Week 4 of 10 · about 20 minutes

One body paragraph, built

This week in one line: take the model paragraph apart, see its four moving parts, then build one of your own.

The 20 minutes

Pull one apart, then build one

You already have the lever from Week 3. This week the lever gets a home: the body paragraph. It has four parts, and every one of them has a job.

Warm in · about 3 min

Say the lever back

Before we build, recall last week's move out loud: spot it, work out the effect, say so what.

  • Nat gives you one quote from the bank
  • You talk it through the three steps, no writing
The work · about 12 min

Deconstruct, then build

First we read the model paragraph on the essay page, at the bottom of the Othello kit. Name what each sentence is doing.

  • Find the four parts in the model (below)
  • Notice the Analysis is the longest part. That is where the marks are
  • Then open the practice page and build your own in the paragraph station

Rough day? Just deconstruct the model together and stop. The build can wait a week.

Close it · about 5 min

Say it back, set the phone task

Read your paragraph aloud. Then answer two questions:

  • Which sentence is your Analysis?
  • Does your last line reach back to the question?
Then Nat sets this week's phone task, below.
The four moving parts
Topic sentence
The Point. One arguable claim this paragraph will prove.
Evidence
A short, well-chosen quote, woven in, not dropped.
Lever analysis
The choice, its effect, so what. The longest part, the biggest marks.
Link back
One line that ties the paragraph to the thesis and the question.

This paragraph comes back

Keep what you write today. In Week 8 we take this exact paragraph and polish its craft with the sentence toolkit. You are not writing a throwaway exercise, you are building a piece you will improve.

On your phone this week

One small thing, on your own

5 to 10 minutes · tomorrow, not today

Reread your own paragraph

The day after our session, open the paragraph you wrote in the practice station and read it once, fresh. Then underline the one sentence doing the most work. Usually it is the analysis. If it is not, that tells you exactly what to grow next week.

The spine Ideas 18 Structure 16 Craft 11 out of 45 · this week builds Structure: one argument, properly assembled