At the start of class I gave each kid an essay that I wrote comparing my childhood to the childhood of kids today (see picture below). I color coded and also annotated the essay for them so that they could see specific examples of everything I was asking them to do in their own compare/contrast essay. I read it aloud to them, pointing out the thesis, topic sentences, reasons, and examples as I went. Students then took out their checklist/product descriptor and began typing their compare/contrast essay. I told them that they should have the checklist and my exemplar right next to them as they type so that they can continually refer to them and make sure they are doing the writing correctly.
As I read my essay to the class I noticed a number of errors (run-ons and typos in particular). I decided to use this as a teaching moment to show them that even though I went to college for English and have been an LA teacher for 10 years, I still can't write a perfect first draft. I wrote the essay in about 15 minutes this morning before the kids arrived and didn't have a chance to check it over before class....so, as I explained to the kids, if I can't write a perfect first draft, and Stephen King can't write a perfect first draft....then neither can they- so before they try and turn something it they should always read it out loud and check it over!
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April 2020
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