The Writing Teacher's Activity-a-Day E-Book

Mary Ellen Ledbetter

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: 5-Minute FUNdamentals
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 211

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Classroom-tested methods for boosting secondary students' writing skills The Writing Teacher's Activity-a-Day offers teachers, homeschoolers, and parents 180 ready-to-use, reproducible activities that enhance writing skills in secondary students. Based on Ledbetter's extensive experience consulting to language arts teachers and school districts across the country, the classroom-tested activities included in this book teach students key literary and writing terms like allegory, elaboration, irony, personification, propaganda, voice, and more--and provide them with engaging examples that serve as models for their own Quick Writes. * Contains writing prompts and sample passages in student-friendly language that connects abstract literary concepts to students' own lives * Written by popular workshop presenter and veteran educator Mary Ellen Ledbetter * Offers a user-friendly, value-packed resource for teaching writing skills Designed for English language arts teachers in grades 6-12, tutors, parents, learning specialists, homeschoolers, and consultants.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

JOSSEY-BASS TEACHER

Title Page

Copyright Page

WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK DIFFERENT

How to Use the Sample Writings

How the Book Is Structured

Smiley-Face Tricks (Voice)

Smiley-Face Tricks

Oral Assessments: Grading

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Acknowledgements

Action Verbs as a Method of Elaboration

Adages

Adjectives as a Method of Elaboration

Adverbs as a Method of Elaboration: Practice #1

Adverbs as a Method of Elaboration: Practice #2

Allegory

Alliteration

Allusion

Analogy

Anecdote

Antagonist

Application and Synthesis

Assessing Prompts: Determining Mode of Writing

Assonance

Autobiographical Collage

Biography

Brainstorming

Brainstorming: Web

Business Letter

Character Sketch

Characterization: Actions

Characterization: Appearance

Characterization: Environment

Characterization: Inner Thoughts and Feelings

Characterization: Inner Thoughts and Feelings

Characterization: Speech

Characterization: What Others Say

Clichés

Climax

Choppy Style

Commas

Comparison/Contrast Essay

Introduction

First Body: First Part of Contrast/Comparison of Actions

First Body: Second Part of Contrast/Comparison of Actions

Second Body

Third Body

Conclusion

Conflict: External

Conflict: Internal

Connectives

Connotation or Denotation

Definition as a Method of Elaboration

Definitions: Specialized

Denouement

Description as a Method of Elaboration

Descriptive Essay

Introduction

First Body

Second Body

Third Body

Conclusion

Dialect

Dialogue as a Method of Elaboration

Editing for Grammar Mistakes

Elaboration

Elaboration: Examples and Explanation as a Method

Elaboration: Researchable Fact as a Method

Euphemisms

Expanded Moment

Expository Writing

Introduction

First Body

Second Body

Third Body

Conclusion

Extended Metaphor

Part #1

Part #2

Famous Quotations Blending into Author’s Own Words

Famous Quotations as Methods of Elaboration

Famous Quotations

Fantasy

Figurative Language Fill-Ins

Flashback

Foreshadowing

Fragments

Friendly Letter

Heading, Salutation, Introduction

Body, Part #1

Body, Part #2

Full-Circle Ending in Narratives and Quick Writes

Full-Circle Ending in Free Verse Poems

Hooks

Part #1

Part #2

Part #3

Part #4

How-To Vignette

How-To or Process Writing

Introduction

First Body

Second Body

Third Body

Conclusion

Humor

Hyperbole

Hyphenated Modifier

Idioms

Inference

Irony of Situation

Interview Questions

Literary Analysis

Introduction

First Body

Second Body

Third Body

Conclusion

Magic Three as a Method of Elaboration and Voice

Metaphor

Metaphor Quick Write

Mood

Part #1

Part #2

Motif

Motivation

Name

Narrative

Setting, Characters, Conflict

Furthering Conflict in Rising Action

Introduction of Second Conflict and More Insight into Characters

Characters’ Reaction to Conflict

Introduction of Minor Character and Continued Conflict

Climax and Falling Action

Onomatopoeia

Open-Ended Questions

Paradox

Pathetic Fallacy

Part #1

Part #2

Peer Editing

Personalizing Current Events: Turning Nonfiction into Fiction

Personification

Persuasive Writing

Introduction

First Body

Second Body

Third Body

Conclusion

Picture Prompt Writing

Picture Prompt Rubric: Student-Interactive

Beginning

Details

Editing

Play-Doh Writing Game

Poem Cut-Ups

Poignancy

Point of View: Omniscient

