T UESDAY, D ECEMBER 18, 2012 Objectives: Review writing strategies used in previous lessons Identify independent activities for the writer’s workshop Expand writing by using showing techniques Agenda 1. Opening: Where have we been and where do we go from here? 2. Work Period: Using the toolkit 3. Independent Writing: Showing vs. Telling 4. Homework: Finish up your three paragraphs

O PENING Where did we leave off? What was your last piece of writing? Section II: extended informative essay Moving towards more independent writing Important for all students to have quiet working time – even if YOU finish early New writing choices: Finish or polish previous pieces Select a new topic for questions or Possible Writing Topics list

T HE W RITER ’ S T OOLKIT : W HAT TO DO W HEN Y OU T HINK Y OU A RE D ONE Finish an unfinished piece of writing Reread your work and: Add more details Zoom in on a moment Find a telling sentence that could use more showing Add a metaphor Add repetition to one of your entries Rewrite an entry to include sentence variety. Short sentences for emphasis only. Read your independent reading book to “borrow” ideas Mimic an author’s writing technique – sentence or paragraph pattern Think of a new idea for writing Read a non-fiction book for ideas

T ODAY ’ S A SSIGNMENT Find a telling sentence that could use more showing Once you find one, highlight it in your journal. Add a on your Table of Contents page as well, so I know the piece from which the sentence came On a new page, create your “title” Take your one sentence and turn it into at least 3 paragraphs

M RS. G RUBER ’ S J OURNAL “As she walked around her neighbor’s yard sale…the woman couldn’t help admiring the items” (128). From “The Insanity Defense”, Reader’s Digest, November “Stories Objects Tell” If you know me well, you know I’m a yard sale junkie. Every Saturday and Sunday I comb the streets of Las Vegas looking for deals on one of a kind items that I just have to have. No, my house doesn’t look like I should be on Hoarder’s! I am very selective about what I choose to buy. For example, I have a very beautiful mirror that cannot be bought in this day and age. They don’t make quality items like they used to do in the old days. That mirror is clearly from another time. I like to think of what kind of people looked at themselves in that mirror. How old were they at the time? Are they still around to look at themselves today? What kind of things happened to them during the time that has passed? Objects have stories. Another example is this old wooden chair. It has an old pattern of fabric on its seat. You can guess what I question there – who sat in this seat? Whose back helped stain the wood the mahogany color it is today? Did it start out that way in the beginning or was the wood a light brown? Whose hands crafted this beautiful piece of furniture? What other things did this craftsman create? Where do those pieces sit now? Is his own house filled with beautiful creations?

“…a small boy lying on a stretcher, caked in blood and dust, his limp hand resting in his father’s palm” (36). From “Saving Sajjad”, Reader’s Digest, November “Please, God, don’t let my little boy die,” I thought as my son lay in my lap, blood seeping from the cut in his head. They say that the first stages of grief are bargaining. This is where I find myself at this moment in time. Collecting all my random acts of kindness, gestures of love, and of course karma, to save my son’s life through my lifetime of good deeds. Will my prayer be heard? Only that morning, the day had been business as usual. The normal routine involves forcing him up time and time again (because of course he falls asleep the second I leave), forcing him to shower and brush his teeth (do you know a six year-old who doesn’t?), and getting him to eat anything because he’d pick ice cream if he could.