This Lesson's Title:

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. Check out all of Corbett's on-line lessons by clicking here.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 4 of this book.

Check out Because of Winn-Dixie 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 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.