Mentor Texts for Process, genre - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Mentor Texts for

Process, genre

and craft

by

Laurie Stowell

San Marcos Writing Project

Cal State San Marcos

lstowell

@csusm

.eduSlide2

“Originality is nothing but judicious imitation. The most original writers borrow from one another. The instruction we find is like fire. We fetch it from our neighbors, kindle it at home, communicate it to others and it becomes the property of all.”

-VoltaireSlide3

  “Bees ransack flowers here and flowers there; but they make their own honey, which is entirely theirs and no longer thyme or marjoram. Similarly the boy will transform his borrowing, he will confound their forms so that the end-product is entirely his…” 

-Michel de MontaigneSlide4

Integrating the teaching of

reading and writing:

Process, genre and craft.Slide5

Reading and writing processes:

Readers and writers:

Prepare by

:

Setting goals, setting purposes, planning, previewing, questioning, forming hypotheses, engaging prior knowledge and experiences, establishing a stance, perspective and making choices

Make Meaning by:

Using resources, making connections (to self, other texts, the world), identifying patterns or organizational structures, selecting details, reflecting, organizing ideas, adjusting rate, rereading, visualizing, summarizing, elaborating, discussing, taking risks, and validating predictions or hypotheses.

Refine by:

Monitoring for meaning, revising ideas, negotiating, problem solving, reflecting, paraphrasing, self correcting, making adjustments and sharing and discussing with others.Slide6

Correlational research on reading and writing

Those who read well also write well and those who read poorly also write poorly. The best consistent predictors of writing quality were reading ability and language scores. This was true across grade levels.

Numerous studies repeatedly indicate that reading experiences (how much and how often) definitely contribute to writing performance.

Good writers engage in more leisure time reading than poor readers

Poor writers tended to have less reading experience

Good writers in grades 9 and 12 did more voluntary reading than poor writers and also tended to be female

Superior writers in grade 12 had more extensive reading experiences than average writers

In young children it was found that the use of compound and complex sentences increased as the level of reading comprehension increased. There is also a significant correlation between sentence maturity and reading achievement.

The type and amount of reading to which writers are exposed may influence their choice of topic, genre, writing style, and vocabulary, as well as affecting the values they hold regarding writing and heightening their understanding of the author's craft.Slide7

Reading and writing relationship

In young children it was found that the use of compound and complex sentences increased as the level of reading comprehension increased. There is also a significant correlation between sentence maturity and reading achievement.

The type and amount of reading to which writers are exposed may influence their choice of topic, genre, writing style, and vocabulary, as well as affecting the values they hold regarding writing and heightening their understanding of the author's craft.Slide8

Literature vs. basal readers

DeFord's studies (among others) found that students in a literature based classroom (as opposed to a basal reader class) had a higher percentage of well formed stories, tended to write about classroom experiences (while others wrote about personal or family related topics) and produced a wider variety of literary forms. Children who use basal reader series that had stilted language and format tended to produce writing that was also stilted in language and format.

Three studies show that additional reading may be as good as, or better than grammar study in improving writing. Students who studied only literature wrote better compositions than students who studied only formal, traditional grammar. However there are some studies that refute some of this. Nothing in isolation is that good. The point is to amass a wide repertoire of strategies to draw on.Slide9

What writing does:

“Watching, noticing and thinking deeply will help them be better writers but it will also help them be better scientists, sociologists, historians, mathematicians, and on and on. Watching, noticing and listening-reading the world is what smart people do. All of the work teachers have been doing with writer’s notebooks and

lifebooks

and journals is in support of this goal. Over time, we want students to develop more and more ways of finding important ideas to bring to their writing desks.”

- Ray, K.W. (2001)

The writing workshop: working through the hard parts (and they’re all hard parts).

Slide10

How books teach writers:

* Explicitly

*the book tells what writers do

*”Copying”

* Implicitly

*

Borrowing and Improvising:

the language of literature, language patterns, literary format, traditional literary elements, i.e. characterization, plot, setting, tone, theme and style.

*Mentor texts (Calkins)

Slide11

Explicit borrowing

I loved my friend I like my friend

He went away from me But she went away

There’s nothing more to say There’s nothing to say.

