JOSSEY-BASS TEACHER Jossey-Bass Teacher provides educators with practical knowledge and tools to create a positive and lifelong impact on student learning. We offer classroom-tested and research-based teaching resources for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. Whether you are an aspiring, new, or veteran teacher, we want to help you make every teaching day your best. From ready-to-use classroom activities to the latest teaching frame- work, our value-packed books provide insightful, practical, and compre- hensive materials on the topics that matter most to K–12 teachers. We hope to become your trusted source for the best ideas from the most experienced and respected experts in the field. WRITING The Teacher’s ACTIVITY-A-DAY 180+ Reproducible Prompts and Quick Writes for the Secondary Classroom Mary Ellen Ledbetter Copyright © 2010 by Mary Ellen Ledbetter All rights reserved. Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or oth- erwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600, or on the Web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, 201-748-6011, fax 201-748-6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Permission is given for individual classroom teachers to reproduce the pages and illustra- tions for classroom use. Reproduction of these materials for an entire school system is strictly forbidden. Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Jossey-Bass books and products are available through most bookstores. To contact Jossey-Bass directly call our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 800-956-7739, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3986, or fax 317-572-4002. Jossey-Bass also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ledbetter, Mary Ellen. The writing teacher’s activity-a-day: 180+ reproducible prompts and quick- writes for the secondary classroom / Mary Ellen Ledbetter. p. cm. -- (Jossey-Bass teacher) ISBN 978-0-470-46132-7 (pbk.) 1. English language—Composition and exercises—Study and teaching (Secondary)—Activity programs. I. Title. LB1631.L3385 2000 808’.0420712—dc22 2009036530 Printed in the United States of America first edition PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 WHAT MAKES THIS BOOK DIFFERENT As I travel to classrooms across the United States and Canada, I see an increasing need for quick, original, student-friendly activities that can be used as engagement strategies, extended to a day’s lesson, or become the basis of a mini-unit. Teachers want strategies that will focus student attention and at the same time address the needs of district and state curricula. These ready-to-use exercises provide writing models so that students will understand the necessary components of the final products. The format of the book provides teachers with a quick reference to effec- tively incorporate the writing, reading, and grammar skills presented into their own classrooms. Because these lessons can be graded orally (calling on three or four stu- dents or partners per day until a grading column is full), The Writing Teacher’s Activity-a-Day will quickly become a teacher’s best friend. When higher-level thinking, process, and product are expected every day, life- long learning occurs. • Short writing examples on any skill or in any mode are hard to find. One of the most time-consuming parts of a teacher’s preparation is finding samples that appeal to students. The activities provided in The Writing Teacher’s Activity-a-Day make the teacher’s job much easier. • Research proves that most writing assignments that fail do so because students do not have models on which to base their own final products. The writing samples and exercises in this book are designed to instill confidence in students so that they feel they can be successful in any writing-on-demand situation. v • Most books for writing teachers do not use writing samples to teach language arts terminology. The book is unique in that it is a collection of, for the most part, paragraph-length material that integrates writing, grammar, and reading strategies. • Some activities even provide step-by-step approaches to producing multi- paragraph essays, turning what is usually perceived by students to be an intimidating process into a much simpler, easy-to-accomplish task. • The Writing Teacher’s Activity-a-Day serves a variety of uses: Engagement exercises (warm-ups), bases for an entire period’s lesson, and approaches to mini-units. • All of the lessons are easy-to-access activities that can be used at any point in any curriculum. • The activities are student-friendly exercises that can be used as individual, partner, or whole-class assignments. • The format of the book allows for oral assessments in stages, to provide immediate feedback to student writersso that revisioncan occur during the process,ratherthanafterthefinal draft,whenthesestrategiesare toolate. How to Use the Sample Writings The short sample writings that make up most of the assignments have sev- eral purposes: • Research has shown that students need to study examples of good writ- ing every day to analyze the components and synthesize what makes the piece exemplary. Even if the teacher chooses only to read the pieces aloud and discuss the various aspects of the writing (such as structure, elab- oration, voice), learning has occurred. • The activities require that students take a more active role in their read- ing by applying a skill to the writing. When there are multiple activities, teachers are free to choose just one question, thus using the skill as an engagement activity, or all of the questions, broadening the scope of the lesson. vi The longer pieces can be used in several ways: • Essays in all modes are broken down into manageable parts (such as intro- duction; first, second, and third bodies; and conclusion) and can serve as an introduction to that form of writing. • The multiparagraph essays can provide a quick review of a mode just covered in class or serve as a reminder of certain types of writing that may appear on state tests. • Essays in all modes are easy-to-understand examples on which students can base their own multiparagraph writings. How the Book Is Structured The book is alphabetized by literary and compositional terms so that teachers can readily incorporate the exercises into their lesson plans as called for by their districts’ curricula. The grammatical terms are used as they apply to writing, not in isola- tion. For instance, the section on action verbs asks students not to simply identify the verbs but rather to concentrate on how action verbs are used as one method of elaboration in writing. This strategy enables students to see the connection between the use of grammar and the skill of writing. Activities focused on specific literary or reading terms present students with examples of these methods in a short piece of writing, which not only gives students practice in identifying literary vocabulary but also allows them to study how the same skills can be a natural part of their own writing. For instance, when students study the conflict section, which is divided into internal and external conflict, they simultaneously see the terms at work in an established piece and project how these same terms will apply to their own writing. Smiley-Face Tricks (Voice) Smiley-Face Tricks are being used in schools across the country as a con- crete way to conquer the abstract concept of voice. Countless teachers have testified to the success their students have had using the ‘‘tricks.’’ vii The quality of students’ writing improves dramatically, and students not only use the tricks in their writing but identify them in literature as well. These stylistic devices are in the book separately in alphabetical order, but having them together as a ready-to-use handout (with different examples) makes it even more convenient for teachers. Smiley-Face Tricks The name in parentheses credits the student writer of each example. 1. Magic Three. Three groups of words, usually separated by commas, that create a poetic rhythm or add support for a point, especially when the three word groups have their own modifiers. I am the water when the land turns stale with dryness, the curve when everything else is straight, and the only human in a world of aliens (Jerad). 2. Figurative Language. Nonliteral comparisons—such as similes, metaphors, and personification—add spice to writing and can help paint a more vivid picture for the reader. His fancy car ran like a hummingbird on a warm, silent day (Chris). 3. Specific Details for Effect. Instead of general, vague descriptions, specific sensory details help the reader visualize the person, place, thing, or idea being described. During our hunting adventures, boring, brown sticks would become rifles, my miniature poodle would turn into a fierce hunting dog, and teeny ant hills would grow before our eyes to monstrous mounds of dirt. We would travel through the knee-high grass that tickled our legs like spiders. When there was a slight breeze, we would take cover because we believed with all our hearts that it would soon become a horrible hurricane named Hunter (Samantha). 4. Repetition for Effect. Writers often repeat specially chosen words or phrases to make a point, to stress certain ideas for the readers. I never played Peter Pan and flew to Never-Never Land. I was never Cinderella getting ready for the ball to dance the night away with viii