Activity
1. There are five class periods provided for this lesson.
The first two are for the students to write the main
arguments and supporting evidence for their position
papers. This rough draft needs to be coherent enough
to form the basis of the oral testimony of information
that the students need to present before the mock Senate
hearing. Use the next three days to put that talk into
a well-written paper with time for peer-editing sessions
if possible. The last three days are a writing workshop
where the students have time to incorporate the corrections
suggested by their peers after presenting to the Senate
committee, make use of an opportunity to return to
the library to find information that a peer editor
may have pointed out is missing, or use this time to
shore up an argument with additional or stronger evidence.
2.
On the first day of the lesson remind the students
that their position papers are to be a review of
the arguments that
would be presented before a Senate committee making a decision
about a federal regulation that would prohibit a person less
than 18 years of age from using a tanning device except upon
prescription by a physician or surgeon for treatment of a
medical condition. The position papers are to be persuasive
papers
using the expository theme format of introduction, first
body paragraph, second body paragraph, third body paragraph,
and
conclusion.
3.
The first class period is also the time to introduce
the criteria upon which the position paper
will be evaluated.
It is suggested that the paper be assessed in the areas
of:
- Correct interpretation of the prompt
The students have written a paper that contains the main
ideas, supporting information and at least three strong
arguments supporting the position one student will be representing
in
the mock Senate hearing.
- Proper organization
W-P2. Write a persuasive essay that contains effective
introductory and summary statements; arranges the arguments
effectively;
and fully develops the ideas with convincing proof, details,
facts, examples, and descriptions.
PO 1. Write a thesis statement to convey a point of view
about a subject
PO 2. Develop the point of view with ample and convincing
support (e.g., details,
facts, reasons, examples, and descriptions) appropriate
to the audience and
purpose
PO 3. Create an organizational structure that includes
an effective beginning,
middle, and ending
PO 4. Use persuasive word choices and sentence structure
(e.g., connotation,
strong verbs, repetition, and parallelism)
- Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, etc.
W-P1. Use transitional devices; varied sentence structures;
the active voice; parallel structures; supporting details,
phrases and clauses; plus correct spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage to sharpen the focus and clarify
the meaning of their writing
PO 1. Use transitions (e.g., conjunctive adverbs, coordinating conjunctions,
and subordinating conjunctions) where appropriate
PO 2. Vary sentence structure (e.g., compound, complex, compound-complex)
PO 3. Use active voice as appropriate to purpose (e.g., creative writing)
PO 4. Use parallel structure appropriately
PO 5. Sharpen the focus and clarify the meaning of their writing through
the
appropriate use of:
- capitalization
- standard grammar and usage (e.g., subject-verb agreement, pronoun agreement
and consistency of verb tense)
- spelling, with the use of a dictionary/thesaurus (as needed)
- punctuation (e.g., comma, ellipsis, apostrophe, semicolon, colon)- Strength
of the arguments
W-P2.
PO 2. Develop the point of view with ample and convincing support (e.g.,
details,
facts, reasons, examples, and descriptions) appropriate to the audience and
purpose
4.
If any student is not able to complete the first draft
of his or her paper in the three class days provided,
he or she must finish the paper
for homework
in order to participate in the Senate hearing sessions.
5.
During the days that have been set aside for the peer
editing encourage
multiple readings of each student’s paper. It is suggested that
one student read for mechanical errors. You should list on the board
the areas
that will be assessed
in this category: W-P1 criteria. Students should make notes directly
on the first drafts. It is not the job of the proofreader in this case
to
correct the errors,
but only to point them out. It is the responsibility of the writer to
make the grammatical and spelling corrections. In some cases a proofreader
may
not know
that something is actually wrong, but may just indicate that the writer
may want to double check something, or rework an awkward section. Remind
the students
that they are not being good friends by merely rubberstamping another
student’s
work and telling him or her that it is wonderful because then you, the
teacher, will be the one to find the mistakes and when you do, the student
loses points.
A
second proofreader makes his or her comments on a separate
sheet of paper concerning the organizational aspects of the paper.
You should
list the
criteria for this
on the board also: W-P2 criteria. Remind students that it may take
two readings of the paper to do a high quality job of
finding mistakes.
A
third proofreader will evaluate the arguments, and his
or her comments will also be on a
separate sheet of paper. Are there three arguments?
Are the arguments
convincing? Has the prompt been followed correctly?
Give
the students five or ten minutes at the end of each proofreading
session
to meet, to read each other’s comments, and to
ask questions to clarify each other’s recommendations.
It is usually best for the proofreader not to sit near
the student whose paper is being evaluated.
It is too easy for the
proofreader to ask a quick question if something does not make sense.
However, when you are evaluating the papers you will not have that
luxury and will take
off points when something is unclear.
6.
The students need to fix the problems that the proofreaders
found with their papers each night for
homework. Make arrangements with the
librarian
so that
students may return to the library to do additional research if serious
holes have been found in their arguments or if facts need to be rechecked.
Closure
The position papers are handed in and the students fill out an evaluation
of the researching/writing process. This is found at the
end of the lesson.
Homework
If students
are not able to finish writing the position paper during the
class time provided, it will be necessary for them to use additional
time outside of class to finish their work. |
Embedded
Assessment
The
position paper is the product of this lesson (and this
entire learning cycle). It is the evidence of student
learning and should be assessed according to the criteria
presented to the students on the first day of the lesson.
-
Correct interpretation of the prompt
The
students have written a paper that contains the main ideas,
supporting
information and at least three strong
arguments supporting whichever position the student
will be representing in the mock Senate hearing.
-
Proper organization
W-P2.
Write a persuasive essay that contains effective introductory
and summary statements;
arranges the
arguments effectively; and fully develops the ideas
with convincing
proof, details, facts, examples, and descriptions.
PO 1. Write a thesis statement to convey a point
of view about a subject
PO 2. Develop the point of view with ample and
convincing support (e.g., details,
facts, reasons, examples, and descriptions) appropriate
to the audience and
purpose
PO 3. Create an organizational structure that includes
an effective beginning,
middle, and ending
PO 4. Use persuasive word choices and sentence
structure (e.g., connotation,
strong verbs, repetition, and parallelism)
-
Correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, etc.
W-P1.
Use transitional devices; varied sentence structures;
the active voice; parallel structures;
supporting
details, phrases and clauses; and correct spelling,
punctuation, capitalization, grammar and usage to sharpen the focus
and clarify the meaning of their writing
PO 1. Use transitions (e.g., conjunctive adverbs,
coordinating conjunctions, and subordinating
conjunctions) where appropriate
PO 2. Vary sentence structure (e.g., compound,
complex, compound-complex)
PO 3. Use active voice as appropriate to purpose
(e.g., creative writing)
PO 4. Use parallel structure appropriately
PO 5. Sharpen the focus and clarify the meaning
of their writing through the
appropriate use of:
- capitalization
- standard grammar and usage (e.g., subject-verb agreement, pronoun
agreement and consistency of verb tense)
- spelling, with the use of a dictionary/thesaurus (as needed)
- punctuation (e.g., comma, ellipsis, apostrophe, semicolon, colon)-
Strength of the arguments
W-P2.
PO 2. Develop the point of view with ample and convincing
support (e.g., details,
facts, reasons, examples, and descriptions) appropriate to the audience
and
purpose |