The poem ends the poem ends

Soft as it began soft as it began

I loved my friend I like my friend.

-Langston Hughes - Gabby (3rd grade)Slide12

Fortunately/Unfortunately

(based on the book by Remy Charlip)

Once there was a new kid going to school

Unfortunately he was lost.

Fortunately, a friend showed him where to go.

Fortunately he found a map

Unfortunately, it was the wrong state.

Fortunately, he got on a bus.

Unfortunately, the bus broke down.

Fortunately, it was across the street from the school.

…

by Steve, a 6th grade English learnerSlide13

Implicit borrowing

When children’s lives are filled with literature and good writing, one never knows from where they will borrow and what will become mentor texts:

“In this the darkest night, in this the darkest sea,

After coral was born, there came the mud-digging grub,

and its child, the earth worm.

There came the pointed star-fish, and the rock-grasping barnacle,

and its child the oyster

and its child, the mussel.

There came the moss which lives in the sea,

And the fern which grows on the learn.

In this the darkest night

There came the fish,and all the creatures of the sea.

There came the lurking shark and the darting eel,

moving quickly through the high weeds.”

In the night still dark

by Richard LewisSlide14

Deanna’s “Creatures of the Night”

As the night falls, a young fox runs from the cold into his warm den. A mother bat soars out of her cave on her nightly rounds of searching for food for her babies. A bright light attracts a lonely moth flying by. A frog lets out a soft croak before it dives into the ink colored pond. An owl perches above on a high branch scanning the grounds for her prey. A rat pokes his head out of the ground revealing his bright red eyes and down below on the river bottom, fish swim, swim, swim until morning comes into view. In the distance a coyote lets out a sharp and piercing howl. An opossum lurks behind a soft green bush, looking for trouble. And into this night, unknown to all the animals, the wolf stalks the forest waiting for the right moment to devour the unsuspecting.

Which animal will be his next victim? A strong burst of wind rustles the leaves on the trees and startles a sleeping bird. Hours pass and slowly the sun begins to appear from beneath the horizon. And for the night creatures who have escaped the wolves clenching jar, another day dawns.Slide15

Elements of narrative:

* Character

* Setting

* Plot

*

Tone

* Language

* ThemeSlide16

Teaching writing explicitly

with a book

1. Introduce the book

2. Give a focus for listening (descriptive language, character, plot development, etc.)

3. Read the book or part of a book

(If students are not familiar with the book, give a brief summary beforehand)

4. Students take notes in writer’s notebooks.

5. Discuss: What did you notice?

6. Record their responses on chart or overhead

Slide17

Elements of narrative:

CharacterSlide18

There’s a boy in the girl’s bathroom

by Louis Sachar

Bradley Chalkers sat at his desk in the back of the room-last seat, last row. No one sat at the desk next to him. He was an island.

If he could have, he would have sat in the closet. Then he could have shut the door so he wouldn’t have to listen to Mrs. Ebbel. He didn’t think she’d mind. She’d probably like it better that way too. So would the rest of the class. All in all, he thought everyone would be much happier if he sat in the closet, but, unfortunately, his desk didn’t fit.

“Class,” said Mrs. Ebbel. “I would like you all to meet Jeff Fishkin. Jeff just moved here from Washington D.C., which as you know, is our nation’s capital.”…

Mrs. Ebbel smiled at him. “Well, I guess we’d better find you a place to sit.” She looked around the room. “Hmmm, I don’t see anyplace except, I suppose you can sit there, at the back.”

“No, not next to Bradely!” a girl in the front row exclaimed.

“At least it’s better than

in front

of Bradley,” said the boy next to her….

“That’s right,” Bradley spoke up. “Nobody likes sitting next to me!” he smiled a strange smile. He stretched his mouth so wide, it was hard to tell whether it was a smile or a frown.

As Mrs. Ebbel began the lesson, Bradley took out a pencil and a piece of paper and scribbled. He scribbled most of the morning and sometimes on the paper and sometimes on his desk. Sometimes he scribbled so hard his pencil broke. Every time that happened, he laughed. (p. 1-2)Slide19

What do we know about Bradley and how do we know it?

