Five-Paragraph Essays

1. Five-Paragraph Essays Advanced English 3

2. TCAP Writing Assessment • Unlike previous years, the writing assessment is assessed using a 1-4 rubric. • Listed below are the categories that are assessed: • Focus/Organization • Support/Elaboration • Language/Style • Conventions • We will be spending time focusing on Focus/Organization and Support/Elaboration this week.

3. Focus/Organization: What Does a 4 Look Like? • The writer introduces the topic, text, or claim clearly and demonstrates insightful understanding of the stimulus material. • The writer states and maintains a clear opinion/point of view/argument and demonstrates insightful understanding of the task, purpose, and audience. • The writer creates a meaningful organizational structure by consistently and logically grouping and ordering ideas/reasons. • The writer provides an effective concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.

4. Support/Elaboration:What Does a 4 Look Like? • The writer’s ideas clearly support the opinion/point of view/argument and affirm the task, purpose, and audience. • The writer provides thorough development drawn from the stimulus material by using relevant, well-chosen facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, and/or examples. • The writer explains and elaborates on the facts, clearly connecting them to the opinion/point of view/argument.

5. Skill 1: Active Reading • We’ve been working on this skill since the beginning of the school year! • Remember that when you are reading the source material, it will save you time to actively read. • You are assessed by • (a) how well you understand the source material and • (b) how well you use the material to support your argument.

6. Using the Prompt to Take a Stance • Use the prompt to your advantage! They give you a lot of needed information right there in the prompt itself. • Prompt:Based on the passages, write an essay in which either (1) you support the viewpoint that high schools have the right to control the content of student publications or (2) you support the viewpoint that such control violates students’ right to free expression. Support you claim using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence from the texts provided.

7. The Prompt • There are three key words in the prompt that should give us pause: • Claim • Reasoning • Evidence • Luckily, they basically hand us our claim: • High schools have the right to control the content of student publications. • High school control over student publications violates their right to free expression.

8. Skill 2: Building a Thesis Statement • The thesis is the core of your argument. • It is important to generate a strong thesis statement before you begin writing because it offers you the opportunity to organize your thoughts and take a strong stance on an issue. • A thesis statement is made of two components: • Claim • Reason(s)

9. Skill 2: Building a Thesis Statement • The CLAIM is the “what” of your argument. • High schools have the right to control the content of student publications. • Reasons, on the other hand, are the “why” of your argument. • Generally speaking, your claim and reasons are connected with a “because” clause.

10. Skill 2: Building a Thesis Statement • As you are building reasons, don’t hesitate to turn back to your text for ideas to build the “why” of your argument. • Claim: High schools have the right to control the content of student publications because … • Reason 1: There are some stories that are unfair and inappropriate for teenagers. • Reason 2: Stories published in a student publication should support the school’s educational mission. • Reason 3: Adults can use their judgment to protect the privacy and dignity of the student body, their parents, and faculty members.

11. Skill 2: Building a Thesis Statement • Now that I have my claim and reasons figured out, I can go ahead and write my thesis statement: • High schools have the right to control the content of student publications because adults are sometimes needed to censor stories that are inappropriate for teenagers, do not support the educational mission of the school, and violate other’s right to privacy and dignity.

12. Practice Your Skills! • Now that you have seen examples of how to build a thesis statement, you should take some time to formulate your own using the other option given in the prompt. • On a separate sheet of paper, you should write the following: • Claim: Write a complete sentence. • Reason 1: Write a complete sentence. • Reason 2: Write a complete sentence. • Reason 3: Write a complete sentence. • Thesis statement: Write a complete sentence that combines your claim and three reasons.

13. Skill 3: Organizing Your Essay • The basic structure of a five-paragraph essay is as follows: • Introduction: • Introduce your topic/Summarize the Issue • Thesis Statement • Body Paragraph1: • Reason 1 • Evidence from the source material, your life experience, and relevant news stories to support your reason. • Body Paragraph 2: • Reason 2 • Evidence from the source material, your life experience, and relevant news stories to support your reason. • Body Paragraph 3: • Reason 3 • Evidence from the source material, your life experience, and relevant news stories to support your reason. • Conclusion • Summarize your argument. • Leave a lasting impression on the reader.

14. Skill 3: Organizing Your Essay • Because you have already formulated a thesis statement, you have also figured out the basic organization of your essay! • Introduction: Summarize the source material/topic and state thesis. • Topic Sentence1: High schools have the right to control the content of student publications becauseshould there are some stories that are unfair and inappropriate for teenagers. • Topic Sentence 2: High schools have the right to control the content of student publications becausestories published in a student publication should support the school’s educational mission. • Topic Sentence 3: High schools have the right to control the content of student publications becauseadults can use their judgment to protect the privacy and dignity of the student body, their parents, and faculty members.

15. Practice Your Skills! • Using the thesis statement that you developed, create a basic outline for your essay. • Introduction/Thesis Statement: • Topic Sentence 1: • Topic Sentence 2: • Topic Sentence 3: • You should write complete sentences for each part of your sketch outline.

16. What’s Next … • Tomorrow, we will be discussing how to build evidence for your argument. • If you have finished early, you should use this time to complete one of the following tasks: • Write a paragraph summary of the source material that we read to complete the prompt. • Compile evidence for at least one of your reasons. • Write a reflection paragraph that explains what you’ve learned today and how it might help you complete future writing assignments. • All materials should be completed and turned in at the end of class.