This resource is a demonstration lesson presented at the 2014 Write for Texas Summer Institute. It provides a snapshot of a four to five week unit that engages students in the reading and writing workshop model.

You will learn to identify the author’s purpose for writing as you read a variety of texts.

You will learn skills necessary for reading and writing to a prompt.

You will learn how to use strategies to help you summarize texts of different lengths.

You will learn to use strategies that help you make connections between a text and events that happened in the past, as well as events that are happening now.

In this lesson, you will be able to identify the imagery in a text and evaluate its effectiveness.

You will be able to determine why a character’s dialect may contribute to the meaning of the text.

You will be able to read and analyze a poem using your knowledge of literary and poetic devices.

You will learn how to write a topic proposal that addresses your topic, purpose, and audience.

You will learn various rhetorical strategies you can use in writing for a particular audience and purpose.

You will learn how to look at introductory material, headings, and other subdivisions to gain an understanding and an overview of the text’s organization.

You will learn how to write a thesis statement that explains your position about a topic.

You will learn how to organize your essay with relevant evidence that supports your thesis.

You will practice checking for proper voice, tense, and syntax.

You will learn how to annotate or mark a text as you read and re-read to gain deeper understanding of the text.

You will learn how to cite your sources in the body of your research paper and write a works cited page according to the Modern Language Association (MLA) style manual.

You will learn the skills necessary to become an effective listener in a group setting.

You will learn to paraphrase a speaker's remarks in the process of your note taking.

You will be able to become a critical listener and learn to take notes in the process.

You will learn revision strategies you can use to strengthen your introduction and body of your paper.