exploring a good book's many themes, then writing a new story that teaches the same theme
The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Fox by Margaret Wild. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.
Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.
This lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Corbett Harrison. Check out all of Corbett's on-line lessons by clicking here.
Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :
Step one (sharing the published model):Fox is a story with multiple themes, which is why I use it for this type of writing assignment. It also has some of the best sentence fluency that I've ever seen in a picture book, and I love the way the writing goes in so many different directions.
Before reading about Fox, explain to your students what a theme is. I always say, "Great stories speak the truth...generally. I am going to read you a story today that--even though it's fictional--speaks a lot of truth about life. This story has many possible themes, none of which are ever said in the book, because themes have to be discovered by readers. When I am done reading, I want you to talk with a neighbor and see if you can discover a sentence of truth that this story might be trying to show us."
Then I read this picture book by Margaret Wild, which is one of the most interesting picture books I've ever come across. At the end of reading, I remind my students that a theme is sentence, not a word. I always say, "Fox is about loyalty or overcoming obstacles or friendship or jealousy or never giving up, but those are story subjects, not story themes. A theme is a sentence about one of those subjects that the story seems to be trying to say. What's a generally true statement about any of those subjects (or another that you can think of) that this story might be trying to remind us of?"
Possible themes your students might come up with:
Loyalty might be tested when interesting strangers enter your life.
Relying on others can help anyone overcome physical disabilities or other obstacles.
True friends will forgive you if you make a mistake, so always try to get back to them.
Those who are jealous of your friendships might try to harm those friendships, so don't let them.
Have students, working with partners, discuss possible and multiple themes. Have student groups share their favorite themes out loud. Write down the ones that seem feasible based on student explanations. You will get some wrong answers, because I always do. It's okay to say, "That's an interesting interpretation, but probably not a theme for this story," and not write it down.
Tell students they will need to choose one of the themes from Fox that they like, and they are to plan, then write an original story (with original characters and original settings) that teaches the exact same theme.
Step two (introducing student models of writing): Before having your students pre-write to create their own descriptive paragraphs drafts, have them discuss the any of the student samples that come with this writing lesson. Have students count the number of sentences and details in each writer's sample so they can decide how well the pacing of the story came across to the reader.
We are currently looking for K-12 student samples for this new prompt. If you have a high-quality sample (or two or three), please contact us at publish@writingfix.com. If you can help us publish one of your students, we will send you a free classroom resource.
Step three (thinking and pre-writing): First, students will need to choose a theme from Fox that they want to base an original story on. The worksheet below will help them make some important decisions before they begin writing.
The interactive button game on the student instruction page will give your students interesting choices for unique characters they might base their stories on, but many student will have no trouble coming up with an idea for an original story that teaches the same theme.
After students have filled out the story planning worksheet, I find it helpful to have them explain their stories to other students orally in small groups. I instruct students to "simply listen" to each author's minute-long explanation of his/her story, then to write two or three questions they have on a Post-It Note. At the end of the sharing session, students exchange their Post-Its, and I encourage authors to address the questions as they begin drafting their stories.
A great introduction-writing technique I learned from author Barry Lane is to have the students select a "favorite" or "most-interesting" question from their Post-Its, and to pretend the question has been asked in their heads and to answer it as either the first sentence of their story, or to answer it with several interesting sentences. So...if Joey chooses the question, "How does your character feel when he has to eat the same food at every meal for a week?", then Joey's introduction to his story might be "Bob felt utter disgust every time he had two meals in a row that were the same." This is just a great way to teach student writers to launch into an interesting lead.
Before students use their questions to write a lead, re-read them Inga Moore's first two sentences from Six-Dinner Sid. You might also share with them my wife's one-page handout, called Little Red Riding Hooks.
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.
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.
