writing a three-part story about meeting an animal with special powers
This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Nevada teacher Tracy Soules at an AT&T-sponsored in-service class for teachers.
The mentor text:
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry has an interesting experience with a snake at the zoo. This lesson has students imitate that scene with an original idea.
Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:
This writing lesson is fashioned after Harry Potter’s encounter with a communicative boa constrictor at the zoo. Inspired by Rowling's original idea, students will be asked to create a three-part story about an original magical animal they think up on their own, using “showing” words instead of “telling” words. Students' stories will describe their meeting with the animal, and they will experience first-hand the magic or power their animal has. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.
6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:
The focus trait is organization; the lesson's graphic organizer is designed to help students pre-plan a story's sequence and pacing. The support trait is idea development; the writer’s goal is to create a description that contains interesting, high quality details when describing important characters or people in their creative story.
