Night Essay
• For this unit, you will compose an essay
instead of taking a test.
• The essay will answer the following prompt:
What makes Elie Wiesel’s Night still
relevant as an important educational
tool for today’s classrooms?
What makes Elie Wiesel’s Night still relevant as an
important educational tool for today’s classrooms?
• With a partner, brainstorm some possible
answers to the essay prompt.
statement
of fact
about
Night
CONNECTIONS
Ask “SO WHAT?”
statement of
fact about
things relevant
to modern
classroom
Essay Writing
• What are the basic parts of an essay?
– introduction
– body
– conclusion
• What essential thing should the introduction contain?
– the thesis
• What does the thesis do?
– states the topic of the essay
Essay Writing
• What are the basic parts of an essay?
– introduction
– body
– conclusion
• What essential thing should the introduction contain?
– the thesis
• What does the thesis do?
– states the argument, answers the prompt
• How does the body relate to the thesis?
– the body provides evidence for the argument
stated in the thesis
Essay Writing
• How does the body relate to the thesis?
– the body provides evidence for the argument
stated in the thesis
• What qualifies as evidence?
– facts, e.g. historical information
– summary / quotes from a text
What makes Elie Wiesel’s Night still
• Given the essay prompt:
What texts can you use? relevant as an important educational tool
for today’s classrooms?
– Night
– excerpt from Extraordinary Evil: A Short Walk
to Genocide
– “The 8 Stages of Genocide” article
– modern genocide articles from “World Without
Genocide”
– “We Are All Bystanders” article
Evidence and Argument
What makes Elie Wiesel’s Night still relevant as an
important educational tool for today’s classrooms?
• Without evidence, your argument is weak and
unconvincing.
• Take the possible answers to the prompt that
you came up with in your brainstorming.
– What evidence is available to support your
argument?
– Look through the various texts we’ve read in this
unit and begin noting evidence that you can use.
What makes Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” still relevant as an
important educational tool for today’s classrooms?
THESIS: Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” warns against becoming
too dependent on technology, a valuable lesson for the
technology-obsessed young people of today.
In his short story
“The Veldt”, Ray
Bradbury creates
a world in which
people have
become
dependent on
technology for
everything.
•
•
•
textual example
textual example
textual example
The characters
overdependence on
technology
eventually
destroys them.
•
•
•
textual example
textual example
textual example
Teenagers
today are
starting to
resemble
Bradbury’s
characters.
•
•
facts about
teenage use of
technology
textual examples
CONCLUSION:
Therefore,
reading and
discussing “The
Veldt” in class
can help teens
understand the
dangers of
overdependence
and prevent
them from
suffering the
consequences
Bradbury’s
characters did.
Essay Organization
• THESIS:
– What is your main argument?
– How are you answering the prompt?
• BODY:
– What do you need to prove in order to make your reader
believe your argument?
– What sub-arguments can you make that when you bring
them together they work like puzzle pieces that fit
together to make your argument? (Each of these subarguments can then become the topic sentences of your
paragraphs.)
– Label your evidence as belonging to one of these subarguments (paragraphs).
PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE
ARGUMENT, EVIDENCE, & EXPLANATION
BODY P. 1
• Topic Sentence relating
body paragraph’s topic to
the thesis
• Evidence + explanation of
connection to topic
sentence
• Evidence + explanation
• Evidence + explanation
BODY P. 2
• Topic Sentence relating
body paragraph’s topic
to the thesis
• Evidence 1
• Evidence 2
• Explanation of evidence
1 & 2’s connection to
topic sentence
What makes Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” still relevant as an
important educational tool for today’s classrooms?
THESIS: Ray Bradbury’s “The Veldt” warns against becoming
too dependent on technology, a valuable lesson for the
technology-obsessed young people of today.
In his short story
“The Veldt”, Ray
Bradbury creates
a world in which
people have
become
dependent on
technology for
everything.
•
•
•
textual example
textual example
textual example
The characters
overdependence on
technology
eventually
destroys them.
•
•
•
textual example
textual example
textual example
Teenagers
today are
starting to
resemble
Bradbury’s
characters.
•
•
facts about
teenage use of
technology
textual examples
CONCLUSION:
Therefore,
reading and
discussing “The
Veldt” in class
can help teens
understand the
dangers of
overdependence
and prevent
them from
suffering the
consequences
Bradbury’s
characters did.
PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE
ARGUMENT, EVIDENCE, & EXPLANATION
BODY P. 1
• Topic Sentence
relating body
paragraph’s topic to
the thesis
• Evidence +
explanation of
connection to topic
sentence
• Evidence +
explanation
• Evidence +
explanation
In his short story “The Veldt”, Ray Bradbury
creates a world in which people have become
dependent on technology for everything. The
Hadleys’ Happylife Home “clothe[s] and [feeds]
and rock[s] them to sleep.” Mrs. Hadley even
describes the house as “wife and mother…and
nursemaid”, as technology has taken on all the
duties and chores of family life. Their machines
have even taken over the task of imagination as
the nursery, the star gadget of the story, does all
the work of make-believe for the children: “the
nursery caught the telepathic emanation of the
children’s mind and created life to fill their every
desire.”
Using Quotes in Writing
Select specific parts of quotes - not entire
sentences.
• “Sorry,” said a small voice within the table, and ketchup
appeared.
• And although their beds tried very hard, the two adults
couldn’t be rocked to sleep for another hour.
• The house was full of dead bodies.
Using Quotes in Writing
Select specific parts of quotes - not entire
sentences.
• “Sorry,” said a small voice within the table, and ketchup
appeared.
• And although their beds tried very hard, the two adults
couldn’t be rocked to sleep for another hour.
• The house was full of dead bodies.
Bradbury dreams up a technologically advanced future
populated with living machines. There are tables with “small
voice[s]” and beds that “[try] very hard” to rock people to
sleep. And when George begins to shut down the various
devices, the house is described as being “full of dead bodies”.
Using Evidence Tags
• Evidence should always be presented with the
author’s name and the title of his/her work.
– As Barbara Coloroso states in “Extraordinary Evil: A
Short Walk to Genocide”…
– According to Gregory Stanton’s “8 Stages of
Genocide”…
– In his novel Night, Elie Wiesel describes…
• Once you’ve said the author/title once, you no
longer have to refer to both again. You can just
refer to the author by last name and not say the
title of his/her work.