MEL-Con:

1. MEL-Con: Changing students’ writing one paragraph at a time

2. Tuesday, December 7, 2010 Agenda: McGeary Why MEL CON?, Kopecky: --How to roll out MEL CON for freshman paragraph writing. Cosby: --How to use MEL CON for Sophomore papers. --MEL CON for Juniors and Seniors. Claahsen, Durham, Paskiewicz Discuss how to use MEL-Con in different disciplines

3. Introduction What the heck is MEL-Con? Why should I care about MEL-Con? What happens if I REFUSE to use MEL-Con?

4. Fun with Acronyms The Mel-Con body paragraph: M = Main Idea (Topic Sentence) E = Evidence (Support/Examples/Proof) L = Link (Explains how support proves main idea) should be E! MEE-Con! Con = Concluding sentence (summarizes main idea and evidence)

5. Why? Why? Why? • Forces students to choose an argument and support it. • Creates structure, building from an excellent body paragraph to a 3-Part essay: intro, body, conclusion. • Look familiar? It’s our old friend, the 5 Paragraph Essay, revamped. Good writing has not changed, but writing teachers—that’s all of us-- must adapt to student needs.

6. Writing Main Ideas What is a main idea? First sentence of paragraph (topic sentence) Answer the question or respond to the prompt. Prompt: Should high school students have to write MEL-Con paragraphs? Main Idea: High school students should have to write MEL-Con paragraphs. OR High school students should not have to write MEL-Con paragraphs.

7. Writing Transitions Transitions: Each piece of evidence should begin with a transition Something that connects one piece of information to another Introduces new information The handy-dandy transition packet allows students to choose from a variety of transitions, thus eliminating a stumbling block.

8. Evidence • Evidence: • Something to support main idea • Evidence (Support/Examples/Proof/Direct Quote) • At least three pieces of evidence per paragraph • When quoting text, you must cite it properly! • Quote intro, “Actual Quote” (MLA: Author’s Last Name/ Page number). • Example: • Additionally, the creature felt that Victor was wrong to leave him alone. This was clear when he stated that ‘it is with considerable difficulty that I remember the original era of my being.” (Shelley 70).

9. Main idea, transition, evidence: High school students should have to write MEL-Con paragraphs.To begin, writing MEL-Con paragraphs helps students organize and focus their ideas.

10. Links—it’s the E in MEE-con! You must have an explanation for each piece of evidence Links must fully explain how evidence proves the main idea One link is always at least 2 sentences Sentence one should further explain the example or provide more specific details. Sentence two should explain how the evidence supports or proves the main idea.

11. With 2-sentence explanation (link to main idea: High school students should have to write MEL-Con paragraphs.To begin, writing MEL-Con paragraphs helps students organize and focus their ideas.By using the MEL-Con format, students will use specific examples to support their argument and will be less likely to diverge from their main idea. By focusing their argument, students will effectively communicate their position, which is an important component of all writing.

12. Writing Concluding Sentences The final part of your perfect body paragraph Should restate the main idea in a different way and include a summary of the evidence. One sentence long: Because writing MEL-Con paragraphs helps students maintain focus, it is necessary for all freshmen to use this writing format.

13. So what does happen if I refuse to use Mel-Con? Medieval Torture! The Thumbscrew!