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Dear Dr. Hartman,

Im feeling quite empowered as a teacher through the process of creating this assignment. I think its
something my students will enjoy doing, and something that will challenge them to think in new ways
about the stories they read and make up. I also hope it will give them confidence as writers, and the
pride that comes from creating something thats been difficult but worthwhile.

Having never created a handout before, this is the part of the assignment I was least confident in, and
Im still not positive Ive come up with something thats truly appropriate for a second-grader. I tried to
provide enough information without completely overwhelming him (and while still fulfilling the
requirements for this assignment). Hopefully, Ive achieved that balance. I would never have thought of
handing something like this out to homeschooled students; I typically just explain assignments verbally
and sit with them to answer questions through the process. Im surprised, then, to feel quite pleased
with my final product, which I think will help show the scope of the project and get them excited about
where were going. I think it will also be an opportunity to encourage some independence for my
second-grader, who will be able to look back through the directions and rubric on his own to make sure
hes on the right track (as opposed to just asking me).

Moving forward, my most pressing thought is that we need to get started as soon as possible, since
every lesson we do is limited by both attention spans and writing stamina. I do predict that well have to
backtrack at least once or twice in the process to revisit concepts and rework parts of our stories, and
since that backtracking is itself an important part of the process (though one I cant really plan for
chronologically), I want to allow enough stretch time to get the project done. I have started introducing
some terms and the concept of retelling a plot during our regular picture book reading, so at this point,
were technically in an extended Day 1-2 of the project.

I mention in my plan below the need to differentiate both expectations and instruction for my four-year-
old, but Im not sure whether Ive adequately explained what Ill do with him. Im fairly used to just
adjusting things as I go, and Ive never attempted to write down exactly how I modify content for him. I
did not create a separate rubric, because, as I explain below, I dont grade him at this age. I just want
him to have fun following along with the activity and achieving the goals explained in the assignment
portion. What Im wondering is this: Are the goals I have below a sufficient explanation of
differentiation? Do I need to create a separate rubric?

Your help has been a great source of encouragement these first six weeks of grad school, and Im so
grateful for it.

Taylor
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Taylor Jackson
Dr. Hartman
ENED 683
8 October 2017

Writing Assignment Design

Objectives:
Guide my two students (grade 2 and pre-K) in learning about plot and story elements, working through a
writing process, and creating an illustrated short story (picture book) with a defined basic plot structure.

Rationale/Overview:
As a child, I loved creating story worlds, but I never really wrote fiction because I couldnt seem to
structure a plot on my own and was never formally taught how to do it. This is a valuable skill for young
writers, both in terms of writing ability and confidence-building. In my initial research, I was inspired by
the idea of having students first read picture books that exemplify certain basic story elements
(characters, setting, plot, sensory details, etc.), learning the terms associated with these elements, and
discussing them as a group to better understand them.

I plan to give a series of about twenty short lessons (no longer than 30 minutes each) over several weeks
to complete the assignment. Well start with reading picture books, and practicing retelling them, both
to get in the habit of telling stories aloud and to further explore the creation of plot. We will then
practice narrating picture books without words, allowing students to create a narrative and use the
literary terms we learned to discuss the stories. Next, we will spend some time exploring process writing
- freewriting, coming up with original ideas, organizing a plot structure, choosing a style for illustrations,
completing art activities as process work for setting and character details, discussing our work in a
writing group, and revising. Finally, we will each create finished picture books. I plan to
model/participate by creating my own story along with my students, and at least at this point, my plan is
to tell the story of this writing process in my book.

Context:
Ill be doing this creative writing assignment in a combined homeschool classroom with two male
students, though my rubric and handout are crafted for my older student (age 7, 2nd grade). For my
younger student (age 4, pre-K), I have a more basic set of goals, and I will differentiate the assignment
by helping with reading and writing (as he is not yet reading or writing on his own) and asking him much
more basic questions in group discussion. We read and discuss picture books continually, and I have
helped them write very short stories before, but this will be our first experience with process writing,
structuring a plot, editing our work, and using formal language to discuss stories. With that in mind, I
used backward design in creating the assignment, attempting to discern individual concepts and skills
that would be needed to create a final product and body of knowledge, then designing activities and
steps to get our group to those end goals.
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Goals/Common Core Standards (ELA Grade 2):

Reading Literature:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.1
Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate
understanding of key details in a text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.2
Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central
message, lesson, or moral.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.3
Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.4
Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm
and meaning in a story, poem, or song.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.5
Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story
and the ending concludes the action.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.6
Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice
for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.7
Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate
understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Writing:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.3
Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include
details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and
provide a sense of closure.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.5
With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by
revising and editing.

