Animals Theme Basic Concepts Bundle for students with autism and special education needs. The skills covered by this bundle include: Given a picture of a set of nouns animals and a question asking "Is this a
What makes Homer Simpson's character so rich and complex? The rules of writing I always tell students that there are no set rules for writing and they can write whatever they like. I don't subscribe to the notion that all good stories must have, for example, an attention-grabbing opening, a turning point, a twist at the end and an extended metaphor.
Incorporating these into writing doesn't automatically mean a story works, and you will read wonderful writing follows none of these rules. Pupils should be aware of what they are, of course, and why and where they might choose to use them, but it shouldn't be prescriptive.
That said, there are two rules of writing that I encourage them to follow. Not the most original rules, perhaps, but if kids can master them their writing becomes much more powerful.
For "show, don't tell", I display a selection of sentences that tell the reader something and ask the pupils to rewrite them in a way that shows the same information.
For example, "the man was angry" could become, "the man clenched his fists and hissed beneath his breath". It's about unpacking the emotions and finding ways to let the reader see the story for themselves. When teaching "all adverbs must die", I concentrate on the importance of giving the power to the verb.
Once pupils realise the potential in this, they quickly kill adverbs and load the power of the action onto the verb. Characterisation Not the most original method I'll wager, but this is tried and tested.
Pupils divide a page in their jotter and give each quarter the headings likes, dislikes, motivations and flaws. What makes these complex and rich characters? What makes them get out of bed every morning?
What stops them from achieving their ultimate goals in life? How would they react in various situations? Once pupils have thought about these characters, I ask them to complete the page in their jotter with as many pieces of detail as they can for their own character.
They swap with a partner and, using another person's character notes, write a monologue beginning with the line, "I lay away, unable to sleep, and all because…" What is this new character excited about, or scared of? What have they done or what will they have to do? This exercise is always busy, exciting and produces promising and complex pieces of writing.
Video clips There's something a bit weird about the idea of being a writer; it's a vague, wishy-washy concept for students. They don't yet understand the hours of admin, self-promotion, editing, graft, grief and rejection that writers go through.
Many pupls seem to think writers have great lives, are fabulously wealthy and sit around all day making up stories, all of which go on to be published without much bother at all. So I always like to find video clips of writers talking about writing, sharing the pain they've gone through, their thought processes and daily routines.
If you can find video clips of a writer whose work you're using as a model or studying in class, then this can really help pupils to engage with their work. YouTube is full of interviews with writers, recordings of book festival appearances and spoken-word performances.
Being a Scottish teacher working in Scotland, I use of a suite of videos filmed and hosted by Education Scotlandwhich features a number of writers discussing their inspirations and motivations, how to create characters, how to write in genre and how to redraft.
The videos are all around five minutes long which makes them excellent starter activities; you can find them here. Narrative distance This can be modelled in class by the teacher projecting their work onto the whiteboard. Most pupils assume that once they've chosen a narrative perspective and tense, their narrative voice will take care of itself.
But with a little coaching and training, maybe we can hone their skills and abilities that much more. Narrative distance is the proximity of a reader's experience to the character's thoughts.comprehension where the answer is clearly stated in the text.
HIGHER ORDER. Page 6 Questioning E. x. a. mples of Literal Questions L. i. teral Retrieval Questions (AF2) links between reading and writing – especially the ways in which texts are organised Modelling. Writing Genre – A Structured Approach 2 Recount writing is organised by setting, events in chronological order and a concluding statement.
The main features of recount writing are specific participants, action verbs and past tense. 1. writing to the children 6.
Student Activity sheets reading comprehension audience interests when writing. 6 Literacy Students identify aspects of subject Description of the article or advertisement – size, colour and location 2. Date and page number 2.
How does it describe the film? Chosen from some of my favourite books, (so, no I didn't write them!) these are really good examples of the type of language we are looking for in a setting description/5(49). Setting Lesson – Here is an animated PowerPoint slideshow that teaches students about setting.
It has definitions, tips, and examples, not to mention five practice problems after the lesson.
It has definitions, tips, and examples, not to mention five practice problems after the lesson. This is the power of context clues!
Give your students power in reading comprehension when you engage them in this context clues unit. Choose activities for any level, elementary through high school, that encompass different types of clues: synonym, antonym, .