Tuesday Sept. 4, 2018! Welcome~ Picture day!
**They will come get us after lunch sometime for pictures
Speeches
Reading Workshop
Read like a writer
3. “A symphony of grinding, a chorus of popping, an aria of exploding, and finally, the sad clapping of hard metal cutting into soft trees.” from If I Stay by Gayle Forman
4. As you read, use a sticky note each day to notice a descriptive sentence.
5. Silent reading 20 minutes.
Reading Journal 1: Imitation Description Sentences
6. Reading Journal: Copy down a descriptive sentence from your book today. Add the title and author, like the examples above. Also pages read for your yellow sheet each day. Then write your own imitation sentence that follows the pattern of the sentence.
Examples: “The guitar was his shield, the hard outer shell he needed, like the exoskeleton of some soft-bellied bug.” -from Bystander by James Preller
The piano was her sword, the notes the weapon she wanted, like the soldier on the field of battle, fighting through the enemy lines.
“A symphony of grinding, a chorus of popping, an aria of exploding, and finally, the sad clapping of hard metal cutting into soft trees.” from If I Stay by Gayle Forman
A choir holding the highest note, a band of horns screaming out a melody, a finale in a musical, full chorus and orchestra, booming that final chord, and finally, the breaking of my heart against a text, goodbye.
Writing Workshop Journal 1: Small Moment Stories that could lead to possible fiction ideas.
Today you will start gathering and sifting through ideas for stories. Writers get ideas for fiction by paying close attention to the small moments in their own lives.
Did you know that S.E. Hinton got the idea to write The Outsiders when she was fifteen years old, and one of her friends got called a ‘greaser’ and beaten up while walking home from School? S.E. Hinton was so angry about what happened to her friend that she went home and started to write a story inspired by that incident.
Writers use ideas and events from their own lives and those around them to come up with ideas and create stories that are a blend of the real life ideas, people and events, and then they mix them with their imagination to create a story.
Examples of Small Moments as ideas for stories
“There she is,” I heard someone whisper as I stepped up to the crowd gathered around Ms. Wilson’s door, waiting for the bell to ring. I pulled my backpack up on my shoulder. Then, all of a sudden I heard this soft singing under a few kids’ breah, “goodie-two shoes…” My mouth dried up.
I could write a story about a girl who always likes to do the right thing, even though she knows some people think she’s a little strange because of it. But, it does make it hard for her to make friends and she gets really lonely. Maybe one day something happens, and she just loses it.
OR Maybe there’s a story about a kid who gets picked on everyday for being different. Sometimes it’s name-calling, sometimes it’s worse. He’s afraid to go online because he knows that’s the place he gets it the worst. Perhaps he reaches a turning point, a low, and decides to do something about it.
Writers find ideas in the moments of their lives
Today and whenever you want to write fiction, you might gather small, true moments from your lives, or read yoru notebook, once it’s tattered and filled with them. Look at these real moments from your lives with a fiction writer’s eyes. It’s easy to just bury the story about something that happened to you, or trouble that happened to a friend, thinking, “That’s not important.” Don’t do that. Have the imagination to say, “Wait. There might be a story here.” And when you get a story idea, write a new entry based on that idea.
Write down true moments from your life and then story ideas that could evolve out of those moments.
Strategies for Generating Personal Narrative Topics
Think of a person who matters to you, list Small Moment Memories, then write story ideas from the memory.
Think of first times or last times you did something, list Small Moment Stories you could tell about each, choose one, and write story ideas
Think of moments that really mattered because you realized or learned something, list those moments, choose one, and write story ideas
Think of moments from your Who I Am poster, and write down Small Moment Stories/Memories and then story ideas you could write from it.
Drafting story idea 1
Share a Small Moment and it’s story ideas with a partner. How could you turn it into a story with dialogue, action/turning point/realization, and thinking/character development?
Now that you have generated multiple ideas from your Memory Moments, choose a story idea and write out the whole story. We have 20 minutes to write, so get as far as you can in that time. You can always come back to it and keep working on it during writing workshop tomorrow.
Grade 6 Narrative Writing Checklist
Last year, you wrote Narrative Stories in sixth grade. Do you remember what you wrote about?
To link last year and this year and continue your development as a writer, we will review the checklist from last year. We will focus on Elaboration and Craft.
Elaboration: I developed realistic characters, and developed the details, action, dialogue, and internal thinking that contribute to the deeper meaning of the story.
Craft/Language: I developed some relationship between characters to show why they act and speak as they do. I told the internal, as well as the eternal story.
I wove together precise descriptions, figurative language, and some symbolism to help readers picture the setting and actions, and to bring forth meaning.
Not yet, starting to, yes! Elaboration and craft.
“There she is,” I heard someone whisper as I stepped up to the crowd gathered around Ms. Wilson’s door, waiting for the bell to ring. I pulled my backpack up on my shoulder. Then, all of a sudden I heard this soft singing under a few kids’ breah, “goodie-two shoes…” My mouth dried up.
The next day she heard it again, and inside her an emotion she didn’t understand started growing, eating its way up into her head and creating a fog she couldn’t think through. The voices were like echos and she felt herself fading in and out of focus. Tears started gathering in her eyes, but she clenched her fist, determined to not shed a tear in front of them.
When she got home, she crumbled onto her bed and the tears came, hard and steady, like a tropical storm that had been building over the sea. As she lay there, the tears eventually dried up and she began to feel a strength in herself, a clarity that she was not going to let them define her, for that was something only she could do.
Self Assessment
Now look at a few of your entries and self assess for elaboration and craft. Feel free to write notes or changes on your drafts as a result. These are goals for us in our writing; it keeps us focused.
Try and remember how you developed these skills last year. We will continue to focus on them as they are foundations of strong stories.
--details --figurative language
--dialogue --symbolism
--internal thinking
Writing Workshop homework:
HW:
WWW Quiz
Fill out the quiz and put it face down on your desk when finished. Read your book or write in your journal silently until everyone is finished.