5-Modes-of-Writing-Lesson-Handouts

Anchor Text with Text-Dependent Questions: On Narratives by John Warner http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/pastissuestwo/brev38/Warner38.html After the teacher reads the article for the second time, the questions the students have should be added to the questions listed below Questions that are critical to the understanding of the text have been bolded and scaffolding questions are listed beneath should they be necessary Text, page or paragraph reference Text-dependent questions WV CCRS addressed What genre of writing is this? What in the text makes you say that? ELA.12.22 write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details and well-structured event sequences • engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation or observation and its significance, establishing multiple point(s) of view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events • use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events and/or characters • use and evaluate a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth or resolution) • use precise words and phrases, telling details and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences events, setting and/or characters • provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative How does the author engage and orient the reader? How does this impact the narrative? What sensory imagery does Warner use in this piece? Scaffolding questions • Circle some precise words and phrases he uses in the text What did you come up with? • When and how does he use the most detail? What makes you say that? • What is the meaning of the word transphenoidally? What impact does the word have? • Why did the author use the phrase Roto-Rooter to describe his father’s surgery? How does Warner set out the problem, situation or observation? Scaffolding questions • How does he make this seem important? • From whose point of view is this told? • What makes you say that? • When and how is the narrator first introduced? • When and how are the other characters first introduced? What details and observations does the author use to create a smooth progression of ideas? Scaffolding questions • How does the author use narrative techniques? • What are narrative techniques? • What are some examples of narrative techniques used in this text? • How does Warner use dialogue to develop the characters? • How does he use dialogue to develop the experiences? What is the structure of the text? Scaffolding questions • Why are paragraphs and placed immediately following the opening paragraph? • Why did the author structure the text in this manner? • How does the episodic pacing develop the experience for the reader? • What is episodic pacing? What are two of the central ideas and how they interact and build on one another? Teacher may have students complete a concept map or use the questions listed below Scaffolding questions • What does the title tell you about the central idea? • What is the other central idea? • What observations does the author make about stories? • How these observations lead to the development of a central idea? • How does the author develop this idea from the beginning of the text to the end? • How does he develop another central idea? • How these central ideas build on one another and interact? • How does the author’s use of the central ideas and their development impact the text? How the father and son diffuse the intensity of the situation? Scaffolding questions • What does this say about the fatherson relationship? • What does this say about how people cope with intense situations? • What significance does paragraphs 2, 3, 9, 10 and 11 play? “His medical condition was officially categorized as “alert”, but he didn’t look it Sitting in his room, we would kibitz, being cheery in front of him, maybe as some kind of example.” What does this sentence tell us about the father’s attitude toward his condition? How does it help build on the central idea? ELA.12.5 determine two or more central ideas of an informational text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to provide a complex and critical analysis; provide an objective summary of the informational text Paragraphs 1, 3, Paragraph —“The surgery went well…” and paragraph What is the importance of memory? Scaffolding questions • Why does the author repeat that his father is having problems with his memory? • How does this tie into the central idea? What is the “brain episode”? What leads you to that answer? ELA.12.10 determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in an informational text, including figurative, connotative and technical meanings; analyze how and why an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of an informational text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No 10) Module Lesson The Narrative Step by Step Process Make copies of “On Narration” for each student Writer’s Notebook Prompt—Brainstorm your favorite family stories to tell, giving a brief description as you go and leaving room for additional details you may remember later Complete the Writer’s Notebook Prompt in order to allow students to witness the thought processes you put into writing Remember, you are the best writer in the room in most cases Pass out “On Narratives” and have students annotate the text, notating places where the author builds the major themes and questions they have about the text Read “On Narratives” aloud Using LCD/computer combo, overhead, board or chart paper, notate student questions and then utilize their questions in addition to the text dependent questions for this text Dissect the text using the text dependent questions provided and additional questions from students Discuss and have students write their answers in their Writer’s Notebook Text-dependent writing prompt (this can be an in-class assignment or a homework assignment): How does the author utilize vivid descriptions and narrative techniques to convey his experience so that it is accessible to a reader without those same references? The teacher and students read the article “Compelling Stories” After reading the article, the teacher instructs students to move into small groups and create an objective summary of the text 10 Writer’s Notebook Prompt—Add details to your descriptions of favorite family stories by including characters, setting and additional sensory details 11 The teacher and students read aloud Anton Chekov’s “Home” The teacher leads students in the Making Thinking Visible routine “I used to think…Now I think…” After reading the story ask students to think back to the rules laid forth in the “How to Write Compelling Stories” article and ask them to add additional rules they think