TODAYS WRITING PROMPT Write a paragraph in response

TODAY’S WRITING PROMPT Write a paragraph in response to the following prompt: Who is your hero?

POWER WRITING

WHAT IS “POWER WRITING”? ü Power Writing is a routine to improve writing fluency for students in grades 2 through 12. ü Power writing gives students a “writing formula” to work from in order to organize and make sense of their writing.

WHAT ARE “POWERS”? Power Writing assigns a value and a color to each sentence within a paragraph: 1 st Power – main idea(s), the topic sentence. 2 nd Power – major details that explain the main idea. 3 rd Power – minor details that elaborate upon or clarify major details.

USING THE “FORMULA” ü Students should be taught the powers and coordinating colors ü Once mastered, those powers should be referred to within a specific “formula” for writing within your content. Example formula 12323

I’M CONFUSED, WHY IS THIS NECESSARY? üWriting for Power will enhance Unity, Clarity, and Coherence (6+1 Traits of Writing). üPowers will keep the student on target. ü Students will not ramble because each sentence must explain some preceding power.

LET ME SHOW YOU AN EXAMPLE: Ponyboy had a difficult life. (1) First, he did not have any parents to take care of him even though he was just a teenager. (2) To explain, Ponyboy’s parents had been killed in a car accident, so his brother Darrel gave up his dream of going to college to take care of Ponyboy. (3) Second, Ponyboy is a Greaser, so people look down upon him and call him a “hood. ”(2) For example, Ponyboy says, “Greasers are almost like hoods; we steal things and drive old souped-up cars and hold up gas stations and have a gang fight once in a while. (3) I don’t mean I do things like that. ” (3) (The Outsiders, p. 3) Even though Ponyboy doesn’t do those things, he is still looked down upon for being a Greaser. (3)

WHAT! MY STUDENTS DON’T WRITE LIKE THAT! They can. They will. ü Power Writing gives students an easy to follow formula. ü It holds students accountable to a high expectation while teaching students a consistent method of organizing their written responses. ü Students do not automatically know how to get their thoughts down on paper. ØThey need a consistent way to respond.

TEACHING POWER WRITING Words and phrases and sentences, oh my! How to break it down for your students… 1. Power words 2. Power phrases 3. Power sentences Let’s practice!

POWER WRITING PROMPTS Prompt A Prompt B • What animal did you visit today at the zoo? • What dish is best to order when visiting a Mexican restaurant?

WORD POWER! Words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs all have power as they relate to other words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs. üA 1 st Power word serves as the most general, the “umbrella” word under which the 2 nd Power words belong. Study the examples and note that one of the words has a number (1) for 1 st Power and the other has a (2) for 2 nd Power.

EXAMPLES 1 2 3 Example A bears grizzly polar 2 2 Think you understand? Example B 1 food taco burrito

POWER PHRASES! üA phrase is a sequence of two or more words conveying a single thought or forming a distinct part of a sentence but not containing a subject and predicate. In the following examples note how words from the preceding slide have now become power phrases.

EXAMPLES Example A Example B 1 large, furry bears foods 1 mexican 2 brown grizzly bear tacos 2 overfilled 3 polar bear, in the Arctic burritos 2 beefy How is this different? Think you understand?

POWER SENTENCES! ü A sentence is a group of words that contain a subject, a predicate (the action), and expresses a complete thought. Just as words and phrases had power, so do sentences in their relationships with each other. On the next slide, note how phrases in the preceding slide have now become sentences.

EXAMPLES (1) There are two large, furry bears I visited at the zoo. (2) One is a brown grizzly bear from the Pacific Northwest. (2) The other is a white polar bear from the Arctic. (1) If one goes to a Mexican restaurant they should order these two items. (2) One is the over-stuffed taco. (2) The other is a beefy burrito. How is this different? Think you understand?

POWERGRAPHS 1 2 2 ü The 1 st Power sentence must serve as the umbrella, the general statement for which the other two sentences provide specifics. ü For right now, always include the word two in the 1 st Power sentence so you keep on target and force yourself to write only two details, thus avoiding rambling.

STOP! Before we begin, there is one more detail I forgot to mention – 2 nd Power Signals! To make writing more clear for a reader, a writer often begins 2 nd Power sentences with certain signals, or transitions, or bridges that make the flow of thought easier to follow. nd 2 one another also finally Power Transitions… first moreover second furthermore third above all besides in addition to to begin with

POWERGRAPH EXAMPLES By the stream stood two large furry bears. One was the brown grizzly bear from the Pacific Northwest. Another is a white polar bear from the Arctic. There are two items that I would order if I were in a Mexican restaurant. One is an overstuffed taco. The other is a beefy burrito. How is this different? Think you understand?

MORE POWERGRAPH EXAMPLES There are two cities one should visit in China. One is Beijing, the capital. Another is Shanghai, the largest. If I became chef for a day, I would make two changes in the school cafeteria. First, I would offer a burrito from Q’Doba. Second, I would prepare hamburger casserole. How is this different? Think you understand?

POWERGRAPHS 1 2 3 Now that you have control over the three-sentence powergraphs (1 2 2), you should find it easy to expand your thoughts by the use of 3 rd Power sentences. ü Third-power sentences, known as minor details, elaborate, expand, and develop 2 nd Power sentences. This stage will help you add details to your writing so that it becomes more interesting and vivid for your audience.

STOP! üTo make writing more clear for your audience, 3 rd Power sentences sometimes open with or contain a 3 rd Power Signal or transition to help bridge from the 2 nd Power sentences.

3 rd Power Transitions… specifically other words restated instance to describe to particularize to exemplify support to compare expand to define concede to refute for example to explain in for translated to narrate to contrast to qualify to evaluate to to identify

FORMULA 12323 Rain causes two problems. For one, it causes floods. Floods can be very dangerous. For another, it causes mudslides. Mudslides can destroy wildlife. In a Mexican restaurant I would order two foods. One is an over-stuffed taco. In the taco you can get cold lettuce, fresh tomatoes, and cheddar cheese. Another is a beefy burrito. On the burrito you can get melted cheese and beans.

WHAT’S THE FORMULA? Yesterday, I encountered my two favorite large, furry bears at the zoo in St. Louis. The first is the brown grizzly bear from the Pacific Northwest. The bear’s name is Betsy. To expand, she weighs over and stands feet high. Another, is the white polar bear from the Arctic. This bear is named Elvis. To describe, he is fierce with long white finger nails and long, piercing teeth. To expand, he weighs over and stands feet high.

WHAT’S THE FORMULA? The St. Louis Zoo, an animal lovers paradise, just received two big cats. The first is the biggest cat in the world, the tiger. The tiger has orange and black stripes. It is known as a fast runner. The second is the make-believe king of the jungle, the lion. The lion really lives in the African savannah and not in the jungle. It is one of the largest animals at the zoo.

YOUR TURN! Revise your paragraph. Begin with power 1 and work all the way through to power 3.

STUDENT EXAMPLE My dad is my hero for two reasons. First, my dad is a great role model. Specifically, he always puts his family first, and he was a soldier in the army. Secondly, my dad is very smart. For instance, he never uses a calculator when he does his taxes.

REFERENCES & RESOURCES • www. pkwy. k 12. mo. us/homepage/ahoughland/File/Power_Writing. ppt • http: //writingfix. com/PDFs/Process/Power_Paragraph. pdf • http: //community. tncc. edu/faculty/dollieslager/Power. Writing. Primer. rtf • http: //www 2. fcsconline. org/book/FCHS/POWER%20 WRITINGblank. pdf