This Lesson's Title:

What's your Fifth Element?

creating an organized and convincing argument about something's importance

This lesson was developed for WritingFix after being proposed by NNWP Teacher Consultant Carol Lubet.

The ideal "mentor text" that can be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book The Snow Walker by Farley Mowat. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 1 of the book.

Click here to view this book at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Our world, at one time almost completely understood, is experiencing a new paradigm shift.  Computers, chat rooms, I-pods, e-mails, text messages, cell phones and the like are “rocking” our modern world with an importance here-to-for not previously understood or envisioned.  This writing assignment asks students to choose something that is important in this modern world and write an organized case that persuades others of their item's significance as a Fifth Element; helping the rest of us comprehend its “essential magnitude." Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait for this writing assignment is organization; the graphic organizer requires student writers to craft an organized argument.  The support trait for this assignment is voice; students will use persuasive techniques to convince their audience of the importance of something modern that might be misunderstood.