Tuesday– Paper #1 Review, How to Read a Prompt, Paper #2 Brainstorm

We started the day with some chocolate from Spain…

Then we talked about how to read a prompt, how to wade through all of the extra to find the root of the question, and I modeled how to ask questions to get to a thesis that will address the question in a meaningful way.  This takes practice, but there are some of us who need to get better ASAP due to the up-coming exam.

Then we looked over the in-class write from before the break.  You are all invited to stop by my office and have a chat about how you can improve at a time convenient for you.

The second hour of class was spent working on a brainstorm/outline for one of the 7 IB questions for Paper #2 focused on chronological story telling (page 40 of the L&L Guide).  This was turned in in-class for a participation grade.

HW: Review the other questions from the IB L&L Course Guide to prepare for the exam next Tuesday.

 Thursday– Reading a Prompt, Thesis Statement Cheat Sheet, and Practice

Today we focused again on how to read a prompt, looking a 5 prompts that I have rounded up.  We did okay, but you need to remember to READ THE WHOLE PROMPT!

Then, I gave you something that in my mind is equal to magic– my thesis statement cheat sheet.  If I had had this in high school and college I would have been way more brilliant than I was, so don’t roll your eyes at me!  I swear this is a huge gift that you need to keep close at hand.  Here it is again if you have already lost it: Thesis Statement Cheat Sheet

We practiced the formulas and then you got time to work on the following:  Choose one of the 5 prompts that we worked on in the first part of class, then write the full intro paragraph, topic sentences ONLY for the body, and the full conclusion paragraph.  We will have a bit more time to finish this on Friday.

HW: WT#2.  See Week 4 posting for all of the details. It’s due tomorrow.