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Welcome to Teaching Tips from American English
In Part Two of this Teaching Tip topic,
John Kotnarowski will explore what P.I.E Outlines
are and how P.I.E outlines can help English
language learners write more clearly and persuasively.
Welcome back, John!
Hi! Welcome back! I'm John Kotnarowski,
and I'm looking forward to talking with you
today about another helpful academic
writing tip using P.I.E outlines to make
clear connections between the ideas in our writing.
Let's get started!
Here are today's goals:
First, I would like to introduce you to the concept
of P.I.E. or Pie outlines.
Second, I would like to show you how P.I.E. outlines
can be used to help your students write
more clearly and persuasively.
In case you missed Part One of this series,
here's a short recap. During the first
video I talked about two pre-writing strategies:
brainstorming and creating skeleton outlines.
In this video, I will explain how to use
a P.I.E. outline to take the ideas we
generated during brainstorming and using
skeleton outlining to expand this work into full paragraphs.
So, without further ado, let's discuss how
to use the P.I.E. outline to plan a paragraph.
P.I.E. is an acronym. It stands for
Point, Illustration, and Explanation.
The point is the first sentence of a paragraph.
This is the main idea of the paragraph.
It is also one of the supporting reasons from
the skeleton outline.
The illustration is usually the second
sentence, and serves as an example that
supports the point.
Finally, the explanation comes at the end
of the paragraph.
In these final sentences, the writer tries to make
a connection between the illustration and the point
at the start of the paragraph.
Now that we know what P.I.E. stands for,
let's take a look at an activity that
uses this strategy. To show students how P.I.E. works,
give them an example paragraph and ask
them to read this paragraph by themselves.
Then with a partner, ask them to describe
the role of each sentence.
Here we have an example paragraph.
Please pause this video and take a moment to
read through this paragraph about why
teachers should allow their students to
use cell phones in the classroom.
After reading through the example paragraph,
we see that there are three sentences,
and each serves a specific purpose.
The first sentence in blue is the main idea
of the paragraph.
Namely, that cell phones should be allowed in
class because they can function as study tools.
The second sentence in black gives
an example of how cell phones can be used
as study tools.
In this sentence, the writer points out that a
student might use the dictionary feature on
his or her phone to find the meaning of a word.
The final sentence in red makes a connection
between the first two sentences.
Here, the writer indicates that if cell phones
can help students study more effectively,
then teachers should allow them in class,
and perhaps even teach students how to use them well.
After discussing the role each sentence
plays in the paragraph, it is time to make
another connection with P.I.E.
You can see that the first sentence, containing
the main idea, is the point, or P.
The second sentence, containing the
example, is the illustration, or I.
And the third sentence with the information
connection between the first two sentences,
is the explanation, or E.
So, writing good paragraphs is as easy as P.I.E.
Now, your students should be ready to take
an empty P.I.E. organizer and put the information
in the correct order.
You can see a student generated example of a
filled out P.I.E. organizer on the screen now.
As you might notice, there aren't many details.
It's more important to get the right information in the right order.
In addition to helping organize the
information in a paragraph, using P.I.E.
outlines is a good way to make sure that
each paragraph contains a main idea.
Now, let's test your understanding.
Here you have three sentences, each one of
them represents one of the P.I.E. roles, see
if you can put the sentences in the correct
order.
Which is the P? Which is the I? Which is the E?
Pause the video here to take a closer look.
Now, let's check your answers. First, the point
point sentence was number three,
another reason why cell phones should be
allowed in the classroom is so parents can
reach their children in the case of an emergency.
We know this because it contains the
main idea of the paragraph.
The illustration sentence was number one,
for instance if there is a major storm or
the school loses power, it would be important
for a student and his or her family to communicate
about where to meet.
We can tell this sentence is the illustration
because it starts with the expression for instance
and then gives an example of how a cell
phone could help families during an emergency.
Finally, the explanation sentence is
number two. Cell phones allow communication
between people during emergency events,
which creates a safer and less stressful
environment for both students and parents.
This sentence makes the connection between the point and the
illustration very clear to the reader.
If you got all three correct, congratulations!
Summing up, we began this video by discussing
what a P.I.E. or pie outline is, then I showed
you how using these outlines can help
students write more clearly and persuasively.
Thanks so much for joining me today!
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