Classroom Activities
Launch Lesson: Reading Like a Writer
On the first day of this unit, students will read an excerpt of Mike Bunn’s article and Verlyn Klinkenborg’s pages on reading like a writer. They will annotate and write their own definitions about what it means to be a writer. We will then practice by reading Reg Ogle’s “Coupons” together. Students will complete a first read of “Coupons” in partners. On the second read, students will consider the question: How does Ogle show us that he is hungry in this scene? They will go through the text annotating how the writer illustrates his hunger. After they finish, we will look at the piece under the document camera and each student pair will share out one noticing. As they do, we’ll all note it on our papers. Next, I will show students how to record this information in their writer’s notebooks. We will follow this lesson with one on the Ideas trait and will consider the same vignette in addition to another mentor text.
Ideas Trait: Teaching Showing Instead of Telling
When exploring the Ideas trait during week one of the unit, students will study the mentor texts to understand what it is to show as a reader versus tell. The lesson will begin with students looking at two examples of writing: Model A and Model B, which will be placed size by side. Model A will give a simple sentence such as, “The girl couldn’t focus in class because she was so excited to share her news with her friend.” This is a “telling” sentence because it quite simply states how she is feeling instead of describing it. On the other side, there will be a telling paragraph such as, “Stephanie shook her leg. A thousand thoughts were crowding her mind. She looked at the clock for what felt like the hundredth time. Was time moving backwards? The teacher’s voice blared in the background, but Stephanie couldn’t concentrate on the words. She was dying to share the latest developments with Zachary with her friend, Karina.” Students will compare the two examples side by side explaining what is strong about each and what could be improved about each. I will also ask them which piece is more interesting to read and why. We’ll then look at examples of showing instead of telling in Davis’ “Secret, Silent, Shame” and in Ogle’s “Lunch Money.” I will direct students to the parts of each excerpt where each of them is expanding on a moment to express their feelings. We’ll identify the different writing techniques that the authors’ used, including figurative and rhetorical devices and plays on sentences. Students will then mimic this in their own narratives by slowing down a moment in their lives when they have experienced embarrassment, fear, anger, joy, exasperation, or any other potent emotion. They will be required to title their piece with the emotion but never mention it afterwards.
Running the Workshop
Students will produce multiple narratives over the course of the unit. I will model the first workshop with students by considering five students’ papers in a large circle of the whole class. Each student will have photocopies of the five narratives. I will demonstrate how to give specific positive feedback to students. Students will then practice this process. We will workshop every week to every other week after this in groups of four to five students. Each student will be workshopped during each workshop day. There will be a designated timekeeper in each group and students will be assessed on their discussions. I will circulate around the room to ensure students are on-task and giving specific positive feedback on slips of paper. We need to learn to stay away from “good job” and other generic feedback. I will give students grades for both sharing their piece in the workshop and for giving quality feedback.
During the workshop, students should also note one technique that they want to “steal” from another writer. They will record this technique in their writer’s notebook in a designated section and then highlight it in their revised piece. At the end of the workshop, students will revise their pieces. They will also be required to write one to two sentences explaining what they have revised.
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