1B
1. Freewrite.
2. Vocabulary. Students got notes for our next vocabulary unit. You can download them here: V3 WS Lesson 2 with SAT words. We took notes on #1-5. If you were absent, you should download the notes and fill out what you missed by looking here.
3. Practice revising theses. Students turned their sheet over to the back and, in pairs, worked to make non-DADS theses into DADS theses.
4. Motif group theses. Next, students gathered in their motif groups to start coming up with a thesis statement of their own. They used this as a guide: W7: Writing a Thesis Statement.
Here are the thesis statements from our class:
- The Greasers fight the Socs not because they think they’ll win but rather in order to keept their pride. (appearances)
- Darry cares about Johnny dying because he wants he and Johnny to be like the Curtis family. (bromance)
- There can be honor in lawlessness. (law, lawlessness, and honor)
- When characters write in The Outsiders it is a form of reflection to make them think about what they have done. (literature)
- In The Outsiders, weapons are a sign of weakness. (weapons and violence)
HW: None.
2AB
1. Freewrite.
2. Groups spent the whole period coming up with and agreeing upon a thesis for their motif topic.
3. When done, groups could start outlining their arguments using W8: Basic Essay Outline.
HW: None.
4B
1. Freewrite and welcome to Trevaun!
2. Thesis statement review. Students were asked questions about the qualities of thesis statements and then had to evaluate whether some example thesis statements were up to snuff or not.
3. Finding an issue. Students all spent five minutes answering questions under #1 to think of an “issue” related to their motif to write about using W7: Writing a Thesis Statement Hobbit v3.
4. Ms. Garvoille then demonstrated how to turn an issue into a thesis. Her issue was the fact that Bilbo did not seem very heroic. Then she made an idea chart:
From that, she developed the thesis to write on the back of W7: Bilbo is not the sole hero of The Hobbit because Tolkien wants the reader to recognize that it takes multiple people within a community to create true heroism.
5. Students then worked in their motif groups to create idea charts and theses of their own. Here’s what we came up with:
Luck Thesis: Bilbo’s luck is a result of the fact that all his actions are predestined.
Genealogy Thesis: People are expected to inherit traits from their ancestors, but only at the appropriate time.
Appearances Thesis: Bilbo appears heroic, but in reality he is sneaky, steals, and compulsively lies because Tolkien wants to show that heroes aren’t perfect.
Home Thesis: Bilbo talks about home so much that it will always be his life, despite his “life-changing” adventure.
Misguiding Thesis: Bard kills Smaug because Bilbo never becomes the archetypal hero.
6. Outlining an essay. Ms. Garvoille demonstrated how she would outline her essay about Bilbo the hero:
Here is the sheet we used: W8 Basic Essay Outline. All groups filled this out and then assigned each group member a box or the Counterargument/Rebuttal.
HW: Over the weekend, find evidence for your topic sentence, in other words, the point in your box. If you were absent you should get in contact with someone in your group to ask them what your topic sentence is. Use this template to write out your evidence: Finding Evidence for a Body Paragraph. You should have three quotes that support your topic sentence. We may not use all of them, but we want to be able to choose.
ALEXA GARVOILLE 