IEW U.S. History - Week Twenty

IEW – Week Twenty

Put away your white boards and pull out U.S. History Student book and SRN. Turn to page 137 in U.S. History book. (Vocab quiz has been rescheduled for next week, because there is so much to cover this week.)

Today, I am going to teach you how to do some creative writing. So far this year, you’ve learned how to take notes from another text. You’ve learned how to take notes from a large text. Finally, you learned how to take notes and write a paper from several texts, culminating in your stunning papers that you read last week. Now you’re going to learn how to write with no source text. Your source will be your own brain. Fun, yes?

Now, you don’t have complete freedom on this, you will still have a topic about which you need to write, also called a prompt. You will also have prompt questions that you will answer in order to help pull information out of your brain. However, the actual contents of the paper will still be your original thoughts.

As usual, there is a pretty big difference in the size of the papers for level A and level B students. Level A students will be writing a one-paragraph paper, and Level B students will be writing a 5 paragraph essay. You will only have one week to accomplish this. I considered shortening the assignment; however, I remembered that you’ll be in Challenge A next year. This is the length of paper that you’ll be writing almost every week, so getting in that groove now isn’t a bad thing.

The prompt for both your papers is the same. It is listed on p. 137 of your book.

One of the rights guaranteed to all Americans in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights is freedom of religion. This means that Americans may practice their faith freely without fear of persecution. How do you and your family practice your faith?

This is the question, or prompt, that you’ll all be answering in your papers this week.

First, I’ll give the instructions for Level A; then we’ll talk about Level B.

1. Begin with your topic sentence. Look at the information in the prompt. An example of a topic sentence could be: Because the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of religion, I can practice my faith freely. You’ll fill in your own topic sentence on page 138.

2. Next, you’ll think of things to say about how you practice your faith. To do so, ask yourself questions such as the ones on page 138. Write the answers in KWO form in the blank outline.

Let’s go through a few questions to make our own KWO, just to give you an idea of how this will work.

Whom do you worship? Why? What is he like?

When do you practice your faith? Why? Example?

Where do you practice your faith? Why? Example?

3. Then, you’ll use this KWO to write your paragraph. Start with your topic sentence. Then try to verbally explain your KWO to your mom or dad. They can help you put them in the best order. You may want to add in some ideas or leave some out. Your KWO isn’t a list of fixed facts. Because these answers are from your own brain, the KWO simply gives you ideas about what to write.

4. Finally, be sure to end your paragraph with a clincher that repeats or reflects words from your topic sentence. The checklist is on page 139.

Any questions? Can refer to lesson 25 during week.

Level A students, you can have an extended break.

Level B students, you may not get much of a break today, but I want to make sure that you understand your assignment. Turn to page 143 in your book.

1. To plan a 5 paragraph essay, you must first determine three topics for your body paragraphs. In other words, what three main ways do your practice your faith? Below are some possibilities, but you may choose others, as well. For the purpose of example, we will make out an outline in class, but it should be different than the outline you use, so don’t copy it down. Turn to page 144.

(On board)

I. Introduction

II. Practice, attend, church

1. Worship, via, singing, study

2. Hymns, praise, God, goodness

3. Joyful, grateful, salvation, Christ (questions in

4. pastor, teaches, Bible, hour teacher’s Guide

5. grow, understand, security, God’s will p. 70)

6. encourages, honor God, share

7. w/o, forget, honor, fooled

8. pastor, knowledge, friends, fellowship

Clincher: glad, attend, church

III. Praying anytime, anywhere

IV. Serving God by obeying His Word

V. Conclusion

2. For each of the three body paragraphs, get ideas about what to say by asking yourself questions. These generic questions should be memorized and are listed for you on page 144 on the left.

Who? Where? How feel? Include Good DEEDs:

What? Why? What is best? Details Explanations

When? How? What is worst? Examples Descriptions

3. End each body paragraph notes with an idea for a clincher that repeats or reflects words from the topic sentence.

4. Finish the outline by filling in ideas for the introduction and conclusion. Use your SRN for ideas of a dramatic opener.

5. Use your outline to help you write your essay. Follow the checklist on page 141.

In order to get this done in one week, you may want to outline and write one body paragraph per day. Then outline and write the intro and conclusion. If you write your rough draft on the computer, you may find it easier to correct it and complete the final draft in one week.