Unit of Study Fiction Writing Grades 3-5 October 27, 2009

Here are my notes from my first session at TCRWP Reunion Weekend. The presenter was a dynamo!

Writing- Short Fiction

Quick Look at Writing Process:

• Generating (3-4 days)
• Choosing (1 day)
• Developing (5-6 days)
• Drafting (1-2 days)
• Revising (3 days)
• Editing (2 days)
• Publishing (1 day)

 

Generating (3 days; 4 if not enough blurbs to choose from Writing Story Blurbs-what the story could be about (do for 3-4 days)

• Chart: Writers Generate Ideas By:
  • Paying attention to the issues (problems) in their lives –don’t let them pick too big of an idea
  • Imaging stories we wish existed in the world
  • Rereading their narrative entries in their writers notebooks and asking themselves, “How could I turn this into a different story?”
    • be very focused-specific-don’t pick whole story (example-playground)
      • 3^rd grade-friendship-what happens at recess, can relate to through many times
      • Stories should match their age!!

3-4 days of Story Blurb Writing-We are filling up our notebooks!

Don’t worry about spelling and grammar at this point

Immediately draw a line and have 10-12 pieces (story blurbs) to choose from

• Story Blurb examples:
• Maybe I could write about these two girls competing…
• Maybe I could write about a boy who goes to summer camp…
• I wish I could read a story about a boy named Josh…

Writers, you are always saying there are no good stories to read in the library and…

• Somebody…Wanted…But…So

          Pushes them to develop problem

Somebody	Wanted (Feared, cared)	Because	But/so
Jade	Cared about her dog Scruffy	Because Scruffy was very special to her	Her dog ran away and didn’t come back
Bill	Wanted to find out why his mom was going out at night	Because his mom had just gotten divorced	He followed her and found out she was dating

Pick one from chart and stretch out into a story blurb

Mentor Text-Those Shoes

          Not “perfect” ending

          Not she wanted a dog so her mom bought her a dog

• Choosing (1 day to select)
• Developing/Nurturing/Rehearsal-need to spend more time on this so 1 day on story mountains or timelines 
• Drafting
• Revising
  • Dictionary definition-
    • to prepare a newly edited version (of a text)
    • to reconsider and change or modify-put on a different set of lenses
    • Editing
    • Publishing (1 day)

Possible Teaching Points for Generating with some Predictable problems and strategies Trouble Coming Up with a Story Idea Story Doesn’t Match the Genre Students writing stories about themselves Students Do Not Understand the Problem Arc

 

• Trouble Coming Up with a Story Idea

                    Bring in mentor texts—that you could take and change-example Those Shoes

                   If you were reading this book what would you say about it? Is it interesting. Would you tell me what isn’t interesting. Let’s make something happen! Make idea stronger and working with it.

• Story Doesn’t Match the Genre (flying, ghosts-we will do fantasy later in the year)
  • Ask Yourself, “Can it happen to you?” no superhero magic endings

• Students writing stories about themselves

          How Can we tweak this?
                   Maybe different problem

                   Never say, “bad idea”-say “great idea-Let’s try tweaking it.”

• Students Do Not Understand the problem arc-they solve the story immediately

Possible Teaching Points for Developing with some Predictable problems and strategies Choosing a story they think is strong enough, one they want to work on and one they think they can write well Which one do you want to work on and which one do you think they can write really well. Writers can develop their internal and external traits and not holding on to the problem in the story—

• Choosing a story they think is strong enough, one they want to work on and one they think they can write well
  • Which one do you want to work on and which one do you think they can write really well.
  • Writers can develop their internal and external traits and not holding on to the problem in the story—

Struggle	Problem	Internal (limit the #)	External
He wants to be popular so he lies and says he cheated when he didn’t	Bob has let his friend cheat from his test. He gets caught because teacher thinks	Usually honest Good student Smart lonely	medium heightbrown hair only child freckles

• Think about problem first
• Shy girl problem-wouldn’t be super friendly and loud
• 3^rd Grade-booklets
  • Storytelling using story booklets-touch page and say aloud-do at least twice each
• 4^th/5^th Grade
  • Creating story mountains with small actions
  • Breaking down their story mountains into smaller scenes by thinking about:
    •  change of setting
    • change of time
    • when new characters enter or leave the scene

Sketching our scene

• Use a sentence strip
  • Rules: have to show time of day by including a clock or night/day

• Bigger scenes-more happens
• Smaller scenes-make boxes reflect that
• Notebooks away-no looking during sketching the story

1	2	3	4	5	6

Story Mountain example- Illustrate how to put—Boxes around scene

On Choosing Day:

• have them bring notebook and put a little star next to which one they think is strong enough
• thumbs-up when you have your idea
• give post-it note to thumbs-up and quickly see/assess ideas
• 10-20 minutes on rug to choose
• Let strugglers take notebook home the night before to pre-pick

Predictable Problems During Choosing/Developing 1 dimensional characters Story doesn’t have a clear plot Struggling with creating a scene The solution is without struggle There is no tension building up

• 1 dimensional characters
  • Really evil or really nice
• Story doesn’t have a clear plot (story doesn’t make sense)
  • Bring them back to Somebody, wanted, but, so
• Struggling with creating a scene (what could happen before she got what she wanted)
• The solution is without struggle
• There is no tension building up
  • Teach how to slow scene down
    • Add: show don’t tell
      • Show internal thinking
      • Add action or dialogue

ALL BEFORE DRAFTING!!!

What does drafting look like:

          Big scene-full sheet of paper

          Small scene-half sheet of paper