Explaining Essay 3–Step 3: A Lesson Plan Sample

by Anna Burton

Keywords: Essay 3—Step 3 preparation; thesis writing; sample essays

Time: 75-minute session

Goals:

1. To give students a clearer view into Essay 3—Step 1
2. To help students begin the drafting process in class and to gain feedback from their classmates
3. To allow students to access sample essays, to analyze them, and to present to their fellow classmates on what was and was not effective in sample essays

Instructions:

1. 5 minutes: Begin class by reminding students of the goals for Essay 3—Step 3. Students should have already been introduced to the major aspects of the essay.
2. 5 minutes: Explain the role of the thesis as a potential roadmap for the essay. Students should understand that their goal is to create a thesis statement that isn’t just compare/contrast, but to ask why the differences between their sources exist and why it’s important that they do exist.
3. 10 minutes: Give students time to create thesis statement. Be there to assist in creation and answer questions.
4. 10 minutes: begin thesis workshop
   1. Students should meet face-to-face with another student for three minutes at a time (1 ½ minutes per student) and explain their thesis statement. They will switch after those three minutes, going around the room until they’ve spoken to three different people.
   2. Each student should offer assessment of what is or is not effective about the thesis statement, particularly in relation to the idea of why the differences exist and why that matters.
5. 5 minutes: Give students a break to help them switch gears.
6. 5 minutes: Explain the rules for the sample essay exercise.
   1. Students are divided into groups (one group for each sample essay) and asked to answer the following questions about the essay they’ve been given (they must also include a specific sentence or paragraph from their essay that demonstrates their point).
      1. Identify the thesis statement. Is it clear? Does it provide a roadmap for the essay? Why or why not?
      2. Is it clear who their audience is? Do the style and tone of the essay remain consistent?

• Do they make it clear why the audience should be engaged by the purpose of the essay?

1. Are the two sources’ major differences in rhetorical choices and strategies clearly explained?
2. Do they make it clear how the relationship between the types of writing can inform the academic experiences of incoming students?
3. Do they explore the reasons these differences exist and what they mean?

1. These questions are drawn from the rubric and the prompt.

1. 25 minutes: allow students to read the essay and begin answering questions.
2. 15 minutes: allow groups to present their ideas for five minutes at a time.
   1. Be prepared to link their answers to certain questions to the answers from other questions (questions ii, iii, and v, and questions iv and vi, especially seem to connect well).
3. 5 minutes: Wind-down
   1. Students should be made aware of the upcoming assignments and given time to ask any questions.

Reflections:

Thesis exercise: In the future, I would have students create a thesis statement beforehand (perhaps as part of Essay 3—Step 2) and bring it to class. The thesis-writing workshop was a good exercise, but my students said they would have liked more time to complete their thesis statement before we began the workshop.

Sample essay exercise: My students seemed to particularly enjoy the exercise with the sample essays, and I think passing out the essays and making students responsible for informing their classmates about their findings kept them on task much more than some other groupwork I’ve asked them to do.