11/10 Stage One & Two of the Writing Process

OBJECTIVE
Students will review writing strategies introduced in the first 11 lessons in order to practice new strategies to revise and edit their writing.

What To Do When You Think You're Done

1. Re-read your work and add more details.
2. Re-read your work and zoom in on a moment.
3. Re-read your work and find a telling sentence that could use more showing.
4. Re-read your work and add a simile to a description.
5. Add a setting to one of your notebook entries.
6. Rewrite a notebook entry in the third person.
7. Read your independent reading book to “borrow” ideas for writing.
8. Think of a creative, innovative, brand spankin' new idea/topic for writing.
   
9. Mimic an author’s writing technique:
   • Mimic a sentence pattern
   • Mimic a paragraph pattern
     

Instructions for beginning the Writing Process

1. Return to your Writer’s Notebook. Look through your Table of Contents, Writing Explorations and Sentence Explorations sections.
2. Highlight/mark the selection you would like to revise.
3. Highlight/underline a “telling sentence” in your selection. A telling sentence is a sentence that tells, but does not show.

• EXAMPLES Telling Example: He is smart. Showing Example: “When James made an A on his test, he shrugged it off. ‘I just study all the time,’ he said.” Telling Example: “He is a leader.” Showing Example: “When James walked away from the fight, his 20 friends followed close behind. When his best friend asked him why he didn’t fight, James calmly replied, ‘It’s just not worth it. Plus, I’ll be in trouble with my dad.’ ”

1. Write your “telling sentence” on a separate sheet of paper.
2. Begin writing a story based on that sentence. Don’t forget to “show, not tell” to convey mood, setting, character traits and the theme.
3. Be sure to look at the example I’ve given you in the packet.

Be sure to look at the packet of examples I gave at the beginning of the work period in order to complete your homework.