*The teacher doesn’t like him

*Few (if any) students like him

*Troublemaker

*Teacher apologizes for seating a child next to him. He sits in the last seat, last row

*No one wants to sit next to him

*Scribbles on desk, seemingly not paying attentionSlide20

How does the reader learn about character?

•Description: physical, emotional or mental

•Interior monologue: character expresses thoughts, feelings, fears, etc.

•Observed by others: other characters observe (and may comment on) behaviors, mental state, etc.

•Actions

•How the character interacts or responds to othersSlide21

Stories with fully developed main characters:

Jesse Autobiography of my dead brother by W.D. Myers

Bud Bud, not buddy by P. C. Curtis

Birdy

Catherine called

Birdy

by K. Cushman

Lucy

The ballad of Lucy Whipple by K. Cushman

Little Willy Stone Fox by J. Gardiner

Holden Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

Steve Monster by W. D. Myers

Sarah Sarah plain and tall by P.

MacLachlan

Esperanza Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

Junior The absolutely true diary of a part time Indian

T.J. Jones Whale Talk by C.

Crutcher

Maniac Maniac McGee by J.

Spinelli

Cassie Roll of thunder hear my cry by M. Taylor

Moon Shadow

Dragonwings

by L. YepSlide22

What stories and books in your reading curriculum could be used as models for strong character development?Slide23

Elements of narrative

SettingSlide24

Owl Moon

by Jane Yolen

It was late one winter night, long past my bedtime, when Pa and I went owling. There was no wind. The trees stood still as giant statues. And the moon was so bright the sky seemed to shine. Somewhere behind us a train whistle blew, long and low, like a sad, sad song.

I cold hear it through the woolen cap Pa had pulled down over my ears. A farm dog answered the train, and then a second dog joined in. They sang out, trains and dogs, for a real long time. And when their voices faded away it was as quiet as a dream. We walked on toward the woods, Pa and I.

Our feet crunched over the crisp snow and little gray footprints followed us. Pa made a long shadow, but mine was short and round. I had to run after him every now and then to keep up, and my short, round shadow bumped after me.

But I never called out. If you go owling you have to be quiet, that’s what Pa always says.Slide25

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

“The constant

whooshing

of the rain and wind across the roof wouldn’t fade into the background. I pulled the faded old quilt over my head and later added the pillow too. But I couldn’t fall asleep until after midnight, when the rain finally settled into a quieter drizzle.

Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here, it was like a cage.” (

p

. 11)Slide26

How do we learn about setting?

*Description of what a place looks like

* Description through the other senses

*What characters tell the reader

* Focus on smaller details to build a bigger picture

*Description of a feeling

that a

time

or place

give a readerSlide27

Try this:

Think of a place (or a time and place in your past) you like to go for a visit, vacation, occasionally to have a moment to yourself or daily. Using one of the techniques the authors mentioned use, describe that place by using the senses, building it from small details, the feeling the place gives you or a combination of techniques. If it helps to sketch it out first, try that.Slide28

Stories with integral settings:

*

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie

Babbit

*City of Ember by Jeanne

DuPrau

*Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George

*From the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E.

Frankweiler

by E.L.

Konigsburg

*The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

*To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee

*

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

*The invention of Hugo

Cabret

by Brian

Selznik

*Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

*Bridge to

Terebithia

by Katherine Paterson

*Tiger Rising by Kate

DiCamillo

* Tar Beach by Faith RinggoldSlide29

What stories and books in your reading curriculum have strong settings that could be used as models?Slide30

Effective Leads

*Typical

(It was a day at the end of July.)

* Action

* Dialogue

*Interior monologue

*A surprise

* Reaction

*

Drop reader into middle of story and go back later to tell beginning.Slide31

Wringer

by Jerry Spinelli

He did not not want to be a wringer.

This was one of the first things he had learned about himself. He could not have said exactly when he learned it, but it was very early. And more than early, it was deep inside. N the stomach, like hunger. But different from hunger, different and worse. Because it was always there. Hunger came only sometimes, such as just before dinner or on long rides in the car. Then, quickly, it was gone the moment it was fed. But this thing, there was no way to feed it. Well, one way perhaps, but that was unthinkable. So it was never gone.

