Unit Title: Identity & Memoir

Lesson No./Date: 10.3.13

Lesson Objectives & Specific Learning Outcomes: Cognitive (know/understand): 1. Students will understand that effective writers use sensory language to pull in the reader. Affective (feel/value): 2. Students will feel empowered to use figurative language in their writing. Performance (do): 3. Students will generate sensory language. 4. Students will identify elements of a memoir in what theyre reading. SOLs: 7.5 The student will read and demonstrate comprehension of a variety of fictional texts, narrative nonfiction, and poetry. d) Describe the impact of word choice, imagery, and literary devices including figurative language. 7.7 The student will write in a variety of forms with an emphasis on exposition, narration, and persuasion. b) Use a variety of prewriting strategies including graphic organizers to generate and organize ideas. g) Select vocabulary and information to enhance the central idea, tone, and voice.

Materials Needed: 1. Smart Board 2. Sensory Language Powerpoint 3. Doc Cam 4. Manila folders full of cut-out images 5. Whiteboards with magnetic words 6. Student laptops 7. Google Drive/Docs

Procedures/Instructional Strategies [Note: Any words that represent what I would say directly to students appear in italics.] Beginning Room Arrangement: Students sit at their assigned starting stations (Guided Writing, Independent Writing, Silent Sustained Writing, or Grammar). 1. [15 mins.] Bridge: Mini-Lesson on Sensory Language

Who here is or knows a good storyteller? [I call on a kid to tell us one good storyteller they know, then ask s/he why s/he likes that persons stories. Im looking for answers related to entertainment, humor, making the story come alive, feeling like youre there with the story teller, etc. Ill acknowledge the students answer and ask him/her questions to talk along the above lines.] So how does a good writer tell a good story? Weve established that effective storytellers effective writers use sensory language to pull the reader in and make the story come alive. So lets talk about sensory language and what in the world it is! [I display Sensory Language Ppt on Smart Board.] Sensory language is language that does what? [I either call on a student to answer the question, or meet blank stares with the following] Lets start with the 5 senses. I need five different people who havent spoken yet to tell us one of the 5 senses. [I call on students until weve named all 5 senses, then display the slide with the graphic of Sight, Sound, Smell, Touch, and Taste.] So why bother including details of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch in your memoirs? Whats the point? [I call on a student(s) to answer.] Thats exactly it! As you take your reader through the sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures of your Big Event, you let him/her experience the event with you! Together, you explore the details of the scene and help your reader feel like s/he was right there for the Big Event with you! Thats good storytelling! Lets take a look at some different ways of saying the same thing and decide which ones we like better. Well discuss what makes some sentences more effective at telling a story than others. [We look at the slides and discuss which sentences are better and why.]

2. [23 mins.] Step 1: Sensory Language Activity* Now that weve had time to marinate in some tasty language, its time to try our hand at creating our own! In the middle of your tables youll find a manila envelope full of images. Underneath the envelope are whiteboards for each of you. Each whiteboard has a bunch of magnetic

words on it. You get to use these words and images as inspiration for creating your own sensory language! And feel free to add your own words to the ones Ive given you. You get to move and play with these images and magnets, but I want you to write all yes all! your sensory language sentences in a Google Doc in your LA folder. Your sentences can be good, bad, awesome, awful it doesnt matter! The whole point is to play and experiment, which means youll probably have some duds among the masterpieces. Thats fine! Just get creative and mix and match words and images to say interesting things. Remember that good storytelling uses details about sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch; so incorporate those things in the sentences you create here. [I show them an example under the Doc Cam of how someone might combine magnet words, magazine cut-outs, and their own written words to write a sensory language-filled sentence.] Does anyone have any questions? Okay, writers! Experiment and record your creations in Google! *Sensory Language Activity adapted from a lesson I created for Counterpoint Seminar in Spring 2013.

3. [40 mins.] Step 3: Stations (20 mins. at each station) Guided Writing Station: Teacher-led visualization and sensory imagery prewriting (for students memoirs). Students close their eyes and imagine the place where their Big Event took place. While their eyes are closed, I walk them through five rooms, each room a different sense; I guide them through remembering the various sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures present during their Big Event. Look around. What do you see? Is there a freshly mown lawn? Or a messy porch full of junk? Are you looking at a big apartment building? Or a sports field or basketball court? Are there trees around? Cars on the street? Are the colors around you vibrant and warm? or dull and cold? What about shapes and textures? What objectspeopleanimalsplantsand so on, draw your attention? Now listen to all the sounds around. Are there voices? What are they saying? Do you hear laughter? Crying? Sighing? Angry words? Prayers? Is there music blaring? Doors slamming? Crickets chirping? Dogs barking?

