Paragraph Writing, Week 2 Revision; Thanksgiving and 3id Stories

First Hour Ask students to take out the paragraphs comparing Eid in Oman and Morocco from last week. Ask students to share one sentence from their writing comparing and contrasting the holiday customs. Write one sentence at a time on the board and if necessary work through revising it. Work on these for 30 minutes; have students revise one more time and turn their papers in.

Second Hour Tell the students we’re going to write 3id stories today. The stories can be true or made up, and students can write individually or in pairs. (If these students are in a group that read four Thanksgiving stories from the US, these can serve as models; if not, see below.) Brainstorm: What could happen during a family’s celebration of 3id that was funny, sad, or unusual? Make a list on the board, and have students create reasons or explanations for how these things could happen to fill in gaps. Allow the students 30-45 minutes to write a draft (or perhaps the rest of class?). Circulate in the room, reading partial drafts and commenting. The last 20 minutes, ask a few students to share their narratives; or the narrator can collect and read some of the narratives. Collect the drafts with students names on them; we’ll share the best next week at the start of class.