Compare/Contrast Writing Assignment

The students work on writing after Marie leaves, and Friday they finished their compare/contrast essay comparing the Nile River with the Amazon. These numerous writing activities give them the practice of organizing their ideas into a graphic organizer, writing a rough draft, and editing (with teacher help). They then produce a finished piece that is considered their "published" work.
Since Compare/Contrast is a new writing format for an informational piece, I put writing "stems" onto the blank foursquare to get them started. The first square started with the prompt of 'opening statement', then "These two rivers are alike because_______". The students filled in the square with information from the Venn Diagram we had written the day before. The 2nd square began with the stem, "They are also very different! For example, the Amazon River___________". The 3rd square began with the stem, "On the other hand, the Nile River____________". The 4th square was for a concluding statement, which restated the opening statement. The majority of the students were able to fill in the squares with the information they had on their own, a few had difficulty and required teacher support. The final pieces were graded using the Pennsylvania Writing Rubric, and the scores are improving!
In addition, writing is becoming easier and less time consuming for the students as they are getting over their initial frustration and lack of writing experience. Scores will level off, and I will then push again, adding new writing lessons to push them from this new plateau to a higher one. I am pleased with the results that our lessons have brought!