POW + TREE
With Transfer
Lesson 2
Lesson Overview
POW and TREE will be reviewed in this lesson. The students will look for TREE parts in an essay read in class. The students will look for TREE parts in an opinion essay that they had previously written. They will graph the correct number of parts on charting paper. It will be important for the teacher to discuss that although a student may have a part, that part could be made better. Students should be given the opportunity to share how they would make their essay better.
Materials
Student folders, POW and TREE chart, TREE Rockets, essay example, TREE graphic organizer, paper, and pencils
Student Objectives
Students will be write the POW and TREE mnemonic and state what each letter stands for. Students will identify parts in an essay read in class. Students will locate essay parts in a previously written essay
Set the Context for Student Learning
Give each student a piece of scratch paper. Ask them to write down POW - then ask them what it stands for. If students are having trouble in remembering POW, practice it. Then, ask the students to write out TREE on the scratch paper. Ask students what each part of TREE stands for. Alternate between the students so that each student has opportunity to answer several times.
Note: It is essential that each student memorize the reminder. If some students are having trouble with this, spend a few minutes practicing it. Tell the students you will test them on it each day to make sure they have it. Remind students that they can practice memorizing it.
Ask the students to report back on using all or parts of POW or TREE in other classes or for other writing tasks. If necessary, brainstorm together some classes or other writing tasks they could use both POW and TREE for, being sure to note that we should use POW with TREE whenever we use TREE. Other ideas could be: letters to friends, reports on special topics, writing for a school newsletter, writing to a leader like the principal or the president, to convince them of what you believe in. Briefly note that for some tasks, all parts of the TREE trick might not be right to use - so what could we do? (Change TREE to fit the kind of paper we need to write; don’t use all of TREE if it doesn’t make sense). You fill in their “I transferred my strategies”chart and then ask them to report on helping their partner and fill in their “I helped my partner”chart. Put a star next to each thing you record.
Develop the Strategy and Self-Regulation
Step One - Find Essay Parts
- Go through two more essay examples (school and recess) and have students verbally identify the essay parts - what the writer believes, at least three reasons, and an ending sentence. For each of these essays, ask the students if they can think of more reasons!
Step Two – Look at Current Writing Behavior
- Ask the students if they remember the opinion essay they wrote the other day? Give out student's previously written essays.
- Tell students to read their essay and see which parts they have. (You need to have worked out ahead of time what parts they had and which ones they didn't have; for opinion essays, the total can be five or more - what I believe, at least 3 reasons why, and an ending.)
- Briefly note with each student which parts they have and which they don't. As a group, briefly note common parts missing.
- Note also that even though we have a part, we might be able to make that part better next time- this makes our essay more fun to write and more fun to read. Discuss examples of how they could do each of the following, using either their essays or the essays you read in Lesson 1:
- can give more than 3 reasons
- can use good word choice, or “million dollar words”.
- can use an interesting first sentence
- can use an interesting ending sentence
- can give more than 3 reasons
Step Three – Graph Current Level of Performance and Set Goals
- Give each student a graph sheet - have each student fill in the graph for the number of parts they had in their pretest essay. Be very positive, remind them that you are just now learning the trick of writing good essays. Explain that if they have more than 3 reasons, they can “bust the rocket.” If they bust the rocket, write the total number of parts (6 or more) above the rocket.
- Explain goal - to write better opinion essays. Remind the students that good opinion essays tell the reader what you believe, give at least three reasons why, and have an ending sentence. Also, good opinion essays are not only fun for me to write and for others to read but they make sense.
- The class goal is to have all of the parts and "better" parts the next time we write an opinion essay.
Wrap- Up
- Put papers from today's work in folders and collect their folders.
- Remind the students of POW and TREE test again next time.
- Remind the students that they will fill in the transfer chart again next time.
Evaluation
If a student is still having trouble finding the parts in the essays you have read, plan to read aloud another essay at the beginning of the next lesson.
 John F. Kennedy Center |
Peabody College Columbia University University of Maryland |
 U.S. Dept. of Education |
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