Finger Vice – When someone grabs your fingers and not your entire hand. There is a good chance you will crush somebody’s fingers!!!

 Dead Fish - Indifferent handshakes that feel like the person has no bones in their hand often indicate a passive, weak, reserved personality.

A Close Look The Handshake:

• What is the purpose of shaking someone’s hand?

• What do you hope the person knows about you and you about them after you have shaken someone’s hand?

• Hello, my name is ______________, and today I’m going to tell you all about_________________________.

• In this paper I’m going to tell you all about __________________________.

• I’m going to write about _________________________________.

The Hand Shake• The Introduction of a

Paragraph• The topic sentence is

called the “hand shake sentence”

• This sentence should tell your reader WHO and WHAT you will be writing about in your paper

“Introducing the Guest” with a handshake sentence

Level 1

• Level 1 Introduction • Examples:1. Cats make the best

pets.

2. Learning to ride a bicycle is fun.

Do these introductions make you excited to find out more?

 Politician – Your hand is firmly grasped as in a normal handshake. However, their other hand may cover yours or be placed on your forearm or shoulder.

Controller – You feel your hand being pulled toward the person  or strongly guided in a different direction, perhaps towards a chair. People who do this are controllers.

Level 2• Level 2 Introductions: • Add a number statement

• Number statements give the writer an idea of how many big ideas they need to include

• Examples:1. Cats make the best pets

for several reasons.

2. Children learn to ride a bicycle by going through four specific steps.

The “Bro” Shake

Number Statements, Continued

• Number statements are excellent to help get off to a good start with topic sentences.

As you grow older, people begin to judge you simply by how you shake their hand!!!

Examples

• Number Statement Examples:

• Specific: two, three, four

• General: a couple of, a few, many, a plethora, myriad, numerous, oodles, some, several, various

Just like there are countless ways to greet a person, there are countless ways to start your writing

Avoid• Avoid when doing

number statements:• Beware of the deadly

duo: – There are– Here are

“There are” and “Here are” just don’t work as ways to effectively engage your audience.

Combining Tools

• Pushing it Closer to a Level 2

• Combine a number statement with a question

• The question is something you will answer in your paragraph:1. Which household pet is

the best for a family? A faithful dog is the obvious choice for several reasons.

2. How do children learn to ride bicycles? By focusing on 4 specific steps a new rider can learn to be flying down their street without much difficulty.By combining a number

statement with a question you are making your handshake

more engaging

Level 3 Thoughts

• Level 3 Handshakes • Level 3 introductions/ topic sentences rely on sentence fluency and complex sentence structure

• They are complex sentences that have two partsLevel 1

Level 3Level 2

Level 3 Tool: Situation

• Level 3 Tool • Create a situation and stance sentence– Part 1: Broadly

introduces the topic (SITUATION)

– Gives a general hint of what is to come

– Opens the topic door a little bit

– Cannot stand alone (dependent clause)

Level 3 Tool: Stance

• Part 2: Clearly states viewpoint on the topic (STANCE)– Narrows the topic

considerably– Flings the topic door

wide open– Can stand alone

Examples

• Even though I like all the holidays, the Fourth of July is my favorite.

• Although teaching is a challenging profession, it is still very rewarding.

• Because most people carry cell phones, it is important that they learn basic cell-phone etiquette.

Question: Is it possible to start with a thoughtful question and then follow that question with a situation response?

Starter Words

• Starter Words: • After, although, as, as long as, as soon as, because, before, even if, even though, if, in order to, once, since, so that, though, unless, until, when whenver, while

More Examples

• When our family gathers for Thanksgiving, we enjoy several traditions.

• As soon as I received a new bicycle, I was determined to ride it.

• Although I have many special peole in my life, my dad is my favorite.

Self-Check

• Self-Check • Highlight the two parts of the situation/stance topic sentence, using two different colors

• Use a third color to circle the comma that separates the two parts.

Use the different colors to identify your situation, stand and comma