Prompts and Scaffolding
The book Documentary by Erik Barnouw, although specifically about non-fiction films, provides a great guide for the types of writing the unit asks students to do. His categories are listed next to the writing mode, followed by a film or excerpt to be viewed, followed by a prompt for the students.
Chronicler/ Narrative Writing, Hoop Dreams, (Steve James, 1994) Write the order of the events that will lead you to being successful at your dream. Include a setting and conflicts. Write as if explaining your path to a middle school student.
Poet/ Creative Writing, Kirikou and the Sorceress (Michel Ocelot 1998). Begin with a moral (i.e. good and evil, kindness, justice) and create a fable, a story with a lesson around this. Make sure you have 2 characters and a problem that is solved.
Reporter/ Expository Writing, Turtles Can Fly (Bahman Ghobadi, 2004). Tell the story of a conflict you’ve been through as if you were a news reporter. Be sure to include the who, the when, the what, the why, and the how as journalists do.
Prosecutor / Argumentative Writing Slavery by Another Name (Sam Pollard, 2012). Research five parts of a given social issue and put the culprits on trial. Research at least 3 of these aspects and write an annotated bibliography for your three articles. Argue about how to fix this problem and with an indictment to say what we could do better, a call to action.
Painter/ Descriptive Writing/ Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943) Write the story of an afternoon out of school, your perfect day, or a dream sequence, using five objects or sights that correspond to your mood. Write as quickly as possible.
Catalyst/ Analytical Writing “Love, Life, and the Virus” (Oscar Guerra, 2020). Write about 5 problems in the world, or in our communities, and how they intersect. Write a memo about a hypothetical organization that addresses all of these problems.
“What is the scariest/weirdest thing that has ever happened to you?”
“Fill in the blanks: It is the story of ______=character, who goes through ________=conflict”
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