In fact, gone was something it could not be, for he could not escape it any more than he could escape himself. The best he could do was forget it. Sometimes he did so, for minutes, hours, maybe even for a day or two.

But this thing did not like to be forgotten. Like air escaping a punctured tire, it would spread out from his stomach and be everywhere. Inside and outside, up and down, day and night, just beyond the foot of his bed, in his sock drawer, on the porch steps, at the edges of the lips of other boys, in the sudden flutter from a bush that he ad come too close to.

Everywhere.

This thing, this not wanting to be a wringer, did it ever knock him from his bike? Untie his sneaker lace? Call him a name? Stand up and fight?

No. It did nothing. It was simply, merely there, a whisper of featherwings, reminding him of the moment he dreaded above all others, the moment when the not wanting to be a wringer wold turn into becoming one. (p. 3-4)Slide32

Seven Brave Women

by Betsy Hearne

In the old days, history marked time by the wars that men fought. The United States began with the Revolutionary War. Then there was the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, the First World War, the Second World War, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. But there are other ways to tell time. My mother does not believe that wars should be fought at all. She says

his

tory should be her story too, and she tells stories about all the women in our family who made history by not fighting in wars.Slide33

What stories and novels in your reading curriculum have good leads. How about effective endings?Slide34

Word ChoiceSlide35

Guess who my favorite person is

by Byrd Baylor

She said, “Tell your favorite color.”

I said, “Blue.”

But she said, “See you’ve already done it wrong. In this game you can’t just say it’s blue. You have to say what

kind

of blue.”

So I said, “All right. You know the blue on a lizard’s belly? That sudden kind of blue you see just for a second sometime-so blue that afterwards you always think you made it up?”

“Sure,” she said. “I know that kind of blue.”

Then she told me hers and it was brown. Maybe I looked surprised because she said, “Not many people appreciate brown but I don’t care. I do. And the one I like best is a dark reddish brown that’s good for mountains and for rocks. You see it in steep cliffs a lot.”Slide36

Then we chose our favorite sounds. She said hers was bees but not just one or two. She said it takes about a thousand bees buzzing in all the fields around to make the kind of loud bee sound she likes.Slide37

Hello Ocean

by Pam Munoz Ryan

I see the ocean, gray, green, blue

A chameleon always changing hue.

Amber seaweed, speckled sand,

Bubbly waves that kiss the land,

Wide open water before my eyes,

Reflected in a bowl of skies,

Glistening tide pools and secret nooks-

I love the way the ocean

looks

.Slide38

I

smell

the ocean, the fresh salt wind,

wafting lotions from suntanned skin.

Aromas from some ancient tale

disclose their news when I inhale.

Reeky fish from waters deep,

fragrant ore from holes dug steep.

Drying kelp and musty shells-

I love the way the ocean

smells

.Slide39

Breaking Dawn

by Stephanie Meyer

A new vampire

pages 387-389

415-417Slide40

Simile and Metaphor

*

Quick as a cricket

by Don and Audrey Wood

* “Cliché” by Eve Merriam

*

Hailstones and Halibut Bones

by Mary O’Neill

* “Morning” by Eve Merriam

*

My side of the mountain

by Jean Craighead George

*

Bridge to Terebithia

by Katherine PatersonSlide41

Graham’s story:

On an early Saturday morning, my darn alarm clock came on. The loud noise was singing “Sugar and Spice and all things nice”. My sister turned the volume up on my radio. The noise sounded like a bulldozer going through the house. I woke up very slowly and walked like a turtle to the restroom. To wake me up, I turned the faucet on and the ice cold water gushed out into the sink. I stuck my hands under the cold water. My hands started to tingle. Shivering

goosebumps

went up and down my spine as fast as a running rabbit. I took the water and put it on my face. My eyes were as hard to open as a stuck locker. Then all the computers turned on in my brain. It’s like little mice saying, “Mission Control, come in Mission Control, Mission control, come in. All systems are going.” I walked like a human being for once to my room. My teeth were chattering together, just like a beaver chewing a tree down.Slide42

Worst analogies ever written in high school

The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze.

Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center.

