STELLAR

1. Developing the Claim

2. Exploring Passion
Even the most disengaged student is
passionate about something. Our role is help
them dig around in their hearts and minds to
see what they care about, what they know
about and what they have to share with other.
Sound a bit like VTS?

3. The Magic

4. What’s going on in this picture?
EvidenceWhat do you see that makes you say that?
Claim
What more can you find? 1. Sub Claims
2. Counter Claims

5. Scavenger Hunt for Passions
Spending just a a few minutes closely examining the
stuff of our lives can reveal our passions. (Falling in
Love with Close Reading). This scavenger hunt takes
Students through their belongings as way to uncover
where their hearts are.
Let’s give it a try.

6. 1.Have your students grab their journal or notebook and
choose a few of the following locations: backpack, locker, car,
phone camera roll, calendar/planner.
2. In their notebooks, students should log every single item
they find in each location.
3. After they have completed the log, students should look
for and highlight any patterns they notice.
4.The highlighted items represent areas of passion that can
be developed into topics for analysis.

7. Grace’s List:
A novel
History text
Folder with papers
Planner
Pencils
Calculator
Phone
Headphones
Glasses
Screenshot of quiz answers
from Buzzfeed
Grace’s List:
A novel
History text
Folder with papers
Planner
Pencils
Calculator
Phone
Headphones
Glasses
Screenshot of quiz answers
from Buzzfeed
Book covers
Picture of brother
Pokeman pictures
Food
Flowers
Friends
Anime characters
Rain drops
Lego creations
Grace’s List:
A novel
History text
Folder with papers
Planner
Pencils
Calculator
Phone
Headphones
Glasses
Screenshot of quiz answers
from Buzzfeed
Grace’s List:
A novel
History text
Folder with papers
Planner
Pencils
Calculator
Phone
Headphones
Glasses
Screenshot of quiz answers
from Buzzfeed
Book covers
Picture of brother
Pokeman pictures
Food
Flowers
Friends
Anime characters
Rain drops
Lego creations

8. Mine Childhood Passions
1. Ask students to recall their childhood passions by using the
questions below. When you were younger…
What did you want to be when you grew up?
What were your favorite toys, games, or activities?
What did you watch over and over and over again?
What did you enjoy pretending?
What did you know everything about?
What were your favorite childhood books?
What were your favorite sections in the library?
What did you like learning about from an older sibling or friend?
2.From this list of possibilities, students should highlight ideas that still feel
exciting to them years later as potential topics.

9. Quicklists (NWP)
In a shared writing experience, teacher and students create a list of possible
writing topics.
We make a list in our notebooks from 1 - 10
Knowing that we are planning on having student writers practice their own
opinions, we think of opinion leaning topics.
In 1 -2 write two things you did yesterday
In 3 – 4 write two things you like that others might not
In 5 - 6 write two conversations you have had recently
In 7 -8 write two things you don’t like that others do
In 9 – 10 write two things you don’t think you could live without
After creating this list we jump to a writing sprint, asking students to
choose one topic at a time to write about quickly.

10. Finding Argument in a Schedule of a Day, Beth Reimer
In a modeled writing experience, teacher and students create schedule of a day.
The teacher models writing out a schedule of his/ her day. This schedule is simply a list
of what happens:
MODEL:
5:20 – Wake up to alarm
5:25 – Wake up Jill
5:30 – Make coffee
5:30 – 6:00 – Make lunches and breakfast
6:10 – Jill on the bus
…. Complete the rest of the schedule
5:00 --Pickup Jill from tennis practice
6:00 – Eat dinner with family if possible
6:30 – Take Kate to soccer practice
8:00 – Watch Big Brother with the girls

11. After creating the list, return and code it with an A for places we can find
arguments. For example, the above schedule might look like this after coding:
5:20 – Wake up to alarm
5:25 – Wake up Jill A (school starts too early)
5:30 – Make coffee A (teens & coffee every day/ prevalence of coffee in kid
culture)
5:30 – 6:00 – Make lunches and breakfast
6:10 – Jill on the bus
…. Complete the rest of the schedule
5:00 pickup Jill from tennis practice A (Importance of access to after school
sports) 6:00 – Eat dinner with family if possible A (Why it matters to eat
family dinners) 6:30 – Take Kate to soccer practice A (Pressure of organized
sports)
8:00 – Watch Big Brother with the girls A(Reality TV and kids)

12. CLAIM: A simple contestable statement.

13. Journaling