Prediction

Part #1

Part #2

Redundancy

Repetition for Effect: One Trick for Voice

Repetition for Effect

Run-On Sentences

Science Fiction

Setting and Characters

Unfolding of Plot: Rising Action #2

Establishing Conflict: Rising Action Introducing Conflict

Establishing Connection Between Characters

Plan Purposed: Plan of Action Revealed

Rising Action Leading to Climax

Climax and Falling Action

Sensory Images as a Method of Elaboration

Sight

Sound

Touch

Taste

Smell

Sentence Variety: Sentence Combining

Noun Absolutes

Participial Phrase

Adverb Clause

Adjective Clause

Similes as Methods of Voice in a Paragraph

Similes as Practice in Developing Voice

Snapshot Poem

Structure Rubric for One-Paragraph Essay

Subjunctive Mood of Verbs

Summary

Symbol

Thank-You Note

Theme: Building Themes into Essays

Themes: Works Built Around a Theme

Transitions: More Sophisticated Methods

Persuasive Essay

Expository Essay

Verb Tense Shift

Vocabulary: I Don’t Think So

Vocabulary: Which Word?

Vocabulary: What If?

NOTES

JOSSEY-BASS TEACHER

Jossey-Bass Teacher provides educators with practical knowledge and tools to create a positive and lifelong impact on student learning. We offer classroom-tested and research-based teaching resources for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. Whether you are an aspiring, new, or veteran teacher, we want to help you make every teaching day your best.

From ready-to-use classroom activities to the latest teaching framework, our value-packed books provide insightful, practical, and comprehensive materials on the topics that matter most to K - 12 teachers. We hope to become your trusted source for the best ideas from the most experienced and respected experts in the field.

Copyright © 2010 by Mary Ellen Ledbetter All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax [phone], or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax [phone], or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

Permission is given for individual classroom teachers to reproduce the pages and illustrations for classroom use. Reproduction of these materials for an entire school system is strictly forbidden.

Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ledbetter, Mary Ellen.

The writing teacher’s activity-a-day: 180+ reproducible prompts and quick-writes for the secondary classroom / Mary Ellen Ledbetter.

p. cm. -- (Jossey-Bass teacher)

eISBN : 978-0-470-55946-8

1. English language—Composition and exercises—Study and teaching

(Secondary)—Activity programs. I. Title.

LB1631.L3385 2000

808’.0420712—dc22

2009036530

PB Printing

WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK DIFFERENT

As I travel to classrooms across the United States and Canada, I see an increasing need for quick, original, student-friendly activities that can be used as engagement strategies, extended to a day’s lesson, or become the basis of a mini-unit.

Teachers want strategies that will focus student attention and at the same time address the needs of district and state curricula. These ready-to-use exercises provide writing models so that students will understand the necessary components of the final products.

The format of the book provides teachers with a quick reference to effectively incorporate the writing, reading, and grammar skills presented into their own classrooms.

Because these lessons can be graded orally (calling on three or four students or partners per day until a grading column is full), The Writing Teacher’s Activity-a-Day will quickly become a teacher’s best friend. When higher-level thinking, process, and product are expected every day, lifelong learning occurs.

• Short writing examples on any skill or in any mode are hard to find. One of the most time-consuming parts of a teacher’s preparation is finding samples that appeal to students. The activities provided in The Writing Teacher’s Activity-a-Day make the teacher’s job much easier.

• Research proves that most writing assignments that fail do so because students do not have models on which to base their own final products. The writing samples and exercises in this book are designed to instill confidence in students so that they feel they can be successful in any writing-on-demand situation.

• Most books for writing teachers do not use writing samples to teach language arts terminology. The book is unique in that it is a collection of, for the most part, paragraph-length material that integrates writing, grammar, and reading strategies.

• Some activities even provide step-by-step approaches to producing multiparagraph essays, turning what is usually perceived by students to be an intimidating process into a much simpler, easy-to-accomplish task.

