I started off with review. This took them a little longer to finish because there was a little more writing involved. Once finished I had students hand out the first sequence word activity, and I explained how these words are useful when writing. I then gave them some time to complete the first activity, a fill in the blank exercise, and after, I asked several students to give me their answers. I then asked students what the topic sentence and concluding sentence was for each paragraph. This activity seemed to be easy for them, but really it was only meant as a warm-up because the next exercise was much more challenging – first, they had to put the sentences in the correct order, then, using the sequence words, they had to rewrite the sentences in the form of a paragraph. I did not give them a time limit, but I walked around observing them and once it seemed that the majority had finished, I gave them the answer key. I then wrote the sequence words on the board explaining that we usually don't mix second and third with next and then.
After that, I handed out the brainstorming activity and asked someone from last semester to tell me what brainstorming meant. I then told them that it was very important to write down as many ideas as possible for a topic before writing. Next, I gave them 10 minutes to write down ideas for three topics, topics that we will work on in the next few weeks. Once the time was up, I collected the brainstorming handouts in order to make sure they would have them for the next class. Finally, I talked about the midterm test telling them what they should focus on, and then let them go.
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