Hi everyone!

Today students wrote the paragraph which corresponded with their "emotional arc." This focused on taking a pivotal moment in the story (written last Thurs.) and drawing it out to show emotion and action. Most likely, these were the moments leading up to a powerful point in your story. If you didn't finish in class, please finish at home.

Also, I introduced meaningful endings. Students analyzed the ending description on their narrative checklist, and then I read examples from novels of (what I thought) were meaningful endings. Try doing this at home: look at the last paragraph of books you have read and borrow the technique the author uses. Students decided the ending has to relate to the meaning of their story, should have inner thoughts, and should be reflective. The only "new" detail to add would be a new realization or insight.

H/W:

• Finish the paragraph that goes with your emotional arc. Write the ending to your narrative, making sure you are looking at the checklist. Period 3- the ending may be difficult for you to write. I can review this with you tomorrow. 
• Come in tomorrow with your story that you took through the writing process. You can add an emotional arc and ending to it tomorrow (or tonight, if you have time)
• Keep reading your novel! 

Thanks, and see you tomorrow!

Hello!

Today was a day to regroup after being out last Thurs. and Friday. Students earned plenty o' signatures for Archer Cards today because of their almost perfect behavior for our guest teacher. Fantastic!

The learning goal today was to create tension and suspense in a narrative by stretching out the most problematic scene. This scene does not have to be scary or dramatic, it can be something happy or funny also. Writers do this by creating an "emotional arc" (sometimes called a "character arc"). They pick the most important or tense part of the story, and create a story arc based on just that moment - kind of like the car chase scene in a movie. It may happen over the course of a few minutes, but in the movie it lasts 20 minutes. This is the attention you are giving to the important part in your story. The story students are using is the one they wrote last Thursday.

We also talked about our novels and how students need to write with a "pencil in hand." They are underlining when they learn something new about a character, and then in the margin writing what they learned, and what the author did to help them learn that.
Example-
Excerpt:When I was a baby I would crawl under my bed and snuggle into a corner to sleep. I felt warm and safe leaning into two walls at the same time. 
What did I learn about the character? He perhaps didn't have parents who held him.
What did the author use to show me this? Flashback and inner thoughts

H/W: Draw an label an emotional arc. To do this, draw an arc (a curve). On the outside, write the events and details of each moment. You should have many because you are making the moment bigger than it actually was. On the inside, attach internal thinking and feelings to each moment. You can bring in more than one character, and you can also add dialogue. You will need this for tomorrow.

Thank you!

Hello!

Thank you for giving our guest teacher a wonderful day! Today students wrote their next narrative, and they will be applying some new skills to this piece. After that, they will share published piece, pass it in, and then they will be graded on a piece of writing done in one sitting in class. This is the graded piece so students can be assessed on what they can do on their own. They have had plenty of practice!

Tomorrow, students will be given time to dive into their novels. Remember...in my room, we always read with a pencil in hand! I will be asking you to track a specific character in your novel and underline in your book when you notice information about a character, and in the margin write what this shows the reader about the character. Do this whenever you read for now.  You will get a suggested reading schedule tomorrow.

To view the reading schedule, look under "links" on the right side of the blog page. I will also give you a paper copy tomorrow.

H/W: Look over your narrative from today. Spend 10 minutes revising or editing it. Read your novel for about 20 minutes. For the weekend, you will still need to follow the reading schedule.


Have a great evening!

Hi Everyone!

Today was a great day! There was a lot of partner sharing and students "owning" their writing. Not only were students proud to share, but some students also discovered how it feels to be unprepared...and that's not pretty. It affects a partnership when someone doesn't do his/her job. Because we are continuing this tomorrow, tonight would be a good time to get caught up if you found yourself without what you needed today.

After Alphablock organization for strategies, we reviewed listening skills and "reading your writing like it's gold" for partner sharing. Students read their story to a partner and recorded what they learned about the meaning of their story and how flashbacks and flashforwards strengthened the meaning. It was nice to see students "lean in" and learn.

