Part 1: Writing Paragraphs ^^^ 111 EXAMPLE
Keep repeating this type of modeling with the same design but different subjects, then move to a new design and try it with several different subjects. Once students are plugging their information into several different designs with confidence, move on to writing para- graphs with less help.
PART 1:
112 <^^ 4—Nonfiction Workshop
Sluglines—short phrases that describe details, definitions, or descriptions in less than five words. Using them makes it easy to see what the main idea is and what supporting details the writer has to work with. We have students use topics to describe the topic of the paragraph and sluglines to describe and organize the details under that topic.
Teach students to keep sluglines short and not usually complete sentences. As they gather and organize information, sluglines help students write the information in their own words rather than copying chunks of material.
We have students read their topics and sluglines to their editing groups, time permitting.
The group discussion gives them an opportunity to think through and explain the relation- ships between the ideas represented by their sluglines before they write and this helps them write in their own words.
Instructions to Students
When writing nonfiction, each paragraph has one main idea that you use to write the topic sentence. Beneath that main idea, you have ideas, facts, examples, and so forth that support the main idea. Today we are going to make a "Topics and Sluglines" chart, which will help you organize your main idea and your supporting details. Later, you will write one sentence for your main idea and one for each of your supporting ideas.
To make the chart, draw a line lengthwise down your paper to create two columns; the left-hand column should be one-third the width of the paper, the right-hand column two- thirds. You will write the topic for your paragraph in the left-hand column and sluglines for your specifics—your supporting points—in the right-hand column.
Let's do them one at a time. In the left-hand column, write down your main idea for the paragraph. A "topic" is a few words that express your main idea for a paragraph or the main idea for a piece of writing such as a report or an article.
EXAMPLES
Hot-Air Balloons Can Cross the Atlantic Ocean Polar Bears Are Like Other Bears
Carving a Walking Stick Types of Turtles
Sluglines are short, usually three- to five-word phrases, that summarize an idea, a fact, a story, or an example. In the right-hand column, write down one slugline for each supporting idea—fact, example, and so on. You can use books from the library to find specifics for sluglines, but don't copy. Write down just a few words, even just one word. You need enough words to help you remember what you want to discuss in a supporting statement later, but not so many words that you are copying your source. (Optional: When you are done, you can read your chart out loud to a member of your writing group and explain what your topics and sluglines mean in your own words. When you are writing your sluglines, imagine what you might say to your group.)
Part 1: Writing Paragraphs f^s 113 EXAMPLES
TOPICS
Polar bears are like other bears
SLUGLINES
-solitary animals
-have 1-2 cubs each year -hibernate through winter -cubs raised by mother -unpredictable reaction
to humans, sometimes dangerous
Topics and Sluglines Chart for One Paragraph.
TOPICS
Main: How to Carve a Walking Stick
Paragraph #1: choose the right wood
Paragraph #2: use the proper tools
SLUGLINES
-old-fashioned entertainment -soft for carving
-knots and swirls for beauty -right length for walking -carving tools
chisels, knives, saws -sanding tools
sandpaper, sanding wheels, sanding spoons -safety first
goggles, gloves
Topics and Sluglines Chart for Two Paragraphs.Notice in our second example that we show two topics beneath the main topic—each supporting the main topic. Beneath our sluglines, we listed specific examples and facts that supported our sluglines. We found these facts and examples by doing research and, wherever possible, wrote them in very brief phrases—much like sluglines.
114 ^ ^ 4—Nonfiction Workshop
Activity 2:
The Paragraph Puzzle
formation's pretty thin stuff, unless mixed with experience.
—Clarence Day
This is a great activity for helping students with nonfiction writing, where organizing ideas is so much a part of the writing process.
Students write their sentences on strips of paper—one sentence per strip—and put the paragraph puzzle together by putting the strips together. It's a backwards version of the old tried and true "cut and paste" the paragraph used to revise. Aumen and Greiner have further refined this process by color coding the strips so that the topic sentence is always one color, supporting details another, transitions still another, and the concluding sentence matches the topic sentence.
To prepare sets of paragraph strips, here's what you will need:
1 topic sentence (transition)—green 3 supporting sentences—yellow 1 closing sentence (transition)—blue 2 transition sentences—pink
1 Vis-a-Vis™ dry erase pen
cloth for wiping off the puzzle pieces
If you have a class of thirty students, you will need to make at least ten sets of these paragraph strips.
Because this activity lends itself well to many situations, try making sentence strips out of laminated poster board (3 x 36-inch strips) with magnetic strips glued on the back, cut apart colored transparencies for whole-class work on an overhead projector, or cut strips out of colored paper for individual work. The important thing to remember is to keep the colors consistent for each kind of sentence—topic sentence, supporting sentence, transition sen- tence, and concluding sentence.
