Step by Step with Teacher Zee: Writing a Thesis Statement

This summer, I am teaching students to write the personal essay. Since they were my students in the previous writing class where we learned using the Beginning, Middle and End Framework as well as the book end paragraphs, introducing the structure of the personal essay has a foundation. 

I began with texts on traveling or travelog that has a quality or verisimilitude. We read texts in class paying attention to vocabulary on trips, traveling and taking vacations. We then broke down the parts of a travelog into paragraphs identifying the theme or main idea for each. This way, students have an experience of writing a thesis statement. For this particular lesson, I used the framework in writing a thesis statement from Diana Radcliff   

My next step was to model the framework to my students. Here is my work and one of my students'.

Teacher Zarah’s Trip to Malaysia 2023

Thesis Statment: My trip to Malaysia last year was a precious life event that I will keep in my core memory because it happened during my 49th birthday, the first trip abroad I had post pandemic, and I was a research presenter in BTS Conference at the University of Malaya.

Student 1: Trip to Caticlan

Thesis Statement: My trip to Caticlan was a memorable summer experience because it is my Moving On gift, a relaxing break, and an experience that begins my summer break. 

 After this, I showed my students how to use the reasons in the thesis statement as topic sentences and summarizing  them.

Paragraph 1: Introduction

My trip to Malaysia last year was a precious life event that I will keep in my core memory because it happened during my 49th birthday, the first trip abroad I had post pandemic, and I was a research presenter in BTS Conference at the University of Malaya.

TS 1: I am not one to party on my birthday, so celebrating my 49th orbit around the sun on a trip was meaningful.

TS 2: Taking on this first trip abroad was my way to treat myself after years of being locked-in during the pandemic years.

TS: As a presenter in the 4th BTS Conference, the trip to Malaysia was even more special because as a Bangtan Scholar, I was able to share my research to other academic fans.

Summary: Celebrating my 49th birthday on a flight from Manila to Malaysia was fascinating as well as being on board a plane for the first time since 2019. I arrived in Malaysia excited to share my research to fans and academics studying pop culture, especially about BTS.

Putting together my thesis statement and my summary, I now have an Introduction for my 5 Paragraph Essay.

My trip to Malaysia last year was a precious life event that I will keep in my core memory because it happened during my 49th birthday, the first trip abroad I had post pandemic, and I was a research presenter in BTS Conference at the University of Malaya. Celebrating my 49th birthday on a flight from Manila to Malaysia was fascinating as well as being on board a plane for the first time since 2019. I arrived in Malaysia excited to share my research to fans and academics studying pop culture, especially about BTS.

I will post our writing progress in the blog in coming days!