He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree

The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr Pepper can.

John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.Slide43

The lamp just sat there, like an inanimate object.

His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife’s infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM.Slide44

Try one of these:

“I remember” by Edward Montez

from

The Martian Chronicles

by Ray Bradbury

“My wicked, wicked ways” by Sandra Cisneros

.Slide45

What books, stories, poems and other texts in your reading curriculum are good examples of effective word choice: specific, sensory, appropriate, etc.? Slide46

Sentence FluencySlide47

“I have a dream”

.

“

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of former slaves and former slave-owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice , sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their character. I have a dream today!”Slide48

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area we call...

THE TWILIGHT ZONESlide49

Voice

Speak by Laurie

Halse

Anderson

Voices in the park by Anthony

Browne

Once upon a cool motorcycle dude by Kevin O’Malley

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Bull Run and

Seedfolks

by P. Fleishman

Out of the Dust and Witness by K.

Hesse

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

True Believer by Virginia

Euwer

Wolff

The true story of the three pigs , Math Curse, Squids will be squids by Jon

Scheizka

and Lane Smith

The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

Joyful Noises by Paul FleishmanSlide50

The Amulet of Samarkand

“I hate the taste of mud. It is no fit thing for a being of air and fire. The cloying weight of earth oppresses me greatly whenever I come in contact with it. That is why I am choosy about my incarnations. Birds, good. Insects, good. Bats, okay. Things that run fast are fine. Tree dwellers are even better. Subterranean things, not good. Moles, bad.” (

Bartimaeus

p

. 12)Slide51

Bird by bird

by Annie

Lamott

“…Life is lukewarm enough! Give us a little heat.

If I’m going to read about a bunch of people who drive

Volkswagons

and seem to have

Volkswagon

sized problems and the writer shows them driving around on top of the ice, I want a sense that there’s a lot of very, very cold water down below. I eventually want for someone to crash through. I want people who write to crash or dive below the surface, where life is cold and confusing and hard to see. I want writers to plunge through the holes…In those holes exists all sorts of possibility including the chance to see who we are and to glimpse the mystery.” (

p

. 197)Slide52

What are the qualities of voice?

Point of view

Humor

Use of dialect, regional speech, slang, etc.

Conversational tone: speak directly to the reader

Surprise

Playfulness

Expertise

Passion

Appropriate to audienceSlide53

What other books do you use that are good examples of voice?Slide54

Elements of informational writing

How do

writers make informational texts

interesting to read?Slide55

Tell stories in the essay

*

America’s Best Science writing 2009

(Nurse’s story)

“My turn” in

Newsweek

This I believe

The danger of a

single storySlide56

Hottest, coldest, highest, deepest

by Steve Jenkins

“

The hottest spot on the planet is Al Aziziyah, Libya, in the Sahara, where a temperature of over 136 degrees has been recorded. Your body temperature is 98.6 F., room temperature is usually 68 F. and water freezes at 32 F. “

He compares new information to things that are familiar.Slide57

Lincoln: A photobiography

by Russell Freedman

The morning he died, Lincoln had in his pocket a pair of small spectacles folded into a silver case; a small velvet eyeglass cleaner: a large linen handkerchief with A. Lincoln stitched in red; an ivory pocketknife trimmed with silver; and a brown leather wallet lined with purple silk. The wallet contained a Confederate five dollar bill bearing the likeness of Jefferson Davis and the clippings praised him. As president, he had been denounced, ridiculed, and damned by a legion of critics. When he saw an article that complimented him, he often kept it.

Freedman chose interesting bits of information that made Lincoln humanSlide58

Through my eyes

by Ruby Bridges

When I was six years old, the civil rights movement came knocking at the door. It was 1960, and history pushed in and swept me up in a whirlwind. At the time, I knew little about the racial fears and hatred in Louisiana, where I was growing up. Young children never know about racism at the start. It’s we adults who teach it.

She tells about history from a first person or personal perspective.Slide59

Eleanor Roosevelt

by Russell Freedman

Eleanor Roosevelt never wanted to be a president’s wife. When her husband Franklin won his campaign for the presidency in 1932, she felt deeply troubled. She dreaded the prospect of living in the White House.

