Page 181 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade7_Flipbook

aCTIvITy 2.15
To Introduce and Conclude
learNING sTraTeGIes:
Note-taking, Chunking the Text, Close Reading, Marking the Text
GraMMar UsaGe
Dangling Modifiers
A phrase that modifies the wrong word is called a dangling modifier. Look at these examples:
Dangling: The two students talked quietly in the corner
with cell phones. (sounds like the cornerhasthecellphones) Correct: The two students with cell phones talked quietly in the corner. (the students have the cell phones)
student essay
My Notes
Learning Targets
• Analyze and identify the components of an introductory and a concluding paragraph in an argumentative essay.
Preview
In this activity, you will read a student essay about using technology. You will closely examine how the student introduces and concludes the essay.
Setting a Purpose for Reading
• As you read the student essay, underline the reasons presented for why too much screen time is a problem.
• Circle unknown words and phrases. Try to determine the meaning of the words by using context clues, word parts, or a dictionary.
• Put a star next to any words you notice that signal a transition in the text.
Screen Time?
1 How does screen time really affect
you and others you know? Does the new
technology make life better? The answer is
no, screen time affects youth in a negative
way. Imagine a future world without
teenagers, instead, as people in the United
Kingdom like to call it, screenagers — kids
that have a variety of mental and physical
illnesses and are no longer capable of doing some of the jobs that are most important to our society. Because spending too many hours in front of any kind of screen, even a phone, can become addicting, spark psychological difficulties, and cause lower grades in school, screen time for youth should be limited to two hours a day or less.
2 Screen addiction is a serious problem in our society. A study conducted
by the “Kaiser Family Foundation” states that nearly every kid in the U.S. uses an electronic device almost every second outside of school. Kids ages eight to eighteen spend an average time of seven and one half hours a day. That’s over 53 hours a week which is way too much considering that the recommended time per day is two hours. An experiment on kids who got all their screens withdrawn had positive outcomes. The kids seemed calmer, fought less often, and slept better. A lot of kids feel like the overuse of screens has no effect on them, but it actually does, they just don’t notice it at all. In addition, in a survey of youth ages eight to eighteen, nearly one in four kids felt addicted to screens. Preventing the over-use of screens could prevent addiction and the failure of a whole society.
154 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 7
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