E.++CNN+Heroes+Essay

CNN Heroes Notes and Essay Project

Peer editing : Students will be peer editing each others essay. In order to learn what peer editing is and my expectations for respect during the peer editing process please click the following link, scroll down to the "featured resources" and click the first link. This will want you to open a document, use powerpoint to open the document as it is a .pps file.

Once you have viewed the powerpoint, ask for a review worksheet and prove that you understand the expectations for peer editing.

[|peer editing link]

How to use the outline provided : I have provided an outline for each student writing a CNN Heroes essay. The first thing to complete on the outline is the three sub-topics. What are your three reasons for selecting this hero as Hero of the Year? After you complete the sub-topic, find evidence/examples in the story to support your reason. List that example/evidence in the evidence box - do this for each reason/subtopic. (You are gathering the pieces that will be crafted into a body paragraph). The explanation box is for you to explain how this evidence/example proves your point. Essentially, why does this matter?

The last two pieces we will craft are the introduction and conclusion.

Introduction : Think of a funnel - starts big, or wide, and narrows to the end. You need to start your introduction with a generic statement. If our essay was on basketball being the best sport .... my introduction may start as follows: Many students enjoy playing sport s. (Broad, generic statement to introduce readers to our topic of sports) I would then need to start narrowing my topic to basketball with a sentence such as: Basketball is one of the most popular sports in my school. Then bring the reader to your thesis statement. I believe basketball is the most important sport because ... reason 1... reason 2... reason3.

Your introduction paragraph now reads like this: Many students enjoy playing sport s. Basketball is one of the most popular sports in my school. I believe basketball is the most important sport because ... reason 1... reason 2... reason3.

This is a short, sweet introduction. So, how do you proceed? What is the general topic of your paper? For your thesis statement be sure to list who you voted for followed by the three reasons why. The reasons need to be listed in the same order I will read them in the essay.

Hope this helps you all! ~Mrs. Slette

Students are watching the 10 nomination videos for the CNN Heroes project. The video links can be found here: CNN Heroes As students watch the videos they are taking notes on each nominee. We are using this time to refine our two-column note-taking process as well as our ability to pull important or essential information from the videocast. After all 10 videos are viewed students will determine, individually, who they believe should be Hero of the Year. Now the real work comes in!

Students will have to craft a 5 paragraph persuasive essay convincing me their selection is the best. All essays will be subject to the Six-Traits writing rubric. All essays will work through the writing process of pre-writing (our note-taking), creating a rough draft, revising, editing, and creating a final draft.

Important links for students: How to craft a persuasive essay Persuasive Essay Writing Six-Traits 5-point scoring rubric Click on either 5-point rubric for 3-12 grades