Sustaining that pesky line of reason can certainly confound a kid or two in any ELA class.
To solidify the concept, I often use children’s literature as a means to illustrate what I mean when I tell students to keep the promise of the 1st premise (language specific to my template).
In today’s video, I ground this concept in Templeton Moss’s story entitled “The Forgetful Elephant.”
Patrick, unlike his peers, has a terrible memory – especially for an elephant – so he ties ribbons to his trunk so as not to forget.
In the 1st premise of each body paragraph, students are in a sense making a promise to their reader.
The ribbon trick nicely elucidates for students one major concept:
They have to remember to keep their promise if the line of reasoning is to stay intact.
The exemplars and models in the video cover two expository modes: argument and literary analysis.
For the argument piece, I am referring to a paper my students are currently constructing using Steve Cutts’ short film entitled “Mobile World.” (This link takes you to the writing workshop).
And for literary analysis, the focus in on poetry – Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 and Rita Dove’s “Flashcards.”
Happy teaching and happy writing!
P.S. There's still time to register for my Teach It "Write" 5-Week Mastermind, which begins this Sunday at 7 EST.
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