Today we reviewed sentence structure, especially punctuation of compound sentences, for the thematic essays. I saw the punctuation of compound sentences being overlooked in the last essay students wrote. After that students shared the quotes they found for their conclusions...these were fantastic! They really add so much to a somewhat dry piece of (essay) writing. I loved hearing all the special nuggets that connected to the theme of the story.
I set up editing stations around the room, and students spent the rest of the class moving independently to the editing stations to revise and edit their thematic essay.
H/W: Spend 15 minutes revising and editing the body paragraphs of your theme essay. You should be looking at the handout Revision Strategies as you revise. Some additional suggestions:
- Transition words - do they make sense where they are placed?
- Does each paragraph have a topic sentence, evidence, explanation and conclusion?
- Look at your evidence in isolation, by itself, and evaluate if it really, truly supports your theme.
Thanks, and see you tomorrow!