Students Perspective/Potential Issues:

This assignment is unique in that Im communicating with very young children who arent at all familiar
with the concept of an assignment description or rubric, so Ive had to bring the level of discourse way
down to make it accessible and less daunting. This will be a novel and challenging assignment from my
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students perspectives, I think, but I plan to keep it fun and engaging by stretching out the assignment,
allowing ample time to complete each step so no one part is overwhelming.

I know that, in particular, my four-year-old student may struggle with some of the more advanced
material were covering. I will definitely be cognizant of that, allowing breaks and making his questions
much more basic. I will help him with all writing and reading, jotting down what he narrates to me
during freewriting times, and being his voice when were sharing our writing out loud. I did not create
a separate rubric for him because I dont think its either necessary or appropriate to grade a four-
year-old, but I will feel the activity was successful if he participates in and enjoys the process.

Goals:
I created the goals and rubric included in the handout with my second-grader in mind, integrating
Common Core Standards and some concepts from class, like a writing group and process writing. I do
think my youngest student (whos in Pre-K) will be able to follow along, and have fun being a part of the
group and creating a story, but for him, my goals are much simpler.

Pre-K Goals:

o Begin to have a basic understanding of story elements like plot, characters, and setting
o Learn to share ideas and narrated writing in a writing group
o Work through process writing activities to narrate and revise a coherent story
o Narrate and illustrate a short picture book
o Have fun with writing

Resources/Works Cited:

Crumb, Shutta. Wordless Picture Books. Reading Rockets,

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/story-skeletons-teaching-plot-structure-picture-books.

English Language Arts Standards Reading Literature Grade 2. Common Core Standards Initiative,
2017, http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/2/.

Fink, Laura Storm. Lesson Plan: Using Picture Books to Teach Plot Development and Conflict
Resolution. NCTE, http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/using-picture-
books-teach-b-803.html?tab=1#tabs.

Henry, Laurie et al. Creative Writing Through Wordless Picture Books. 14 April 2003. EBSCOhost,
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED477997.pdf.

Picture Books that Illustrate Well-Developed Characters. NCTE/IRA, 2007,

http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson101/101BookList.pdf.

Reese, Colleen. Story Development Using Wordless Picture Books. The Reading Teacher, vol. 50, no. 2,
October 1996, pp. 172-173. EBSCOhost, http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.gardner-
webb.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&sid=99541c86-a332-4902-82d7-
cd3e98c3487f%40sessionmgr120.
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Creating a Picture Book

Goals: What are we going to do in this assignment?

o Were going to read picture books together to learn to identify and understand story
elements, or parts that make up these stories.
o Well practice retelling the plots of picture books with words, then well do the same
thing with some books that dont have any words in them at all!
o Well work through a process to come up with ideas for creating our own stories, using
the story elements we learned about earlier.
o Well work together in a writing group to revise, or make changes to our work, so that
we have a plot that makes sense and details that help tell our story.
o Well plan what types of illustrations we want to create for our story, and what words
and pictures we want on each page of our finished book.
o Well create final products - our own picture books.
o Well have fun with writing!

Rationale: Why are we doing this?

Do you like to read picture books? I do, too! Stories can give us information, make us laugh,
help us understand our feelings, and connect us to each other. Being able to tell and learn from
stories is an important part of being a human being! Have you ever thought about how an
author creates a book like the ones we read together? Different authors may do things a little
differently, but every author follows some kind of process - a series of steps to get to a goal. We
are going to learn about the different steps in process writing by working through them
together to become authors ourselves, creating our own picture books. Writing and creating art
arent just important parts of school theyre great ways to express ourselvesand were going
to have a lot of fun on this adventure!

Requirements: What will my story include?

o Your finished story will include an organized plot. (Your plot can be structured like one
of the ones well study, or it can be a little different, but it must tell a story that will
make sense to your readers.)
o You will create a setting, both in your writing, and in the illustrations in your book.
Where does your story take place? What is it like there?
o You will develop a character (or characters) and use details in your story to tell us things
about the character. Who are they? What are they doing? What do they want?
o You will include sensory details in your story, to help your readers experience what is
happening (through sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch).
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o You will create illustrations of some kind to go along with the plot of your story
(drawing, painting, collage, photography, etc). We will spend some time later discussing
reasons why you might choose one style of illustrations over another.
o You will create a final version of your book, with words and illustrations. Your final
story will need to be at least ten pages long, and we will create them on heavy paper.