We begin teaching students to organize their paragraphs by using the large poster board strips and providing each group of three students with a "Topics and Sluglines Chart"
(Activity 1), so they have an idea what to write for the sentences. The groups write one sentence on each strip: a topic sentence on the green, supporting sentences on the yellow, and so forth. Once they have the sentences written, they use the strips on the magnetic blackboard to arrange and rearrange their sentences to make their paragraphs, rewriting as necessary to make the sentences fit together.
1. We'd like to thank Alice Griener and Maureen Aumen for this wonderful activity. They teach a writing class, "Expository Writing and Reading." Maureen teaches in Cherry Creek Schools in Aurora, Colorado, and Alice is a Chapter I teacher at West Middle School in Aurora, Colorado.
Part 1: Writing Paragraphs r <^ ' 115 Instructions to Students
Today we are going to work on a "Paragraph Puzzle." You will be working in groups of three. Each group will get a set of puzzle pieces, a piece of paper with topics and sluglines, and an erasable marker.
You will write one sentence on each strip.
Put your puzzle strips together to make a paragraph by sticking them on the chalkboard.
Read aloud your paragraph and rearrange the puzzle strips until the organization makes sense and writing flows well. Erase parts of sentences and rewrite as necessary.
The important thing to remember about a paragraph, any paragraph, is that everything in a paragraph is about one main idea. If you are writing a piece, for example, about raising turtles as pets, you might have three paragraphs, one about what kind of housing they need, one about what kind of food they need, and one about what kind of care they need. The main idea for the first paragraph is turtle houses. Don't write about other subjects, such as turtle food, in this paragraph, although you might include something about where to put the food in a turtle's house. When you put your puzzle strips together, the first thing you want to do is to throw out or rewrite any sentences that don't fit in that paragraph.
The first sentence you are going to write on one of the green puzzle pieces is the topic sentence. The topic sentence expresses the main idea of the paragraph, for example, turtle houses. You might write, "The type of house you choose for your turtle will depend on the type of turtle you own" or "There are four basic kinds of homes for pet turtles."
The other sentences in your paragraph support your main idea with specifics. For example, if your topic sentence is "There are four kinds of homes for pet turtles" your supporting sentences will tell your reader what kinds of homes there are and, perhaps why.
If your topic sentence is "The type of home you choose for your turtle depends on the type of turtle you own," your supporting sentences will explain which types of turtles need which types of homes, and perhaps, why. Use information from the sluglines part of your topics and sluglines chart to write supporting sentences on the yellow puzzle strips. Today, we want you to write at least three supporting sentences, but you may write as many supporting sentences as you wish.
The last sentence of the paragraph wraps up the paragraph in some way. It may also lead into the next paragraph. It is called the closing sentence or conclusion. It goes on a blue strip.
For example, to conclude a paragraph on housing pet turtles, you might say "Knowing what type of housing turtles need will help you decide what type of turtle to buy as a pet."
A sentence that leads from one thing to another, such as from one paragraph to the next or from one part of a paragraph to the next is called a transition. Write transition sentences on pink puzzle strips.
When you have more than one paragraph in a story or report, opening and closing sentences can also be transitions—in fact, they usually are. For example, if the article on pet turtles had a second paragraph on food, the conclusion for the first paragraph on turtle houses might say, "Now that you know which kinds of houses to buy or build for your turtle, you need to know how to feed it." This sentence closes the paragraph on houses, so it is a conclusion. It also leads into the next paragraph on food, so it is a transition. When the sentence you are working on is both a conclusion and a transition or an opening and a transition, put the sentence on a green puzzle strip for openings or a blue puzzle piece for conclusions.
Now, put your puzzle strips together to make a paragraph. Read it out loud. Does it make sense? Try rearranging your sentences. Does it make more sense or sound better? You
116 ^^^ 4—Nonfiction Workshop
can also erase and rewrite any sentences or parts of sentences you want. Does every sentence fit with your main idea? If not, take out those that don't. Write another sentence to replace the one you took out. Keep rearranging and rewriting until it makes sense and fits together.
When you are all done, copy the final paragraph onto a piece of paper for final storage in your portfolio.
Additional N o t e s to Teachers
• Most of the variety in the game comes from trying different topics, different tech- niques, and so forth. You can also add variety by playing the game in different ways.
For example, pass out yellow puzzle strips to each student. Assign a topic, presumably one that students have been studying together. Then, ask them each to write on their yellow puzzle pieces a specific statement about that topic. Afterwards, have the students in each group put their statements together, write a topic sentence to connect the supporting sentences together, rewrite the supporting sentences as necessary, and add a closing sentence.
• Have students write supporting sentences using some of the nonfiction techniques, such as comparison or definition.
• Patience is the watchword. They won't "get it," as students would say, for a while, but eventually, you will see improvements in their writing, sometimes quite dramatic. In the meantime, though, be patient.