Welcome to this Lesson:

A Character's Decalogue

embedding an original character's ten-item list in a story that shows voice

This lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Corbett Harrison. Corbett discusses this lesson during his Seven Elements of a Differentiated Writing Lesson Workshop.

The mentor text:

Because of Winn-Dixie's fourth chapter contains a marvelous "decalogue" spoken aloud by Opal's father. Can you use the structure of the chapter inspire decalogues from your students?

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

The writer first writes a personal decalogue (a list of ten personal beliefs) about something important to him/her.  The writer then creates a decalogue for a fictional character they will invent and envision.  The final product of this assignment is a short story where their character reveals his/her decalogue to another character through dialogue. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is voice; writers will attempt to write genuinely from another's perspective.  The support trait in this assignment is organization; using the graphic organizer and loosely imitating the cited chapter from Because of Winn Dixie will give students a new experience with organizational planning.