First Impressions and Closing Remarks Unit 2 – Argumentative Writing Literary Essays

Celebrate Your Hard Work! Yesterday, you worked hard! Thematic essays are hard to wrap your head around! Today… Polishing up the introduction and the conclusion Say, “Have you ever met someone for the first time and felt awkward? Sometimes when writing, we can start off the essay awkwardly. Today, you’ll go back into your draft and fix up the introduction so that in the end, the first impressions your writing makes on readers will be strong.” Say, “It’s not just the start that matters – the first impressions. The last impression matters as well. Today, we will work on ending your essay with emphasis and insight, so that readers say, ‘whoa, she nailed it!’”

Revision Strategies Let’s take a look… Go through the handout with students and have them tape into their notebooks. Let’s take a look…

First Impressions Goal: Understand how to revise your literary essay, focusing on the introduction and conclusion. When literary essayists write introductions, they often lead with a universal statement about life and then transition to the text-based thesis itself.

Closing Remarks Don’t “run out of steam” Your closing remarks should be powerful! Your reader should think… “Wow, that’s right!” “I see how this story matters to the world.” Tell students, “I’ve seen many students spend a lot of time on essays – they put so much work in to the essay, but then they run out of steam and the conclusions are yucky!” It’s essential that a writer’s final thoughts are really powerful; “think of yourself as an MC, and you want your conclusion to lead to a round of applause as you walk off the stage for the day!”

Alternative Ways to Conclude an Essay Go through the handout with students and have them tape into their notebooks. Let’s take a look…

Conclusion Example #1 In “Raymond’s Run” we learn that being protective can actually have negative consequences; you can end up building a wall around yourself and shutting out others. Like Squeaky, I used to think that if I built barriers I would be able to keep those who I felt could hurt me out. But in reality, I was only pushing away those people who cared about me. This story is teaching me how important it is to open up and let people in.

Conclusion Example #2 As you can see, one of the themes in “Raymond’s Run” is that when you build walls around yourself and others, you don’t just end up protecting yourself – you end up closing out the world. There is no guarantee that without walls, you won’t get hurt. But what we learn from this story is that sometimes the possibility of getting hurt is worth the risk, because you never know how you can grow, or who you can become or who you can be friends with, without taking a chance.

Conclusion Example #3 In “Raymond’s Run,” we watch as Squeaky learns to open up – to stop being so protective that she builds a wall around herself and those she loves. This story teaches us that even a little crack in the wall will do – that a simple smile or a change in thinking could have big results. We can all learn from Squeaky, even if we are not pushing everyone away all of the time. We can all learn to take a risk in our lives and to open up to others a little bit more. Only then will we see the true smiles all around us.

Writing Time Create a typed version of your essay (Draft #2) Revise your introduction and your conclusion, keeping in mind our discussions from today!