H/W: Come in tomorrow with a new idea for a personal narrative. This can be an idea you already wrote about in your composition book. This is JUST the IDEA, not a written narrative. Also, highlight your writing goals on your Alphablocks. These are two or three goals you need to work towards in your writing.

Thank you! Have a good evening!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! I went to visit my daughter and her new puppy, and I have the little bite marks to prove it :)

Today we focused on paragraphing (organization of writing) and the strategies of using Flashforward and Flashback for elaboration.

For paragraphing, students learned the acronym of P.A.T.S as a reminder of when to indent. Everyone should have this in their notes. If you were absent, paragraph indentation is when there is a change of PLACE, a change in ACTION, a change in TIME, and a change in SPEAKER. Students went back into their narratives and wrote the paragraph symbol to indicate a new paragraph.

We discussed how flashbacks we have read added meaning to a narrative, and I would like everyone to have a flashback (a past true event) in their story. Another way to elaborate is with a flashforward, and this is when a narrator imagines an event (they are essentially daydreaming). The event has to be realistic and occurs at a time in the story where the narrator does not know the outcome. For example, in the mentor text the narrator doesn't know whether his kitty will live or die. He states, "I imagined I was 17 and brought the cat to Dr. Milk's..." This about how you daydream or create events in your mind when you are not sure how a problem will be resolved.

H/W: Your narrative should have a flashback and a flashforward. This is the narrative you chose as your piece to take through the writing process. Also, your narrative should be marked up with the paragraph symbol (like a backwards 'P') in the places where you should have started a paragraph but didn't. Students had time to work on this in class.

Enjoy this beautiful day!

Happy Friday!

We took a big breath today and stepped aside from all the hard work we have done this week. I thanked my students for all the effort they have put forth in writing...wow! Today was the time for finally sharing; this reminded me of actors when they are finally ready for an audience. Some of my students were at that point. Today we shared laughs and shed tears as students read their personal narratives aloud. All of us, as writers, realize so much about our writing when we hear it aloud. To hear a personal story in the author's voice makes it enormously meaningful, and many thanks to all who shared. Beautiful stories about meaningful moments, and, truly, you put us "in the moment."

One thought I came away with is that, overall, we need to revisit the story arcs and confirm that inner thoughts and feeling are being woven throughout the story...not just at the beginning or end.

H/W: Do you need to fine tune your elaboration? Be ready for it to be assessed on Monday. Do you need to tweak your story? Perhaps look at your checklist for Elaboration and Craft.

What a fabulous day! Enjoy your weekend, and I'll see you Monday.

Hello!

Today was an IMC day, and Ms. Sneider gave a Book Talk about "banned books." We were so surprised at some books that were on the "banned" shelf! Students could also check out books.

After re-envisioning their narratives and writing them last night (according to their story arc), students learned today how to "elaborate" on a scene in their writing. They learned why the elaboration adds meaning to their story and why it has to add meaning. With an elaboration, they are drawing a box around the part of the story upon which they can elaborate, and then they are writing their elaboration on the page after their story...they will fit it in later. If you typed your story, you can put your elaboration where it belongs; please highlight it or bold it so it is easy for me to see.

H/W: Due tomorrow (Friday)
Reread your story Find a spot where you can ZOOM in and write one scene only to elaborate a part of your story. Here are some suggestions to help you:

• Use the "Elaboration" part of your checklist to help guide you
• Choose a part of your story arc to pick your elaboration point
• Slow down the action to show what is happening
• Write telling actions and details
• Choose specific word choice and share your inner thoughts 
• Your elaboration must enhance the meaning of your story
• Think of a parallel moment - "Oh, this reminded me of the time when..."
• Think of moments that showed a change in relationship or circumstances, or a shift between old and new thinking.
• This can be a flashback, a dream, a connection to a song or poem
• Remember the bracelet story? That was an elaboration.

This is my favorite part of the writing process! Watch your story grow! Go for it!