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“Homestretch” Plan for HS FCAT Writing

10 days of Activities/Lessons

All handouts and PowerPoints are in separate files sent to the schools. Handouts can be
made into transparencies or projected onto a screen if paper resources are not available.

Materials/Handouts:
a) How to Support
b) 50 Telling Sentences
c) Guide to Colorful and Precise Language
d) Middle of the Essay
e) What Matters Most—Support
f) Show, don’t tell
g) How to Review Elaboration
h) Give the Writer Some Help
i) Introductions
j) Variety of Introductions
k) Expository Prompts
l) Persuasive Prompts
m) Conclusions (how to)
n) Variety of Conclusions
o) 09.Gr.10.Expository.AnchorSets
p) 09.Gr.10.Expository.AnchorSets
q) Dad.Fishing.Paper
r) What is an Elaborated Paragraph?”
s) Extensions and Elaborations
t) Layered vs. Elaborated Support
u) Topics for Prompts
v) Papers-- Clean Beach, Don’t Pay Athletes, Garbage Duty, and Moon Day

PowerPoints:
A) What Students Need to Know
B) Elaboration Answers Questions
C) Hitting FCAT Writing Target
D) Scoring a 4 or Higher
E) Exploring Possible Topics

Day 1

• Overview of the FCAT Writing Test—“What Students Need to Know” ppt.

Go through the PowerPoint and discuss each slide to be certain students understand.
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• Review the methods of elaboration with the handout “How to Support.”

• Use one or two of the telling sentences from the handout “50 Telling Sentences”
and have students write an elaborated paragraph on each telling sentence. Have some
students read their paragraphs to the class and discuss the elaborations. Does the
paragraph fully elaborate? Are there any questions a reader/listener has for the writer?
What additional kinds of information would other students add to make the paragraph
even more elaborated?
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• Have students go back to their elaboration and examine the word choice. Use
the Guide to Colorful and Precise Language and replace words such as thing or stuff and
to add a vivid word, if appropriate.

• Have students examine their elaborations for spelling errors of commonly

confused words—they’re, their, there, etc.

Day 2

• Review methods of elaboration, using the handout, “Middle of the Essay.”

• Then review the distinctions among bare, extended, layered and elaborated
support, using the handout “What Matters Most—Support.”
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• Use one or two of the telling sentences from the handout “50 Telling Sentences”
and have students write an elaborated paragraph on each telling sentence. Have some
students read their paragraphs to the class and discuss the elaborations. Does the
paragraph fully elaborate? Are there any questions a reader/listener has for the writer?
What additional kinds of information would other students add to make the paragraph
even more elaborated?

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students go back to their elaboration and examine the word choice. Use
the Guide to Colorful and Precise Language and replace words such as thing or stuff and
to add a vivid word, if appropriate.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students examine their elaborations for spelling errors of commonly

confused words—they’re, their, there, etc.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

Day 3

• Review elaboration, using the “Elaboration Answers Questions” PowerPoint.

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• Review the concept of showing, not telling with the handout “Show, don’t tell.”

• Use one or two of the telling sentences from the handout “50 Telling Sentences”
and have students write an elaborated paragraph on each telling sentence. Have some
students read their paragraphs to the class and discuss the elaborations. Does the
paragraph fully elaborate? Are there any questions a reader/listener has for the writer?
What additional kinds of information would other students add to make the paragraph
even more elaborated?

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students go back to their elaboration and examine the word choice. Use
the Guide to Colorful and Precise Language and replace words such as thing or stuff and
to add a vivid word, if appropriate.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

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• Have students examine their elaborations for spelling errors of commonly

confused words—they’re, their, there, etc.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

Day 4

• Review elaboration with the “Hitting FCAT Writing Target” PowerPoint.

• Use the handout “How to Review Elaboration” and remind students how FCAT
elaboration calls for each sentence in a paragraph to build on the preceding sentence,
adding additional information.

• Practice improving paragraphs that lack elaboration using the handout “Give the
Writer Some Help.”
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• Use one or two of the telling sentences from the handout “50 Telling Sentences”
and have students write an elaborated paragraph on each telling sentence. Have some
students read their paragraphs to the class and discuss the elaborations. Does the
paragraph fully elaborate? Are there any questions a reader/listener has for the writer?
What additional kinds of information would other students add to make the paragraph
even more elaborated?

