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Conclusion Lesson

Topic: Writing a conclusion to a persuasive essay Length of class: 30 minutes (15-20 minute mini-lesson on conclusion) Who are your students and what are their specific learning needs? 7th grade mixed ability, some students have a 504 plan for extended time or behavior. Standard(s) to be addressed:
Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from the argument presented. (W.7.1.)

Enduring Understandings/Essential Questions targeted in this lesson (for units created using the Understanding By Design framework only): EQ: How can I influence others? EU: All effective arguments must be supported by strong evidence. Learning Objectives for this lesson (Written using verbs from Blooms Taxonomy): Teacher: Given a checklist, modeling and guided practice, students will be able to create an effective conclusion for a persuasive essay as specified by the rubric. Student: I can create a strong conclusion for my essay.

Instructional method(s) chosen in this lesson (and why): Explicit lesson, think-pair-share, shared writing, independent writing. I have chosen this progression to explicitly model and explain how to write a conclusion. The think-ink-pairshare allows all members of the class to participate. They get to collaborate with each other and the teacher, before being released to work independently. Materials/Resources: Overhead with a laptop connected persuasive essay checklist pencils & notebook paper

Lesson Sequence: Now that youve learned how to write an introduction and the main body paragraphs of your paper, you only have one part of a persuasive essay left to learn before your essays are finished. The ending of an essay is called the conclusion. After all the hard work you put into writing your essay, you want to end strong. Imagine a lawyer working hard on an important case, making speeches to the jury for days, trying to convince them her client is innocent. Would she just say at the end: Thats the end of my argument. I hope you vote to release my client. No! Instead, the attorney would give a fabulous speech that reminded the jury of all the reasons her client is innocent. She would probably end with a strong call to action like Based on the evidence, you have no other choice. Justice must be served! Vote to set an innocent man free! The conclusion is your last chance to close the deal with your reader. Conclusions usually arent very long; they really only have 3 parts. First, you need to look back at your thesis. In your introduction, you will state this again, just say it in a different way. Then you will remind your reader of the main points of your body paragraph in a short summary without too many details. Last, you will finish with a strong call to action. Lets look at some examples.

If you are thinking of adding a dog to your family, consider adopting a greyhound. I need to think of a way to turn this around so it makes the same point, but doesnt just repeat what I already wrote. A retired greyhound dog could be a fabulous addition to your family. Lets try another one. If you are interested in astronomy and space, I suggest that you join STARS. Joining STARS club is a great way to learn more about astronomy and space.
Now you get to practice this. Lets look back at the cat introduction: Our thesis was: Des pite what dog lovers may believe, cats make excellent house pets. In our conclusion, we need to make the same point, but it would be really boring to just say this exact thing over again. Think of a way to restate this and write it down. Then turn to a partner and share. Share out, choose one of the suggestions to type up. Possibility: Dogs are good pets, but cats make the best house pets. 1. Now you will get to practice this. Im going to give you a thesis statement (Despite what dog lovers may believe, cats make excellent house pets.) Take a minute to think then write down your idea for how to rephrase or reword this to make it the first sentence of a conclusion. Then turn to your partner and share. Share out.

Possibility: Dogs are great pets, but cats make the best house pets. ) 2. Take out the persuasive essay you have been writing. Look back into the introduction and find your thesis. Think of a way to restate it or turn it around so it can be the first sentence of your conclusion. Share out some examples. (Allow around 5 minutes of writing time. If some students are finished, but others struggle, go ahead and discuss the next part and come back and help them individually. For students who finish very quickly, point out the explanation of the summary on the persuasive essay checklist and let them begin working on it independently.) 3. The next part of the essay is a short summary of the main supporting points from the body paragraphs. This should be 1, 2 or 3 sentences, not a long explanation. An author looks back to her main body paragraphs and quickly tells what the main point of each supporting detail was. A writer wants to remind her reader of the main idea of the piece without going into a lot of detail. Lets look back to the writing we did together about cats. Do you remember what our main supporting details were? (Display 1st body paragraph and other 2 supporting details. Type summary while they watch on overhead. Take suggestions if anyone has them. Think aloud about main points and how I decided to structure summary. Summary possibility: Cats are easy to care for, are entertaining and dont make a big mess in the house. 4. One important rule of conclusions is that you shouldnt add any new supporting details or ideas in the conclusion. If you think of something great, add it into main body paragraphs, or write one more paragraph. (Give example and non-example, an I just remembered a great supporting detail! Cats are better pets than dogs because all their supplies are less expensive than dogs!) Now that youve seen a couple examples, go back to your own persuasive essays and look at your three supporting details. Try to think of a 1 3 sentence summary for them. (Work time 5-7 minutes, start final part when at least part of the class is ready to move on.) 5. The last part of the conclusion is a strong statement. This should be the answer to the thesis. It is a little bit like the hook. It should catch readers attention and ask them to do or believe something. It could be a question, or a quote. Look back at your hook and thesis to get some ideas. Really great conclusions make us think back to the introduction and make a connection. If you told a story or gave a description in your hook, you could tell another part or the ending of the story. Good conclusions make us want to take action. In the paragraph about adopting greyhound dogs, the author told about a dog who never had a toy or lived with a family. In the conclusion, the author could finish by saying: Give a lonely dog his first toy and the love of a family. Adopt a greyhound today! (Ask them to think of ideas for a strong call to action for the cat essay, write down and turn to a partner and share, write a suggestion or two up for the class to see. Possibility: If you wouldnt like to wear a uniform every day, then dont ask middle school students to wear one either.) Now turn back to your own conclusions and think about a strong

way to end your conclusion. How can you grab your readers attention? What do you want your readers to do or believe at the end of your essay? Take out your persuasive essay checklist to refer to as you are working. This will remind you that a conclusion has three parts. 1. Restate thesis, 2. Summary of main supports and 3. A strong call to action. (workshop time, finish writing conclusions) 6. Wrap up. Allow more time at the beginning of the next class period for students to finish up essays if some are struggling. Students who have finished will review their essay based on the checklist. (Revise and Edit) They will then get the opportunity to silent independent read. Remind students we will type these up in computer lab the next day.

Assessment of learning (How will I know if students achieved my learning objectives?) Informally evaluate student responses in sharing out and shared writing Read and evaluate each students conclusion for their paper. (formative only!) Assessment at this stage will only be for the purpose of identifying areas that may need more support or instruction, not to assign a grade at this stage. Students will submit essays for a grade after they type them in computer lab.

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