I made chapter 6 into a little game for myself. I tried to
read the paragraphs first and then try to figure out the sentence stems. I got
most of it correct.
Sometimes writing paragraphs gets a little complicated when there’s
too little or too much to say about a topic. When there’s not a lot to say the main
points are made in the beginning and the following sentences are usually not
relevant to the main idea of the paragraph. Consequently, when there’s too much
to say, the paragraph lacks some sort of order—it’s not a smooth flow of
thoughts. More of the emphasis is placed on the order of the essay as a whole.
I liked that this chapter focused on really breaking apart each paragraph and
discussing what the role each sentence serves i.e. subcategory, example, justification
etc.
An exercise to have with students would be to have them read
some paragraphs and identify the purpose of each sentence. They can pin point key
words that help communicate the main idea of the paragraph. Students need to
also understand that different types of writing assignments have different
structures. Therefore a paragraph discussing classifications will differ in
structure from one that discusses characteristics or comparisons. I think the key
is to show them examples and then have them practice writing sentences and then
joining them together as a whole.
Hi Mariel,
ReplyDeleteI like the creative approach you took to Chapter 6. I wish I'd thought of using the text as a challenge rather than just reading it straight through, but I'm sure I would have struggled more than you did. Maybe I'll give it a go in one of the future chapters.
Interestingly, your approach reminded me of the strategy that Ana presented to us this evening in class. The alternate Frayer Method, where we had to derive the concept word by looking at the essential and nonessential characteristics used the same reverse-engineering effect. It's great when we can find a strategy that's useful at both the elementary and graduate level.
Way to think outside the box!