If your students are anything like mine, it is not uncommon to see first period students double-fisting a keg of energy drinks.
Let's imagine an instance whereby the Senate were to hear testimony on whether or not to ban consumption of these beverages for our teens.
This is the rhetorical situation we explore in this synthesis essay.
Perhaps you've seen my other micro-synthesis units (we created one that spotlights the G.O.A.T. debate in the NBA and another one that ponders whether or not to ban TikTok) in which we create bite-sized source packets.
We followed suite in this exercise ... all of the sources are conveniently housed on a ViewMaster slide.
Step-by-step, the writing workshop walks teachers and students through how to build the entire essay from top to bottom.
So, you'll see my students wielding the declarative and inverted thesis heuristic ... they'll build their body paragraphs syllogistically ... quotes will be embedded ... the sources will chit-chat with each other ... we'll even work with concessions and rebuttals ... and that pesky line of reasoning will stay intact.
In the video's description, you have access (FREE!) to the source packet and all of the student exemplars featured in the video workshop.
Between the three of these micro-synthesis prompts, my kiddos absolutely geeked out.
This is the stuff they love to grapple with conversationally ... so it translates to a wonderfully delicious writing prompt.
Happy teaching and happy writing!
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