This Lesson's Title:

A Time Traveler's Log

Who are you and where (or when) are you going?

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Nevada teacher Teresa Gil 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 novel The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author, especially from chapter 4 of the book.

Check out The Time Machine 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:

Students will read chapter four of The Time Machine, noting both the time traveler’s descriptions of the new world of 800,000 ACE, and the conclusions the main character draws as a 19^th century man.  Students will think of a time-traveling character and setting (time and place) they will send that character.  Students will then create a two-paragraph (minimum) description that focuses on a) interesting details of the setting, and b) what conclusions the time traveler makes in this new time. Teachers: click here to read the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait for this writing assignment is idea development; memorable details about the time and place the traveler has ventured to should make up the majority of the students' writing here.  The support trait  for this writing assignment is voice; students must try and capture an authentic-sounding voice of their chosen characters.

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 July 2008'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.