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This Lesson's Title:
Silly Animal Problems
writing an original story that has been thoughtfully sequenced
This lesson idea was proposed by Northern Nevada teacher Laina Flemming. |
The intended "mentor text" to be used w hen teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book Dog Breath by Dav Pilkey. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.
Click here to inquire about this book's availability at Amazon.com.
If you are a Washoe County teacher, click here to search for this book at the county library. |
Teacher Instructions & Lesson Resources :
Step one (sharing the published model): Dav Pilkey’s story Dog Breath involves a family's distress over their dog, Hally Tosis, and his horrible breath. The author uses a unique approach to writing about this ordinary topic, which is a sub-skill of the writing trait Idea Development. The writing activity below is centered around ordinary animals with interesting problems. What student wouldn’t want to write about a horse that is too hairy or too short?
Teachers should point out, as they read the book aloud, what the author has done particularly well to tie together the writings and illustrations in the story of Hally Tosis. The problems that Hally faces are wonderfully described with great details. Pilkey gives equal time (through his descriptions) to each piece of the story, which is called pacing.
Challenge students to think of an original story idea of an animal with a silly problem. The interactive word game on the student instructions page will give them unique ideas on which they can base their stories.
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Step two (introducing 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 , because of the discussion tool that has been included with each model. You might prompt your students to talk about each model's organization as well.
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Step three (thinking and pre-writing): If your students are struggling to hatch an idea for an original story idea, the interactive button game on the student instruction page might inspire your students through its random combining of animal options with ideas for "silly problems." Students can certainly find successful ideas for this writing prompt through discussion and brainstorming away from the computer, but the computer word game is a great generator of ideas and possibilities. Once students have chosen an animal with a silly problem for their stories, the pre-writing worksheet below (along with the teacher model for the overhead) is a tool that was specifically designed for this on-line lesson idea.
For pre-writing, have students use the worksheet below to begin thinking up unique story details. Once students are preparing to move from the worksheet to a draft, remind them to front load their original stories with memorable descriptions that really help us visualize the problems their animals might face.
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Step four (revising with specific trait language): Tools for revision are provided below. You can use one or both, depending on how much time you have to spend on this assignment.
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.
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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.
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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.
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Learn more about Dav Pilkey's books
by clicking here!
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