PARCC Writing Preparation and Steps: Getting Pumped Through Parody

Students learn the underdog story of Rocky Balboa (from the movie Rocky) to get pumped about PARCC! They sing a parody to "Eye of the Tiger," only these lyrics actually teach the students the different parts of a good essay. There is also a PowerPoint included that allows teachers to explain the different parts of the essay with sample paragraphs to demonstrate each piece of the writing. I recommend having students annotate their parody lyrics so they have a good set of notes and so they can see how the song shows them the parts of the essay. On the second page of the lyrics, I included some sample notes you may have your student write down while you go over the PowerPoint. Finally, there is a link so you can check out the video my class made performing the song and see how much fun they had with it!