Over here, you're so lazy. If you weren't so busy, maybe you could teach me how to cook. Conversations comparing what I would be like if our family still lived in Vietnam are common in my house. But it's a tricky lead because sometimes students get so wrapped up in the story that their essay gets lost. Once I saturate students in essay openings, I ask them to write an introduction to their essay.
Volunteers transfer their openings to the board.
We go through each one and talk about what the author needs to prove. Students need to learn how to close their essays as well as open them. Coloring I pass out crayons and ask students to color in evidence and transitions in a common essay we've read. I want them to see that essay structure varies. Writers use all kinds of evidence from personal experience to examples from school, newspapers, movies, and books.