Dana Kleppinger

EDUC 432 Childrens Literature in the Writing Curriculum

June 23 27, 2014

Your Turn Lesson 1

Hook: Use Home Run to demonstrate exploding the moment and improve narrative
writing.


Options for Mentor Texts:
1. Rim Shots: Basketball Pix, Rolls, and Rhythm by Charles Smith
2. Home Run: the story of Babe Ruth by Robert Burleigh
3. The Girl on the High-Diving Horse by Linda High
4. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow
5. The Things They Carried: Tim OBrien

Purpose/Domain Focus: This lesson is focusing on the idea of content and helping
students add details to Narrative writing.


Brainstorm: Students will create a graphic organizer (heart map, hand map, location
map, or list) of their choice and write down any moment theyve experienced that was
impactful.


Model: After providing about 5-10 minutes for students to pre-write, I will share with
them a graphic organizer that I have created about meaning events in my life. Then I will
circle the three that I think I will be able to write the most about. I will model through
thinking aloud.


Shared/Guided Writing: Students will pair / share with a neighbor about their list for a
few minutes. Then students will circle their top three choices. The whole class will play
musical chairs with the music stopping three times. Each time the music stops, the
students will discuss a different circled topic / idea.


Independent Writing: Students will choose one of their three ideas. They will write a
one-page paper demonstrating exploding the moment using the topic they selected.


Reflection: The teacher will ask for a few student volunteers to share out with the whole
class. Possible clarifying questions from the teacher:
~ What was the most difficult part of the process of writing today?
~ Did you incorporate dialogue? Why or why?
~ What were some strong action verbs you used?
~ Did you have a hook / lead?
~ If you were to revise this piece, what would you change, add, or omit?
~ What tense did you use? Why?


Optional Steps
Write and reflect again: Writers conference with at least one other student and discuss
their exploding the moment. Based on peer feedback, the students will work on adding at
least one new element to their original exploding the moment one pager.


Goal Setting: Students create an individual specific writing goal and write the goal
inside of their writing folders. After the next assigned writing, students will return to the
folders and reflect on the previous goal.



Your Turn Lesson 2

Hook: Use On the Rainy River as a mentor text to improve sentence fluency in student
writing.


Options for Mentor Texts:
1. The Things They Carried by Tim OBrien (Short story On the Rainy River)
2. Into Thin Air by Jon Krakuer (chapter 6)
3. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
5. Dogteam by Gary Paulsen
6. The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Henry Wordsworth Longsfellow
7. Last Night I Sang to the Monster by Benjamin Alire Saenz


Purpose/Domain Focus: Students will focus on the style component of their writing by
developing sentence fluency skills.


Brainstorm: Show students a photograph that is an image without any words on the
page. Give students about five minutes to write down what they think is happening in the
picture.


Model: The teacher reads the first few pages of the short story On the Rainy River
from the novel The Things They Carried. As the teacher reads, the students analyze the
text for fluency. The teacher facilitates a discussion about what works well in the short
story.


Shared/Guided Writing: After teacher finishes reading, students share / pair for two
minutes to reflect on what they have written about the photograph. As a whole class, the
teacher guides a discussion about what techniques are used to create strong sentence
fluency.


Independent Writing: Students use the pre-write from the photograph to practice
sentence fluency. They will write about one page utilizing both short and long sentences.


Reflection: Students will share out in a large group setting. After each student reads,
other students will provide feedback related to fluency. The teacher might ask the
following clarifying questions:
~ Why is it sometimes powerful to write in short sentences?
~ What is the effect of using a long sentence?
~ How does fluency make comprehension easier?
~ Does fluent writing read like poetry?
~ What conscious choices did you make in your writing to address fluency?

Optional Steps
Write and reflect again: Students choose one paragraph from any previous piece in their
writing notebooks. They will revise the one paragraph by focusing on sentence fluency
and utilizing the strategies discussed during class.


Goal Setting: Students create an individual specific writing goal and write the goal
inside of their writing folders. After the next assigned writing, students will return to the
folders and reflect on the previous goal.