• The Writing Teacher’s Activity-a-Day serves a variety of uses: Engagement exercises (warm-ups), bases for an entire period’s lesson, and approaches to mini-units.

• All of the lessons are easy-to-access activities that can be used at any point in any curriculum.

• The activities are student-friendly exercises that can be used as individual, partner, or whole-class assignments.

• The format of the book allows for oral assessments in stages, to provide immediate feedback to student writers so that revision can occur during the process, rather than after the final draft, when these strategies are too late.

How to Use the Sample Writings

The short sample writings that make up most of the assignments have several purposes:

• Research has shown that students need to study examples of good writing every day to analyze the components and synthesize what makes the piece exemplary. Even if the teacher chooses only to read the pieces aloud and discuss the various aspects of the writing (such as structure, elaboration, voice), learning has occurred.

• The activities require that students take a more active role in their reading by applying a skill to the writing. When there are multiple activities, teachers are free to choose just one question, thus using the skill as an engagement activity, or all of the questions, broadening the scope of the lesson.

The longer pieces can be used in several ways:

• Essays in all modes are broken down into manageable parts (such as introduction; first, second, and third bodies; and conclusion) and can serve as an introduction to that form of writing.

• The multiparagraph essays can provide a quick review of a mode just covered in class or serve as a reminder of certain types of writing that may appear on state tests.

• Essays in all modes are easy-to-understand examples on which students can base their own multiparagraph writings.

How the Book Is Structured

The book is alphabetized by literary and compositional terms so that teachers can readily incorporate the exercises into their lesson plans as called for by their districts’ curricula.

The grammatical terms are used as they apply to writing, not in isolation. For instance, the section on action verbs asks students not to simply identify the verbs but rather to concentrate on how action verbs are used as one method of elaboration in writing. This strategy enables students to see the connection between the use of grammar and the skill of writing.

Activities focused on specific literary or reading terms present students with examples of these methods in a short piece of writing, which not only gives students practice in identifying literary vocabulary but also allows them to study how the same skills can be a natural part of their own writing. For instance, when students study the conflict section, which is divided into internal and external conflict, they simultaneously see the terms at work in an established piece and project how these same terms will apply to their own writing.

Smiley-Face Tricks (Voice)

Smiley-Face Tricks are being used in schools across the country as a concrete way to conquer the abstract concept of voice. Countless teachers have testified to the success their students have had using the “tricks.”

The quality of students’ writing improves dramatically, and students not only use the tricks in their writing but identify them in literature as well. These stylistic devices are in the book separately in alphabetical order, but having them together as a ready-to-use handout (with different examples) makes it even more convenient for teachers.

Smiley-Face Tricks

The name in parentheses credits the student writer of each example.

1. Magic Three. Three groups of words, usually separated by commas, that create a poetic rhythm or add support for a point, especially when the three word groups have their own modifiers.

I am the water when the land turns stale with dryness, the curve when everything else is straight, and the only human in a world of aliens (Jerad).

2. Figurative Language. Nonliteral comparisons—such as similes, metaphors, and personification—add spice to writing and can help paint a more vivid picture for the reader.

His fancy car ran like a hummingbird on a warm, silent day (Chris).

3. Specific Details for Effect. Instead of general, vague descriptions, specific sensory details help the reader visualize the person, place, thing, or idea being described.

During our hunting adventures, boring, brown sticks would become rifles, my miniature poodle would turn into a fierce hunting dog, and teeny ant hills would grow before our eyes to monstrous mounds of dirt. We would travel through the knee-high grass that tickled our legs like spiders. When there was a slight breeze, we would take cover because we believed with all our hearts that it would soon become a horrible hurricane named Hunter (Samantha).

4. Repetition for Effect. Writers often repeat specially chosen words or phrases to make a point, to stress certain ideas for the readers.

I never played Peter Pan and flew to Never-Never Land. I was never Cinderella getting ready for the ball to dance the night away with Prince Charming. I was never Jane waiting for Tarzan in our tree hut (Catherine).

