The goal of this activity is to practice and improve your skills in planning your essay and writing strong thesis statements and introductory paragraphs, building on what we've been doing in class. You're going to do three 10-minute chunks of essay writing; in each case, you'll go through the three steps of a) planning your entire essay, b) articulating a thesis statement, and c) writing the introductory paragraph. Start by creating a simulated testing environment; find a space that has no distractions (music, people, pets, etc) and at which you can sit upright at a desk/table. Alert your parents that you're doing timed essay writing homework and need about 30 minutes of uninterrupted quiet.
Remember that you should take between 5-8 minutes of the 10 minutes to do the planning for your essay. It's important that you plan out the entire essay, so that you can structure your intro paragraph appropriately. If your essay is well-planned, you'll be able to write your intro paragraph in 2-3 minutes easily.
Be intentional about which form of introductory essay that you choose to use - "001" or "122". "001" is great when you want to grab the reader's attention and build up to your thesis. "122" is best when you want to immediately present your thesis and prepare the reader for the contents of the body paragraphs (which are related to the two "2" sentences).
[Notice how that last paragraph is an awesome example of "122"?]
Please don't complete any of these essays. You don't need to write out the body paragraphs or conclusion (unless you want to, for your own benefit of extended practice). The assignment is to do three 10 minute chunks, not one 30 minute chunk, and the two are not interchangeable. The process of each of the 10 minute chunks will be selecting a topic, prepping your essay, and writing the intro - but since each is on a different topic, each will have different content from the others.
Feel free to email Zaq if you have questions. zroberts@theberkeleyschool.org
Due: Thursday, 11/12.
Use this blog to see what we did in class today, to access handouts and other resources, and to check in about homework.
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To Kill A Mockingbird Audio
- Ch. 31
- Ch. 30
- Ch. 29
- Ch. 28
- Ch. 27
- Ch. 26
- Ch. 25
- Ch. 24
- Ch. 23
- Ch. 22
- Ch. 21
- Ch. 20
- Ch. 19
- Ch. 18 Part 3
- Ch. 18 Part 2
- Ch. 18 Part 1
- Ch. 17 Part 3
- Ch. 17 Part 2
- Ch. 17 Part 1
- Ch. 16 Part 3
- Ch. 16 Part 2
- Ch. 16 Part 1
- Ch. 15 Part 3
- Ch. 15 Part 2
- Ch. 15 Part 1
- Ch. 14 Part 3
- Ch. 14 Part 2
- Ch. 14 Part 1
- Ch. 13 Part 3
- Ch. 13 Part 2
- Ch. 13 Part 1
- Ch. 12 Part 4
- Ch. 12 Part 3
- Ch. 12 Part 2
- Ch. 12 Part 1
- Ch. 11 Part 4
- Ch. 11 Part 3
- Ch. 11 Part 2
- Ch. 11 Part 1
- Ch. 10 Part 3
- Ch. 10 Part 2
- Ch. 10 Part 1
- Ch. 9 Part 5
- Ch. 9 Part 4
- Ch. 9 Part 3
- Ch. 9 Part 2
- Ch. 9 Part 1
- Ch. 8 Part 3
- Ch. 8 Part 2
- Ch. 8 Part 1
- Ch. 7 Part 2
- Ch. 7 Part 1
- Ch. 6 Part 2
- Ch. 6 Part 1
- Ch. 5 Part 2
- Ch. 5 Part 1
- Ch. 4 Part 3
- Ch. 4 Part 2
- Ch. 4 Part 1
- Ch. 3 Part 3
- Ch. 3 Part 2
- Ch. 3 Part 1
- Ch. 2 Part 2
- Ch. 2 Part 1
- Ch. 1 Part 4
- Ch. 1 Part 3
- Ch. 1 Part 2
- Chapter 1, Part 1
Guidelines for Book Review Assignments
(due every other Thursday, beginning Feb. 4)
1. Your review must be on a book that you have read within the last six months.
2. Every OTHER review may be on a graphic novel.
3. Your review must be at least two paragraphs long, and may be longer.
4. Each paragraph must be 5-8 sentences.
5. Review must contain enough of a summary so that someone who is reading your review, but knows nothing about the book, will get a good sense of what the book is about. However, it should not be all summary; a review is mostly your opinion of the book.
6. Don't just state your opinion- explain WHY you feel the way you feel about the book.
See the link below for some examples:
Book Review Examples
1. Your review must be on a book that you have read within the last six months.
2. Every OTHER review may be on a graphic novel.
3. Your review must be at least two paragraphs long, and may be longer.
4. Each paragraph must be 5-8 sentences.
5. Review must contain enough of a summary so that someone who is reading your review, but knows nothing about the book, will get a good sense of what the book is about. However, it should not be all summary; a review is mostly your opinion of the book.
6. Don't just state your opinion- explain WHY you feel the way you feel about the book.
See the link below for some examples:
Book Review Examples
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