1. AGENDA FOCUS: How can you improve your Foster paper?
*Silent Read and Respond, “Thank You Ma’am”
*Discussion: what are some important analytical claims you could make about this story?
*12 Sentence Paragraph, Quote Integration, and Analysis Writing Strategy
*Practice—add in a 6, 9, 12 sentence paragraph in your Foster paper.
*Closing: shares

2. MATERIALS
Short Story “Thank You Ma’am”
12 Sentence Paragraph Handout

3. WHAT WILL I LEARN TODAY?
FOCUS: How can you improve your Foster paper?

4. “Thank You Ma’am”
Read the short story, annotate it, and try to think about its structure and deeper meaning…

5. DISCUSSION
What are some “claims” or arguments about this short story? Brainstorm some now on your short story…
Remember a claim is an argument or belief you have about the text that can be proven with evidence (quotes) from the text.
Example: Mrs. Luella is a character to admire as a Christ- like figure.
Textual evidence: “hammer and nails”
Share and discuss the claims as a class…

6. FOSTER PAPER and 12 SENTENCE PARAGRAPH
If you noticed on the rubric, you are required to do a 6, 9, or 12 sentence paragraph in your Foster paper.
The rest of today’s class is going to be focused on what that is, how it works, etc.

7. WHAT IS THE 12 SENTENCE PARAGRAPH?
The 12 sentence paragraph is a writing strategy.
I do NOT recommend you use it all the time, and for every paragraph—it can get very cliché and formulaic (like a 5 paragraph essay).
HOWEVER, I like this model because:
1. It pushes you to use evidence.
2. It pushes you to EXPLAIN that evidence.
3. It helps you remember to include a closing sentence at the end of your body paragraphs (which a LOT of students forget!).

8. PARAGRAPH WRITING
Liesel is the tragic heroine of Zusak’s novel, The Book Thief.
(TOPIC SENTENCE).
Liesel—an communist orphan—finds her true identity, through her adopted family and friends, during World War II in the middle of Nazi inundated Germany.
(TOPIC SENTENCE ELABORATION=BACKGROUND).

9. FIRST BURGER/SANDWICH
She becomes a hero through her kindness and humility to a young Jewish man named Max, whom her family hides desperately from the Germans around them.
(Claim #1).
While Max is fading in between life and death, Liesel finds a way to support him and help him survive by being “on the lookout for discarded items that might be valuable to a dying man” (321).
(Quote #1).
Not only is her family housing a Jew, but Liesel spends time, every day, reading and bringing home “presents” to Max, for when he wakes up; her behavior essentially saves Max and makes her a young heroine.
(Explanation#1)

10. SECOND BURGER/SANDWICH
Young Liesel stands up in the face of deadly German authority, while the rest of her society remains silent to the oppression of the Jews.
(Claim #2).
While Liesel watches a band of Jews marching to the death camps, she desperately looks for Max and once she sees him, she “grabbed a hold of his arm with her left hand” (510).
(Quote #2).
She faces a terrible lashing for her actions, and even though she is a young girl, she is one of few who challenged the hypocrisy of Hitler’s regime
(Explanation#2)

11. THIRD BURGER/SANDWICH
By the end of the novel, Liesel overcomes her greatest internal challenge—her ability to read and write—and shares her stories with the world.
(Claim #3).
She sits in the basement, zealously documenting the things she has experienced and, “started writing, not knowing how she was ever going to get this right” (525).
(Quote #3).
She continues to write and her own flaw, her only fault, is her struggle to read, which she mastered in many ways, and ironically transformed into her greatest childhood passion; she becomes a hero to many who may struggle with words, like she did
(Explanation#3)

12. PARAGRAPH WRITING
Ms. Meminger stands out as a true heroine of the story—admired by her foster family, Max, and even Death himself—which makes her an ordinary character beyond the pages of Zusak’s fictional novel.
(Closing Sentence)
Use grammar to help add more information to a sentence (like semi-colons, AAAWWWUBBIS)
Always 12 sentences; there is no more, and no less.

13. QUOTES and CITATION REVIEW
1. Now, remember, NO HOVERING QUOTES in your writing—always ground it with a dab, dollop, or losta sauce.
2. For your Foster paper, you will be using two different pieces of literature, with two different author’s names, so make sure you do proper, complete citation.

14. CITATION REMINDER
Watch your punctuation when you do citation…
So this is a pretend “quote from myself” (Rutan, 12).
Period!
Author’s Last Name, Page Number
Quotes go before the ( )

15. CITATION REMINDER
But sometimes, you use “double punctuation” like below…
Lets say your quote has a question mark or an exclamation point like so “quote?” (Rutan, 12).
Still do a Period because it is the end of YOUR sentence…
Do the ? Or ! First…
Author’s Last Name, Page Number

16. YOUR TURN
Now, I don’t care if you do a 6, 9, or 12 sentence paragraph (so 1 claim, 2 claims, or 3 claims), but you do have to show at least one of these types of paragraphs in your Foster paper.
I have one more example…this was from my sample paper you read last week.
Your turn: read through your Foster paper first draft and add in a 6/9/12 sentence paragraph OR practice in your writer’s notebook with the “Thank You Ma’am” story…

17. CLOSING
Share what you wrote…