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Lesson 4

We will peer review and revise the organization and coherence of the Culminating Task essay.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I recognize and interpret important relationships among ideas and structure within The Warmth of Other Suns?

  • Can I sequence and group sentences and paragraphs and use devices, techniques, descriptions, reasoning, evidence, and visual elements to establish coherent, logical, and well-developed narratives, explanations, and arguments?

Texts

Core

  • Tradebook
    • The Warmth of Other Suns, Isabel Wilkerson, Vintage Books, 2010

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss

We will engage in a peer review of our essay’s organization and coherence to help us strengthen and revise our essays.

Step 1

Cut up the printed copy of your essay so that each paragraph is separate. Mix up the cut-apart paragraphs. Trade paragraphs with a partner.

Step 2

Working individually, complete the following:

  1. Read each paragraph and write a brief note about the function of the paragraph on the back or in the margin.

  2. Arrange the paragraphs in the order they should appear in the essay.

  3. Highlight coherence markers and transitions that helped you determine the order.

  4. If there are paragraphs for which you cannot determine the order, mark them with an asterisk.

  5. Once you have the paragraphs in the proper order, go ahead and number them.

Step 3

Meet with your partner to review and discuss your observations about the order and function of each other’s paragraphs. Be sure to provide feedback about how to improve the coherence, organization, conclusion, and introduction.

After the review activity, participate in a whole-class debrief to share insights and observations.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss

We will analyze the model essay’s sentence variety and structure to help us finish our own drafts.

Working with your group on your assigned model paragraph, complete the following:

  1. What do you notice about the types of sentences used in the paragraph?

  2. Choose one sentence that you think is particularly effective and explain why.

  3. Choose two sentences that you think could be combined to be more effective. Revise them into one sentence and explain why the revision is better.

After the review activity, participate in a whole-class debrief to share insights and observations.

Activity 3: Write

We will revise our essays, using peer feedback to guide their development.

Individually, continue revising your essay. Use your Note-Taking Tools and all preparatory notes. Consult with a partner as needed to work through and discuss your ideas and approaches.

Activity 4: Write

For homework, revise your essay based on peer review feedback.

For homework, revise and rewrite your essay based on peer review feedback. Be ready to share and edit the whole essay for sentence variety and structure in the peer review in the next lesson. Review your Mentor Sentence Journal. Select at least one technique that you plan to use when writing your response to the Culminating Task. Add at least one sentence to your draft that uses the technique you selected.