This Activity's Title:

Don't Eat Me
Monologues

writing an argument that asks a monster or some other carnivore to dine elsewhere

This writing lesson was inspired by a lesson originally created for WritingFix by NNWP Consultant Amy Richards. In 2009, Amy's lesson was revised to be featured at the NNWP's Persuasive Writing Inservice Class for Teachers.

Author and friend of WritingFix, Barry Lane, wrote the book that inspired this on-line lesson: Why We Must Run With Scissors: Voice Lesson in Persuasive Writing. In this book, Barry and his co-author, Gretchen Bernabei, share dozens of lesson ideas that are so fun, your students might not even realize that they were learning valuable lessons about persuasive writing and voice as they create drafts for you. In the spirit of one of Barry's favorite quotes--"There's not enough FUN in education"-- we challenge teachers to find new, enjoyable ways to teach persuasive writing skills to their students.

Three-Sentence Lesson Overview:

After being inspired by the monologue from My Brother Dan's Delicious, students think of a fictional situation where they might be in danger of being eaten by a monster, alien, or wild animal. Students draft a five-part monologue that contains an introduction, conclusion, and three thoughtful persuasive arguments against their being eaten. Students revise their monologues for word choice, adding words that strategically add positive or negative connotations.

Writing Across the Curriculum Ideas:

In addition to learning about monologue-writing and voice skills, this lesson would enrich a unit on:

• the food chain and carnivores (science)

Trait/Skill Focus:

In the very best writing lessons, the teacher has pre-determined a trait-based skill that the students all need to show growth with as part of the lesson's objective. For students who can handle more than one trait at a time, the teacher has pre-determined additional skills to focus those students on while they go through the writing process. Here are this lesson's trait skills:

• Voice - all students will write a monologue that sounds like a real person speaking; stronger writers will also add tone to their writing by focusing on word choice (see below)
• Organization - all students will write a monologue with five distinct parts: introduction, conclusion, and three persuasive arguments with transitions that guide the reader to the next part; stronger writers will also make sure their three arguments have been well-paced, and that their introductions and conclusions somehow link to each other.
• Word Choice - stronger writers will revise by adding words that show positive or negative attitudes (tones) about topics in the arguments, and by adding subtle alliterations like the ones included by Layne in his picture book.

Using the Mentor Text Skillfully:

This mentor text is delightful. Stephen L. Layne’s main character in My Brother Dan's Delicious--Joseph Demorett II--relies on an emotional monologue to tell his story. He comes home and finds himself alone, which becomes a scary notion once he realizes that some monster might be waiting to eat him. The narrator's fear is personified, and his monologue tries to convince the personified entity to do anything else than come after him. His best argument is that his brother Dan will be home soon, and he explains multiple reasons why his brother would make a better meal than him. When Joseph hears the front door unlocking, he is sure the monster has finally found his way in the house, but his brother Dan comes in instead, and Joseph realizes how much his brother means to him.

Before sharing the whole book, start with just sharing a few pieces of the narrator's monologue. Xerox and cut out just the text from the page that begins with "Are there any monsters about?" through the page that starts "Finally, and most importantly there's the issue of taste." This will give you seven pieces of text. Scramble them up so they're out of order and tape them (out of order) to two pieces of paper. Xerox copies for your students.

Explain what a monologue is to your students; tell them it's a speech spoken by someone alone where they address an unseen audience. Shakespeare's characters often found themselves explaining their thoughts in monologues.

Pass out the two Xeroxed pages and explain that you've given your students a monologue from a book that is presented in an out of order fashion. Tell them briefly what the book is about and show them the cover illustration. Have them read it quietly, then have them work with a partner to put the seven pieces in the correct order. Ask them what clues they used to put it back in order. Discuss the power of well-placed transition words, and tell them they will be using thoughtful transitions as they write a monologue with five parts.

Before moving to the next step, be sure students notice two other elements in the text that they will attempt to imitate in their own monologues: 1) Joseph sounds like a real person and uses expressions (voice) that make him come across as a personality; and 2) Joseph uses subtle alliteration to improve his voice..."magnificent meal" and "succulent sibling" are just two great examples that can be spotted in the seven pieces of text that have been Xeroxed.

