Slow Way Home

1. Slow Way Home Unit 7: Assessment Part II

2. Review of Lesson I • Chapters 13-20 • What does it mean to read as a writer, and how can doing so help your writing? • Reading as a writer means paying close attention to how a writer sets up sentences, paragraphs, chapters. • We read as writers to become better writers ourselves.

3. Review your classroom list of Techniques of good writing

4. Preparation for In-class Essay • Today we will spend some time preparing for a practice FCAT Writes essay. • You will write this essay in one class period, and then next week, you will grade the essay using the anchor sets that actual FCAT graders use when they grade your essays in the spring

5. How to write a decent essay • Your essay needs to have at least two paragraphs with elaborated support. • If you sandwich these two paragraphs of elaborated support between an introduction that clarifies your subject and a conclusion that leaves your reader with something to think about, you will have a decent essay.

6. How to write a decent essay 2 • Five and Six FCAT essays have this in common: the writer has a sense of to whom he/she is writing, and the writer seems to enjoy writing the essay.

7. What is elaborated support? • There are four levels of support identified in FCAT essays • Bare • Extended • Layered • Elaborated

8. Essays • In the 1-3 range have bare and extended support. • Essays in the 4-6 range have layered and elaborated support

9. Bare support • The writer makes a statement and gives a basic reason for it: • I like to sit in the swing with my father because it makes me feel peaceful.

10. Extended support • The writer makes a statement and uses information that begins to clarify meaning: • I like to sit in the swing with my father because it makes me feel peaceful. My father doesn’t talk a lot. He is happy I am with him.

11. Layered Support • The writer makes a statement and then uses a series of informational statements that collectively help to clarify meaning. For example • I like to sit in the swing with my father because it makes me feel peaceful. My father doesn’t talk a lot. He is happy I am with him. We watch the sun set over the bay, and rock back and forth on the swing. The only sounds we hear are birds in the trees and the waves lapping against the shore.

12. Elaborated Support: • The writer makes a statement and uses additional details, anecdotes, illustrations and examples to further clarify meaning. The writer provides information that answers the question, “what do you mean?” • I like to sit in the swing with my father because it makes me feel peaceful. My father doesn’t talk a lot. He is happy I am with him. We watch the sun set over the bay, and rock back and forth on the swing. The only sounds we hear are birds in the trees and the waves lapping against the shore. I feel peaceful because I don’t feel like I have to prove myself, I don’t have to do anything I don’t have to say anything. My father is simply happy that I am there sitting with him.

13. Now, review the previous slides • And practice writing a sentence with bare, extended, layered and elaborated support. • Use this prompt • Why do people save things?

14. Brainstorm • An essay using the prompt, “Why People Save things” • Remember, when you are brainstorming a prompt, you want to think of real people you know who save things, and then think of anecdotes or stories you can tell about a particular person saving something and why.

15. Review • The brainstorming methods from earlier lessons: • Listing • Web • Outline • Venn diagram • Or any other strategies that you know work for you.

16. Spend ten minutes • Brainstorming

17. Now, • Share your method with your group. • Talk about the ideas you came up with

19. Teacher Modeling • Your teacher has written a model brainstorming as well • He/she will share her brainstorming with you.

20. Tomorrow • You will write an essay on this topic. • You will have 50 minutes to write your essay.