Teacher Commentary

For Hymn to the Nile I have students first just write one claim about life in ancient Egypt to keep them focused because student have a tendency to write as many ideas as they can think of. Students tend to think more is better and I want them to focus on constructing one strong, clear claim. When we read the other two texts we move to making a list of claims. I want students to start thinking about all of the various claims they can make.

The reason I have students do a list before writing an essay/paragraph is for the same reason. Students are more focused, concise, and logical when the activity is constrained. I will even say to them at times “Each bullet point cannot be more than one sentence.”