Do your middle school ELA students struggle to write clear and organized paragraphs? This is a common issue I’ve seen amongst my students, and that’s why I use the MEAL Plan as a strategy for improving their paragraph writing. It’s useful because it builds structure, clarity, and critical thinking skills, which are all important, especially for students in middle school!
What is the MEAL Plan?
The MEAL Plan, an acronym for Main Idea, Evidence, Analysis, and Link, is a strategy similar to the RACE method but is particularly beneficial for middle school students. The MEAL Plan strategy sets your students up for success when it comes to academic writing and prepares them for high school and beyond.
Step-by-Step Guide to Teaching the MEAL Plan
Start with the Main Idea (M)
This is where students will introduce the topic sentence and it is crucial to the flow of the rest of the paragraph because it tells the reader what the topic is and sets the tone.
To give students practice creating their main idea or topic sentence, you can give them prompts like “Where is your favorite place to relax?” or “What is a talent or skill you are proud of? Create a topic sentence to share why it’s important to you”.
Introduce Evidence (E)
Next you’ll want to teach your students how to identify reliable evidence to support their main idea, such as quotes, data, facts, or personal anecdotes if it is appropriate for the assignment.
To practice, provide students with a main idea and ask them to brainstorm evidence to support the main idea.
Focus on Analysis (A)
After practicing evidence, explain to your students how analysis connects the evidence back to the main idea. You can encourage critical thinking by asking your students why the evidence matters.
To practice, give your students an evidence sentence and ask them to write an analysis to go along with it.
Conclude with a Link (L)
Finally, it’s time to discuss how the link wraps up the paragraph or transitions to the next point. This part is important when it comes to maintaining the flow of the essay because it explains why this paragraph is relevant, so you’ll want to make sure students have plenty of practice.
To practice, have students write concluding or linking sentences for sample paragraphs.
Classroom Activities for the MEAL Plan
Looking for ways to help your students understand the MEAL Plan? Here are some ideas to get you started.
Paragraph Deconstruction: Have your students break down well-written paragraphs into MEAL components so they can analyze and see real examples of this strategy in action.
Color-Coding: Have your students write paragraphs and highlight each MEAL component in a different color.
Group Writing: Divide students into groups where each member writes one component of a paragraph. Once they finish that, they can rotate which component they are writing about.
Helping middle school students master paragraph writing doesn’t have to be a struggle. The MEAL Plan offers a simple, structured approach that builds clarity, critical thinking, and confidence in their writing.
No comments
Post a Comment