Page 6 - SpringBoard_Writing_Workshop_Grade6_Flipbook

d. Mode: Identify the writing mode and essential features. Discuss how the mode is used to support the purpose of the writing, and describe the position of the writer. Sample response: This essay blends modes; it is a personal narrative with reflection. The writer wants to convey an important message via a personal story, so he combines narrative elements and reflective, expository elements.
e. Organization: How has the writer chosen to organize his writing? Sample response: The writing is organized as a narrative; the writer tells his story, then beginning with the rhetorical question about the “toll of
this arrangement,” the writer explains and reflects upon the negative consequences on his life from choices his parents made early in his life.
f. Transitions: What words does the writer use to connect and clarify relationships between ideas and create and move the reader from one part of the essay to the next? Sample response: Note that the transitions are primarily narrative transitions keying the reader to the passage of time. (when, after, that same year, for the first year)
Check Your Understanding
With a partner, evaluate the effectiveness of blending the two modes of writing. How would the essay have been different if it had only been narrative, or only expository?
ACTIVITY 2
Working Through the Writing Process as a Class
Stage 1: Choosing a Topic
As a writer, you may have the opportunity to choose an original topic for your writing or you may write in response to a prompt. Either way, you will benefit from going through the stages of the writing process.
“It seems to me that writing is a marvelous way of making sense of one’s life, both for the writer and the reader.” —John Cheever
1. Use the chart below to brainstorm a list in each category of potential writing topics for you to explore and share with your readers.
ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
Mode describes the purposes for writing. The three most commonly used modes of writing are narrative, expository, and persuasive.
Transitions are words
or phrases that help
carry a thought from one sentence to another, from one idea to another, or from one paragraph to another so that there are no abrupt jumps or breaks between ideas.
What are some of the best things that have happened to you?
Sample responses: Got my braces off
Time I went bungee- jumping
Sample responses: Breaking an arm
Time I went bungee- jumping
Sample responses:
Standing up to a school bully
Competing in a science project
What are some other ideas for topics of interest to you?
Sample responses: Skateboarding Disney characters
What are some of the worst things that have happened to you?
Potential Writing Topics
What are some
of the most significant learning experiences you have encountered?
Writing Workshop 1 • Writing Process 5
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