This Lesson's Title:

Start with What Isn't There

setting moods in setting descriptions

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 picture book Caves by Stephen Kramer. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out Caves at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :

Step one (sharing the published model):  Read aloud just the introduction to Caves, which can be found on the first two pages of the book. Discuss how author Stephen Kramer first describes what isn't there, and then describes what is.  This simple writing technique not only shows us the setting uniquely, but it sets a mood for us as readers.  Inform students that they will be imitating Kramer's technique by applying it to an original setting.  Like Kramer, who sets a mood of coldness and lifelessness, your students will attempt to establish their own mood through their carefully chosen words.

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 should certainly talk about the voice, but you might also have your students talk about the idea development in the writing too.

• Second graders share their writing samples
• Third graders share their writing samples
• Fourth graders share their writing samples
• Fifth graders share their writing samples
• Seventh graders share their writing samples
• Ninth graders share their writing samples
• Eleventh graders share their writing samples

Step three (thinking and pre-writing): The interactive word game on the student instruction page will inspire your students to combine many setting ideas with different moods as a pre-writing exercise.  Students can certainly find successful ideas for this writing prompt through discussion and brainstorming away from the computer, but the computer word game is a great generator of ideas and possibilities.  Once students have chosen a setting and a mood, they need to list 5-10 things that would be found in their setting, and 5-10 things that would not be.  The would-not-be's are a little harder, and students will benefit from sharing their pre-writing worksheets with each other, and asking for inspiration from fellow students.

• Pre-writing worksheet
• Teacher's model of pre-writing worksheet

Step four (revising with specific trait language):   Two tools for revision are provided below.  You can use one or both, depending on how much time you have to spend on this assignment.

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 Voice Post-It Notes
• Sheet of 6 Idea Development Post-It Notes

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.

Learn more about Stephen Kramer's books
by clicking here!