This Lesson's Title:

Ain't That
America

Imitating "Pink Houses" to think deeply about a novel's themes, history's events, or an original character's voice

This lesson was created by Northern Nevada Writing Project Consultant Tamara Turnbeaugh.

This writing prompt inspired by

John Mellencamp's "Pink Houses "

Click here to do a Google search for the lyrics.

Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :

Pre-step…before sharing the published model:  Themes from American literature, like those in To Kill a Mockingbird, The Jungle, The Scarlet Letter, and The Great Gatsby, pair with the song "Pink Houses" very well, as do events from throughout American History.

Start this lesson by using this first graphic organizer to brainstorm and record conflicts in the material your class is currently studying: place characters from a novel or historical events in the bubbles and discuss the many conflicts that surround that person or event on the spokes.

Terms to review include: internal conflict, external conflict, theme, and sensory detail.

Step one…sharing the song:  Give your students a printed copy of the lyrics to "Pink Houses" before listening to the song so that they can follow along. Instruct students with the following directions and challenge them with these questions:

• In the margin, describe the concept/conflict of each stanza.
• What do the pink houses symbolize?
• How does this apply to To Kill a Mockingbird? (Or whatever novel or historical era you're studying)
• How does this apply to The American Dream today?

After listening, use this second graphic organizer to track sensory details and key phrases; these details will enable students to analyze the main conflict of each stanza and, in-turn, the overall song.

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 idea development, since it's the focus of the lesson, but you might prompt your students to talk about each model's word choice as well.

• Because this is a new lesson at WritingFix, we're looking for student samples for all grade levels for this prompt!  Help us get some, and we'll send you a free resource for your classroom!  Contact us at publish@writingfix.com for details.

Step three…thinking and pre-writing:  Once both the song and any available student models have been thoroughly analyzed, connect the conflicts from the song to the literature- or history-specific conflicts brainstormed earlier.

Using this third graphic organizer, have the students pick three historical events or characters from your class novel and develop some unique ideas. Finally, re-write the main stanzas of the original song to speak about the events or characters from your curriculum. Students may keep the original chorus, or modify it to better match their songs.

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.

• Sheet of 6 Idea Development Post-It Notes
• Sheet of 6 Word Choice Post-It Notes

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 John Mellencamp
by clicking here!