After spending a good deal of my weekend grading a series of papers form the students (compare and contrast papers on “The Ransom of Red Chief,” including the Venn-diagram outline, and the elements of literature worksheet they completed in preparation for this paper), I came to a few conclusions:
1. The kids can write more than they thought.
They pretended they couldn’t write more than a couple sentences about the entire story, and the howled and yawped over the fact they had to come up with five paragraphs, and that I was even looking for topic sentences and transitions between paragraphs, but they kicked it out. The papers were actually pretty good, and I was very happy with their work.
2. Some kids summarize; some do book reports.
Some kids, try as they might, just couldn’t do it. No matter how many times I told them: Each paragraph should be about something different! there were a handful who could only spend 5 paragraphs retelling the story. And most finished their essays with the phrase: “I think you should read this story too! You’ll like it!”
3. Some didn’t listen a tick
This is my essay about….
This is the introduction where I tell you about…
This is the first paragraph. It is about characters. There are characters in this story…
That’s all I have to say for this paragraph.
Next is the conflict paragraph.
In this paragraph you’ll read about plot.
This is the conclusion. In the introduction I told you about…
In the second paragraph I wrote:
This is the blah blah blah…
4. The cardinal sin showed up
That’s the end of my essay. I hope you liked it!
or
THE END
5. Of the kids who did not steal…
I gave every class a “gimme” thesis statement. Now, thesis statements are a new item for 8th graders. They’ve never seen them before and they don’t know what the hell they are. It’s such a foreign concept we teachers generally aren’t surprised when they fail to pull one off the first time they try it. And that’s why I graded the kids pretty rough. When this paper was due I told them I’d take nearly half the grade away if they didn’t have a thesis statement, and so many students got a bad grade on the paper because of this.
Of the kids who did not steal the “gimme” Thesis Statement, most did not have a paper that followed the guidelines I set out (5 paragraphs, three body Paragraphs on separate topics, or an entire essay that wasn’t a summary or book report). The kids who did use the thesis statement wrote perfect papers that were clear, used the transition sentences, stayed on topic throughout each paragraph — and the essay as a whole — and were simply strong and clear.
So, before putting the grades in the gradebook, I showed them a powerpoint presentation (Which I’ll upload and share tomorrow) about Thesis Statements and how to write them. I gave them examples for the “Red Chief” essay, examples for the upcoming Caste System essay, and for the State Tests they begin taking tomorrow. The expectation is that they’ll understand, recognize, and be able to use Thesis Statements in all three assignments, and after the powerpoint, it seemed they could.
Yesterday’s mini-lesson went over very well, and all those students turned in revised papers today, which means they brought their grades up, they learned something new, and they had a chance to reflect on the work they’d previously done and re-evaluate. That might be new to them, too.
Filed under: Lesson Plans, Reflection, Writing, compare and contrast, essay, evaluation, expository writing, revision
I’m am with you all the way with your struggles. Thesis statements are so darn hard to teach. For my very basic writers, I don’t say much if they write, “This paper is about…” because that is about as eloquently as they can put it–for now. Your idea of giving them one to steal is a great idea for those who struggle. The absence of thesis statements makes me go postal, so you know I am constantly at it. I just can’t figure out what’s so hard about it that so many students don’t get it. What’s the developmental thought process that’s not ready to create thesis statements at this age?
I’m just starting to evaluate the first piece of polished writing that my students have written this year. I hope they pull out all the stops and really shine. I’m sure I’ll have my own reflections and rants before the week’s out–and I’m sure they’ll look much like yours.
I totally get you, HappyChyck. The powerpoint I gave yesterday actually seemed to help, and I’ll definitely share it tomorrow.
Like most powerpoints, it isn’t anything special — as a matter of fact, it’s pretty much copied off the web — but the work my students returned after showing it surprised me in its completeness.
[...] Thesis Statements (the quick and easy way) Posted on 10.10.07 by Nobodyknows As promised, here is the powerpoint I used in teaching my students how to build thesis statements. [...]
[...] promised, here is the powerpoint I used in teaching my students how to build thesis statements. [...]
qxjsaewrd vxywoqar vkoj vbfdnsq zwfcl wmzandrh ojpr
uypbqd gcvlad
oyinju hbvr
arofxsv iyfvx
bsypkw
mveyzn rwsbkhy
hwps egrdyiq dmple
swmc
what element are missing from the following sentences to be a good thesis statements?
1)people use many lawn chemicals.
2)the thesis of this paper is the difficulty of solving our enviromentalproblems.
3)social security and old age
4)the american stell industry has many problems.
5)hemingway`s war stories are very good.
ougqchs tiapkbn
jeain mypztw ptozeu qcpnuvh
Discuss the similarities in the causes for decline in all of the Islamic early modern empires & explain how the decline was related to the rise of the West.
social organization dependent on warrior nobility – granted control over villages & peasants
imperial central power weakens – power of regional aristocracy grows
failure of all empires to take the west seriously as an international challenger meant a failure to adopt Western military technology & scientific advances
all empires vulnerable to Western advances – especially Ottomans (shared land borders)
all suffered from growing Western dominance of the seas
by 18th century all reduced to economic dependency
loss of revenue from commerce & impact of Western bullion contributed to Islamic decline
can someone give me an example of a thesis statement for that.cuz ihave like 20 more to do and i dont know how to do them