Expository Essay/Response to Literature: "Magic Carpet"

Title: Expository Essay - "Magic Carpet"

Author: M. Hill

Subject: ELA

Grade: 6

Week: 1 week duration...

Unit/Lesson Plan #: Identity/Diversity - Expository Essay

Unit theme: Identity/Diversity

Textbook references: "Magic Carpet" by Mitali Perkins; "Names/Nombres" by Julia Alvarez

Learning objectives:

- To understand the format of a descriptive essay (spend 1 day introducing each: thesis, introduction, body paragraph(s), conclusion)

- To respond to literature by drawing conclusions based on a text

Key Questions, Concepts, or Themes:

- What is cultural identity?

- What happens when cultural identities interact?

- What are your feelings on the author's views in "Magic Carpet"?

KEY WRITING CONCEPTS for EXPOSITORY ESSAY:

- A thesis statement introduces the ARGUMENT in an essay. It gives the main idea or focus of an essay.

- An introduction paragraph engages readers by providing background on the topic, "hooking" them into the essay, and introducing the thesis statement

- A body paragraph provides supporting details to back up the argument provided in a thesis statement. Topic sentences give the main idea of each body paragraph. Body paragraphs may be alligned with EXAMPLES in an expository essay.

- A conclusion ties together any loose strings in the essay, and gives the reader something to leave thinking about. It may revisit the ideas of the thesis, but does not restate the thesis verbatum.

In each of these lessons, students are introduced to one of the parts of an essay, using ideas established in Write Source 2000 as a reference. First, thesis statements and topic sentences are created as an outline. Then, these ideas are put into an expository essay template so that students can expand into a written draft. For each piece, students brainstorm lists of "what makes a strong ___ " (i.e., "what makes a strong thesis"). Then, these ideas are put into action through drafting. Students consistently workshop by sharing with their peers and the teacher, and are encouraged to spend ample time on each element.

For this essay, students were asked to respond to the following:

"Why does the author of 'Magic Carpet' try to hide her cultural identity? Give at least 3 examples of pieces of her identity that she tries to hide, and why you think this is so."

Beginning essay writers can pick out 3 clear-cut examples from the text to write on. More experienced writers may add their own thoughts to the piece and use their voice to establish an argument.

After students finished a final draft, all essays were read by the teacher and commented on. Students reviewed their essays and made REVISION NOTES, and then revised their papers for homework. As this was many students first attempts at a full (5-paragraph) essay, these essays were not brought through the editing and publishing stage, but were brought to strong REVISIONS.

Homework: DRAFTING of "Magic Carpet" essay and corresponding work...

Assessments: (attach/link copies)

_X_ Group assessment

_X_ Observation of process/student work

_X_ Self-assessment by student

_X_ Teacher generated assignment

_X_ Written project

__ Test/Quiz

__ Other: ____________________________________