TSI Prep: Unpacking the Essay Prompts + Essay Outline

Lesson + slides · Grades 9–12 · Slides · $3 or included with All-Access

This is the lesson I use to get juniors and seniors ready for the TSIA2 essay. Most kids lose points before they write a word because they misread what the prompt wants. This fixes that.

Students learn four moves for any prompt: Read, Write, How Do You Know, and Explain. We practice on a real-style TSIA2 passage and question ("Are we free to make our own decisions or are we limited in the choices we can make?"), then they try it on their own. From there I walk them through a full model outline, intro to conclusion, before they draft.

It closes with an exit ticket where students write the steps they would take to unpack a prompt and one question they still have.

What's included

• Slide deck (.pptx): prompt-unpacking chart, sample passage and assignment, independent practice, and a model outline paragraph by paragraph
• Read / Write / How Do You Know / Explain organizer for unpacking any prompt
• Point-of-view reminder: TSIA2 prompts always ask students to develop their point of view (300-600 words)
• Editable Google Doc outline template: intro (hook, preview, thesis), two body paragraphs (topic sentence, evidence, reasoning), conclusion
• Exit ticket prompt

How teachers use it

• First lesson in a TSIA2 writing unit, before any timed essay
• Dual-credit or P-TECH prep the week before students test
• Reteach for students who drafted off-topic on a practice essay