essay-intro-par-thesis-practice.doc

1.  We finished the last few slides in yesterday’s powerpoint presentation. (To view the ppt, see yesterday’s blog post.) 
2. Students had a new handout waiting for them at their desks when they arrived. On the front page is the list of literary sources they are allowed to reference for their final exams. Students opened a handout they were given in the last class (a green handout) that has the units and sub units listed for each of the 20 and 30 classes. What they are asked to do, now, is take each of their literature sources, write the title on the right hand side of the green page, and then see how many of each sub unit would be applicable for that piece of writing.  For example, “The Lonely Land” will fit and be usable for a question related to landscape, nature, the vastness of Canada, but not for any of the voice sub units as there is no human voice there. (Well, you could possibly argue that – the author must be there to witness it – but it doesn’t fit too easily.)
3. Students were advised to use that handout to see which stories/poems were the most flexible and the ones they felt most comfortable using. The stories that can be used in more ways would be a good choice to study for the exam.
4. We moved on to look at the structure for a body paragraph. There is a six-step outline in their handout that explains the function of each sentence in a body paragraph. An example was provided that follows that format and should make it as clear. 
5. Students followed along as I read an informal literary essay that had the organization structure pieces highlighted. Through this, I am hoping people will recognize the structure of the essay more easily.