Knowledge and Skills Statement
Share a mentor text that has multiple organizational patterns that support the essay topic. Conduct a class discussion regarding the organizational patterns in the text. Once the organizational patterns have been determined, task students with identifying the thesis of the text and explaining how the different patterns and ideas work together to establish the thesis.
Further Explanation
This SE requires students to analyze the organizational patterns in a text and demonstrate understanding of how the organizational patterns are well suited to the purpose of the piece. Because informational texts often seek to inform or explain various aspects of a topic, students should understand that different organizational patterns may be used within a single text depending on how the ideas within the text are related.
Research
1. Composition Writing Studio. The Writing Process. University of Purdue’s Online Writing Lab. Retrieved from
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/05/
Summary: This online resource offers a complete overview of the writing processes and the components involved in each. The overview includes definition of terms, examples, graphs and charts as appropriate, and additional resources.
2. Olson, C. B., Land, R., Anselmi, T., & AuBuchon, C. (2010). Teaching secondary English learners to understand, analyze, and write interpretive essays about theme. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 54(4), 245–256. doi:10.1598/JA AL.54.4.2
Summary: This study reveals the results of a collaborative project with the California Writing Project and a large, urban, low‐SES school district where 93% of the students speak English as a second language and 69% are designated Limited English Proficient. The article describes a longitudinal study related to the impact of ongoing professional development centered on strategies used to teach student to comprehend, analyze, and write interpretive essays about themes. Fifty five teachers and 2000 students participated in study. The students showed significant improvement in comprehending and analyzing themes.