Support Your Writing with Details!

Reading Workshop students, please copy and paste the latest writing topic about the book you are reading, "Could You be the Main Character?" To see more about this project you can see all responses to this topic on the Question Board.

Fictional Writing Project

1.  Can be by yourself or with a partner (shared writing on Google Docs).
2.  Must have problems building to a climax.
3.  Must use dialogue with correct paragraphing and punctuation
4.  Must have a main character and at least one supporting character
5.  The setting should play into the story
6.  End with a purpose

Want some easy steps to follow? Here are some tips from an earlier blog post.

The first step to writing a story involves making some decisions.

How many characters will there be?

What are the names of the characters?

Who is the main character?

Where does the story take place?

When does the story take place?

What will happen in the story?

What problems occur?

How will the problems be solved?

What moral or lesson will be learned?

Start Here

1.  Create your characters and develop their characteristics and physical traits.  Is there a villain and what is he/she like?  How does the bad guy impact the story?

2.  Create the setting.  Where and when does the story take place?  How does the setting impact the story?

3.  Create the problem or conflict?  What minor problems will build tension leading to the climax?  How will the main character react when faced with the main problem/conflict?

4. What crisis will occur at the last minute which will grab the reader and give the main character a last chance to solve the problem?  Plan for a fingernail biting moment.

5. How will the main character solve the problem?  What positive attribute like courage, creativity, or intelligence does he/she possess which will help him succeed?

6.  Finish with style.  What lesson does the main character learn?  How will the reader connect and learn from the moral?

Organization for Writing a Response Post

The assignment to students was to write a blog post about how the main character in the book they are reading responds to problems he/she faces using specific details from the text to support their points.  

These are the two methods of organizing the essay:

¶1  Introduction—Title, author, purpose for writing, and describe the problem
¶2  First Response—How the character reacted and details to support it.
¶3  Second Response—How the character reacted and details to support it.
¶4  Third Response—How the character reacted and details to support it.
¶5  Closing—wrap it up

or

¶1  Introduction should include the title, author, and purpose (what you are going to write about)
¶2  First Problem's Response—How the character reacted and details to support it.
¶3  Second Problem's Response—How the character reacted and details to support it.
¶4  Third Problem's Response—How the character reacted and details to support it.
¶5  Closing

By the way, you can write more paragraphs. :)

If Russell was a Student Here . . .

Well, the easiest thing to say is Russell would be the same everywhere.  But do you act the same at school as you do at home?  Would you act the same at a new school?

But, you are who you are, right?  No one really changes too much, do they?

As we continue the read aloud of The Revealers, share your opinion about Russell at Laurelville on the wall.

Does Integrity Matter to a Sixth Grader?

Integrity--Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code.

The Mad River Theater performed at Laurelville on Wednesday.   They did a play written by Bob Lucas about Lewis Latimer, an African American Inventor who lived in the late 1800's.  The play recapped Latimer's life, his struggles and his successes.

The performance ended with the song, Honesty, Integrity, and Pride.  These character traits were representative of Latimer's life.  This prods the question, does integrity matter to a sixth grader?  Should it?  

Thinking back to the read aloud of Freak the Mighty, and having watched the film, The Mighty, I was thinking about Kevin's view of integrity.  How does it compare to yours?  In a few words, does your integrity guide how you live?

What's Your Story?

In Reading Workshop we are continuing the read aloud of The Revealers by Doug Wilhelm.  In this story about life in  middle school, three students, Russell, Catalina, and Elliot are drawn together due to being targets for bullies at Parkland Middle School.

As the aggression heightens, Catalina decides to share her story.  She reveals that she was forced to move to the USA from the Philippines when her parents divorce.  She comes to America with her father based on the chance for a better education.

This brings up the question for Reading Workshop students, what is your story?  If you were new to the school, and wrote a story for peers, what would it say?

Writing a Fictional Narrative

The next project in Reading Workshop will be to write a fictional narrative.  Students will begin with some pre-writing and planning activities.  Then, their stories will be told chapter by chapter on their blog.

The first step to writing a story involves making some decisions.

How many characters will there be?

What are the names of the characters?

Who is the main character?

Where does the story take place?

When does the story take place?

What will happen in the story?

What problems occur?

How will the problems be solved?

What moral or lesson will be learned?

Start Here

1.  Create your characters and develop their characteristics and physical traits.  Is there a villain and what is he/she like?  How does the bad guy impact the story?

2.  Create the setting.  Where and when does the story take place.  How does the setting impact the story?

3.  Create the problem or conflict?  What minor problems will build tension leading to the climax?  How will the main character react when faced with the main problem/conflict?

4. What crisis will occur at the last minute which will grab the reader and give the main character a last chance to solve the problem?  Plan for a fingernail biting moment.

5. How will the main character solve the problem?  What positive attribute like courage, creativity, or intelligence does he/she possess which will help him succeed?

6.  Finish with style.  What lesson does the main character learn?  How will the reader connect and learn from the moral?

And now, WRITE!

Harry Potter Fans, Check This Out

If you are a Harry Potter fan, or are considering reading J.K. Rowling's series, Bethanie has a lot of information on her site, Bethanie's World.  There are detailed descriptions of all of the characters, with enough facts to help understand the books.

As students in Reading Workshop, continue to build their blogs, post by post, Bethanie's site clearly demonstrates the value and benefit of student blogs.  She has maximized the opportunity, finding her voice as a writer while sharing interesting information for Harry Potter fans everywhere.

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/imnotpolish/438079633/sizes/s/

What Character Could You Be?

As we continue the read aloud of Larger-Than-Life LARA, written by Dandi Daley Mackall in Reading Workshop, the characters are coming alive. This book has a wide variety of characters, each explained in enough detail so that the reader can identify with them. In fact, Dandi makes it easy for the reader to picture him/herself in the book.

Laney, the main character was described in detail in the post Laney is Larger-Than-Life.

LARA is new student at Paris Elementary School. No matter how mean someone is to her, she is nice. She responds to meanness by being kind with a friendly poem. She thinks independently, and always has a smile. She is huge, so fat that she blocks the light around her coming into the door, and needed a special chair and desk.

Joey Gilbert is a leader. Laney does not like him, but he is a hero to the other boys in the class. He is the class bully. He is mean to LARA and picks on other people. He is a good baseball player, but he won't let the girls play.

Wayne is the class clown. He laughs the loudest, and thinks everything is funny, even when he doesn't know what is going on. He is Joey's sidekick.

Maddie is the class princess. She has pretty blonde hair, and thinks she is all that. She wears all the latest styles, dressing like the high school girls. She wants to be the center of attention. She wants everyone to know who she likes and who she doesn't.

Sarah is a follower. She is insecure and usually doesn't think for herself. She wants to fit in with the popular crowd. Every decision she makes is based on what Maddie says and does.

The brothers (Laney's) are mean, skip school, don't like Laney or appreciate what she does. They argue and fight constantly.

Laney's dad has a bad temper, hates his job (and his life). He drinks way too much.

Good readers can relate to characters based on one trait, or many. To enjoy a book though, the reader must understand the characters. Frequently, one characteristic shared between the reader and someone in the story creates involvement and connects the reader to the story.

What character are you connected to? How are you connected?
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