Merit Online Learning User Guide for Teachers – Book Punch Paragraph Writing Topics Step by Step

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Book Punch

Paragraph Writing Topics Step by Step

Merit Online Learning User Guide for Teachers – Book Punch Paragraph Writing Topics Step by Step page 2

Teacher Orientation to Book Punch Structure or "Anatomy of the Program"The following pages show the steps students work through to write their paragraphs.

“My Progress” across the top of the screen indicates the section on which the student is working.

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INTRODUCTIONIntroduces the book on which the writing prompts are based.

First students will see a series of introductory screens.

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TOPICStudents are given several writing prompts and are asked to choose one as the focus of their paragraph.

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TOPICStudents personalize Text-to-Self Topics

In the Text-to-Self writing prompts,

students are asked to enter their own

personalized subject, which will be the

topic of their paragraph.

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PRE-WRITINGA series of questions encourage students to brainstorm about the topic they have chosen to write about.

Tips are available if the student wants help.

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PRE-WRITINGThe program places students' answers in the Pre-Writing Notepad.

The program places students' answers

in the Pre-Writing Notepad.

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PRE-WRITINGStudents are encouraged to think about the topic and list all of their ideas.

After students have answered the pre-

writing questions they are asked if they

have more ideas to add.

The program engages advanced

students by encouraging them to add

more ideas on the topic.

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WRITING - OPENING SENTENCEThe program provides sample opening sentences.

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WRITING - OPENING SENTENCEAfter viewing sample sentences, students write an original opening sentence to introduce their paragraph.

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MORE PRE-WRITINGStudents look at their opening sentence together with their pre-writing items.Students are asked if they wish to list more pre-writing items to support their main idea.

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MORE PRE-WRITINGStudents review the pre-writing items for relevance to the opening sentence.

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WRITING - BODYStudents write sentences for the body of the paragraph.

The Pre-Writing Notepad reappears with

the Writing Notepad next to it. The

student's opening sentence appears in

the Writing Notepad.

Students begin the body of the

paragraph by choosing an item from the

Pre-Writing Notepad. Then they use

this item in a sentence, which is saved

in the Writing Notepad.

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WRITING - BODYStudents write sentences for the body of the paragraph.

Students are encouraged to write

complete sentences. The sentence

must begin with a capital letter, have

appropriate end punctuation, and

include at least two words.

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WRITING - BODYStudents write sentences for the body of the paragraph.

Students continue to choose items and

write several sentences to complete the

body of the paragraph.

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ORGANIZINGStudents decide which sentences to use and in which order.

The Writing Notepad containing the

student's sentences appears on the left

half of the screen. A Paragraph

Notepad with the student's topic

sentence is on the right half of the

screen.

Students transfer sentences from the

Writing Notepad and arrange them in

the Paragraph Notepad, deciding which

sentences to use and in which order.

All the sentences do not have to be

used, but at least four must be chosen

for the student to proceed.

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ORGANIZINGStudents review their work in paragraph form.

In the second step of the Organizing

section, students see their work for the

first time in paragraph form in the

Paragraph Draft Box.

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ORGANIZINGStudents add transitional words.

Students are encouraged to add

transitional words to help the sentences

flow smoothly from one thought to the

next. The program includes examples

of how to connect ideas in different

ways.

From this point on, students may print

their work. (The printout will show the

section of the program from which the

work was printed.)

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WRITING - CLOSING SENTENCEThe program provides sample closing sentences.

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WRITING - CLOSING SENTENCEAfter viewing sample sentences, students write an original closing sentence to end their paragraph.

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REVISING - OVERVIEWStudents review their whole paragraph in the Paragraph Draft.

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REVISING - OVERVIEWThe program guides students in the use of the Add, Change text, Remove, or Move buttons.

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REVISING - OVERVIEWA series of screens asks students to check their work and suggests places to use the editing tools to make changes.

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OPTIONS MENUStudents are presented with optional lessons to help them improve their writing.

The Options Menu contains four

subsections: STYLE, SENTENCE

STRUCTURE, GRAMMAR AND

PROOFREADING.

Each subsection contains lessons

designed to help students improve their

writing.

The record-keeping program lets the

teacher know which subsections the

students have completed.

The Reading Check does not include

the Options Menu.

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STYLEStudents are encouraged to review their choice of nouns, adjectives and verbs.Examples show how changes can make paragraphs more interesting to read.

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SENTENCE STRUCTUREThe program reminds students about the common sentence structure problem of run-on sentences.Examples show how to correct them.

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GRAMMARStudents are encouraged to improve their use of commas.Examples show some of the many ways to use commas in a paragraph.

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PROOFREADINGThe program reminds students about the proper use of capital letters.Examples show students how to use capital letters correctly.

In the first proofreading screen, students

see their work in paragraph form in the

Paragraph Draft Box.

After reading their paragraph students

review their use of capital letters.

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PROOFREADINGStudents revisit their paragraph for spelling errors. Spell checking is available here as a review tool.

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PUBLISHINGStudents are given the opportunity to continue revising their work before publishing.

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PUBLISHINGStudents have a final opportunity to review their work before saving it.

The Publishing Menu has three choices:

Review:

Review the revising sections again.

Spell check:

This is a final opportunity to review

spelling.

Save:

This saves the student’s work to the

student’s online portfolio.

After students save their paragraphs the

Publishing Menu changes allowing them

to print out their completed work.

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PUBLISHINGAfter students save their work they are congratulated and presented with new choices in the Publishing Menu.

After the students' paragraphs are

saved, students are presented with

these options:

Print:

The student’s work appears in a

browser window for printing. Name and

date appear at the beginning of the

printout. Ther Reading Check printouts

report the student’s key point score. The

student’s Evidence and Inference

paragraphs display the topic’s pre-

writing prompts.

Word Processor:

Copies the student’s work to the

Clipboard so that it can be pasted into a

word processor document.

New Topic:

This button allows students to start a

new topic without going back to the

Learning Center.