Lesson Plans: Your Mind's Eye on Paper (Middle, Reading/Writing)

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Grade: Middle

Subject: Reading/Writing

#4449. Your Mind's Eye on Paper

Reading/Writing, level: Middle
Posted Mon Nov 1 20:02:40 PDT 2010 by John Tusken (John Tusken).
Geneva Middle School South, Geneva, USA
Materials Required: Video clips, writing materials
Activity Time: 45 min
Concepts Taught: Elaboration, Descriptive Detail

Objectives:
1. To make students aware of how details make a story come alive
2. To illustrate the difference between simple and uninteresting �telling� vs. strong image based �showing� in writing.

Rationale:
Students with little to no practice or experience crafting the telling of a story with vivid details and strong verb usage have difficulty seeing a difference between what they see in their head and what they put down on paper. This activity is meant to be used as preparation for actual story writing with a focus on interesting imagery and strong verb usage.

Materials Used:
Teacher- Two similar video clips projected from a computer onto a screen or played on a TV, one sample writing based on one of the video clips
Links- http://www.wimp.com/standingcat/
http://www.wimp.com/standingtwo/
*Note These are the clips I used, feel free to use others that you feel your students would be able to connect to
Student- Writing materials

Procedure:
1. Teacher displays first video clip for students to view
2. Teacher gives sample writing of a one sentence retelling of video clip
3. First video clip is watched again
4. Teacher gives a three sentence retelling of the video clip
5. First video clip is viewed final time
6. Teacher gives a five sentence paragraph retelling video with strong adjective, noun, and verb usage
7. Teacher displays second video clip
8. Students are instructed to write a one sentence retelling of second clip
9. Second video clip is watched again
10. Students are instructed to write a three sentence retelling of the clip
11. Second video clip is viewed final time
12. Students are directed to write a five sentence paragraph retelling the clip using strong adjectives, nouns, and verbs
13. Have students pair up of get in small groups to share their writing.