Student and/or Teacher Models of the Writing:

Models are provided to promote discussion among students before, during, and after the writing process.

When students look at the following models, be sure they are focused on voice, organization, and word choice.

5th grader--Danielle-- reads her monologue to her class	5th grader--Kimberly-- reads her monologue to her class
Click here to open/print these two fifth graders' monologues.

6th grader--Arturo-- reads his monologue to his class	6th grader--Zach-- reads his monologue to his class
Click here to open/print these two sixth graders' monologues.

If you use this lesson with students in grades not represented here, be sure to contact us if you have an excellent and inspirational sample from your classroom. If we end up publishing your students' work at WritingFix, we will send you a complimentary copy of one of the NNWP Publications for your classroom.

Helping Students Choose Topics Well:

Ask your students to brainstorm different carnivorous creatures who--whether we like it or not--if they had an opportunity to be alone with us, they might think we'd make a pretty good meal. Brainstorm out loud for a few minutes until many possibilities come to the table: actual animals, real or imagined monsters, science fiction creatures, cannibals, etc.

Tell students they will need to choose a creature whom they will address in their monologue. Ask each student to write down three favorite ideas from the brainstorm. Once written, ask them to think about where the story (setting) might take place for their three favorite ideas. In their homes? In a cave? At a campground? On the planet Mars? Have them write a setting underneath each creature choice.

Now ask them what their narrator should be doing (plot) moments before the monologue begins. Sleeping? Exploring? Hiking? Have them write an -ing verb beneath each creature choice.

Have students partner up and explain their three choice ideas. Have them ask their partner to suggest which idea might make the best story and monologue. Repeat the process with a second partner. Then have students circle which option they think they'll be writing about.

Using the Graphic Organizer:

Before handing out the graphic organizer, remind students what Joseph (and the student writers in the models above) did well with the monologue: alternative options were presented as a persuasive technique. Joseph doesn't just say, "No, don't eat me," and he doesn't beg, "Please don't eat me." Instead, he provides an alternative with multiply reasons why the alternative is better than the monster's original plan.

The graphic organizer is designed to have students think of alternative arguments. Their three-part monologues will need to either focus on one alternative and explain it with three different pieces of proof (like Joseph's monologue does), or they will need to come up with three distinctly separate arguments that can be each explained briefly.

Here is the graphic organizer I designed to do this. The first row is filled out so I can show the students the amount of details I expect. The second row is only partially filled out so they students can complete the row while working with a partner. The rest of the graphic organizer allows them to brainstorm independent ideas.

I ask my students to begin the graphic organizer on one day, then come back to it a day later. I find they think of interesting and fresh ideas when they think about the assignment while away from my classroom.

Click here to open/print this two-page graphic organizer.

Student Talk Throughout the Writing Process:

It is critical for students to talk to each other throughout the writing process. When students hear how other students are thinking about a writing assignment, all students benefit.

In this writing lesson, purposeful conversations should happen:

• as they unscramble the mentor text;
• as they look for the focus trait/skills in the student models;
• as they make choices for their writing topics;
• as they fill in their graphic organizers. As they finish each row, have them share their ideas with a different partner.

In addition, students can (and should talk) as they transfer their ideas from the graphic organizer to the following rough-draft planning sheet:

Click here to open/print this two-page rough draft planner.

Revision Suggestions:

Revision is a very important step during a skill-based writing lesson. When students revisit and think deeply about the lesson's focus trait/skill after a rough draft has been completed, they are more likely to remember strategies for using that skill the next time they are asked to write. We often gloss over the step of revision when writing lessons go longer than they were supposed to; make certain to find time to include real revision with this lesson.

Attach the following revision post-its to your students' drafts to help them determine skill-based goals for their stories' revision:

Print on yellow paper or yellow Post-it notes.

Print on blue paper or blue Post-it notes.

Once students have revised their stories, allow them to publish them on these final draft sheets, which allows them to illustrate their writing. Each student will need five copies of these sheets--one page for each part of their monologue.

Click here to open/print this publishing sheet.