This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by NNWP Teacher Consultant
Rob Stone during anAT&T-sponsored in-service classfor teachers.
The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 2 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:
Note from Rob Stone, this on-line lesson's author: "As you read through this lesson, keep in mind that this idea could be adapted to use with any novel that involves people who lack a voice. I considered using To Kill A Mockingbird (Boo Radley, Tom Robinson), Of Mice and Men (Lennie, Curley’s wife), Animal Farm(Most of the animals), etc."
Pre-step (before sharing the published model): In my class, the first 15 minutes are spent doing “Sacred Writing Time” which is a chance for students to take ownership of their writing and explore topics of their own choice. Occasionally that writing is guided and I give them some topics to choose from or one specific topic to write on. Before doing “Just Because” poems, you may consider having students do some writing about ways they feel they are stereotyped or their voice is defined for them. Public schools are rich with examples of how groups and individuals group each other and compete for power, and thus voice, on a school campus. Student writers have lots to say about this topic and this pre-writing will help students generate and develop ideas later in the lesson. This is also an opportunity to define “voice” and its relationship with power both on the island and in today’s society. Students may be confused about the two uses of voice in this lesson (voice as power, voice as a writing trait) but this would be an interesting discussion about the similarities and differences between the two.
Step one (brainstorming topics):After Sacred Writing Time, brainstorm with students all the ways people are stereotyped on a high school or middle school campus. List all ideas on the overhead or board: race, gender, sexuality, hobbies, grade point average, socio-economic status, physical appearance, etc. Tell students to be thinking of examples they have personal experience with both as the one doing the stereotyping and the one being stereotyped. Share student brainstorming examples or….share your own! Students love to hear how teachers feel when their voices aren’t heard!
Step two (introducing student models of writing and becoming familiar with the format of a Just Because Poem):Discuss with students the structure and purpose of “Just Because” poems. Share several student samples with them and consider writing one of your own. Students would love to hear how teachers feel stereotyped or how they feel their voices aren’t heard! In small groups, have your students respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson. The groups will certainly talk about voice, because of the post-it note that has been embedded on each model. Discuss with students how mood, passion and perspective is evident in each poem. You might prompt your students to talk about each model's idea development as well. They should point out areas where the author’s quality details send a clear message about how he or she feels.
Now that students are familiar with “Just Because” poems and the way that they allow people or groups to speak out, owning and using their individual voice, they can apply that knowledge to Lord of the Flies. Give each small group the Graphic Organizer, which asks them to analyze power and voice in the novel. You should encourage kids to really think about the perspective of each character. What voice do they have? What voice do they want? What might they say if given an equal voice in the novel? Remind them that they will be writing two “Just Because” poems. The first will be from the perspective of a character in the novel and the second will be from someone in modern society, possibly themselves, that needs to have their voice heard.
Step three (thinking and pre-writing for an original "Just Because" Poem):
The interactive buttons on the Student Instructions Page will certainly give your students ideas for voices they might represent with a "Just Because" Poem.
As your students compose their drafts, strongly encourage them to use verbs and adjectives that convey VOICE, and to use details that will make their IDEA DEVELOPMENT more memorable.
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.
Play the on-line Lord of the Flies game by clicking here.
