MISS CATHERINE’S CLASS

January 19-23, 2015

WRITING WORKSHOP

Before we begin…

…Please make sure that you have your

White Binder on your desk for this

workshop.

GREAT WRITERS…

…plan their writing by thinking about the

moral. Great writers add conflicts to their

stories because conflicts are what make

stories interesting.

I’m going to tell you guys a story…

…then you tell me what you think.

GREAT WRITERS…Once upon a time, there was a boy named John.

John was tall and handsome and everything always went well for him. He´d wake up in the morning and brush his teeth and comb his hair so he always looked good. All the girls at school loved John. He got all A´s on his tests because he studied everyday and remembered everything he read. His teachers loved him too. One day a boy at school said something really mean to John. He was jealous of John. John just shrugged. It didn´t bother him. That day he walked home from school. Several girls followed him, giggling. He waved at them and crossed the street and walked another two blocks home. Nothing else happened on the way home. His mom made him dinner. It was delicious. John went to bed and slept well. The next day he woke up and did the same perfect day again. The End.

GREAT WRITERS…

What do you think? Do you feel like something is

missing?• Tension? Conflict? Problems? Drama?

Stories are boring without drama.

How can we add drama to John´s life? A central

conflict is what drives a story and makes it

interesting.• Turn and talk to your partners about what problems

or conflicts we can add to John’s life.

GREAT WRITERS…

Remember, there are lots of kinds of conflicts.

Let’s discuss them. Conflicts can usually be

described as main character vs. ______________

(write on board)

Examples…

EXAMPLE OF MAIN CHARACTER VS. OTHER CHARACTER…

• Ex. two characters want different things or the same thing but can’t share, maybe they’re competing for something, or perhaps they believe in different ideas—what could this look like? How can we describe this…in writing?

EXAMPLE OF MAIN CHARACTER VS. SHARK (OR NATURE)

• Storms, hunger, a character could be sick, animals, a journey, surviving in the wild or the desert, etc.

• Ex. John went camping and got lost in the woods. How might be survive? What skills might he need?

EXAMPLE OF MAIN CHARACTER VS. HIMSELF.

• May be the most abstract but also the most common to all of us.

• Think about a time in your life when you had to make a decision but you didn’t know what to do….our characters can have the same problems, not sure what to do or what to believe, they struggle with decisions and ideas inside themselves…..

John’s brother steals a

car & crashes it one

night, but nobody finds

out, except John. Should

John keep it a secret &

protect his brother or

tell his mom

what

happened? What is the

right thing to do?

GREAT WRITERS…Let’s think about our characters that we’ve been writing

about…we all have great characters and now we even have

a setting.

Let’s make sure that our characters have a conflict, so that

the reader is interested and our stories aren’t boring.

This doesn’t mean we need to create a lot of action and

fighting and explosions, but we do need a conflict, we need

a problem that our characters struggle with.

GREAT WRITERS…Think about your character, what problem can you give

them? • Will it be character vs. character, character vs. nature,

character vs. him/herself? • Turn and talk to a partner about your idea and remember that

the problem should involve your character’s belief system.

Now I’d like you to write that problem down in your white

binders.

This won’t be part of your story, but it will give you an idea

you can use when you go back to writing your story.

5-Minute Break

READING WORKSHOP…

Before we begin…

Please make sure that you all have your

reading (red) notebooks on your desks.

GREAT READERS……pay attention to story elements.

All fiction stories have some common elements known as

story elements.

Writers of fiction use these elements to build meaning in

their stories.

As readers of fiction, we pay attention to the elements of

a story—characters, setting, conflict, plot and resolution—

in order to build our understanding of stories.

• Today, we are going to read a story from Birthday Surprises called “Don’t be an Uncle Max,” by David Adler.

• As we read, you should identify the elements of the story in order to build our understanding.

• As we learn about each of the elements, let’s make a note in our red notebooks.

GREAT READERS…WOW!! Joanne has not done her homework in

months!! And her mother does not seem

pleased. I wonder how that is going to play a

role in the rest of the story…

Let’s write down the names of the characters

we’ve met in our notebooks… • Joanne, her mom, Uncle Max and Mrs.

Taylor.

GREAT READERS…What have we learned about the problem or conflict in

the story? What did you notice? Who is the conflict

between?• Turn & Talk to your partner.

Wouldn’t you agree…the conflict is between Joanne

and her parents.

