This Lesson's Title:

Writing about Life's Lessons

powerful proverbs inspire original ideas for writing

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by NNWP Teacher Consultant Sandy Madura at an AT & T-sponsored inservice class.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially excerpts from the first seven chapters.

Check out A Single Shard at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

The writer first completes a graphic organizer about a life-changing experience or an experience from which a lesson has been learned. The retelling of the experience is then tied to a proverb.  During revisions, the writer works to reference and explain the meaning of the proverb through his/her personal experience. The final product of this assignment is a concise essay (a parable of sorts) that intertwines and supports the words of wisdom that follow us into old age. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is idea development; writers will attempt to write the essential elements of a life experience that has taught them a memorable lesson.  The support trait in this assignment is organization; using a constructed response frame, students will consider the sequence of their memorable experience.