Hero Subunit 3: Three Paragraph Essay on a Personal Hero

Subunit 3: Three paragraph essay on a personal hero.

Ask the students to think about their personal hero, or someone they look up to. It could be a family member, singer, someone from history, whoever…It is mindblowing how many will say they don’t know. If they don’t have one – they can research. I showed a few people The White Helmets from Syria for example. One girl thought about her grandmother who was battling cancer. It’s pretty powerful stuff to read.

Click below for the lesson plan 

Remember the paragraph writing in Grade 7? (HERE). If they don’t – it’s best that you take 15 minutes and review it.

Follow the directions for the three paragraph essay on the PowerPoint. I love love love Pinterest for these sorts of things – they have amazing graphics and visual aids.

But – word of the wise: beware of the over Pinteresting. Hours spent on there will lead to feelings of jealousy and inadequacy. Sometimes I want to scream at bubbly Stacy, the Grade 5 teacher in Connecticut, USA that “OK, YES!!!! We get it Stacy!! You can make friggen pom poms out of tissue paper to make your classroom more welcoming! Congratulations that you paper mached a reading corner out of something you found in the trash Stacy!!”

*deep calming breaths* And we’re moving on.

I usually use an entire lesson for each paragraph. It depends on the level of the students though. Maybe they need a lot of practice. So maybe 3-4 lessons there. Here are some Powerpoints on the essay.

Introductory Paragraph – PPT

Middle Paragraph – PPT

Concluding Paragraph – PPT

The big difference between the Grade 7 Paragraph and the Grade 8 is the introduction which contains a simple thesis. They need to come up with three reasons why that person is their hero. For example:  My imaginary friend Betty is my hero because she is blah, something something and yadda yadda. Then they expand on the blah, something and yadda in the body paragraph. Maybe it is a good idea to get them to practice writing their thesis, and submit it to you… for me it’s the most important part of the entire essay. I didn’t do that this year… but something to think about for next.

 

Nothing says three paragraph essay like a hamburger am I right? There are many students who need visual aids – so give it to them while at the same time making them crave fast food.

 I have done this Three Paragraph Essay as an in class assignment, and a take home. If they do it as an in class – they are allowed a cheat sheet (Essay outline and transition words) and then they are off to the races. Maybe 2-3 lessons to write. It depends on if you want to check their rough copies.

Another add on I did for this is that they presented their hero for the class (or small group). This covered the oral presentation portion for the semester. Check out my “How to have a good presentation” blog post for more information on that.(coming soon).

So there we have it. The heroes unit. Get them to send their essays to their hero (if you can) afterwards. Makes their day! By the way….extra points if you get one of your students to write about you  

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