Chekov and Warner would include based on the readings 12 Assign Project: 214 West, a literary magazine for high school students, is seeking submissions for their next issue entitled “My Life My Story.” Entries need to be between 1500-1750 words and adhere to the theme: “Stories we can hold forever.” Entries need to follow the Contest Entry Format 13 The teacher will need to provide students with a copy of the 12th Grade Narrative Instructional Writing Rubric and review the expectations outlined within the rubric 14 Students use the prewriting activity of their choice and create a first draft—this does not need to be completed during class 15 Peer review Students need to come prepared with two or three copies of their draft to share with their review group (this group may be teacher or student chosen; however, the teacher needs to take into account the strength of the writer’s in the room and divide the groups accordingly) Using the peer review sheet, students will read and comment on the writing of each member of their group 16 Students work on revisions—this does not need to be completed during class 17 Teacher/Student Writer conferences—teacher will need to meet with students individually to conduct a writer’s conference about their second drafts After discussing their piece with the teacher, students need to polish their writing, create a final draft and turn it in to the teacher and place a copy in their portfolio 18 THIS IS OPTIONAL, BUT WOULD BE AN EXCELLENT FINALIZED PROJECT The teacher should collect final drafts electronically in order to create a class book of the stories 19 Reflection on lesson and on their writing: After completion of the final draft, students will complete a 50-75 word reflection on why this piece is a story they “will hold forever” and how it relates back to their reading of Warner’s On Narratives The 50-75 word reflection needs to be placed into the student portfolio along with their narrative Peer Review: Narrative Essay Directions: Divide into groups of three people Exchange papers with one another Be sure to review this sheet as you revise your paper Every person should read and complete the review for at least two drafts Writer: Reader: Read the paper once without pausing to write comments Then read the paper again with the following questions in mind Does the introduction engage and orient the reader? If so, please write what specifically made you want to continue reading If not, please provide suggestions on how the author might so What narrative techniques does the author use to develop the experiences, events and/or characters? What techniques does the author use to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole? What techniques does the author use to build toward a particular tone and outcome? Look closely at the details Circle the sensory language that the author uses to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting and/or characters What transitions does the author use and are any specific transitions overused? Circle five transition words that would benefit from being changed and offer suggestions Circle one sentence that would benefit from being rewritten Write down the essay’s best sentence below Does the conclusion follow from and reflect on what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative? List three questions you have about the story and offer suggestions on how those questions could be answered/resolved by the conclusion Grade 12 Instructional Writing Rubric* Aligned to Next Generation West Virginia Content Standards and Objectives for English Language Arts and Literacy Smarter Balanced Claim 2: Students can produce effective and well-grounded writing for a range of purposes and audiences NARRATIVE Supportent andDevelopmTopicContent: Flowon andOrganizati Exemplary – Exceeds Standards The writer effectively creates a wellexecuted progression of experiences or events, so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole to that leads to a particular outcome and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth or resolution) provides a powerful conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative The writer effectively uses and evaluates a variety of narrative techniques, such as o dialogue o pacing o description o reflection o multiple plot lines to vividly develop experiences, events and/or characters Adequate – Meets Standards Partial – Approaches Standard Minimal – Begins Standards The writer adequately creates a smooth progression of experiences or events, so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth or resolution) The writer creates a progression of experiences or events that may or may not create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome The writer creates events and experiences that may not progress smoothly provides a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative The writer adequately uses and evaluates a variety of narrative techniques, such as o dialogue o pacing o description o reflection o multiple plot lines to develop experiences, events and/or characters provides a conclusion that follows from what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative The writer uses some narrative techniques, such as o dialogue o pacing o description o reflection to develop experiences, events and/or characters does not provide a conclusion that follows from what is experienced, observed or resolved over the course of the narrative The writer insufficiently uses narrative techniques, such as o dialogue o pacing o description o reflection to develop experiences, events and/or characters Focus Language Use Conventions The writer effectively engages and orients the reader by o setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance o establishing one or multiple point(s) of view o introducing a narrator and/or characters The writer effectively uses o precise words and phrases o specific telling details o sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting and/or characters and the connections between them The writer uses correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, with insignificant errors that need little or no editing effectively demonstrates correct usage of hyphenation conventions effectively demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of complex or contested usage The writer adequately engages and orients the reader by o setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance o establishing one or multiple point(s) of view o introducing a narrator and/or characters The writer adequately uses o precise words and phrases o telling details o sensory language to convey a clear picture of the experiences, events, setting and/or characters The writer somewhat engages the