I went with four other wonderful women from my school, and we all had high hopes for the workshop {the words "life" and "changing" were thrown around a lot ...}. Lucy didn't disappoint! She was candid, to the point, and gave awesome tips. One thing I thought was really interesting was her thoughts on the Common Core. Among other things, she emphasized that writing is much more thoroughly woven into our reading standards than it has been in the past.
Most importantly, a full three standards - across grade levels - are dedicated to reading like a writer. Meaning, noticing the word choice, imagery, and decisions writers made as they wrote, and how those decisions affected the reader.
Internally I gave a little {wahoo!!!}, because literally the NEXT day I was coming in to begin my "Show, Don't Tell," unit with my kids - focusing on kids making inferences and writing so that their readers can make inferences from the text, to determine a character's feelings and character traits. All wrapped up in a game of CHARADES!
{like a fool!}, "Jake was hungry and wanted pancakes for breakfast." BORING! So we did a little "air writing" in partners (thanks, Lucy, for the tip!!), and came up with some awesome writing (see above)!
After doing a little practice together, we brought out the game of charades! The kids drew a card, and acted the "telling" passage on it. Then their partner write a "showing" passage to describe what the actor did!
Jeff crawled out of his cozy, warm bed clutching his grumbly, bumpy stomach. He stepped down the wooden stairs. Smelling cold air, "Mmmm," he said. "Mom!" |
If you're interested in using this unit, check out my TpT store for the entire unit.
In the mean time, enjoy the following freebie!- print, cut out and attach these paddles to sticks - any time you're doing a read-aloud your kids can hold up "showing!" when they hear a passage with great language, and "telling!" when they hear a boring passage. :)
Click here to download the freebie {from Google Docs}. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
Awesome post! I love it! I'm going to see Lucy in San Antonio in April.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to feature your post on my Writing Facebook page.
www.facebook.com/youhavethewritestuff
Thanks for sharing!
Shelley
Shelley - Thanks so much for featuring my post! I LOVE writing and think it does so much for our kids to improve their thinking AND give them an outlet.
ReplyDelete1. YAY I found your blog :)
ReplyDelete2. I love the idea of "Show, don't tell", I've pinned it for next year !
I am a 4th grade ELA teacher and need some help on how to teach narrative writing. What steps should I take to teach this type of writing? I need like an little outline for myself on what to teach first and then next. Can anyone help with this?
ReplyDeleteCan you help me with some show and tells
ReplyDelete