Proud of her accomplishments as a teacher, a writer, and a political power in her own right, she feared that she would have to give up her hard-won independence in Washington. As First Lady, she would have no life of her own. Like other presidential wives before her, she would be assigned the traditional role of official White House hostess, with little to do but greet guests at receptions and preside ver formal state dinners.

The author gives the reader some (perhaps) surprising information.Slide60

Shipwreck at the bottom of the world

by Jennifer Armstrong

Just imagine yourself in the most hostile place on earth. It’s not the Sahara or the Gobi Desert. It’s not the Arctic. The most hostile place on earth is the Antarctic, the location of the South Pole. North Pole, South Pole-what’s the difference? The Arctic is mostly water-with ice on top,of course- and that ice is never more than a few feet thick. But under the South Pole lies a contintent that supports glaciers up to two miles in depth. Almost the entire southernern continent is covered by ice.

Just imagine: put yourself there.Slide61

Elements of persuasive writing:

*Written for a specific audience

*Strong thesis statement

*Uses facts to support opinion

*Refutes counter arguments

*Strong conclusionSlide62

Red is best

by Kathy Stinson

*Written for a specific audience

*Strong thesis statement

*Uses facts to support opinion

*Refutes counter arguments

*Strong conclusion

*Mom

*Red is best

*I like my red stockings,red jacket, red boots, etc.

*

My mom says, “Wear these. Your white stockings look good with that dress.”

But I can jump higher in my red stockings.

*Red is bestSlide63

Earrings

by Judith Viorst

*Written for a specific audience

*Strong thesis statement

*Uses facts to support opinion

*Refutes counter arguments

*Strong conclusion

* Mom and Dad

*”I want them. I need them. I love them. I’ve got to have them.”

*”Teachers and lady dentists have them. Mothers and even grandmothers have them.”

*”They say I’m too young.”

“I’m not too young. I’m actually mature for my age. I clear plates after dinner. I take a shower without being told.”

*I want my ears pierced NOW- not when I’m 20, 40, 80 or 100 years old.Slide64

Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus

by Mo

Willems

Types of persuasionSlide65

*

Asking Politely

“Hey, Can I drive the Bus? Please.”

*Giving A Reason

“I’ll be careful.”

*Compromise

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll just steer.”

*Referring to others who are supposedly similar (ex. My brother)

“My cousin Herb drives a buss almost every day.”

*Pretending to do desired task

“PIGEON AT THE WHEEL.” 

*Whining

“I never get to do anything.” “No fair.” “I have dreams you know!”Slide66

*Pleading

“C’mon! Just once around the block?”

*Trickery

“Hey I have an idea. Let’s play “Drive the Bus.”

*Bargaining

“I’ll be your best friend?” “How bout I give you five bucks?” “What’s the big deal?” “It’s just a bus!!!”

*Referring to others in authority

“I bet your mom would let me.”

*Pleading for sympathy

“I have dreams you know.”

*Bullying

“LET ME DRIVE THE BUS!”Slide67

Aspects of writing processSlide68

How does a writer get ideas?

“If you were a writer you would search for ideas,” mother said. “ideas are everywhere. The more you look for ideas, the more you will find.”

“Is the idea the story?”

“No the idea is just the beginning of the story. If you were a writer you would let ideas bounce in your brain while you watched them grow and turned them over to see the other sides, and poked them and pushed them and pinched off parts of them, and made them go the way you wanted them to go.”

If you were a writer

by Jean Lowery NixonSlide69

When I write nonfiction, I always choose subjects I’ve always been curious about: evolution, how cuts and bruises heal, how a chick grows inside an egg... Occasionally, I get an idea for a new book from one I wrote before. For example, when I was working on

A fish hatches

, I was fascinated to learn how a fish is adapted for swimming and breathing underwater. This gave me the idea for a series about animals’ bodies. The first book was

A frog’s body

…Sometimes a book comes out of a very personal experience I’ve had. I wrote

How you were born

for our daughter Rachel, when she was 4 years old.

