This Lesson's Title:

Just the Facts, Ma'am

bringing in Joe Friday to solve an original and silly mystery

This lesson was created by NNWP Teacher Consultant Corbett Harrison. Check out all of Corbett's on-line lessons by clicking here.

The intended "mentor text" to be used when teaching this on-line lesson is the picture book The Web Files by Margie Palatini. Before writing, students should listen to and discuss the writing style of this book's author.

Check out The Web Files at Amazon.com.

Washoe County teachers, click here to search for this book at the county library.

Three-Sentence Overview of this Lesson:

Students will create a three-scene story that parodies an episode of Dragnet.  In their scenes, a serious-sounding, hard-boiled detective will both narrate and ask questions of suspects and witnesses.  Using Margie Palatini's marvelous Dragnet parody, The Web Files, as an inspiration, writers will create a detective story with voice and with correctly punctuated dialogue. Teachers: Click here to see 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 a character who both narrates and interrogates in a Joe Friday-like way.  The support trait in this assignment is conventions; before students create a final draft, require them to double- and triple-check their dialogue  and comma punctuation, especially for instances of direct addresses, as in "Just the facts, [comma] Ma'am."