What about smells? Is someone in the kitchen, the smell of fresh cookies wafting through the air? Do you smell wood, or smoke, or sweat? Is your nose crinkling at the smell of cat litter or your sisters stinky socks? Can you taste anything? Orange juice, lemonade, Gatorade, hot chocolate? Your familys favorite meal? Sometimes we can almost taste something from smelling it or wanting it so badly. What do you feel? Is the air around you warm or cold, moving or still? Do you feel water lapping at your toes, or rough concrete under your feet? Is your hand stroking soft fur or getting licked by a sandpaper cat tongue? Do you feel pools of sweat forming on your back? Take a moment to think about how you felt emotionally. Were you happy or lonely? Relaxed or scared? Remember how it felt to be in that place in that moment. Its time to open your eyes and write about the things you just saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt while you remembered your Big Event. [I pass out graphic organizers, which students complete at their own pace.] Independent Writing Station: Students choose a memoir from the basket or Blackboard and complete a Memoir Graphic Organizer. Sustained Silent Writing Station: Students work on their choice of creative writing piece. Grammar: As a group, students complete their Part of Speech poster (due Fri. Oct. 4).

5. [2 mins] Closure: I hope you all had fun becoming better readers and writers today! I challenge you to use sensory language in your conversations with friends and families today! Practice good storytelling in person and it will transfer to the page, too!

Methods of Assessment: (for evaluating the specific objectives listed above Students Memoir Graphic Organizers (Step 3) will let me know whether theyre understanding the elements of memoir and able to identify it in what theyre reading (Objective 4). Students work during the Sensory Language Activity, and their Google Doc sentences (Step 2), will show me whether theyre able to generate sensory language (Objective 3) and whether theyre grasping how effective writing can pull in a reader (Objective 1).

My observations of how confident or not students seem to be during the Sensory Language Activity will also let me know whether theyre approaching Objective 2: Students will feel empowered to use figurative language in their writing. In Retrospect: Overall, I think the lesson went well. Students seemed engaged and focused during the mini-lesson, and they seemed to easily recognize the difference between sentences full of, and sentences lacking, rich sensory language. Furthermore, they were able to articulate the differences they noticed, both in terms of writers word choice and effect on the reader. Most of the kids enjoyed the Sensory Word Play with magnetic poetry, although I think the activity mightve helped students feel better prepared to generate their own sensory language (Objectives 2 & 3) if Id provided some prior direct instruction in how to beef up an otherwise lackluster sentence with sensory-rich language. Some of the kids produced some descriptive and vivid sentences, while others had a hard time. While I think direct instruction wouldve improved student achievement, I also think after reading all three classes sentences this activity might be better suited to helping students generate figurative and poetic language, rather than sensory language. In retrospect, the magnetic words dont always lend themselves to rich sensory description, but certainly to making unlikely comparisons and interesting metaphors. I think in the future, Ill use the Word Play activity for these purposes, rather than for sensory language creation. Almost every student responded well to the visualization activity. A few were a little skeptical at first, but once they saw everyone else closing their eyes and taking it seriously, and once they gathered just how serious I was about it, they seemed to let themselves go and dive into it. Unfortunately, I doubt the visualization exercise would work well in a whole-class setting, because I think itd be a lot harder for students to focus and give in to the feeling of vulnerability that comes with closing ones eyes and taking such an activity seriously. Luckily, I was able to take students in small groups to a separate room where they could all concentrate and not feel self-conscious. Thus, the activity worked really well and they got a lot of good images and other sensory description for their memoirs.

Materials Appendix: (Included are all supplementary texts, Ppts, overheads, graphic organizers, handouts, etc.) Sensory Language Powerpoint (examples & non-examples) 6-Sense Visualization Powerpoint (for students reference after being guided through closed-eye visualization exercise)

6-Sense Visualization Prewriting Notes

SIGHT
Describe the things, people, & objects that you see around you. Use DETAILS.

SOUND
Describe what you hear. Listen carefully. Are there whispers? Birds twittering? Rumbles of trucks passing? The creak of train cars as they move slowly along?

SMELL
What odors enter your nose? Be SPECIFIC.

TASTE
What do you taste? Anything sweet, tangy, spicy, sour, bitter?

FEEL (PHYSICAL)
What textures and temperatures do you feel? Warm air? Cool, wet grass? Rough pavement? Scratchy sweaters? Silky fur?

FEEL (EMOTIONAL)
Describe the feelings you have about the scene. Are you horrified? Overjoyed? Shocked? Grief-stricken? Scared? Calmed? Do you feel safe? Cozy? Excited?

Memoir Graphic Organizer

Duration (Season, time period, length of event):

Before BIG Event

BIG Event

After BIG Event

Impact / Lesson Learned: Sight:

Sensory Language

Sound:

Smell:

Taste:

Feel: