Teaching Pro Tip for Better Thesis Statements:
Question Like a Four-Year Old |
Improving the Thesis Statements
Jori Krulder's article "Question Like a Four-Year-Old" lays out the basic strategy to help students write a more specific and focused thesis statement. Krulder details this example of her method: Thesis Writer (TW): Original thesis: “Frankenstein’s monster shows the effect of society on personality.” Questioner (Q): “How did society affect Frankenstein’s monster’s personality?” TW: “It made him angry and murderous.” Q: “How did it make him angry and murderous?” TW: “It treated him badly and made him want to treat others badly.” Q: “Why did it treat him badly?” TW: “Because he was ugly.” Q: “Why did they treat him badly because he was ugly?” TW: “Because society tends to reject things and people who are different and they don’t understand.” Q: “Why did that make him angry and murderous?” TW: “Because we learn how to treat people by how we are treated.” 20 or more questions later – possible Revised Thesis: “The development of Frankenstein’s monster into a murderous, angry creature shows how society’s tendency to reject what it does not understand can ironically lead to creating the very monsters we fear.” |
Student Directions
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Procedure
HELP FOR STRUGGLING STUDENTS Struggling students may need a template for one or more of the poems. USE THESE SPARINGLY and only on the first assessment of this kind. Students can grow over-reliant on the templates when they need to internalize the task and apply their knowledge in future situations such as the actual test.
SAMPLE IN-CLASS ASSESSMENT Students can be instructed to read and analyze the following two poems: Thomas Hardy's "The Convergence of the Twain" (FRQ #1 2002) and Billy Collins' "The History Teacher" (FRQ #1 2007). |