Group Deconstruction of an Essay Topic!

I decided to try something new to prepare my students for the writing component of the California High School Exit Exam- group deconstruction of an essay question. I cannot prepare students for the myriad of topics they might be asked to write about, but I can arm them with strategies that will help them to successfully write a variety of essay questions.

I used my Collaborize site to facilitate three stages of essay pre-writing: brainstorming, category creation and thesis writing.

First Step: Present Essay Topic & Allow Students Time to Brainstorm

Prompt: How can Americans help to solve the Global Warming crisis?

During the brainstorming phase, I asked students to generate as many ideas about the essay topic as possible in their online groups. I encouraged them to write any word or phrase that came to mind when considering the topic. I explained that self-editing while brainstorming is counter productive.

Step 2: Category Creation

Once students had generated a large volume of ideas in the brainstorm thread, I asked them to review all the ideas contributed by their peers and identify 3 categories of thought present in the brainstorm. I explained that these three categories of thought or ideas would become the body paragraphs in their essays.

Using the example brainstorm above focused on solutions to global warming, possible categories include:

1. Using Less = Reduce Waste

2. Methods of Travel

3. Energy Conservation in the Home

Step 3: Thesis Statement

Using a third discussion thread, I asked students to transform their categories of thought into a thesis statement. I reminded students to clearly state topic and present main assertion with 3 clear points (=categories of thought from previous step).

Example thesis: Solving the Global Warming crisis will require Americans to take action by reducing waste, using green transportation alternatives, and conserving energy in their homes.

Using my Collaborize Classroom site to support these discussions prior to class allowed all students to be involved in the prewriting process. Students had time to consider the prompt, process the question, and articulate a response to each step. The discussions online were dynamic and interesting. Students came to class with wonderful ideas to share, which made the writing more fun.

I was then able to use my class to bring this prewriting to fruition and allow students to collectively construct the actual essay. In their groups, they selected the thesis they thought was strongest- very validating for that student- then they broke into smaller groups of 3 and each small group wrote one of the 5 paragraphs of the essay. They had 30 minutes to write their portion, then we ended the class by reading the two essays (class was divided and two prompts were used) that were collectively constructed. The results were phenomenal! Students definitely surprised themselves with the end result.