8 th Grade Informative Writing Week 4

1. 8th Grade Informative Writing Week 4 Week of January 27, 2014- January 31, 2014

2. Learning Goals Monday, January, 27, 2014 Practice Prior Skills Correct mistakes in the following MLA Works Cited entry: "About Tiger Woods" tigerwoods.com. http://web.tigerwoods.com/aboutTiger/bio. Word of the Week Locate, read, and comprehend three articles for informative essay. Analyze and evaluate each article by annotating relevant information.

3. Word of the Week • obscure (adj) difficult to understand or perceive because of lack of clarity. It is unfair for a teacher to test over an obscure topic that she did not teach in class.

4. Access Prior Knowledge • Review Students MLA Citations and Works Cited • In what order are the references to be listed on the Works Cited page? • What do you use if the author is unknown?

5. Assignment – Locate 3 Sources • Locate three sources for informative essay topic. • Read and analyze these sources for relevant information. • Reread prompt to know what type of information will be important. • Annotate by underlining or highlighting useful information. • You may also go to the library and print out sources if you do not want to annotate a digital copy.

6. Closing • Were you able to find three relevant sources for your essay?

7. Learning Goals Tuesday, January 28, 2014 Practice Prior Skills: How could you improve the following sentence? There are lots of kids who go to the movies and then got to be home by ten. • Use a graphic organizer to systematically lay out supporting detail points in the body of the essay.

8. Organizing Content for Each Body Paragraph

9. Organizing Content for Each Body Paragraph

10. Organizing Content for Each Body Paragraph

11. Assignment – Organize Notes for the Three Body paragraphs • Use the graphic organizer of your choice to organize information for your essay. You may even draw one. You may also find graphic organizers on mrscaple.com to download. • For each key point (each body paragraph) create a graphic organizer. • Each space in the graphic organizer should be labeled by key point. You do not need to put detail information in these. • They are to help you see if you have relevant information

12. Closing • What organizer did you use today? • How did the organizer help you decide which information to include in your essay and how to organize that information.

13. Learning Goals Wednesday, January 29, 2014 Practice Prior Skills Rewrite the following sentence using clear, concise, and precise language. 1. There were many people who got to go the game. Analyze prompt for informative essay Write a thesis statement

14. Qualities of an effective Thesis Statement • A thesis statement should do the following: • It should answer the prompt. • Inform the reader of the focus of the essay. • Should prove a factual point (this is not a claim) • Should be clear, concise and use action verbs and concrete words.

15. Access Prior Knowledge • You should have three graphic organizers with supporting details for each one. • Each graphic organizer represents the information to be included in each body paragraph and answers the prompt. • Understanding the prompt and understanding the key points of the essay should drive the content of your thesis statement.

16. Criteria for a Thesis Statement • Does it answer your prompt? • Does it inform the reader of the focus of the essay? • Does it prove a point? • Is it clear, concise and use action verbs and concrete words?

17. Assignment – Write your Thesis Statement for your Informative Essay. • Reread your prompt, and write it as a series of questions. • Example: Who is a famous athlete? What events impacted his life? • Then write a thesis statement by answering the questions. • Example: Tiger Woods, ranked number one on the PGA tour, learned the game of golf from his father, and has dominated the PGA tour since winning his first major, “The Masters” in 1997.

18. Closing • What qualities were you to consider when writing your thesis statement?

19. Learning Goals Thursday, January 30, 2014 Practice Prior Skills Choose which thesis statement is effective and write down your reasons. There are lots of reasons kids should go to Shiloh Christian, such as, it is a great school, and provides lots of opportunities for learning. Shiloh Christian School promotes learning with a Biblical perspective while providing opportunities for students to apply their knowledge in real life situations. Analyze and Evaluate thesis statements.

20. Access Prior Knowledge – What are the qualities of a thesis statement? • Does it answer your prompt? • Does it inform the reader of the focus of the essay? • Does it prove apoint? • Is it clear, concise and use action verbs and concrete words?

21. Cooperative Learning Groups – Roles • Facilitator – make sure each person contributes one answer. • Time Keeper – make sure group is finished in 15 minutes • Recorder – Record the groups responses • Presenter – This person will present answers to the class.

22. Instructions • As a group read each thesis statement. • Analyze each for the necessary criteria or traits. • Evaluate each by filling the Evaluation form for each. • Reflect on key points the group learned by filling in the reflection sheet. • The presenter will state their groups reflections to the class.

23. Closing • How was this task insightful? What did your learn? • What changes will you make to improve your thesis statement based on what you learned today?

24. Learning Goals Friday, January 31, 2014 Practice Prior Skills Diagram the following: American citizens’ rights are protected by the United States Constitution even thought it does not always feel this way. Christians give churches their tithes and offerings. Review Words of the Week Assess Parts of a Sentence