SELECT AN IDEANARROW THE IDEA (FOCUS)ELABORATE ON THE IDEA

(DEVELOPMENT) DISCOVER THE BEST INFORMATION

TO DISCUSS ON MAIN IDEA (DETAILS)

TIP # 1: Your topic should be SMALL and FOCUSED

Africa (too general) Animals in Africa (still too

general) Lions in Africa (better but not

quite!) Why African Lions Hunt in

Pairs (Perfect!)› It has focus and it’s narrowed down

1.) Students Middle School Students Cooper Middle School Students 8th Grade Cooper Middle School

students What 8th grade Cooper Middle School

students do to prepare for the HUGE Constitution Test

Now, you narrow one with your group…

The topic is Desserts

Don’t say “Climbing Is hard” Instead give a statistic/ fact/

examples/details

› “Did you know that only 20% of people who set out to climb Mount Everest succeed” (Hurst, 2003, pg. 12).

Note- you must cite when you get information from a source that isn’t from YOU!

Telling---The room was a mess Showing---”My bedroom looked like a

pig sty! It had been weeks since I cleaned it up. There was clothes covering the floor to the point that I forgot what color carpet was underneath the mess. Leftover snack wrappers were randomly sprawled out on my dresser and the funky smell coming from the closet made me wonder what I had left in there!”

When your mom asked you how was school today, you usually response “School was fine.”

In your groups, FIX THIS STATEMENT and remember to not TELL about your day but SHOW!!!!

The more details, the better!!!

Our trip was exciting (too general) We went camping and two bears

were outside our tent eating our food! (Perfect!)

Listing every ride you went on at Disney World (too specific!!!)

We went on Space Mountain and the ride stopped and we were trapped in the dark for 20 minutes! (Perfect!)

Your assignment is to identify what the CLEAR MESSAGE / IDEA is

Pay attention to how its written as well.

BUT we have to know the rubric for

IDEAS… SO if they get a 5, that means they have mastered IDEAS

If they get a 3, they are developing

If they get a 1, they are beginning to try

Rating of 5 (Strong):The paper is clear, focused, and interesting. It holds the reader's attention. Ideas are fresh and original. Related details support the main idea.

The writer writes from experience and seems to know a lot about the topic.

The writing has balance; some ideas are more important than others.

The topic has been narrowed to something specific.

The writer stays on topic, and it is easy to tell what the point or main idea of the paper is.

Supporting details "show" what happens instead of "telling" what happens.

This was scored a 2 (not 1 but not 3) for the following reasons…

*The paper has no clear sense of purpose

or central theme.

To understand the text, you must assume

certain things because of the missing

details.

The information is limited and unclear.

The topic is fairly general. Earth is too

broad of a topic.

It left the reader with lots of questions.

What did you rate it?

They rated it a 5

Here are the reasons…

The topic is narrow and manageble

Relevant, quality details give the

reader important information that goes

beyond the OBVIOUS and predictable

Reasonably accurate details are

present to support the main idea.

The writer seems to be writing from

knowledge or experience, the ideas are

fresh and original

Insight- an understanding of life and a

knack for picking out what is

important.