What do you guys think Joanne thinks about Uncle

Max? And what do her parents think about him? • Turn & Talk to your partner.

GREAT READERS…Now that we’ve completed the story, think

about the ending and Uncle Max’s gift.• Turn & Talk to your partner about the ending

and how the conflict is resolved.

Let’s take a minute to write in preparation for

conversation. What do you think about Uncle Max’s

present? How does that fit with the rest of the

story? Why did he send it?

GREAT READERS…Do you think the conflict was resolved? Do

you think Joanne’s parents changed their

minds about Max? Why?

As readers of fiction, it is important that we

identify the story elements while we read.

This allows us to deepen our understanding

of what the story is about.

GREAT READERS…

Now would be a

good time for you

to take out your

independent

reading books and

complete a chart

based on those

stories.

5-Minute Break

WRITING WORKSHOP

Before we begin…

…Please make sure that you have your

White Binder on your desk for this

workshop.

GREAT WRITERS……plan their stories with a story map. What do

you see? What is

this used for?

Turn & Talk to your partners to discuss…

GREAT WRITERS…We call this technical drawing a blueprint. A

blueprint is a detailed outline or plan of action

and is used in architecture. But why do we make them?

Because you can’tbuild a

house w/out a plan.

Just like architects make

blueprints before they build,

writers use story maps to

plan their stories.

GREAT WRITERS…In the past few mini lessons, we have planned for

our characters, setting, and conflict.

Now it’s time to focus on the big picture and create

story maps.

A story map is a strategy that uses a graphic

organizer to help you plan out the elements of your

story such as the characters, setting, problem,

solution, moral, etc.

GREAT WRITERS…Let’s make believe I’m

going to write a fiction

story…

Title: Suzy Sleeps Over

Setting: Suzy’s house,

Lisa’s room

Characters: Suzy, Lisa,

Suzy’s mom, Suzy’s dad,

Lisa’s mom

GREAT WRITERS…Conflict: Suzy is scared to

take her little Oxxo phone

to Lisa’s house. She is

scared that Lisa will laugh

at her.

GREAT WRITERS…Resolution: Lisa ended up

having an Oxxo phone too.

Suzy changed her mind

about bringing hers

because Lisa had an Oxxo

phone too.

Theme: Friends accept

each other just the way

they are.

GREAT WRITERS…Now it’s your turn to try…

draw this story map in your

white binders.

With your other prewrite

notes, complete the story

map.

When finished, turn and

talk to your partner and

share your story map.

GREAT WRITERS…As we know, the prewrite step of the writing

process is very important because it makes us

more prepared and organized to write a draft.

In fictional writing, having a story map really

helps us picture our story.

Remember that just like architects use

blueprints to design what they want to

construct, writers use story maps to plan what

will happen in their stories.

5-Minute Break

WRITING WORKSHOP

Before we begin…

…Please make sure that you have your

White Binder on your desk for this

workshop.

GREAT WRITERS……grab their readers by beginning with the

setting.Can anyone

tell me

where this

is?

This is a

place. Or

what we call

a setting in a

story.

GREAT WRITERS…By beginning my story with a setting I can

introduce the reader to where my character

lives and introduce what religion he celebrates

or maybe describe his culture.

So at the beginning of my story I need to

create a Setting for my story and I can do that

by describing a place where my story begins.

GREAT WRITERS…If I use the picture we just saw I could start

with…

The big square had many people. The bells

of the old and beautiful Cathedral rang

loudly as people rushed to mass. Balloon

sellers shouted. You could hear the sound of

the water of the fountain in the center of the

square. Children ran and laughed and some

clowns made groups of people gather by the

street. It was a hot sunny day.

GREAT WRITERS…Turn and talk with your partners and tell

them some other ideas you could add to this

setting.

So maybe you want to begin your story in an

attractive way, be mysterious and put your

character into a context, before telling your

readers anything about him…remember you

can do that by beginning with the setting.

5-Minute Break

WRITING WORKSHOP

Before we begin…

…Please make sure that you have your

White Binder on your desk for this

workshop.

GREAT WRITERS……grab their readers by beginning with

action or with a conflict to hook the reader.

How, you may ask?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz5JmgL

QEzs

GREAT WRITERS…  If this movie started by talking about the

science of making dinosaurs, a lot of people

would be bored.

But instead, it started with action, and

introducing the main conflict… man vs.

dinosaur (nature).