reader by o setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance o establishing a point of view o introducing a narrator and/or characters The writer shows an attempt to o set out a problem, situation, or observation and its signifiance o establish a point of view o introduce a narrator and/or characters The writer sometimes uses o words and phrases o some telling details o sensory language to convey a picture of the experiences, events, setting and/or characters The writer uses imprecise o words and phrases o some telling details o sensory language in an attempt to create a picture of the experiences, events, setting and/or characters The writer uses correct capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, with few errors that need editing but not distract from the argument adequately demonstrates correct usage of hyphenation conventions adequately demonstrates an understanding of complex or contested usage The writer uses capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, with errors that need editing to clarify the argument The writer uses capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, with frequent and repeated errors that need editing to convey the argument seldom demonstrates correct usage of hyphenation conventions seldom demonstrates an understanding of complex or contested usage sometimes demonstrates correct usage of hyphenation conventions sometimes demonstrates an understanding of complex or contested usage On Narratives By John Warner On the table in front of my father the therapist places four random picture cards: a sandwich, hands washing with soap, a baby, and a knife She wants him to try to remember the pictures He’s having problems with his memory The tumor was more than three centimeters, about the size of a golf ball, sprouting from my father’s pituitary gland The pituitary is normally pea-sized and dangles from the brain, housed in a cavity in the middle of the skull The tumor had filled that space and then some, eroding bone in the sinuses The neurosurgeon said it could have been growing for twenty-five years An epic of a tumor The procedure was done transphenoidally, scopes and cutting tools through the nose Like Roto-rooter, only smaller Beforehand we joked about my father’s large nose, how there’d be plenty of room to maneuver The surgery went well, but that night he had a “brain episode,” and when he woke up, he couldn’t move his right arm or leg Six weeks later, the arm and leg are back, save a slight shuffle He can speak and read aloud without trouble, but by lunch he’s forgotten breakfast When I visit, in the mornings, he asks if I’d been there yesterday The trick, the therapist tells my father, is to construct a scenario, a narrative that encompasses all of the pictures Discrete bits of information are hard to hold on to Stories we can hold forever Later, when the therapist takes one of the cards away and shows him only three, my father will remember the part that is missing This is harder than you’d think Sure, a knife cuts a sandwich and you should wash your hands before handling a baby, but how could all four possibly go together? Do you need to use the soap on the baby after you smear it with the sandwich? But what about the knife? To see him after the “episode” was a shock, the pale dullness of his face, the slight droop on one side His medical condition was officially categorized as “alert,” but he didn’t look it Sitting in his room, we would kibitz, being cheery in front of him, maybe as some kind of example They see these kinds of things all the time we were told There is a progression to look forward to, a series of events heading toward recovery He’d look around and smile, and be happy to answer any direct question, "How are you feeling?” “Fine.” The therapist takes the cards away and replaces them with a worksheet titled “Garden Plot,” the kind of thing second graders to hone their nascent critical thinking skills There is a 4x3 grid at the top of the page and then a list of statements: “The beans, needing maximum sunlight, should be placed in the southeastern corner.” My father is having trouble with his memory, but his reasoning abilities are intact, and the exercise could be taken as an insult, considering my father’s reputation as one of the top litigators in Chicago, in the country But its purpose is simply to distract him from remembering the cards, from forgetting the story he told himself to remember five minutes earlier This should’ve been a turning point in my father’s story, the moment we knew he was back on his way to his old self, but in three months time, there will be another tumor, tumors actually, and these will kill him in relatively short order, something I couldn’t imagine in that moment with the therapist, because the worst possible thing had already happened I never figured that I lacked imagination The garden plot completed, the therapist returns three of the four cards to the table “Which one is missing?” the therapist asks My father bends his head to his hands and rubs his fingers against his forehead “You had to ask, didn’t you?” he replies, smiling Afterward, during a break in therapy we eat lunch, sandwiches, packed by Mom “Your father looks pretty stupid,” he says “You just need to make the story unforgettable,” I reply “Like this: The knife is used to stab the baby, after which you wash your hands to keep from getting caught The sandwich is to celebrate getting away with the crime Who doesn’t like to celebrate with a good sandwich?” My father smiles He’s always approved of my sense of humor, even when it got us in trouble The therapist told us how much we looked alike We both took it as a compliment John Warner is the author of five books, including his recently released novel, The Funny Man He serves as editor at large for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency and co-color commentator for The Morning News Tournament of Books, and teaches at the College of Charleston He was runner up in the Brevity Magazine Bristol Stomp contest Questions for “On Narratives” Write answers in your Writer’s notebook What genre of writing is this? What in the text makes you say that? How does the author engage and orient the reader? How does this impact the narrative? What sensory imagery does Warner use in this piece? • Circle some precise words and phrases he uses in the text What did you come up with? • When and how does he use the most detail? What makes you say that? • What is the meaning of the word transphenoidally? What impact does the word have? • Why did the author use the phrase Roto-Rooter to describe his father’s surgery? How does Warner set out the problem, situation or observation? • How does he make this seem important? • From