• to provide students with information about a topic sentence and the shape of a paragraph 
• to develop the skills of coherent writing
• to train students in identifying a topic sentence and the shape of a paragraph
• to give the students the opportunity to practice writing a coherent paragraph
• to engage students in cooperation with their peers while improving each other’s work

• students can identify a topic sentence in a paragraph and the shape of a paragraph
• students are able to apply the acquired theoretical knowledge in their own writing
• students can assess their peer’s work and contribute to each other’s writing
• students are capable of classification and finding correlation in information related to one paragraph
• students can rewrite a non-coherent paragraph 

Moodle, Google docs, Padlet, Skype (or another tool for synchronous communication)

The work is mostly done in an asynchronous form; therefore, it is necessary to provide very detailed and structured instructions, not leaving any space for doubt about what should be done.

In steps 5 and 6, the teacher should remind the students to note their questions, problems and ideas arising during these exercises; they can use Padlet for this.

The class is designed for max. 10 students (5 pairs). If there are more students, it is good to use breakout rooms (see below) and plan more time.

In this lesson, the students are presented with three concepts related to academic writing: a coherent paragraph, a topic sentence, the shape of a paragraph. This theoretical basis is used in further practice. Equipped with this knowledge, students can identify the topic sentence and the shape of a paragraph. More importantly, they later practice writing coherent paragraphs together in individual and pair exercises and improve their academic writing. At the end, the students are provided feedback from the teacher and fellow students.

Writing coherent paragraphs is a vital skill for academic writing. Paragraphs written in this way help the reader to better understand and follow the text, and the writer to organize their ideas in a clear way. A coherent paragraph contains a clearly distinguishable topic sentence, is written in a suitable shape, and investigates just one topic. 

The topic sentence summarizes the main idea of the whole paragraph. It can be put at the beginning or at the end. There can be two topic sentences in one paragraph, rephrasing the same key idea in a different way. They are placed either at the beginning and at the end of a paragraph, or at the beginning and in the middle of it. A good topic sentence provides support and orientation for both the writer and the reader of the paragraph. 

The provided information is organized in the shape of the paragraph. The two most common shapes are Specific to general and General to specific. Here detailed information and examples are either followed or preceded by a summary of the information. Other shapes are Spatial shape and Chronological shape. The first is used mainly for describing places or explanations where a certain space plays a key role. The second shape is suitable for content happening over a certain period of time. All the shapes offer a scaffolding for clear and understandable writing.

STEP I
Students read the texts about paragraph coherence and about topic sentences (attachments no. 1 and 2a-d). These can be found in Moodle (e-learning). The students can do the reading within a given length of time (asynchronous learning). 

The asynchronous mode gives the students time to deeply understand the issue and to find more details on their own. At the same time, they can contact the teacher if any questions arise; either in Moodle forum or via e-mail.

STEP II
Students practice their knowledge in the following exercises: 1) Students are presented with several paragraphs and are asked to identify the topic sentence in them. (Attachment 4a; 1)

2) Students are given several sentences and are asked to find the ones which would be good, strong topic sentences (Attachment 4a; 2)

These exercises are done in Moodle in the asynchronous form. 

Exercises 1 and 2 are self-evaluated. 

These tasks help to raise students’ awareness of the theoretical concepts and provide them with more practical examples.

STEP III
Students read the texts about the shape of a paragraph (attachments no. 3). These can be found in Moodle (e-learning). The students can do the reading within a given length of time (asynchronous learning).

STEP IV
Students practice their knowledge in the following exercise: 1) Students are presented with several paragraphs and are asked to identify their shape. (Attachment 4b)

This exercise is done in Moodle in the asynchronous form. 

The exercises are self-evaluated. 

This task helps to raise students’ awareness of the theoretical concepts and provide them with more practical examples.

STEP V
Students are asked to practice their theoretical knowledge in an active way by cooperating with one of their peers. 

The students are given a non-coherent paragraph (attachments no. 5) (Google docs or another tool for shared writing)

They are asked to rewrite it in a more coherent way.

The students ask a fellow peer to co-operate. 

After finding a peer and re-writing the paragraph, both students consult their outcomes with another peer.

They discuss their ways of solving this problem and the reasons for doing it in that way. 

The students are asked to note any questions, problems or ideas occurring during this exercise into Padlet.

The pair work gives the students a different perspective and support from their colleagues. They learn not only to rely on the teacher’s words, but on their peers’ and, above all, on their own skills.

This exercise provides enough support for training (the content of the paragraph is given).

Working with Padlet helps the students to remember their questions and ideas and it provides a space to write questions to be answered later (the students don’t need to waste time looking up the answers now).

STEP VI
In this part, the students are asked to write their own paragraph. 

First, they are asked to come up with a subject for the paragraph, consider the position of the topic sentence, and choose a suitable shape. 

Then they collect ideas for their subjects and write the paragraph. 

After this, the students discuss their paragraph with a colleague, identify places for improvement and suggest better ways to write it.

The students work with the same person and in the same environment as in the previous step. 

The students are asked to note any questions, problems or ideas occurring during this exercise in Padlet.

This exercise provides a safe space for students’ creativity. They can choose a topic which interests them or is related to their work / essay in a different subject. In this way, the students can appreciate the benefits of coherent writing.

STEP VII
After the preparation, all the students meet in a synchronous online (Skype) class. 

The pairs of students present their work – they share their screen and ask a colleague to read their work.

During the presentation, students (from the class, not presenting) are given a form (Attachment 4c) to help provide feedback by students for students (see toolkit), in this form there are the basic criteria to be met for a coherent paragraph. 

The feedback is provided immediately after the presentation.

After the feedback, the teacher shows the related questions, ideas, or problems the students have written in Padlet during their work.

Other students (and the teacher too) share their ideas and suggestions for improvement related to the pair’s work and their notes in Padlet. 

Note: if the class is too big, the teacher can use breakout rooms to have several pairs presenting at a time, assigning some students as the “audience”. The teacher “visits” the single rooms to provide support and help.

STEP VIII
During the synchronous class, the teacher notes the most common issues and questions. 

At the end of it, the teacher highlights the most common issues and questions and provides space for discussion and finding a good solution.