writing about an experience that taught you a lesson for life
This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Nevada teacher Marilyn Hoffman at an AT&T-sponsored in-service class for teachers.
The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the chapter book Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 2 of this book.
If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.
Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :
Pre-step…before sharing the published model: Begin a class discussion about rules - Who has them and why do they have them? Explore reasons behind rules/laws in government, at home, at school. Could we possibly have personal rules like the main character in Bud, Not Buddy?
Step one (sharing the published model): Read Chapter 2 in Bud, Not Buddy. Have the students pay special attention to the rules and to what prompted Bud to create them. Is his idea for each rule explained clearly? Listen to how word choice sets the mood and tone.
Step two (introducing student models of writing): In small groups, have your students read and respond to any or all of the student models that come with this lesson. The groups will certainly talk about the idea development, since that's the focus of this lesson, but you might also have your students talk about the organization in the writing too.
We're looking for student samples for all grade levels for this prompt! Help us get some, and we'll send you a free resource for your classroom! Contact us at publish@writingfix.com for details.
Step three (thinking and pre-writing):The Interactive Button Game on the Student Instructions Page might get your students thinking about times when they learned lessons that could lead to a "rule for life," like Bud's rules.
Using the graphic organizer below, writers will brainstorm experiences from their pasts where they learned lesson, and that warranted personal rules to live by. Encourage students to write a single, descriptive sentence that has a story hiding behind it. For example, "While running through the desert with my cousin, I slammed my foot into a prickly cactus" is one sentence that obviously has a story behind it.
After all students have at least five sentences on their brainstorming sheet, partner them up to tell each other the stories behind their sentences. Tell students they need to decide which story would make the best piece of writing for this assignment, and they can base their decision on which story would bring out the best details and word choices.
Before students begin writing their stories, be sure they can answer this framed sentence: "A personal rule I have for life is ____, and I have an interesting story of how I learned that rule." Allow students who have trouble starting their rough drafts to use this sentence frame as their story's introduction.
The second lesson resource below is a drafting sheet with an embedded idea development checklist; after students have written their drafts, they can rank their own use of idea development using the checklist on the second page.
Step four (revising with specific trait language): To promote response and revision to rough draft writing, attach WritingFix's Revision and Response Post-Its to your students' drafts. Make sure the students rank their use of the trait-specific skills on the Post-Its, which means they'll only have one "1" and one "5." Have them commit to ideas for revision based on their Post-It rankings. For more ideas on WritingFix's Revision & Response Post-Its, click here.
Step five (editing for conventions): After students apply their revision ideas to their drafts and re-write neatly, require them to find an editor. If you've established a "Community of Editors" among your students, have each student exchange his/her paper with multiple peers. With yellow high-lighters in hand, each peer reads for and highlights suspected errors for just one item from the Editing Post-it. The "Community of Editors" idea is just one of dozens and dozens of inspiring ideas that is talked about in detail in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Workbook for Teachers.
Step six (publishing for the portfolio): When they are finished revising and have second drafts, invite your students to come back to this piece once more during an upcoming writer's workshop block. Their stories might become a longer story, a more detailed piece, or the beginning of a series of pieces about the story they started here. Students will probably enjoy creating an illustration for this story as they get ready to publish it for their portfolios.
Interested in publishing student work on-line? We invite student writers to post final drafts of their original at WritingFix's Community of Student Writers. This is a safe-to-use blog for students and teachers. No writing is posted until it is approved by the moderator. Contact us at publish@writingfix.com if you have questions about getting your students published.
Learn more about author Christopher Paul Curtis by clicking here.
