A Complete Short Answer Response

Here's a challenge, how many times in a day can you write on students paper "RESTATE THE QUESTION?" I am joking.... But really, they should make a stamp of it so that grading takes less time.... hum....

In all seriousness students need to restate the question to get the full credit on quizzes and tests so here is what they need to do.

1. Restate the question
2. Provide an answer
3. Provide evidence.
4. Put it all together in 1-2 sentences.

Use this formula over and over and over and encourage the kids to stick to it! It really becomes second nature to the students in a week or less.

These steps however are really for simple, short answers. I know there are lots of strategies like "RACE" out there but I really found success in using something simple initially. When we got further into the year and were writing entire paragraphs as answers, the "RACE" strategy was so helpful because they explained their answer even further.

Apply this strategy to other subjects too like science and social studies and see what stellar answers you start getting! I co-taught and I did ELA and social studies while my partner teacher did math and science and she LOVED the answers she would get for extended response math questions and science questions because they students were in the habit of explaining their answers.

Want a complete weeks worth of mini lessons on how to restate the question? Click HERE!

Persuasive Writing

When trying to write to persuade someone or to build an argument, it is really hard to write down your reasoning in a way that makes sense. I mean, that can be hard to do as an adult, let alone in middle school!

When I sit down and talk to my students, it is so easy for them to tell me what they are thinking (HAHA) because let's face it, they all have opinions! But this doesn't always come off in their writing.

So, I got to thinking. They have so much good stuff to say, maybe what is getting them is how to organize their thoughts into writing....

Generally at the middle school level we expect the students to have 3 reasons to support their opinion and we want evidence to back up that opinion.

Common Core Standards even state even in third grade, students should be able to write with reasoning to support their opinion/argument/persuasive piece. Not only that, but they should be able to develop those reasons with FACTS, DEFINITIONS, and DETAILS.

After third grade, they should be able to develop their reasoning with facts, definitions, details, QUOTATIONS, or other examples related to the text.

After looking and looking I couldn't find anything that I thought would really help the kids organize what they had to say and ensure they had reasoning to back up their arguments so I created this guy

This is PERFECT for the brainstorm process of writing a persuasive/argumentative piece of writing because......

1. It gives students a place to write down their argument, which helps them stay focused during their planing. 

2. It gives students 3 places to provide reasoning for their argument or persuasion. Each of those sections should become their own paragraph if they are writing at least 5 paragraph essays. 

3. It gives students lines to provide reasoning for their argument. This is where they should use textual evidence. This could be paraphrasing or it could be direct quotes. Such an advanced, yet required, skill in middle school! 

If you would like to download this organizer, click HERE!

How to Write A Thesis Statement in 4 Easy Steps

The thesis statement is super important! Because it is so important,  it can be overwhelming when you are first trying to write one.

The thesis is usually one sentence that explains the main idea of your entire essay. Once you have thesis statement, your entire essay revolves around it. You will spend the next several paragraphs explaining and giving examples that all relate to your thesis.

You can write a thesis statement in 4 easy steps.

1. The Question - The question is posed by the writing prompt. It is up to you to decide what the prompt is asking you to write about. This is the topic of your essay.
2. The Declaration- You must make a formal statement about the topic and then write about it.
3. The Reasoning- Your reasons will be facts, statements, or further explanation about why your declaration is correct.
4. The Thesis- Put all the information together from steps 1-3 into a single sentence and you have a thesis!

Use a graphic organizer like the one below to help you form a thesis.

If you would like some additional hep writing a thesis, click HERE.