5. Expanded Moment. Instead of speeding past a moment, writers often emphasize it by expanding the action.

I stare off into the heavens while my math teacher tries to explain to the class something about inverting and multiplying I wonder why I would do that when I like adding and subtracting just fine My mind is nowhere close to room 134 Instead I’m closer to the clouds the ones that look like marshmallows jet-puffed marshmallows I stare again this time at the teacher with her one beady eye the teacher who screams at us if our eyelids happen to flutter closed like butterflies I blame the parents They’re the ones who sent her to the planet Earth (Megan)

6. Humor. Professional writers know the value of laughter; even subtle humor can help turn a “boring” paper into one that can raise someone’s spirits.

You, yes, you Justin, were the guilty one who, while I took off my shoes to enjoy the hot pavement in early spring, put a frog in them. I didn’t look at my shoes when I put them back on. It was the squish that gave your plot away (Elizabeth).

7. Hyphenated Modifiers. Sometimes a new way of saying something can make all the difference; hyphenated adjectives often cause the reader to sit up and take notice.

It was one of those please-don’t-make-me-go-to-school mornings (Sharlene).

8. Full-Circle Ending. Sometimes students need a special ending, one that effectively wraps up the piece. One trick is to repeat a phrase from the beginning of the piece.

All the neighbors thought Aunt Matilda a little strange. They had thought so when she had first moved in and was seen chasing Luna moths over the rooftops at night in her dressing gown. There was a touch of madness in her beady, black eyes, and she had long ago given up even trying to appear sane. She was friends with all the policemen in the town, since not a day went by without somebody calling to complain about Aunt Matilda’s rattlesnake collection. The police had gotten to know her quite well, and they loved her wrinkled face and toothless smile. She spoke of them as “my boys,” and they all had a lovely relationship. They were the ones who helped her out of the pond in back of her rundown mansion when she fell in and discovered the alligators. They didn’t even arrest her. On second thought, maybe not everyone thought Aunt Matilda a little strange (Bart).

Oral Assessments: Grading

Most of the activities in this book can be graded using the “Oral Assessment” technique explained in this section. Teachers could choose to grade the multiparagraph essays and even some of the one-paragraph essays as a major curriculum requirement, perhaps reading them while conferencing with the students. No papers at home!

Oral Assessment

Benefits: To ensure that students are successful with all components of an essay, teachers need to call on every student at least once to read aloud whatever part of an essay or paper will help the teacher’s assessment and the class’s learning and will give the student writers immediate feedback.

Environment: If the teacher sits at a student desk in front of the room, he or she becomes part of the learning community, struggling for that perfect phrase just as the students are doing.

Grading: The grade book can be open and used for daily grades. Every grade does not have to reflect the value of 100. The importance of the grade can be achieved by weighting the denominator. For instance, a daily grade might be worth 30 points, whereas an essay for which the entire creative process takes two weeks to complete might be assigned 500 points.

At the end of the marking period, all the possible points are added to designate a “perfect” score, each student’s points are added, and these points are then divided by the possible points to ascertain the student’s grade.

Models: Remember that students should have several models. The process of reading the essays as a class and then breaking the works into their parts (for example, introduction, first body) will give students a clear picture of the desired final product.

Procedure: For a five-paragraph essay, for instance, the following could be considered:

1. Introductions: After the teacher and students have written for five or ten minutes on the introduction, the class stops and the teacher reads his or her own introduction to the class.

a. The teacher can then call on perhaps three students to read their entire introductions, giving them their grades as they do so. If something is wrong (for example, the piece is missing a hook or the thesis statement is incorrect), the teacher can consider allowing the student’s classmates to receive extra credit for explaining what needs revision. More learning occurs if the teacher does not mark the student writer down, but instead gives the writer a few extra minutes to revise while another student reads. This way, the entire class benefits by hearing the components.

b. Next, several other students might read only their hooks. The class can discuss whether these attempts to grab a reader’s attention are strong enough and exemplify voice. The teacher should then give students who have read their hooks their daily points.

c. Finally, a few students can read their thesis statements. The three aspects that their papers will address should be evident and expressed in parallel structure. Points go to these students as well.

