216ethnicstudies

College Prep Ethnic Studies

The Model Paragraph

The Aim was What and how are we going to learn? This paragraph scores 10 out of 10 on the Writing Rubric: eight for doing the things and two for how much it builds.

This year we are going to learn to read and write better, and the syllabus is the plan for how. Our mission, three points of ACT growth, is big, but the plan is simple. The syllabus says it plainly: “Reading out loud is the main thing we do, and you are graded for it every day” (Syllabus 6). This says we read out loud every day and get a grade for it. It shows that reading out loud is not just a rule, because it is how we get better. However, reading only works if we know the words. So Membean, the only homework, restructures how we learn words: on purpose, one word at a time, every day. The rationale is in the syllabus: “To understand a sentence, you have to know the words in it” (Syllabus 11). This says we need the words before we can understand the sentence. It shows that Membean is not busywork, because words are the base of reading. When we take responsibility for both, three points is realistic.

The same paragraph as a tree

Read down the tree. Each branch has a job, and every branch pushes the answer forward.

  1. Setup

    This year we are going to learn to read and write better, and the syllabus is the plan for how.

    Our mission, three points of ACT growth, is big, but the plan is simple.

  2. Read out loud

    “Reading out loud is the main thing we do, and you are graded for it every day” (Syllabus 6).

    This says: we read out loud every day, and it is graded.

    It shows: it is not just a rule, because it is how we get better.

  3. The turn

    However, reading only works if we know the words.

  4. Membean

    So Membean, the only homework, restructures how we learn words.

    “To understand a sentence, you have to know the words in it” (Syllabus 11).

    This says: we need the words before we can understand the sentence.

    It shows: Membean is not busywork, because words are the base of reading.

  5. Closer

    When we take responsibility for both, three points is realistic.

Notice how the sentence-expanders help the paragraph build.