This lesson idea was proposed to WritingFix by NNWP Teacher Consultant Denise Boswell.
The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book The Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups by David Wisniewski. 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.
Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :
Step one (sharing the published model):Rules can be a child’s worst nightmare, so it's no surprise that The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wisniewski is a book that all actual children (as well as children at heart) enjoy. This is a book full of rules! And then it spoofs those rules. The author splits the book up into eight sections; each section is devoted to one grown-up rule we all remember.
While reading The Secret Knowledge of Grown-Ups by David Wisniewski point out NOT ONLY the great descriptions used throughout the book BUT ALSO the three-part pattern used by the author. Make a chart listing the rules from the book, the "real" reasons for those rules, and favorite descriptions the author used. The interactive activity below is a follow-up to reading the story, and it attempts to inspire students to create an original idea for a story by using the author's safe and familiar structure. After students play the activity below and are preparing to write their drafts, remind them to center their stories on great descriptions and an original idea for a rule's "real" reason.
Step two (introducing models of writing): Below, find the initial brainstorms of three writers--Lauren, Robbie and Natalie. Have your students look these over. Pose this task to student groups: "Imagine you are in Lauren's, Robbie's, or Natalie's writing response group. If Lauren, Robbie, or Natalie shared these initial ideas for this writing assignment, what advice would you give them to help them turn their brainstorms into a story that is as detailed as one of the "real rule" stories from Mr. Wisniewski's book."
Step three (thinking and pre-writing): If your students have trouble coming up with an original rule to write about for this assignment, the interactive button game on the Student Instructions Page might inspire them. Once students have an idea for a rule they will create the real reason for, have them brainstorm details on the worksheet below.
We also provide a drafting sheet below for once the brainstorm is completed. An idea development Post-It is embedded in the drafting sheet so that students can double-check those trait-specific skills before, during, and after drafting.
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.
Learn more about author David Wiseniewski by clicking here.
