If you are participating in this year’s Great TWSS Adventure, this week you will be encountering formal essay models. The essay is the goal for formal writing. Units 4 and 6 have provided the scaffolding so that by the time students reach this unit, they are equipped to dive in. There are many different essay types: expository, narrative, argumentative, persuasive, and compare and contrast, just to name a few. Unit 8 provides a model so that students can tackle all of these with confidence.
In Unit 4 students learned to “some-a-rize” facts from a single source. They then expand upon that skill in Unit 6, where they begin to pull facts from multiple source texts. Starting in Unit 8, students learn how to add a conclusion and introduction to their body paragraphs to generate a complete essay. Documentation skills are also taught when appropriate to the lesson. It’s a rewarding unit for teacher and student alike, to be able to see all of the work synthesize the various parts into a whole.
What types of assignments might a student encounter in this Unit 8? An example at the B level can be found in Structure and Style for Students Level 1B in Lesson 21, where students write a 5-paragraph essay related to Oceania. Level C students taking Advanced U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons will encounter a Unit 8 persuasive essay assignment in Lesson 30 on a controversial subject of their choosing.
For our intrepid adventurers, your homework for the week is provided below:
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Watch Video 8 all the way through (85 minutes).
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Read pages 125‒146 in your Seminar Workbook.
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Complete the practicum assignment:
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Assemble a 5-paragraph essay using the paragraphs written in Units 2, 4, and 6.
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Include the completed outline on page 144 and a correctly formatted bibliography. Note, you will likely need to revise the body paragraphs of the essay to meet the requirements of the checklist on page 145.
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If you missed the Facebook Live event on Monday, you can catch the recording at this link. This year’s Great TWSS Adventure is nearly at a close. There’s only one more week to journey together. During that final week we will encounter Unit 9: the Formal Critique. See you then!
