This Lesson's Title:

"Knot" the Whole Truth

writing a modern-day story with a tall tale's voice

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Northern Nevada teacher Patty Dalton during 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 Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 20 of the book.

Check out Maniac Magee at Amazon.com.

If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

The writer will analyze and discuss the tall tale format after reading Jerry Spinelli’s tale of Cobble’s Knot, told in Chapter 20 of Maniac Magee.  Then writers will need to create an interesting character in a special situation which would allow them to stretch the truth in an imaginative tale.  The interactive button game will provide writers with possible options from which to create their “whoppers.”  Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is voice; the writer’s goal is to create an outlandish tale conveying emotion or emphasis through figurative language and conversational style.  The support trait in this assignment is word choice; writers will pay attention to using appropriate metaphors and similes, modeled after Jerry Spinelli’s spectacular use of both.

Recipient of the NNWP's
Excellent Writing Lesson Award:

Because of the quality of its resources and ideas, this WritingFix lesson was selected by the Northern Nevada Writing Project as September 2007's Writing Lesson of the Month. It was e-mailed to thousands of teachers who are members of the NNWP's Writing Lesson of the Month Teacher Network.

To find out how to become a member of this free network, click here to visit the NNWP's webpage. You can have a link to a high-quality writing lesson sent to you every month.