Creating a Thesis Statement

Katie Galbreath, Sarah Vestor, Kaitlin Olsen

Overview Lesson:

First 15 minutes:
Use powerpoint
(https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ns
B007PbT6dHcP45tqCZEUkovXqD4fgJ_l0nK
gNI2MQ/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=zuzLLiB
FGMg 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=mZUPg
sKeiOY 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=gcyDW
aMcvuI Ripstick clip).
Play the third video
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-A8cqm
McAvg 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/finalelac
cssstandards.pdf

Writing a Great Topic Sentence (powerpoint)
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=
cache:BIoJQanKwRMJ:https://www.time4writing.co
m/presentations/WritingParagraphs_TopicSentence
.pptx+&cd=12&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
or
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1nsB007Pb
T6dHcP45tqCZEUkovXqD4fgJ_l0nKgNI2MQ/edit?u
sp=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.