of An Essay
Click on the link below to access the Planning Guide for an Essay: Body template. Make three copies of this template. Tell your child that the body of an essay consists of two or more paragraphs that provide information to support the thesis statement. Each paragraph will have three parts: 1) a topic sentence (About Point), 2) supporting details, and 3) a closing statement.
Help your child determine how many paragraphs will make up the body of his essay. The easiest way to determine the number of paragraphs in an essay is to assign paragraphs on the basis of categories of information included in the graphic organizer students complete in preparation for the writing, such as the Venn Diagram. Have your child select two or three categories for his essay and write a paragraph for each. You can click on the link below to access a completed Venn Diagram for an essay on bears and use this to model how you determine the number of paragraphs and the topic for each one.
Demonstrate how to write an About Point for the first paragraph of his essay. Then, show your child how to turn it into a topic sentence. Have him write both the About Point and the topic sentence for his essay on the Planning Guide.
Show your child how to come up with pieces of information about his topic to support his topic sentence. These are called supporting details. Have him write three or four sentences that contain supporting ideas on the Planning Guide.
Have your child write on his Planning Guide a closing statement that repeats the idea expressed in his topic sentence. The closing statement should use different words and should summarize the supporting details.
Instruct your child to repeat the last three steps for each paragraph in the body of his essay.
Click on the links below to access the completed Planning Guides for three paragraphs in the body of an essay on bears. You can use these paragraphs as an example for writing the body of an essay.
Steps For Writing The Conclusion Of An Essay
Have your child look at the Planning Guide for an Essay: Conclusion template. Explain that a conclusion for an essay should 1) refer to the thesis statement; 2) summarize the information; and 3) end the essay.
Instruct your child to write on his Planning Guide template a statement that repeats the idea in his thesis statement but uses different words. Model this step with the example for an essay on bears shown on the completed Planning Guide.
Have your child summarize the information by writing down a restatement of each of the topic sentences on the Planning Guide. Model this with the example on the completed Planning Guide.
Tell your child that she needs to write an ending sentence on her Planning Guide that refers to her attention-getter. Model this with the example in the completed Planning guide.
Click on the link to access a completed essay on Bears, using information from the Compare/Contrast Venn Diagram.
In this lesson plan, we have demonstrated the steps in helping your student write an essay with the use of a strategy called About Point Writing Response and a graphic aid called Compare/Contrast Venn Diagram. A number of strategies and graphic aids can be used to help students write summaries or essays, and the steps for writing are always the same. For example, the steps in writing an introduction, body and conclusion are basically the same for a descriptive essay as they are for a compare/contrast essay, such as the one you helped your child write.
Intervention/Tutoring Lessons for Grades 3 & Up
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