1. Article of the Month Portfolio
Week 3: PowerQuest

2. PowerQuest Directions
You and your partner will go through this PowerPoint slide by slide.
One partner will read a slide aloud; the partner who is listening should then paraphrase that information aloud.
When you see a star ( ), that means there is an activity on that slide that you and your partner must complete; just follow the directions!

3. Reflection Overview
You will spend the next four Article of the Month meetings reflecting on your Article of the Month assignments. You will look at all of your previous Article of the Month submissions to determine how you have grown as a writer. During each week, you will focus on a different aspect of your writing: Week 1: The Introductory Paragraph Week 2: Supporting Paragraphs Week 3: Supporting Paragraphs Week 4: The Conclusion The following slides will help you reflect on your growth as a writer by analyzing the the theses and topic sentences in each of your Article of the Month responses.

4. Evidence and Elaboration
Identify your best body paragraph from each Article of the Month (1-4).
Copy the topic sentence from each of your previous Article of the Month assignments (1- 4) into the “Inference” columns of the graphic organizer.
Copy the evidence and elaboration that corresponds with each topic sentence from each Article of the Month assignment (1-4) into the “Text Clue” and “Background Knowledge” columns of the graphic organizer.
Reread all four sets of topic sentences, evidence, and elaboration.
Read your partner’s completed graphic organizer.
Discuss your completed graphic organizers with your partner.

5. Evidence and Elaboration
Read the “Incorporating Evidence Into Your Essay” section of the following website out loud with your partner: ence.shtml
In the Notes and Handouts section of your binder, create and record definitions for “evidence” and “elaboration”
List the pattern for integrating evidence into your writing.

6. Analyzing For Focus
Create a new document in Google Docs titled LastNamePortfolioWeek3 (e.g. ZapataPortfolioWeek3).
Share your document with me or
Create a new title in your Google Doc called “Self Reflection.”
Answer the following questions on your own under “Self Reflection” using full sentences.
Do all pieces of evidence relate to the topic sentence?
Does all elaboration clearly explain or comment on how the evidence supports the topic sentence?
Which topic sentence, evidence, elaboration combination provides the strongest/clearest interpretation of the text?
How have you progressed as a writer in terms of your ability to provide clear evidence and explain the significance of that evidence?

7. Analyzing Evidence and Elaboration
Read your partners Self Reflection.
Discuss the following questions with your partner:
Do you agree with your partner’s combination choices? Why or why not?
Do you agree with your partner’s ideas about how they have progressed as a writer?

8. Reflecting on Evidence and Elaboration
Create a new title in your Google Doc under your Self Reflection called “Reflective Paragraph.”
Under that heading, write a paragraph (as a Collin’s Type 3) summarizing your progress as a writer of theses and topic sentences. Be sure to include the following focus correction areas:
Clear topic sentence
Relevant evidence supporting your claims about your progress
Explanation of your evidence and how it support your claims
Read your partner’s paragraph and comment on the FCAs using the comment function in Google Docs.
Revise your paragraph using your partner’s comments as a guide.