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students go back to their elaboration and examine the word choice. Use
the Guide to Colorful and Precise Language and replace words such as thing or stuff and
to add a vivid word, if appropriate.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students examine their elaborations for spelling errors of commonly

confused words—they’re, their, there, etc.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

Day 5

• Discuss the purpose of an introduction. Introductions are often much longer

than conclusions. On the FCAT persuasive essays, students must make very clear their
position on the issue. Putting that position in the introductory paragraph helps a student
stay on that side of the argument throughout the paper. A student must NOT switch to
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another side of the issue later in the paper. Thus, the planning sheet needs to be used so
that a student is confident of the side he/she will present in the paper.

• Use the handout “Introductions” and discuss the variety of ways to beginning a
paper.

• Share with students the handout of actual introductions written by students on

last year’s test by Broward students entitled “Variety of Introductions.”

• Take one prompt from the handout “Expository Prompts” and one from the
handout “Persuasive Prompts” and have students write an introduction for each. Read
aloud and discuss the effectiveness of the introductions.
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• Have students go back to their introduction and examine the word choice. Use
the Guide to Colorful and Precise Language and replace words such as thing or stuff and
to add a vivid word, if appropriate.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students examine their introduction for spelling errors of commonly

confused words—they’re, their, there, etc.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

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Day 6

• Discuss the purpose of a conclusion. Conclusions are often much shorter than
introductions on the FCAT.

• Use the handout “Conclusions” and discuss the variety of ways to conclude a
paper.

• Share with students the handout of actual conclusions written by students on last
year’s test by Broward students entitled “Variety of Conclusions.”
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• Have students look at a couple papers and evaluate the conclusion. They can
either rewrite a better conclusion or they can describe what should be in the conclusion.
Use either papers accompanying this packet or papers that students have written in
preparation for this test throughout the semester. Papers from 2009 are found in the
documents entitled “09.Gr.10.Expository.AnchorSets” and
“09.Gr.10.Persuasive.AnchorSets.” The document entitled “Dad.Fishing.Paper” is from a
previous test; it scored a 3.

Day 7

• Review the definition and methods of elaboration using any previously used
handouts (or PowerPoints, if desired).

• Show students exemplary examples of elaborated paragraphs from the document

“What is an Elaborated Paragraph?” Use only a few of them and have students identify
the methods that the writers used.
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• Go back to the document “50 Telling Sentences.” • Use one or two of the
telling sentences from the handout, and have students write an elaborated paragraph on
each telling sentence. Have some students read their paragraphs to the class and discuss
the elaborations. Does the paragraph fully elaborate? Are there any questions a
reader/listener has for the writer? What additional kinds of information would other
students add to make the paragraph even more elaborated?

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students go back to their elaboration and examine the word choice. Use
the Guide to Colorful and Precise Language and replace words such as thing or stuff and
to add a vivid word, if appropriate.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students examine their elaborations for spelling errors of commonly

confused words—they’re, their, there, etc.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

Day 8

• Review the differences between extensions and elaborations. Use the document
“Extensions and Elaborations.” Have students turned the paragraphs that the DOE
labeled extensions into elaborations.
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• Review the differences between layered and elaborated support. Use the
document “Layered vs. Elaborated Support.”

• View and discuss the “Scoring a 4 or Higher” PowerPoint.

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• Use one or two of the telling sentences from the handout “50 Telling Sentences”
and have students write an elaborated paragraph on each telling sentence. Have some
students read their paragraphs to the class and discuss the elaborations. Does the
paragraph fully elaborate? Are there any questions a reader/listener has for the writer?
What additional kinds of information would other students add to make the paragraph
even more elaborated? Be certain that students are going beyond extensions when they
give their examples.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students go back to their elaboration and examine the word choice. Use
the Guide to Colorful and Precise Language and replace words such as thing or stuff and
to add a vivid word, if appropriate.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

• Have students examine their elaborations for spelling errors of commonly

confused words—they’re, their, there, etc.

See “Day 1” for thumbnail sketch of the handout.

Day 9

• Review that the prompt is a springboard from which students can go in a variety
of ways as they write their essay.

• View and discuss the “Exploring Topics” PowerPoint.

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• Use the handout “Topics for Prompts” to have students brainstorm possible
expository and persuasive prompts and then talk about ways to elaborate the ideas.

Day 10

• Continue using the Topics for Prompts handout to talk about ways to make
personal connections to prompts and possible ways to elaborate.

• Revisit any questions that students may have about the test.

• Read a few papers to students to give them an idea of what students have done
in the past in order to earn a high score. The papers include Clean Beach, Don’t Pay
Athletes, Garbage Duty, and Moon Day.
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