First, we went over yesterday’s work before English I students today worked on creating their first Schaffer paragraphs. I modeled it for them and talked them through it. We made a chart for our planning:

Then we began writing, employing the following steps:

1. Think of someone close to you: mother, father, step-mother, step-father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, aunt, uncle.
2. Think of one characteristic of their personality that is prominent.
3. Create a simple TS from that: “My mother is hard-working.” “My uncle is very funny.”
4. Think of and write a single event that exemplifies that characteristic. (This goes in the first CD slot.)
5. Think of and write another single event that exemplifies that characteristic. (This goes in the second CD slot.)
6. Now choose one of the CDs and explain how that example proves the TS. This is your commentary. If you’re not sure how to begin it, start with:
   • this shows
   • this proves
   • this illustrates
   • this implies
   • this suggest
   • this demonstrates
7. Check to see that the chunks actually do support the TS.
8. Re-write the TS using entirely different words as your CS.

One of the things I pointed out to students was the occasional necessity to tweak the TS when it’s all done because, in the end, our evidence doesn’t quite point to the ideas we initially thought they were.

Note the order we planned:

1. TS
2. CD1
3. CD2
4. Commentary for CD 1
5. Commentary for CD 2 (can be reversed)
6. CS

It’s a nonlinear way of writing, but it works.

Screencast of Today’s Work

Homework

• English I Honors: complete the paragraph and turn it in on Google Classroom.