On the bus with Joanna Cole

by Joanna Cole with Wendy SaulSlide70

Nothing ever happens on 90th Street

by Roni Schotter

Here are some helpful hints Eva receives from her neighbors:

*The actor, Mr. Sims suggests “Watch the stage carefully, observe the players carefully and don’t neglect the details.”

*The baker, Mr. Morley, says, “Try to find the poetry in your pudding…There’s always a new way with old words.”

*Th ballerina, Alexis, tells Eva to “use her imagination…stetch the truth…ask what if?”

*Mrs. Martinez suggests Eva “Add a little action…A little of this. A little of that. And don’t’ forget the spice. Mix it. Stir it. Make something happen. Surprise yourself!”Slide71

The Circus Surprise

by

Ralph FletcherSlide72

The Fruit Bowl Project

by Sarah

Durkee

Writing is like painting a bowl of fruit. We all see the same bowl of fruit, but paint it in different ways. Eighth grade students are challenged to each write a piece based on only seven simple elements: school, sixth grade, a reading test, a dropped pencil, an angry girl, lunch, and milk out the nose. The book contains 50 student projects ranging from rap to haiku, monologue, fairy tales, a screen play, etc.Slide73

Revision

All the long way to school,And all the way back,

I’ve looked and I’ve looked, And I’ve kept careful track,

But All that I noticed, Except my own feet,

Was a horse and a wagon, On Mulberry Street.

That’s nothing to tell of, That won’t do of course…

Just a broken down wagon, That’s drawn by a horse.

That can’t be my story. That’s only a start.

I’ll say that a zebra was pulling that cart!

And that is a story that no one can beat,

When I say that I saw it on Mulberry Street.

And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street

By Dr. SeussSlide74

Author StudiesSlide75

Features of Betsy Byars books:

1. Never an intact family

2. Page turner – reads fast – good pacing

3. Use of metaphor and simile

4. Kid characters are realistic

5. Kids always clearly face a problem

6. Kids usually have to figure it out or face it themselves

7. Good primary character development (secondary characters not so good)

8. Usually a helping or caring adult

When YOU get to know author’s work well, you can refer students to them when they need specific help:

How does Betsy Byars keep us interested? How does she keep the story moving and tell all the important parts?Slide76

How to choose authors for author studies:

*

Author has several books available: in print and/or in the library

*Author has several books in the same genre

*Books that are age appropriate and engage readers emotionally and/or intellectually (Books the students will read!)

*Books that evoke a range of responses

*Books that connect to students’ lives

*Books with memorable language

* Author has distinctive identifiable features to his or her writing like Van Allsburg’s surprise endings, Henkes’ characters, Paterson’s language

*Autobiographical and/or biographical information available about the author

*Select quality literature: a void series books or books with formulaic plots and shallow characters. What do you want writers to reach toward?Slide77

What authors make good author studies?

A few suggestions:

*Gail Gibbons *Kevin

Henkes

*Eric Carle *Eve Bunting

*Chris Van

Allsburg

*Steve Jenkins

*Patricia

Polacco

*Cynthia

Rylant

*Paul Goble *Jane

Yolen

*Betsy

Byars

*Cynthia

Voight

*Katherine Paterson *Chris

Crutcher

*Walter Dean Meyers *

Avi

*Lawrence Yep *Gary

Paulsen

* Pam Munoz RyanSlide78

When the main character is an author:

Cleary

, B. Dear Mr.

Henshaw

Amato, M. Please write in this book

Fitzhugh, L. Harriet the Spy

Gantos

, J. Jack’s black

book

___________. Hole in my life

Woodson, J. Locomotion

Myers, W. D. Bad boy

Grimes, N.

Jazmine’s

Notebook

Kallok

, E. Gem (12 year old author- published book)

Lipsyte

, R. Summer Rules

Little, J. Hey world, here I am

Lowry, L. Anastasia

Krupnick

Durkee

, S. The fruit bowl project

Moss, M. Amelia’s Notebook (There are several Amelia books)

_________Rachel’s journey, Emma’s journal and Hannah’s Journal (historical journals)

Baskin, J., et al. The notebook girls: Four friends, one diary.

Warren, F. Post SecretSlide79

Evaluation

Basho and the Fox

By Tim MyersSlide80

The End