GREAT WRITERS…  Raise your hand if you’ve ever picked up a

book, read the first page and were immediately

bored. • Maybe you thought, this book is already boring

and I just started it, maybe you changed books right away…sound familiar?

One way we can hook our readers is by

starting the story with action or a conflict.

GREAT WRITERS…This hooks the reader in right away.

There are lots of ways to start a story

instead of just saying: “Once upon a time,

there was a girl named…”

 Let’s think about some books or stories

that started with action or conflict…• Who remembers the “Harry Houdini” book?

Does anyone remember how it began?

GREAT WRITERS…• How about the book, “The Raft”? Does

everyone remember how that book starts with Nicky being all sad because he’s going to be stuck with his grandmother in the woods with nothing to do? Conflict?

In any story, characters have problems or

conflicts. One thing we can do as writers is

start with a problem.

Sometimes that means we can start with an

action…

GREAT WRITERS…

Shorty ran! The people of the Silent Tribe all ran after him with large nets. Of course, they didn´t shout because they didn´t believe in noise. But they were really angry with Shorty for playing his trumpet at night during the dinner ceremony. If he didn´t escape, he might never make noise again. He held onto his trumpet tightly and ran as fast as he could across the meadow.

GREAT WRITERS…Of course, sometimes the conflict isn´t an

action• Sometimes the problem is when a character

doesn´t know what to do or has to make a tough decision.

Shorty didn´t know what to do. The Silent Tribe forbade loud noises. They considered the silence to be sacred. But Shorty just had to make noise. He was a trumpet player! How could he live with the Silent Tribe and never play his trumpet? He sat and ate his food with his new, quiet friends, and thought about this problem.

GREAT WRITERS…Let´s think about the characters you have

been writing about. What problem or conflict

do they have? What´s an exciting event or

action that you have thought about writing?

Could you start your story with it?• Let´s all take 20 seconds and think about our

characters, the settings, and how we can start a story with a conflict.

• Turn and talk…share ideas with a partner.

GREAT WRITERS…Remember, there are many ways to start a

story.

Great writers can start a story with action or

a conflict to hook the reader in.

What do you think?

5-Minute Break

READING WORKSHOP…

Before we begin…

Please make sure that you all have your

reading (red) notebooks on your desks.

GREAT READERS……pay attention to the characters in the story.

Writers of fiction develop their characters in two

ways:• Directly and indirectly.

Sometimes writers tell us specific details about a

character, such as the color of his or her hair or that a

character has a particular hobby…this is known as

direct characterization.

GREAT READERS…

More often than not,

though, readers must

analyze a character

through the writer’s use

of indirect

characterization.

As readers, we make

inferences based on how a

character acts, thinks and

speaks.

GREAT READERS…As we read, we ask ourselves questions about wy

characters do certain things, what makes them think a

certain way, or why they say something in a particular

manner.

Ultimately, these questions help us figure out who

these characters are.

Today, we are going to read “Promises” by Ellen

Conford.

GREAT READERS…We will pay attention to what we learn about

the characters and how.

After we read the story, we will move into a

conversation about our thinking.

Start a new page in your Reading (red)

Notebooks for this story and be ready to stop

and make notes.

GREAT READERS…So, what do we know so far? What characters have we

met?• Turn & Talk to your partners.• We have met the narrator (whose name we don’t know) and

her friends Laura, Melanie and Tracy. Tracy didn’t give the narrator a birthday present. Hmm…that is interesting, No?

We have gathered some information about the characters.• Turn & Talk to your partners about what we have learned

so far.

GREAT READERS…We are learning about the characters from

their actions & words.• Stop and make a note about something you have

learned or something you want to remember.

What do you think Tracy means by “empty

promises”? • Turn & Talk to your partners.

GREAT READERS…What do you think Tracy means by saying the box is

empty like the narrator’s promises? Write down your

ideas…

Everyone now should take a minute to read over all of

their notes…then let’s share our thoughts about this story

and what we learned about the characters from their

actions, thinking and dialogue.

What do you think about this story? Who wants to begin

the conversation?

GREAT READERS…Let’s talk about the characters and what we learned

about them through their actions, thinking and

dialogue.

By analyzing characters’ actions, thoughts and

dialogue, we understand who the characters are and

how they are integral to the story.

Let’s keep this in mind as we continue to pay

attention to characters in our own reading of fiction.