English Language Arts 7

Paragraphs“The Writing Process”

Agenda for the Day

1. Writing for purpose: Why do we write?

2. The Writing Process. What you need to check for when submitting a written assignment.

3. Constructing a Paragraph

4. Any questions before we begin?

Purpose

Explain

Instruct

Describe

Tell a story (Narrative)

When might you use each?

Examples!

Issues- Not enough detail to support the topic- Not having a clear theme statement to let the reader know what

your writing is about. It should clearly deal with the topic you have been assigned

- Organizing your thoughts into a logical sequence- Structural problems: sentence structure, paragraphs,

conventions- Lack of proofreading!!

Paragraphs

Are your building block to any type of writing

Is a group of sentences that develops a main idea

The beginning of a new paragraph signals that a new idea will be introduced

Good paragraphs have three main parts:

1. Main Idea: this can be clearly expressed in a topic sentence, which can appear anywhere in the paragraph.

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2. Supporting Sentences: explain the main idea of the paragraph. They use related details or examples to expand on the idea presented.

3. Closing Sentence: A good closing reinforces the main idea! It can add something new, and leave the reader with a manageable chunk of information to think about.

RAFTS

What is this pre-writing strategy?

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Good paragraphs have:

Order

Unity

Coherence

Let’s Practice…

Some possibilities are: -heroes are sometimes ordinary people -heroes are sometimes built up beyond who they really are -heroes can sometimes disappoint their fans -heroes are hard to find -heroes are in our own families

What’s Coming Up?

Any questions??