First Draft
Now that students have their three resolutions (or promises to themselves) that they know they will be able to keep, it’s time for them to write a five-paragraph essay about these New Year’s resolutions. Included in this essay should be the following:
First paragraph is to introduce the topic to their audience.
Second paragraph is talk about the personal improvement promise that they made to themselves.
Third paragraph is discuss the resolution that has to do with their family or friends.
Fourth paragraph is where they will describe the promise that they made to themselves about school.
The fifth, and final, paragraph will restate the topic and sum up the whole essay about resolutions.
Revising
This is the most critical stage in the writing process and oftentimes the hardest for students. Students need to read and re-read their essay, and ask themselves “Does it sound good?” and “Does it make sense?” Here are a few guidelines to help students during this crucial stage.
Look at the first paragraph and ask yourself if the topic sentence is interesting. If not, how can you make it more interesting to the reader?
Look at the meat of your essay which is the three middle paragraphs. Does each paragraph explain to the reader what your resolution is and why you are making it?
Look at your ending paragraph, did you restate and sum up your essay?
Take a look at all of the sentences, is everything spelled correctly? Are all of the sentences complete?
Final Copy
Once students have made of their revisions, they can now type their final project on the computer and print it out. Post these New Year’s resolution essays on the bulletin board in the classroom as a daily reminder of their promises to themselves for the New Year.
Make sure that you take a few moments of your day with your students to look back on the year that just passed. Talk about the learning goals that they have achieved since the start of the year, and talk about what they are going to achieve by the end of this New Year.
Do you have in New Year’s resolutions in your classroom? If so, what kinds of lessons and activities do you do? Please take a moment and share with us in the comment section below, we would love to hear your thoughts and ideas. Happy New Year!