This Lesson's Title:

Puns and Punctuation

reviewing dialogue punctuation rules using Tom Swift-ie puns

This lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Corbett Harrison. Visit Corbett's website for writing teachers by clicking here.

The ideal "mentor text" that can be used when teaching this on-line lesson is any of the Tom Swift Adventure Series by any of the Victor Appletons. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially during the dialogue exchanges between his characters.

Click here to view this book 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:

Tom Swifties were a type of dialogue pun inspired by the writing style of Victor Appleton--the pseudonym for writer Edward L. Stratemeyer; the history of Tom Swifties is abbreviated on the Teacher Instructions page.  Students will examine some Tom Swiftie puns, paying special attention to their dialogue punctuation.  First in groups and then as individuals, students will then create their own Tom Swiftie puns for their writer's notebooks or for a classroom collection.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is conventions; the writer's goal is to craft lines of "punny" dialogue that is punctuated accurately.  The support trait in this assignment is word choice; requiring students to overly examine words and then pun with them can lead to a better appreciation of our complicated and marvelous language.