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Lesson 8

We will review feedback on the Section Diagnostic. We will use the feedback to make revisions to our work.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I make effective changes to my work based on feedback about the Section Diagnostic Checklist?

Texts

There are no texts for this Lesson.

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Read – Discuss – Write

We will review the feedback for our previous Section Diagnostic.

Reread your Section Diagnostic response and the teacher comments and evaluations you received. With a writing partner or your teacher, discuss how you might improve your writing.

Revise your response to address the feedback. For example, if you have found that the claims you wrote in response to the questions were not clearly communicated or defensible based on evidence from the text, rewrite your claims and strengthen how you have connected them to the texts.

Activity 2: Read – Discuss – Write

We will review our revised responses with writing partners.

With a writing partner, discuss how you revised your response and to what extent the revision addresses the feedback.

Activity 3: Read – Discuss – Write

We will reread a selected excerpt from one of the texts we have read to analyze the author’s use of language.

Step 1

Follow your teacher’s direction regarding grouping, materials, and which mentor sentences you will analyze. Use the Working with Mentor Sentences Tool to work through the following steps for each mentor sentence.

Step 2

Read the sentence aloud. Unpack any unfamiliar vocabulary using your vocabulary strategies. Then, determine what the sentence is saying, and paraphrase the sentence to convey its meaning based on your initial understanding.

Step 3

Deconstruct the whole into parts. Split the sentence up into parts as directed by your teacher; sometimes your teacher will give you the parts, and sometimes you will have to split the sentence on your own. Complete the following for each part:

  • Determine the parts of speech and function.

  • Note other observations about the part, such as examples of effective diction or changes in verb tense or point of view.

Step 4

Follow along as your teacher reviews the relevant grammatical terms and concepts of specific phrases and clauses, punctuation, syntax, mood, and tone.

Step 5

Analyze the concepts. Review, discuss, and revise your deconstruction notes. Then, respond to the following questions:

  1. Which parts make up the main clause? The main clause is the main subject and predicate that expresses the central idea of the sentence. Write down the sentence, underlining the main clause.

  2. How do the other parts of the sentence (e.g., phrases, clauses, modifiers) enhance the main clause?

  3. How could you restructure this sentence so that it relays the same message to the reader? What is the impact of the different structures on your understanding?

  4. What revisions need to be made to your initial paraphrasing now that you have increased your understanding of the sentence?

Step 6

Analyze mood, tone, and meaning. Discuss the following questions:

  1. What mood does the author create in this sentence? How is this mood created?

  2. What tone is conveyed by the author in this sentence? How is that tone conveyed?

  3. What does this sentence contribute to the author’s ideas in the text? How does it expand your understanding of the text or author?

Step 7

Follow your teacher’s directions about choosing one or two mentor sentences to mimic. Use your deconstruction analysis of your chosen sentences to revise select sentences from your Section Diagnostic. Be prepared to share your sentences with your peers.