Paragraphs: Master the 9 Sequences!
- Open Publication Structure eBook File
Description
These seven lessons are all about the body of the essay: Paragraphs.
In these lessons we cover nine sequences that will actually enable your students to plan and even visualize an entire paragraph, before they write a single word. That's because we are using the same numbering system that we saw in the Sentences lessons, except that we are writing an entire paragraph rather than just a sentence at a time. Now your students can imagine a 1-2-2-3 as four separate sentences, as they explain their point of view, support their proposition, differ from the other groups, or compare the features of two topics.
Writing is form and content. The numbering system is the form, the shape, the blueprint of each paragraph. Those paragraphs can shift in design as the content carries them into different directions, leaving behind the elusive qualities of style and flow.
If you have been frustrated by students who don't know how to organize, or how to be specific, or how to escape from being "choppy," get ready for a feeling of relief. Finally, you are showing them how to write.
About the Lessons
We continue our focus on sentences for the first four lessons, but now the topics have changed. Rather than writing about petting zoos and washing cars, the students will write about when to apologize, or wrestle with a debatable issue from a famous philosopher. With their new-found confidence, they will take on actual paragraphs. Most of the prompts are in the present tense, representing universal truths or challenging their personal opinions. Things are getting serious, as they face the challenges ahead of them. This is a huge, difficult bridge to cross, from narrative to informative/expository purposes.
As with all of our lessons, there are both videos and text presenting the different topics, followed by Exercises that enable the students to move beyond the bleak one-sentence-at-a-time method they have been so used to. As their teacher, you will be able to explain solutions to problems, as you all are now on the same wave-length of methodology. The progress will be dramatic and the results commendable.
