Today, we took off the gloves and got our hands dirty in a workshop! Students worked in small groups with writers of their own feather.
- Choose a piece to workshop. Students received their name pieces. They chose whether to work more on the name piece or the place piece.
- Pre-workshop questions. Students answered questions to direct their workshopping experience on this sheet: Writer’s Workshop. At the top, you write Writer’s Workshop #1, your name, your editors’ names, and the piece you chose to work on.
- Workshop rules. Students received Memoir Writing Workshops (W1). We went over the guidelines. Key points: What to Add? (paint the picture), Seek and Destroy (words like “important,” “unique,” and sentences that only tell instead of showing), Show–don’t tell (Telling = “I love my name” while Showing = “My name lingers in my ears, spoken softly by my mother at bedtime.”), How to Critique (“I think your piece starts getting off track…” “I couldn’t really follow how these sentences connect…” “Could you explain this part to me?” “I guess I wasn’t as interested in this part… It seems like your main focus should be…”)
- The MLA Format Header Song! Ask your kids about this one! Used for every English class from here to eternity. “My name – Your name – Class comma Period – Due date Month Year!”
- The workshop. Students read their pieces aloud, asked for what worked, what there needed to be more of, and what needed to be cut. Finally, they made a checklist on the Writer’s Workshop # 1 sheet, which they will be responsible for following through on for Tuesday.
HW: Complete revision of Name Piece or Place Piece. Typed. See details on W1, in your Homework folder, or here: Memoir Writing Workshop.
Students who did not get enough feedback can email me their piece. I will give you some pointers… Gladly! alexa.garvoille@dpsnc.net
Have a great holiday weekend everyone! We’ve got some amazing writers who are just ready to blossom.
ALEXA GARVOILLE 