MY SHOE PROJECT “Explore your shoe’s soul... er, sole.”

Preparation for My Shoe project Before doing the My Shoe project, you’ll need to do a some prewriting. Get out a piece of lined paper. Fold it into fourths. Put your name, hour and the heading of “Preparation for My Shoe project” on it. Now brainstorm the following:

Explore the theme of “shoes” in 8 th grade English In BOX 1 on your paper brainstorm all of the “shoe” related incidents in the books and stories that we’ve read this year. There have been lots of them. Even more than potato scenes.

The old man lining Josh’s shoes with cardboard The trouble with Alf when the boys try to buy Joey overshoes Anne hiding Peter’s shoes The folks in the attic couldn’t wear shoes during the day. Anne wearing Margot’s heels for her date with Peter Stapleton stealing Sir Henry’s old, black and new, brown boots in The Hound of the Baskervilles Blue suede shoes in Thank You M’am Cinderella’s shoes Any others?? Explore the theme of “shoes” in 8 th grade English guardianlv.com

Box 2: Brainstorm “shoe” words: Write down all the words you can think of that could be used to describe shoes. Your shoes. Your neighbors shoes. Any shoes at all. Then, you will share them with the class

My Greek Leather Shoe (or at least the closest example to it that I could find.)

Box 3: Describe your shoe in-depth: Check the list of shoe words we brainstormed together to see which might apply to your shoe. Use those words and others to describe your shoe’s type, brand, purpose, materials, color, shape, texture, size, wear, damage, fit, odor, etc. Write down all of these words in box 3 and then use the thesaurus to find some synonyms as well.

Box 4: Show more about your shoe. Describe the origins of your shoe. How long have you had it? Where did it come from? Who bought it for you? How much did it cost? Why did you choose you bring it? What else can you write about your shoe’s back story? myshoesjournal.com

Box 5: Write what your shoe reveals about YOU! Your shoe is a symbol... of your personality, style, taste, loves, interests, etc. styleblazer.com en.wikipedia.org

Examples of SYMBOL writing sketches done by past students: My cowboy boot shows how much I like horses -- riding them and training them. They are large, powerful animals, but I am not scared of them. If you treat them right, they are gentle and loyal. My point shoe is a symbol of my love of dance. You have to be dedicated to it to be good. There have been times my toes bled from practicing so much -- if you look, there's stains in my shoe. But it's worth it to me. I feel different when I dance. My alligator slippers show that I like to joke around and have fun. I like to wear clothes that are uncommon (no bunny slippers for me) -- that are unique like me. People laugh when they see them, and I like when people laugh.

Box 6:Describe some place your shoe has been. You’re creating a setting. Don’t just TELL about the place you’ve chosen; SHOW it! Select words and phrases that create pictures in the mind. Choose something more exciting than a closet please.

Examples of PLACE writing sketches done by past students: The surface of the wooden floor was smooth and polished. You could see where the slats came together, but not feel them. I knew instantly I would like playing on this much better than the chipped cement under the backboard nailed to the front of our garage. I could really move on this floor -- take my feet up the court and the ball to the basket! The park where I take my little sister is mostly grass and has tall trees around the edges. But there is a part of it where the swings and stuff are that has no trees or grass – just sand. It's deep and gets into your shoes. It's deep enough you can push your hands down into it up to your wrists, which is what my sister likes to do.

Box 7: Describe some activity your shoe has been involved in. You’re giving a detailed account of an event or experience. Choose action words and phrases. cynthiakingdance.com footage.shutterstock.com

Example of an ACTIVITY writing sketch done by a past student: The crowd was cheering for us, but it sounded very distant to me. I was in "the zone." My teammates and I had been for most of the game, and the score showed it. We were doing really well even if the field was muddy in spots. Of course, my shoes never looked the same again -- the dirt was ground in. Neither did the soccer ball!

Box 8 Shoe Art! On your final project, there will need to be a picture of your shoe. Do a preliminary sketch. pencilandpaperaddict.deviantart.com amisstome.wordpress.com Shoedesign.co.uk