narrative writing inspired by Milkweed's powerful first chapter
This lesson was developed for WritingFix after being proposed by NNWP Teacher Consultant Amy Hybarger during an AT&T-sponsored in-service class for teachers.
The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 1 of the book.
If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.
Teacher Instructions
& Lesson Resources:
Pre-step…before sharing the published model: Before starting the lesson, I would suggest reading the picture book Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold and discuss the types of language she uses in the book to articulate a particular event. Students need to also discuss the development of how her ideas flow.
I would also play the song “A Moment Like This” by Kelly Clarkson to get the students thinking about a particular moment they want to write about.
Step one (sharing the published model):To start this lesson, read chapter 1 from Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli. Chapter one starts with the word MEMORY and continues. Using WritingFix's Idea Development Post-Its, have half of your students listen for and then rank Spinelli's idea development skills. Have the other half of your students rank his word choice skills using the Word Choice Post-Its. Before students share their rankings, have them discuss with a partner who has the same type of Post-It note.
You can read chapter two as well, if you want students to further think about Spinelli's word choice and idea development. Ask students to write down some of the most powerful words that they remembered as the text was be read.
Step two (introducing student models of writing): In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson. The groups will certainly talk about the word choice, since that's the focus of this lesson, but you might also have your students talk about the idea development in the writing too.
We're looking for student samples from grades not represented here yet. Visit our student samples page for information.
Step three (thinking and pre-writing):The Interactive Button Game on the Student Instructions Page will get your students thinking about a memory they might use to create their memoir for this assignment.
Students will use the graphic organizer after selecting their “moment” from the “stir up memories” button. This graphic organizer will help them recall all of the ideas they had about the particular moment. Next, students will use the questions on the graphic organizer to stimulate good words to incorporate into their essay. Once they have completed the graphic organizer they may begin the writing process.
Step four (revising with specific trait language): To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts. Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5." Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings. For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.
Step five (editing for conventions): After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor. If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers. With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it. The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.
Step six (publishing for the portfolio): When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block. Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here. Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.
Interested in publishing student work on-line? We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers. This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.
Learn more about Jerry Spinelli's books
by clicking here!
