Do your students struggle to write cohesive paragraphs? Do they struggle to support their opinions with evidence? Can they read a text, form an opinion, and articulate the opinion clearly through writing?
It's okay, most of my freshmen students couldn't do it either until I started implementing the Article of the Week consistently.
I know many of you have probably heard of the Article of the Week or have used it in some capacity in your classroom. And there are many ways to use this simple activity to benefit your students.
I have seen major growth in my students' formal writing once I started implementing the ACES paragraph structure alongside the Article of the Week and annotation. If you're looking to improve your students' writing one paragraph at a time, keep reading!
How I Use the Article of the Week
There are three basic steps to completing the Article of the Week. Each Monday, I read an article to students, they annotate the article, and then they answer a question in paragraph form. It's actually fairly simple and has been a consistent start to our week (which means I know what I'm doing every Monday morning! 🙌🏻) The written responses are due on Thursdays (so you have two days to grade and give feedback), and you can give class time for students to write the responses, or have them complete it on their own time or when they have some time leftover after class.
To start, I love to use Kelly Gallagher's site for article ideas. There's a great list of articles with current event topics that interest teenagers! You can Google "Kelly Gallagher Article of the Week" and find his current article links and achieved articles as well! Or, you can of course search and find articles if you are looking for something in particular to tie into your current unit.
I like to put the article into a new document so I can leave room for students to annotate the article with plenty of space. You can use Microsoft Word or Google Docs and set the margins as you like!
I have my students write definitions to words they don't know in the left margins, and they put other notes and connections in the right margins.
For the first few weeks, I read and annotate the article live with my students so they know what annotation looks like.
These steps are important to helping students understand the article and form opinions related to the topic. It can also help them identify evidence from the text once they begin writing their response.
For the first few weeks, this process of reading, annotating, and discussing the article can take close to an entire class period. However, I think it's important to spend adequate time laying the foundation for good annotation and comprehension.
Written Response Assignment
After we read and annotate the article, students respond to a question (or questions) in a paragraph using the ACES format. Again, this takes time and repetition for students to fully understand what a good paragraph looks like. Make sure you are giving them good examples so they know what you expect.
WARNING: this could be a SLOW process depending on the writing level of your students. Don't be afraid to require only one paragraph for the first few weeks until your students have an understanding of the ACES format.
ACES stands for answer, cite, explain, and summarize. Each paragraph should have all four steps completed for a well-developed paragraph. I take time to explain each step, how to use signal phrases, textual evidence, parenthetical citations, and MLA format.
In order to give them more guidance and examples they can reference as they write, I created a flipbook to help them through each step of ACES!
You can have students write about anything from the article, or if you want, you can pose an open-ended question related to the article for them to respond to. I like to write my own questions or ask AI to write some critical thinking questions for me!
After the 3rd or 4th one-paragraph response, I pose two questions for students to answer, and they write a paragraph for each question. Eventually, I posed three questions and required a 3-paragraph response. (I thought this was a good length to build to as they will have to write 3 body paragraphs in a standard 5-paragraph essay later this year.)
My classes completed Article of the Week writing for 8 weeks, and the growth during this period of time has been amazing! Here's an example of a response from the first week to a response written on week six.
How I Grade the Responses
When it comes to grading, I've taken a simple approach. The AOW (Article of the Week) responses are worth 5 points, and I use a basic rubric to grade them. This makes grading the responses quick, and I can focus more on feedback rather than taking time filling out a complicated rubric. I should clarify that my grade book is weighted by category, and all of the writing assignments are worth 40% of the overall grade. So the 5 points will make an impact on the grade if a student does not complete them.
Here's how students earn points:
You can make things more specific if you wish, but I've found that it's easier to keep things simple and give good feedback to help students improve each week!
Reasons Why I Love AOW
If you can't tell, I absolutely LOVE using the Article of the Week. And I have several reasons:
I do not have to plan lessons for Mondays, and it is GLORIOUS.
Students are writing about topics that are relevant to their lives.
Consistent reading, annotating, and writing has improved my students' formal writing.
Students are writing about topics that are relevant to their lives.
You can implement this weekly assignment without disrupting your curriculum.
The articles usually spark interesting conversations between students as they are forming opinions.
Did I mention that I don't have to plan lessons for Mondays? 😅 (Seriously, no more Sunday Scaries.)
So, if you've been on the fence about using the Article of the Week, I urge you to give it a try. Prepare to take the time to demonstrate good annotation skills and the though process behind annotations. Write example paragraphs of your own for a few weeks and demonstrate a good paragraph using the ACES format. I promise, it's worth it!
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