This Lesson's Title:

Other Bad Cases to Write about

solving an original character's problem with voice and emotion

This lesson was built for WritingFix after being proposed by Northern Nevada teacher
Annalisa Walker.

The intended "mentor text" to use when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Click here to view this book 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 plan an original story where an unusual affliction affects a character and is eventually solved. The students will use strong and memorable details as they convey their original "bad case of ___" stories. In their final drafts, students will attempt to make their readers feel the same emotions that their story characters feel. Teachers: Click here to see the entire lesson plan.

6-Trait Overview for this Lesson:

The focus trait in this writing assignment is idea development; strong details that "paint pictures on the reader's mind" should be encouraged throughout the writing process.  The support trait in this assignment is voice; during drafting and revision, students should be encouraged to add emotional words to help convey their characters' plights.