Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Interpretive Essay Focused on Characters

Many fifth graders are  now finishing up their interpretive essays in which their thesis statement focused on themselves and their beliefs. They have learned  how to support those statements with stories, quotes, and other facts. Now it is time to encourage those students to do the next round of interpretive essay writing.  This is similar to what they just finished, but this time they will be using a book character.

The first day of this unit of study will be spent picking a character for the essay.  It could be someone from their independent reading, one from the class read aloud, or one from a basal story. They will look back over any notes from their reader's notebook and find ones they have written about who would be worth including in an essay.  So, by the end of that day they would have the character and an idea of an angle that will become a thesis statement the next day.

On the second day, the students will not only write the thesis statement, but will also begin to plan how their essay will go.  They might box the ideas out in their notebook or use a story board to do their planning. They would have a good idea of which scenes will be useful to turn into anecdotes. They might have lists of examples that would give evidence to assemble into their supportive paragraphs. This would be the thinking necessary to plan for the essay.

Next, they will begin to assemble the evidence. This would be the scenes or lists that they had planned to use. This might be a good time to have a specific way to collect this material. On a visit to a classroom in New York City, I was able to observe an interesting way to do this. The teacher had made a type of accordion folder for each student. That folder would have many parts to it, just like the ones you could purchase in a story. On the cover or front of the folders the students had the thesis statement. On each of the separate folder tabs was a support statement. As the students collected (wrote) the stories, anecdotes, lists, quotes, they were then put into the corresponding folder. When they had collected all the evidence, they then could use what they felt would best support their thesis.

The paragraphs would then be written focusing on each of the supportive evidence. Now it is time to spend several days on the revision.  This would focus on elaboration.  In other words they would explain HOW a scene supports the claim they made in the thesis statement.

Since the students have already written the first personal essay, this one should not take as long to write. Some children might even want to do multiple characters if they have time. This unit of study is the backbone of the future essays they will be writing this year.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

all the time i used to read smaller articles or reviews that as well clear their motive, and that is also happening with this paragraph which I am reading now.


Also visit my weblog :: remote computer support charlotte nc

Anonymous said...

I like it when folks come together and share thoughts. Great blog, keep it
up!

my blog business local directories

Anonymous said...

I enjoy what you guys are usually up too. Such clever work
and coverage! Keep up the fantastic works guys I've incorporated you guys to blogroll.

Here is my weblog: research term paper

Anonymous said...

Hello everyone, it's my first pay a visit at this web site, and paragraph is truly fruitful in favor of me, keep up posting these articles.

Also visit my website :: local business to business listings

Anonymous said...

Howdy! I just want to give you a huge thumbs up for the great info you have got right here
on this post. I am coming back to your web site for more soon.



Here is my site - real estate listings

Anonymous said...

It's an awesome article designed for all the online viewers; they will get advantage from it I am sure.

My website :: Charlotte laptop repair

Anonymous said...

I used to be able to find good advice from
your blog posts.

Have a look at my weblog new local business directory us

Anonymous said...

Does your website have a contact page? I'm having problems locating it but, I'd like to send you an e-mail.
I've got some creative ideas for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.

My website :: chemistry term paper topics

Anonymous said...

Saved as a favorite, I like your website!

my site - movie discussions esl

Anonymous said...

It's hard to find well-informed people about this topic, but you sound like you know what you're
talking about! Thanks

Feel free to surf to my weblog: local business dir in usa

Anonymous said...

I'm extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it is rare to see a great blog like this one today.

Have a look at my web site ... remote computer support charlotte north carolina

Anonymous said...

It's really very difficult in this busy life to listen news on TV, so I simply use world wide web for that reason, and get the most recent news.

Feel free to visit my page ... local small business listings ()

Anonymous said...

Its like you read my mind! You appear to know so much about this, like you
wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some pics to
drive the message home a little bit, but instead of that, this is
excellent blog. An excellent read. I will certainly be back.


My weblog - add business listing