1. Today’s Essential Question
How do I start an essay?
Ineffective use of space:
Introductions that repeat prompt
Repetitive word use

2. Truisms
A truism helps you locate and identify one real belief, full of passion and experience, from a prompt.
A truism helps you transform a prompt into something of your own, something true, something a reader will sit up and notice.
This is a great hook for your essay.

3. Truism: a truth, a life lesson, a claim about people or the world Beauty is power. Love can be deadly. Conflict can make friendship stronger.

4. Theme Topics
M – money/materialism R – religion/wisdom C – change/conflict/compassion/courage H – health/happiness/hate E – environment/ethics/education F – family/friendship/future/freedom S – suffering/sacrifice/surviving

5. Truisms
A truism is something that is true about all people in general.
Ex: I have a friend named Kanye. (That’s not a truism about all people in general.)
Ex: Kids need friends. (That’s a truism; it’s true about all people in general.)

6. Nobody gets along all the time.
Truisms
Nobody gets along all the time.

7. Truisms Nobody gets along all the time.
What other image could go with this truism?

8. Now look at each photo. What is going on. What do you notice
Now look at each photo. What is going on? What do you notice? Describe true things about the world or people.

9. It hurts a person’s feelings to be left out.
Truisms
It hurts a person’s feelings to be left out.

10. Everybody has sad times.
Truisms
Everybody has sad times.

11. Sometimes the simplest pleasures in life are the best.
Truisms
Sometimes the simplest pleasures in life are the best.

12. People create their own punishment.
Truisms
People create their own punishment.

13. A few more truism examples...

14. It’s easier to be just like everyone else than to be an individual.

15. Some women will do anything to be in style.

16. No adventure is without a little danger.

17. Set free those that you love.

18. When you write truisms…
Ask yourself these 3 questions:
Is it true for almost everyone?
Is it a life lesson/can we learn from it?
Does it fit the picture?

19. Other important questions:
Am I just describing what is happening in the picture?
Am I telling people what to do?
Then it is not a TRUISM

20. Create a truism for the image

22. Create a truism for the prompt
Read the information in the box below.
The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
—from I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
by Dr. Seuss
Think carefully about the following statement.
According to Dr. Seuss, knowledge leads to new opportunities.
Write an essay stating your position on whether learning always has a positive effect on a person’s life.

23. Prompt: Write an essay stating your position on whether learning always has a positive effect on a person’s life.
Topic: learning, always, positive, effect
Positions (pick one):
Claim: Children are innocent of hatred until they learn about the cruelty in the world.
Learning always has a positive effect
Learning has negative effects

24. When writing a truism…
Children’s innocence is protected by their ignorance of the impure world around them.
Is it true for almost everyone?
Is it a life lesson/can we learn from it?
Does it fit the topic?

25. Exit Ticket 10/27/16

27. Today’s Essential Question
How do I make my writing persuasive?
Ineffective use of space:
Use of “filler”
Sentences that don’t improve the quality of the idea
Vague or repetitive word choice

28. Persuasive Appeal
Most arguments are heavily dependent upon pathos appeals.
Use emotive language: love, fear, sympathy, patriotism, pride, guilt, hate, or joy.
Pathos is affective at motivating people to act based on their emotions. Coupled with your personal experience example, this appeal will strengthen your position.

30. Today’s Essential Question
How do I choose an example to support my position?
Ineffective use of space:
Inappropriate, false, or hypothetical examples
Disruptive rhetorical questions or questions that directly address the reader

31. Supporting Examples
The most interesting and authentic example you could use in an essay is one from your personal experience.
Your experiences build your character and perspectives of the world. When identifying an appropriate example to share, there are some that are weak and some that are strong.

32. BUT THEY MUST BE DETAILED
Other types of good examples:
Literary – books you have read
Historical – factual events and people
Cultural – societal observations and current events
BUT THEY MUST BE DETAILED

33. So, how do I make my experiences more interesting to read?

34. Levels of Experience Level One
Everyday things that occur to everyone
You would tell to anyone
PREDICTABLE and BORING
Ex: fear of riding a roller coaster, lost your cell phone

35. Levels of Experience Level Two
More personal
Happen differently for everyone
You would tell only your friends
Interesting for other people to read

36. Levels of Experience Level Three
Very personal
You would only tell your best friends
EXTREMELY interesting to read

37. Levels of Experience Level Four
Things that are TOO personal
Things you will probably never write about

38. That means NO false evidence!
Reminders
The essay must be centered around a clear position, which represents the writer’s viewpoint on the issue and forms the basis of the argument.
Students must support their position with specific examples to make it convincing and forceful.
That means NO false evidence!

40. Today’s Essential Question
How do I structure my essay?
Do the OREO:

41. STAAR Composition Examining the Prompt
Read the information in the box below.
The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.
—from I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!
by Dr. Seuss
Think carefully about the following statement.
According to Dr. Seuss, knowledge leads to new opportunities.
Write an essay stating your position on whether learning always has a positive effect on a person’s life.

42. Read the following quotation.
The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.
— from I Can Read with My Eyes Shut!
by Dr. Seuss
Think carefully about the following statement:
According to Dr. Seuss, knowledge leads to new opportunities.
Write an essay stating your position on whether learning always has a positive effect on a person’s life.
Be sure to —
• clearly state your thesis
• organize and develop your ideas effectively
• choose your words carefully
• edit your writing for grammar, mechanics, and spelling

43. HOOK/LEAD/TRUISM: Children’s innocence is protected by their ignorance of the impure world around them.
Themes: innocence
hatred
CONTROLLING IDEA: Learning of the intense hatred in our world can sully the mind of even the purest child.

44. Black underline -Topic sentence Yellow highlighting – explain
Green highlighting – example
Blue highlighting – cause & effect
Purple highlighting - reflection
Used a detailed literary example!

45. Purple Highlighter – Counter Argument: Acknowledging other side, while still proving your case
Blue Highlighter – Final thoughts, reflection, and conclusion.

46. What score is this?
In the introduction of this, the writer states the position that “[l]earning of the intense hatred in our world can sully the mind of even the purest child.” As support for this position, the student provides relevant context and details from the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
In paragraph two, strong sentence-to-sentence connections show the relationships between ideas: the writer contrasts the outlook of the character Jem with that of his younger, more innocent sister.
In the third paragraph, the writer considers a possible counter argument to the position she takes in the essay, conceding that someday the younger sister may, in fact, think the same way as Jem. The ability to recognize alternate points of view reveals a nuanced understanding of the issue.