Frame-Up

‘Frame Up’ is a writing strategy that I love because I think that it is a great way to help students shape their academic essays. A huge problem students have with essay writing is that they aren’t sure how to begin. For the most part, students understand what a thesis statement is, they just don’t know how to actually write one or incorporate one into an introductory paragraph.

What this framing strategy focuses on, is the idea of creating a structure for the beginning and ending of an academic paper. The teacher will help focus the students on a single topic or idea that relates to their paper topic. They can use this word/image/idea as a ‘window’ into their essay, even though it is not explicitly related to the topic. From this word or idea, students can begin to construct an introduction that explains this idea in relation to the content of the paper. As the students write their paper, they can keep this idea in mind as a way of organization; then at the end of the paper, they can return to this idea to wrap everything up.

I like this strategy because I think it can be really helpful for students to see what they’re writing reaches to, where they’re beginning their essays, where they’re headed, and how they can end an academic paper. There are many ways students can frame their essays—allusions, personal experiences, images, anecdotes, quotes, etc. Using this strategy can be very useful in a secondary classroom as an alternative way to teach essay writing.

To see the complete article: It’s a Frame Up