whose point of view is this told? • What makes you say that? • When and how is the narrator first introduced? • When and how are the other characters first introduced? What details and observations does the author use to create a smooth progression of ideas? • How does the author use narrative techniques? • What are narrative techniques? • What are some examples of narrative techniques used in this text? • How does Warner use dialogue to develop the characters? • How does he use dialogue to develop the experiences? What is the structure of the text? • Why are paragraphs and placed immediately following the opening paragraph? • Why did the author structure the text in this manner? • How does the episodic pacing develop the experience for the reader? • What is episodic pacing? What are two of the central ideas and how they interact and build on one another? • What does the title tell you about the central idea? • What is the other central idea? • What observations does the author make about stories? • How these observations lead to the development of a central idea? • How does the author develop this idea from the beginning of the text to the end? • How does he develop another central idea? • How these central ideas build on one another and interact? • How does the author’s use of the central ideas and their development impact the text? How the father and son diffuse the intensity of the situation? • What does this say about the father-son relationship? • What does this say about how people cope with intense situations? • What significance does paragraphs 2, 3, 9, 10 and 11 play? What does this sentence tell us about the father’s attitude toward his condition? 10 How does it help build on the central idea? 11 What is the importance of memory? • Why does the author repeat that his father is having problems with his memory? • How does this tie into the central idea? 12 What is the “brain episode”? 13 What leads you to that answer? Natalie Sypolt lives and writes in West Virginia She received her MFA in fiction from West Virginia University in 2005 and currently teaches writing at WVU Her fiction and book reviews have appeared online and in several small literary journals, including Willow Springs and Queens City Review Natalie also serves as a literary editor for the Anthology of Appalachian Writers and is cohost of "SummerBooks," a literary podcast The Risk, the Reward of "Writing What You Know" Write what you know Most writers have been told this at some point Craft books say it, instructors instruct it, but what does it mean to truly "write what you know"? When I was in graduate school, during one of many ill-fated workshops, a classmate said about my story, "Well, they're just a bunch of poor, dumb rednecks, aren't they?" This commenter was known to be harsh and sometimes caustic with his remarks, so I was ready for a sting, but I wasn't quite ready for that The story was partially based on family stories—my mother, father, aunt, and uncle—when they were young and beginning to navigate adulthood It hadn't really occurred to me that anyone would see them as anything other than real, charming, slightly messy people I was writing what I knew This is not an essay about how creative-writing workshops might fall short, or an indictment on workshop commentary Instead, this is about how I learned to be a writer—a real one After that workshop, my stories began to change Without realizing it, I had made myself vulnerable; I had revealed a part of who I was—who my family was (poor, dumb, redneck)—and that critique became not just about my story but about my life Deciding to not write what I knew wasn't a conscious decision I became more and more afraid of my own work, and the shell I built up around myself was stories of psychics and rock stars and characters from unidentified regions of the country I avoided anything that might even be considered a stereotype My graduate thesis was full of people that I didn't know One classmate did not have the power to change my writing My decision to move away from "what I knew" to safer stories also had to with the rejections I'd been receiving from literary journals, the models I'd been reading in class (which were nothing like my stories), and, ultimately, the old fear that who I am and where I'm from is seen by the rest of the world as a joke Oh, did I mention that I'm from West Virginia? I can't say exactly when I realized how wrong I'd been I'd been writing mostly unsuccessful stories and teaching composition classes at West Virginia University My students were from across the country, sometimes from around the world, and from West Virginia When they wrote personal narratives, I encouraged them to "write what you know," promising them that the product would be better I don't remember ever wondering why I had moved so far away from that in my own work A few years ago, at a writing workshop, a session leader gave us a prompt to write about a true event (an accident where a car had jumped a bridge and overturned in the Green River) I started writing in first-person point of view, the voice of a boy who lived near Green's Run, not a river in Ohio where the actual accident had taken place, but in West Virginia, near my house I don't know if the change came because I was writing in first person when I almost always wrote in limited third, or from some other more mysterious force, but the voice that came was of Johnny, a rural kid who was struggling with his identity It was a pure voice, a voice of a boy I would have known, and came to me easier than any ever had Because of that story, I was able to meet Appalachian writer Silas House, who chose "Diving" (my story) as the winning entry in a fiction competition Listening to Silas talk about his craft, his accent, his family stories, and his determination to never give up writing what he knows helped to undo all the bad I'd done to my own writing There wasn't an epiphany but a gradual understanding that to really be a writer, I had to get beyond my fear and write the truth I don't know that I've accomplished this yet, but I am trying As teachers of writing, when we say to our students, "Write what you know," we should not be referring to occupation, vocation, even location That limits the scope for fiction and isn't really getting to the core of the matter When we say, "Write what you know," we should be talking about the interior The crevices and courages of people The frailties, weaknesses, heartbreaking beauty This often will make people uncomfortable It might also reveal something soft and tender about ourselves that we'd been hoping to protect, but that's the only way to get to the realness, what we truly know The end result will be something golden, complicated, and lovely