What Is An Easy Way To Teach Effective Thesis Statements?

 

When you start discussing thesis statements in your middle school class, do your students look at you as though you are speaking a foreign language?   They understand that the thesis is like a road map, but that's about it.

The solution?  Give students a particular pattern to follow.  This is what I mean:

1.  Read the prompt

Let's suppose the prompt is:  "Write an essay to tell why it is important to eat balanced meals."

When students read that prompt, they need to determine if this is going to be an informational/informative essay or an argumentative essay.  This helps determine whether we need to take a side in our thesis.

In this case, we do not need to take a side because the prompt is informational/informative.

2.  Flip the prompt

When I say "flip the prompt," I mean to use the same words from the prompt and turn them into a new statement.  

Using the same prompt from above, this is an example of flipping the prompt:

It is important to eat balanced meals because of _______, _________, and __________.  

I call this a thesis skeleton.  It's a skeleton because it has some bare bones (blanks) that we will fill in after we read the texts.

3.  Read & Mark the Text + Fill in the blanks

The thesis skeleton gives students a purpose for reading the texts, and they should be underlining information that could represent a category that could go in the blanks.  

For example, the texts will definitely include information on how eating a balanced meal helps people think better, increase their immunity, and have more energy.  There will be all kinds of evidence related to these topics.  

After students are done reading and underlining, they should be able to categorize what they have underlined.  These categories will become the reasons in the blanks in the thesis:

It is important to eat balanced meals because they enhance cognitive ability, boost immunity, and increase energy levels.

And there you have it!  An easy way to teach effective thesis statements!  Click here to check out this post for the rest of the introduction paragraph. 

Want some FREE flip the prompt practice?  Click here!

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