Schedule: When will we do all this?

*Note: Every part of this project will be done together, as a class. I just want you to have an
idea of where were going throughout the process!
Day 1-2 Read several picture books together. After each book, well take turns retelling the
plots, or what happened in each story. We will talk as we go along about terms for plot and
story elements - characters, point of view, setting, theme, problem and solution, rising/falling
action, cause and effect, climax, resolution, etc. Well also talk about and model some ways
(like webs and timelines) to map out the plots.
Day 3-4- Read wordless picture books and narrate plots. Well also identify terms we talked
about in earlier lessons, map out our plots, and discuss the stories together.
Day 5 Listing and talking Well come up with a few possible ideas for our own short stories,
share them, and discuss them as a writing group.
Day 6 Freewriting Well pick one or two of those ideas from Day 5 and write a little about
them. Then, well talk about what we wrote as a group.
Day 7 More freewriting about ideas, and well each pick a topic to write on.
Day 8 Mapping plot of story Well use clusters, webs, storyboards, telling the story aloud,
and start to decide what will actually happen in all the parts of our stories.
Day 9 Finalize skeleton (or plot structure) of story. Begin talking about illustration styles -
painting, pencil drawing, collage, photography, mixed media, etc.
Day 10 Talk about different illustration styles Well each choose a style for our story. Art
creation/freewriting activity while drawing/painting/creating an illustration, generate words
and phrases to provide descriptive details for setting, characters, action, etc.
Day 11 Art creation/freewriting activity while drawing/painting/creating an illustration,
generate words and phrases to provide descriptive details for setting, characters, action, etc.
Day 12-13 Start writing a first draft, just getting our ideas on paper, and sharing them. Over
these three (or more) days, well be writing, illustrating adding to the story, and revising (Well
look over what weve written and see if there are changes we want to make.)
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Day 14-15 Over these two (or more) days, well create storyboards, planning what words and
images we want to have on each page.
Day 16-20 Over these last five (or more) days, well create final copies of our books, with
illustrations, and share our books with family and friends.

Rubric: How will I be graded?

33-28 points A
27-22 points B
21-17 points C
16-12 points D
0-11 points F

Standard: Exceeds Expectations Meet Expectations (2 Needs Work/Did Not

(3 pts) points) Attempt (0-1 point)
What I Can Do:
Ask and answer such
questions as who,
what, where, when,
why, and how to
demonstrate
understanding of key
details in a text.

Use information gained

from the illustrations
and words in a print or
digital text to
demonstrate
understanding of its
characters, setting, or
plot.

I can ask questions

about characters,
setting, events, and
illustrations to
understand and tell
what happened in a
story.
Recount stories,
including fables and
folktales from diverse
cultures, and
determine their central
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message, lesson, or
moral.

I can retell the plots of

stories and explain
their main ideas.
Describe how
characters in a story
respond to major
events and challenges.

I can describe what

characters do when
faced with conflicts.
Describe the overall
structure of a story,
including describing
how the beginning
introduces the story
and the ending
concludes the action.

I can talk about the

events and plot
structure of a story.
Acknowledge
differences in the
points of view of
characters, including by
speaking in a different
voice for each
character when
reading dialogue aloud.

I can understand and

talk about characters
points of view.
With guidance and
support from adults
and peers, focus on a
topic and strengthen
writing as needed by
revising and editing.

I can work through a

writing process to
freewrite, discuss, map
out, and revise my
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work.
I can actively
participate in a writing
group, sharing ideas
and giving positive
feedback to peers.
Write narratives in
which they recount a
well-elaborated event
or short sequence of
events, include details
to describe actions,
thoughts, and feelings,
use temporal words to
signal event order, and
provide a sense of
closure.

I can create a short

story in which plot,
characters, and setting
are well-organized and
clearly developed.
I can use vivid, sensory
details in writing to
show a picture of the
character/s, setting,
and actions Im
describing.
I can create
illustrations that help
tell my story.
I can create a final
picture book copy that
is neatly written and at
least ten pages long.