Creating a Thesis Statement

Katie Galbreath, Sarah Vestor, Kaitlin Olsen

Overview Lesson:

First 15 minutes:
Use powerpoint
(https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nsB007PbT
6dHcP45tqCZEUkovXqD4fgJ_l0nKgNI2MQ/edit?
usp=sharing) to describe what an effective thesis
statement is and how to create one.
Play first video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=zuzLLiBFGMg Frozen clip) and as a class create a
thesis statement.
Then ask if the students have any more questions
before starting the class activity.
Final 30 minutes of class:
take first 5 minutes to put children in 4 groups of 5
and pass out materials.
Play video one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=mZUPgsKeiOY Rainbow Loom Clip) and give the
groups 2 minutes to create a thesis.
Discuss for 5 minutes, as a class, which group had
the best thesis statement and why?
Repeat last 2 steps with second video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcyDWaMcvuI
Ripstick clip).
Play the third video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A8cqmMcAvg
Sponebob clip) and give the students remainder of
the time to individually create their own thesis
statement and turn it in for assessment.

Description of Learners, Intended

Goals, and Lesson Content:

Learners:
6th and 7th graders (12-14 years old)
All 20 students are ELL
Even distribution of girls and boys
speaking and understanding english abilities are low
to moderately low.
Intended Goals:
Help students effectively learn english as a second
language.
Students learn the standard of how to create a logical
thesis.
Lesson Content:
Contains a powerpoint
Contains 4 videos
Information about thesis statements
group work

Learning Objectives:

Following this activity students will be able to:

Create effective thesis statements, using the formula
provided in powerpoint, for different topics without
error.
Use a formula to help them produce quality thesis
statements without help from the teacher without
error.
Identify the differences between good and bad thesis
statements in a given time frame.

Standards:

Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a

topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information
through the selection, organization, and analysis of
relevant content.
Introduce a topic or thesis statement; organize ideas,
concepts, and information, using strategies such as
definition, classification, comparison/contrast, and
cause/effect; include formatting (e.g., headings),
graphics (e.g., charts, tables), and multimedia when
useful to aiding comprehension. CA
Develop the topic with relevant facts, definitions,
concrete details, quotations, or other information and
examples.
Use appropriate transitions to clarify the relationships
among ideas and concepts.
Use precise language and domain-specific
vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
Establish and maintain a formal style.
Provide a concluding statement or section that
follows from the information or explanation
presented.

Materials:

Pencils
Colored Paper (4 different colors)
Scrap Paper (5 sheets for each group)
Black Markers (one for each group)
Computer to play the powerpoint and videos.
Projector to show the powerpoint and the videos.
Magnets to hang the thesis statements on the board.

Procedures:

To begin this lesson: (2 minutes)

Get the students attention by asking them to ask their
neighbor beside them what his or her favorite
television show is and why.
Bring the students attention back to you to begin the
lesson about thesis statements.
To begin the presentation part of lesson: (13 minutes
total)
Turn on the computer and the projector.
Pull the powerpoint on how to create a quality thesis

statement up on the computer, so that it is shown on

the projector screen.
Tell the students to grab a piece of scrap paper and a
pencil so they can write notes about the presentation.
Go through each slide of the presentations and after
each one ask the students if they have any
questions.
After you have shown the students the slide of the
formula to make a thesis statement, pull up the first
youtube video of rainbow loom bracelets.
As whole class make a thesis statement about this
video using the formula given in the powerpoint.
To begin activity part of the lesson: (20 minutes)
Divide the students into 4 groups of 5 students.
Give each group one piece of paper with a different
color on it.
Explain to them that to practice writing thesis
statements, you are going to put up 2 different videos
and as a group they must write a thesis statement for
that video.
You pull up the video on ripsticks and play the video
for the class.
Now give each group 3 minutes to write a thesis
statement.
After the 3 minutes are up, have each group present
to the class their thesis statement and then as a
class discuss each groups thesis statement.
After the discussion ask the students if they still have
any questions about thesis statements.
For the next video repeat the last three steps.
To end this lesson: (10 minutes)
Explain to the class that for the final part of this
lesson, you will play one more video and individually
each students must write their own thesis statement
and it will be turned in more assessment.
Play video about spongebob
Students have remainder of the time to write the
thesis statement.
Must turn their thesis statement in order to leave the
classroom.
Assessment:

After the activity students will be graded based on:

Participation:
5 points: actively participated in all examples, worked
well and cooperated with all group members,
contributed to group discussion
4 points: participated in most examples, worked with
group, contributed in most discussions
3 points: participated very little in during examples,
tried to work with group, contributed in some

discussions
2 points: tried to participated during examples, did
not try to work well with group, did not contribute
during group discussion
1 point: did not participate on any level
Graded Thesis Statement :
5 points: Wrote a thesis statement that contained all
parts and stayed on topic with the prompt
4 points: Wrote a thesis statement but missed a part
3 points: Wrote a thesis statement that was off topic
2 points: Wrote a thesis statement that did not
contain all parts and was off topic
1 point: did not write a thesis statement
References and Reference Material:

California Common Core State Standards. (2013,

March). Retrieved February 25, 2015, from
http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccs
sstandards.pdf
Writing a Great Topic Sentence (powerpoint)
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?
q=cache:BIoJQanKwRMJ:https://www.time4writing.c
om/presentations/WritingParagraphs_TopicSentence.
pptx+&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
or
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nsB007PbT
6dHcP45tqCZEUkovXqD4fgJ_l0nKgNI2MQ/edit?
usp=sharing
As seen on TV - Fun Loom - Direct Response
Infomercial [Video file]. (2013, October 26). Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=mZUPgsKeiOY
Ripstik Lifestyle Commercial Featuring Team Razor
pro Riders on the action sport castor board [Video
file]. (2009, June 4). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcyDWaMcvuI
Frozen- Chased By the Wolves Clip (HD) [Video file].
(2014, March 3). Retrieved from

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuzLLiBFGMg
Chocolate old lady Spongebob (read description)
[Video file]. (2014, November 7). Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A8cqmMcAvg

Journals
Nam, K. H., & Page, L. (2014). ELL High School Students Metacognitive Awareness of Reading
Strategy Use and Reading Proficienc. The Electronic Journal for English as a Second
Language, 18(1).
This journal is about a study done that investigated the meta cognitive awareness of high
school ELL learners and the relationship between ELL reading strategy and reading proficiency.
The results showed that problem solving strategies were most preferred by ELL students. They
also showed the students who reported being more English proficient used more reading
strategies in comparison to the average learner. This helped us with the lesson because we can
now incorporate creating a thesis statement as another form of a reading strategy that helps pull
the main idea(s) out.

Preston, D. (1966). Book reviews. The Modern Language Journal, 50(3), 163-164.
In this article, Dennis Preston reviews Teaching English as a Second Language by Harold Allen.
In his review, Preston talks about how Allen's books is set up. The book is composed of
scholarly articles that cover a wide range of topics about teaching english as a second
language. Some of these sections include, Theories and Approaches, Teaching English
Vocabulary, and Teaching English Speech; in total there are nine sections. This article is helpful
because it gives a brief overview of the each of the nine sections in the book. Each overview
includes positives, negatives, and a brief summary of what you will find in each section. This is
helpful to creating the lesson because it gives brief strategies to help teach ELL students.