Writing Advanced Paragraphs: Essential Skills for Essay Writing

*Prerequisite: Students should already be able to write a basic 5 sentence paragraph using complete sentences. This class is for students who are ready to write more advanced paragraphs.

Before students can write essays well, they need to deepen their paragraph writing skills.  They need to be able to move beyond the basic 5 sentence paragraph and learn how to elaborate on their points by using anecdotes, statistics, analogies, quotes, evidence, explanation, questions, and examples. Good writers know how to keep their paragraphs focused on the main ideas and use transitional words and phrases to make their writing flow well. In my experience, students need lots of ongoing practice in order to grow in this skill.

This class will include a mixture of modeling, guided practice, and independent practice. We will work through the writing process. We will brainstorm ideas, create a plan for writing based on the text structure, write a paragraph together, and then write paragraphs independently. Students will be given time to begin writing their paragraphs during class. We will work as a class to give each other advice and feedback to improve. Each week, there will be a different prompt and skill focus. 

What will we learn?
Writing in Different Text Structures
Class 1: (Feb. 14) Descriptive elaborated paragraphs, Adding anecdotes, explanations, & examples
Class 2: (Feb. 21) Order and Sequence elaborated paragraphs, Adding analogies, explanations, & examples
Class 3: (Feb. 28) Problem & Solution elaborated paragraphs, Adding statistics, explanations, & examples
Class 4: (Mar. 7)  Cause & Effect elaborated paragraphs, Embedding quotes, adding explanations, & examples
Class 5: (Mar. 14)  Compare & Contrast elaborated paragraphs, Adding questions, explanations, & examples