This is part of a unit titled "Providing Evidence." The students read short excerpts of high-interest reading and then they have a writing prompt in which they have to find specific details from the text to support the writing prompt. These three pages are to go with the first chapter from "Forged by Fire." This is a graphic organizer I created to help them with this prompt; "In this novel child abuse is a major conflict. I know this because..." I usually have them answer the prompt using a Jane Schaeffer format. (red is for concrete detail--quotes and summaries-- while green is for commentary/opinion--i.e. “this shows that..." In literature the ratio is typically 2 commentaries for every concrete detail. This structure helps my struggling writers to rise above just summarizing and into analysis. I made the graphic organizer chart, but the first page with the acronym of STEAL for indirect characterization was found on the internet. Pages two and three are my creation. The second page is the answer guide/example, while the third page is what the students are to complete. The only material needed for this is the first chapter of "Forged by Fire" as well as a 4-colored pen (red, blue, black and green ink) for the writing. I recommend the use of a thesaurus to look up other words so their commentary isn´t so repetitive. Pairs are also nice. I did this with my 9th grade support class—struggling readers and writers.

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