Homework Update: 11/12-18

11/12 Structure of a Good Story
You have now written an autobiographical or fictional narrative (story) in first or third person. Now you’ll need to Revise and edit your piece so that it reflects a good plot, setting, characters, conflict, resolution and theme.
• Use the editing & proofreading guide given in class, revise and edit your work.
• Pay close attention to:
1.Words, phrases, ideas that don’t make sense or could be said better another way.
2.Spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.

11/13
1. Complete the Summarizing A Plot & Story Map worksheet.
2. Complete ONE box in the Revision & Editing/Proofing Checklist. Your peers will complete the other two boxes.
3. Re-edit your homework from last night based on what you checked and didn’t check on your checklist.
4. The quiz has been moved to next Wednesday in order for you to be fully prepared for the assessment.

11/14
1. Read for 30 minutes/day.
2. Make up any work you missed or did not do during the week so that you're able to type your story on the computer Monday.

11/17
No homework other than to review for the quiz and/or write your narrative.

11/18
Study for tomorrow's quiz.

Monday 11/17

All mods were in the computer lab typing second drafts of their narratives. When the students return from Thanksgiving Holiday, ask your child to show you their work. I've taken a look at many of them and they're turning out some incredible writing.

This week they're wrapping a lesson on theme, main idea, writing a good lead and peer reviews.

11/10 Pre-Writing Stage

I chose my topic by pulling a line from a writing entry in my Writers Notebook, "My History As A Writer." This was my first entry in the Writers Notebook. Students can pull their lines from any other entry they want. In this entry, I discussed how my mother taught me how to read and write and encouraged my writing.

The line I took was, "It was gray and covered in small, pink flowers." This was the description of my first journal, but this sentence is a telling sentence. A telling sentence just means that I'm telling you what's happening instead of showing you what's happening.

My first draft is below. As soon as I can get to a scanner, I'll post my process on the website. For now, though I'll show you my writing in the compose stage and the publish stage. I only have the publish stage with me at home so i'll post the compose stage tomorrow.

PUBLISHING STAGE
It was gray and covered in small, pink flowers.

Unlike what my mother says, my favorite dress is not gray and covered in small, pink flowers. Ripped at the hem line running across the bottom of the dress and decorated with cherry-red Kool-Aid stains, that dress is boring and ugly. My favorite dress is a gown my father bought me for college graduation.

I felt very alone in graduate school. My roommate, a close friend I’ve known since the age of 3, was my closest friend in Boston. It was the first time I’d been away from Georgia to live on my own and I was homesick. I missed my favorite Thai restaurant. I missed running around with my brother and sister on the weekends. I missed shopping at my favorite thrift store, Value Village, with my grandmother. I missed the heat and humidity, hot against my skin. The people in Boston were different from the folks at home. In Georgia, people take the time to say “Hello” “Please” and “Thank You.” You smile at someone and they smile back. In Boston, people were startled when I said hello.

School was another matter. Though I respected my professors, and they me, the people in my program were, well, crazy. One had accused me of plagiarism and another said that my good grades came not from my own intellectual capacity but from the color of my skin. While it didn’t faze me, it certainly wore on my soul. My professors knew what I was capable of. Plus, why would I copy off someone who had two letter grades lower than me.

So, when graduation rolled around, after the baseless accusations, after the introverted New England ways, after a winter that beat me like a slave, I knew my family would be there. They’d seen me through all the other academic milestones in my life: The D I made in advanced geometry; my below-average freshman quarter in college when I almost lost my scholarship; standing up to an ignorant professor and a racist roommate; my undergraduate graduation.

My mom and brother came to Boston, but my dad wasn’t there. He made some excuse about taking care of my sister, who was completing her last semester of middle school, but graduation was on a weekend! Lame excuse. Since September 11, my dad doesn’t like planes and has made that clear. He sternly said one day, “I don’t like planes.” Another day, he told me that my decision to move to Boston. The choice was mine to make and mine to deal with. The dress? Maybe he felt guilty for what he said or maybe he was apologetic for not being able to travel. I sympathize. September 11 is a difficult moment for us all to grapple with in our personal histories.

I wanted a new dress for graduation. It was a designer dress from Barney’s, worth the cost of two roundtrip tickets from Atlanta to Boston made of chiffon and silk and perfect for the spring. The gown’s cream lines danced across the red background like cherry blossoms on a warm day and the gold braid around the waist give it a soft Grecian look. I never asked for it, but my mom told him how much I loved the dress. It was too cold to wear for graduation—the torrential rain, freezing weather and flooded stadium took care of that dream. As I looked at the dress hanging in my closet that day as I put on wellies, jeans and a warm sweater (or was it a turtleneck), I thought, “I’d rather have my dad here, than a frock.”

I love that dress because of what it means to me. That dress is a reflection of my time in Boston. It means strength and courage in the face of the impossible. It means calm in the place of crazy. It means the willingness to be an individual and not walk toward a crowd. It means my dad’s love is all sustaining, whether he has the courage to take a flight and see me take my first steps into womanhood or know that he’s raised a daughter who can do anything she wants. That means more than any degree.

OBJECTIVE
Students will learn the structure of a narrative in order to continue practicing new strategies to revise and edit their writing.

The Ten-Sentence Story Step 1
Create a new notebook entry in your Writers Notebook called: "The Ten-Sentence Story"

The Ten-Sentence Story Step 2
Choose a topic from the list below:
The scary room
My first go-go
The lost and found
Escape from captivity
The break up
The make up

The Ten-Sentence Story Step 3

1. OK, so now you’ve selected one of the topics. Now, tell a story in 10 sentences or less.
2. You can combine ideas, but the story CAN ONLY BE TEN SENTENCES LONG.
3. Though you are collaborating on the story, you must record the story in your own notebook.

Share Out!
While your peers are sharing their answers, ask yourself and them:

1. Are the stories complete with a beginning, middle and end?
2. Do they have characters and settings?
   
3. Is there a plot? Does the story have a conflict/resolution or problem/solution?

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.