How to Plan Writing an Essay with Doodle Notes
How to plan writing an essay is an important question that everyone that has written an essay has asked themselves at some time in their lives. As teachers teaching students how to write it is a question that you are probably asking yourself as well. One great way to teach students how to plan out their essays is through the use of doodle notes. These are especially great for elementary school students as they can see things more visually and may need that visual feedback however I found that they work for all levels of students and no matter how old you are planning things visually is important. Below are different types of essays and how you can plan them using doodle notes.
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Compare and Contrast
Compare and contrast essays are best planned with a Venn diagram doodle note template. You can do the classic one with two circles but in my doodle note template, I have one that includes three circles that would allow you to plan an essay where you are comparing and contrasting three things instead of two. This is helpful because you will not necessarily only be comparing two things. If kids are only comparing two things they can still use this template and only fill out two of the circles.
Argumentative Essays
Another type of essay that you can use doodle notes to plan for is an argumentative essay. This is the type of essay that my students usually have to write the most. This and opinion essays are at the top of things that students have to do. I show in the photo below a way to plan out your body paragraphs for an argumentative essay in pyramid form. The Topic Sentence is at the top and then evidence and analysis flow down from there. You can also use this layout and have the paper the other way where you have all your ideas for your paper at the top and then it gets smaller and more focused as your paper goes on.
Sequences
Another type of essay that you can plan when writing doodle notes is a sequence essay this can be done well through a stacked pyramid or the sideway boxes that you will find in my doodle notes templates. Sequence essays are teaching kids how to write things in the order that they happen. They will use words like first, next, last, finally, etc. This is also the perfect structure for how-to essays. Planning out the process can be so helpful for kids to remember all the steps as well. If you want all of my doodle notes templates you can buy them here. I also have a smaller set available for free for my subscribers. If you would like to grab them click the image below and fill out the form to become one of my subscribers.
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Cause and Effect
Another type of essay that can be planned easily is through doodle notes is a cause and effect essay. Flow charts are really good for cause and effect essays because you can write the cause is one and then show how it flows to the effect. Overall, flow charts are a good way to plan your writing to help you see how exactly the items lead from one to another.
Narrative
A narrative essay is best done through a plot mountain. You can use my pyramid doodle notes template to lay this model out or you can also draw out a plot mountain for students to use. The plot mountain starts with the exposition which is the introduction to the story. Then some sort of problem is introduced. Then you have the rising action where steps are taken to solve the problem. Then the climax happens which is the high point where a battle or something happens that will bring about the solution. Then falling action and resolution which is the end of the story. If students lay this out they will make stories that are more engaging and flow logically from piece to piece which is helpful.
Mind Maps
Lastly, probably the ultimate doodle note template for planning your writing is mindmaps. I use these when I am planning out my blog posts and they make my writing flow so much easier and also make the writing process faster than it was before. Mindmaps are the best for use at the very beginning of the process when you might not even be sure what is going to make into the final piece of writing. It helps you get all your thoughts out out so then you can organize them better possibly in one of the structures above.
I hope that this post was helpful for teaching you how to plan writing an essay with doodle notes and that you will make doodle notes a part of your classroom. If you enjoyed this post please consider sharing it so that others can enjoy it as well. If you would like to get a copy of some of the templates that I used above I have made a set free for my subscribers. Click on the image below and fill out the form to become a subscriber and get send these templates automatically.
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