1. This week, students are going to use a good portion of our time writing their Reflective Essay, their first major assignment for the course. Before beginning that essay, we used today to do a basic review of the specifics of essays. I was pleased to see that a lot of what we covered was only review of what they already know / practice when writing an essay.  In the instance that there are any gaps, though, or common errors students make but are not aware of, it doesn’t hurt to look again at the beginning and the steps in constructing an essay.
2. I started off with a few short videos, one of the South Park characters coming up with a solution on how to complete their essay homework and the other a student-made video detailing the basic structure and types of essays.  Watch that video here.
3. Next we talked about the steps – where do you start with an essay and what comes next. I showed a powerpoint that, in the most basic of ways, explained that starting in the middle is the best options, then going to the beginning, and then writing your conclusion. (I’ve attached that powerpoint to this post.) essay-plan-of-attack2462
4. Next we looked at an example of an Essay Outline, which the students explained looks very similar to the one Mrs. Enns uses. It doesn’t matter to me which outline they use, as long as they use one. (I’ll get a copy of her version for them to use, if that’s what their familiar with, and possibly add a few key sentences to include.) My copy of an outline is attached in this post, as well.
5. Then we looked at the steps and went through the essay process bit… by tiny… bit. Like I said, this is review for some and helps fill in gaps for others.  The powerpoint is also attached. writing-an-essay-in-steps-waldner-ppt
6. In the middle of that powerpoint, we stopped and looked at the easy step-by-step process of making your thesis statement. To review, the order is this:
    1) brainstorm and create at least five possible paragraph topics
    2) choose your best three topics, listing them in order of strong, stronger, and strongest
    3) create your actual topic sentences, being strong and clear
    4) paraphrase the topic on the side of the outline (in a simple phrase, what is the topic?)
    5) to create the thesis, then, add the phrase topics (from the left side of the outline) in a sentence with the simple formula of a + b + c = thesis. 
    
   We created a thesis statement, using this formula, together in class. I’ve added a pdf copy of it to this post.  three-point-thesis-statement-example
7. We continued through the powerpoint, discussing introductions and transition sentences. We were cut off by the bell but got through a lot today and went at a good pace so everyone was able to follow. We’ll review just a little tomorrow and they’ll have class time to begin their brainstorming.

PS: Those who started their brainstorming over the weekend, as requested, were awarded with fresh Tim Horton’s donuts!! It pays to do your homework – sometimes!