2. Bodies:

a. Depending on the grade and ability level of the class, ten or twenty minutes should be allowed for writing each body, which means that students will probably be able to write and revise only one body per period.(Teachers should stress that a body should be about a “spread hand” in length in order to include three points and elaboration.)

b. Again, teachers should read what they have written.

c. Teachers should call on no more than three people to read their entire first bodies. If more read, the class becomes inattentive. If a student who is called on to read says that he or she is not finished, teachers can simply tell the student to read what is completed so that they can be assured that the student is headed in the right direction. The rest of the rough body, then, needs to be finished as homework.

d. Next, teachers might call on several students to read their topic sentences to make sure that the subject matter of their first paragraphs is clear.

e. Several more can be called on to tell the class what their three points are (for example, their reasons, the subpoints of the paragraph).

f. Finally, others can read several of their best Writing Trick examples.

g. Grades are given for all.

3. Conclusion:

a. The conclusion is graded in the same manner as the introduction, with several students reading their entire conclusions, a few more with their attention-getters(or their attempts to leave the readers with a good taste in their mouths), and some others reading the restatements of their thesis.

b. With students sharing various parts of their essays, the whole class benefits.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mary Ellen Ledbetter is a national presenter for the Bureau of Education and Research (BER), a consultant for her own company (MEL’S Pen, LLC), and the author of more than a dozen books. Some of her publications include Writing Portfolio Activities Kit; Writing Research Projects Activities Kit; Ready-to-Use English Workshop Activities; Something for Every Day; You Say, I Say; Writing on Demand: Grades 7-12; and Writing on Demand: Grades 3 -6, published by Jossey-Bass, Prentice Hall, and the Bureau of Education. Ms. Ledbetter received Goose Creek’s Board of Trustees’ Bell Award for Outstanding Teacher in 1995, 1997, and 1998 as well as BER’s Award for Distinguished Teaching and Outstanding Contributions in 2001. She has been an educator for over twenty years in public schools in Michigan and Texas and an instructor at San Jacinto College. Her curriculum work, classroom teaching K - 12, and teacher training take her across the United States and Canada, where she is known for raising state test scores as well as for her Smiley-Face Tricks, which are a concrete way for students to conquer the abstract concept of voice.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

All my books are dedicated to my parents, who instilled in me my love of words.

A special thank-you goes to my cousin, Katharine Ferris, for her intelligent input as well as her patience, listening to anything and everything at all hours.

Erin Jones, an instructor at University of Arkansas, not only has been my writing buddy and dear friend but has given her opinion on various aspects of this book, serving to make it even more reader-ready.

Finally, I’d like to express my appreciation to administrators, teachers, and students I meet as a consultant who inspire me and allow me to be part of a writing community across the United States.

Action Verbs as a Method of Elaboration

Action verbs are methods of elaboration, ways to help writers make a point in their writing.

EXAMPLE:

Mama taught me how to be a lady. One of her most important rules was not to pick at myself or my clothing, at least in public. When I was a child, if any part of me itched, ached, burned, or generally felt the need to be scratched, rubbed, blown on, or tickled, I learned to shift my weight ever so nonchalantly as I sat or to recross my legs—at the ankles, like a lady—or to perform any number of secret maneuvers to relieve these untimely annoyances.

NOTE: The author has used dashes, which are considered a sophisticated form of punctuation; these are used as a type of parenthetical insertion, an interrupter.

ACTIVITIES

1. Begin your writing with a topic sentence, as in the example. Use at least five action verbs to make your point.

2. After five minutes, pass your writing to a neighbor, who will underline your action verbs and check to determine whether they were used as support for your topic sentence.

Adages

An adage is a saying expressing a common experience or observation that can be used as an allusion or reference to make a point in writing. To let the reader know that the author is aware of the familiar usage, a phrase such as “as the adage goes ...” acknowledges this to the reader.

EXAMPLES:

A watched pot never boils. No man is an island. Beggars can’t be choosers. One rotten apple spoils the barrel. Cold hands, warm heart. Practice makes perfect. Don’t cry over spilt milk. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Easy come, easy go. Slow but steady wins the race. Finders keepers, losers weepers. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Good fences make good neighbors. Variety is the spice of life. Haste makes waste. When it rains, it pours. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Knowledge is power. Little pitchers have big ears. Misery loves company.

ACTIVITY

1. List at least three other adages.