Over the course of the past few years, I have had the pleasure and honor of working with hundreds of teachers across the country ...
And I clearly see a shift in curricular focus ...
An intentional pivot from being so literature-centric ...
Toward greater attention being placed on expository writing.
For me personally, rhetorical analysis used to be the exclusive domain of my AP Language classroom.
But in my district, it is now introduced as early as on-level 9th grade and is a prominent point of focus in all on-level classes.
Students and teachers alike attest that rhetorical analysis is the most tricky expository mode to wield.
But here's the kicker - my templates are uniform and universal.
What kids do in one expository mode ... they can do in them all.
A great way to teach how to get anchored in a thesis is to have students analyze classic television commercials.
For today's writing workshop, I feature three fantastic commercials and "Bob Ross" for you and your students how to tackle the introductory paragraph while pulling the strings of my declarative thesis template.
The first video features a quintessential Coke commercial that casts Connie Clausen and purports that Coke actually can keep a woman thin.
The second writing workshop features a fantastic commercial from Nolan Cheese (they don't make them like they used to).
And lastly, Folgers Coffee (Harvey & His Wife)
And as many of you know, I use Oscar-nominated short-films to hammer home the thesis for literary analysis.
Next week, I'll send you those once I hit the recording studio.
Happy teaching and happy writing!
0 comments